MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/. The recent increase in Moscow's contacts with Latin American partners is not due to tension between Russia and the West, Dmitry Rosenthal, deputy director of the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences and an expert of the Russian Council on International Affairs, told TASS on Friday.

In particular, he said there was no correlation between the recent meeting of the Russian and Argentine presidents in Moscow and the upcoming visit of the Brazilian leader to Russia with the aggravation of the situation in Europe.

"I would not establish such a direct link, but partnership relations with the countries of the Latin American region are important to us; it is important to us that, for example, the very same Argentina is interested in our vaccine, I mean Sputnik V, and, in general, it is also interested in diversifying its contacts toward Russia, China and other countries," the expert said.

At that, he admitted that given the tension between Russia and Western countries, the development of cooperation with Latin America would only strengthen Moscow's position. Nevertheless, security issues are not on the agenda of talks with the heads of Argentina and Brazil in Moscow. "I would not look for an answer in our rapprochement with the countries of the region exclusively in the sphere of confrontation with the West, even if there was no such confrontation, in any case, we are interested in good, productive ties," Rosenthal continued.

Speaking about Brazil, the expert also expressed skepticism about the possibility of its strategic partnership with Russia, since the countries have divergent positions on the topic of security. "Probably, I wouldn't say that we perceive each other as allies in the field of security, there are certain differences," he said.

"We have quite a lot of differences with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, but there also are points of convergence, including economic ones. We are, after all, BRICS partners, and, therefore economic partners. And, in general, we have pragmatic ties in the international arena," the expert added.

Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Argentine President Alberto Fernandez were held in Moscow on February 3. Jair Bolsonaro's visit to Russia is scheduled for February 14-17.