US SECRETARY of state Hillary Clinton yesterday sought to head off a spat with Russia after it was angered by comments made by vice-president Joe Biden.
The Kremlin had demanded clarification of remarks in which Mr Biden suggested Russia would be forced to improve relations with the US because its economy was “withering”.
Barack Obama’s administration has made improved relations with Russia a centrepiece of its foreign policy. But in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mr Biden suggested that Russian agreement to strategic arms cuts was dictated by its weakening economy.
“We view Russia as a great power,” Mrs Clinton told NBC’s Meet the Press on being asked about the vice-president’s remarks. “Now every country faces challenges . . . The Russians know we have continuing questions about some of their policies, and they have continuing questions about some of ours.”
She praised co-operation between Russia and the US on issues such as Iran and North Korea, and combating extremism.
Moscow had said that Mr Biden’s “perplexing” comments raised questions about who was in charge of US foreign policy, just weeks after a showpiece summit between Mr Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)