Obama praises US relationship to Kremlin's power tandem

Aug 3, 2011, 12:52 GMT

Moscow - US President Barack Obama, in Russian media interviews coming ahead of his 50th birthday, Wednesday praised Washington's relationship with the Kremlin's tandem leadership.

In comments on relations with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin which in the past has been described as cool, Obama commented, 'Putin supports without restriction the 'new start' in bilateral ties, and so our relationship has clearly improved over the past two years.'

With regard to President Dmitry Medvedev, Obama described the Kremlin leader as a 'committed patriot and a backer of moving closer to the West.'

Obama cited the new nuclear disarmament treaty between the US and Russia that took effect in February as an example of the 'tremendous progress' made in bilateral ties.

His remarks come on the eve of his 50th birthday on Thursday, with Obama saying that he wished to see more peace around the world and less poverty, more education and fewer economic crises. He noted that among the changes since he took office in January 2009, his hair had become more gray.

Medvedev recently remarked that he hoped 'more than anyone else that Obama will be re-elected.' He said that the Russia-America relationship had strongly improved under the Obama administration.

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