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NO RADICAL CHANGES IN RUSSIA-U.S. RELATIONS AFTER AMERICAN ELECTIONS, SAYS KUCHINS

MOSCOW, September 21 (RIA Novosti) - Commenting on Washington's probable foreign policy after the US presidential elections in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Andrew Kuchins, a prominent American political expert and director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said he did not expect any significant changes in the Russian-US relations if Kerry's administration came to power. America's main goals in relations with Moscow will still be Russia's participation in the war on terror, maintaining safe storage of nuclear weapons and fissile materials, ensuring Russia's support to non-proliferation efforts. Progress has been achieved in this sphere in the last two years and Kerry would want to develop it. American-Russian cooperation is becoming increasingly important in the economic sphere, especially due to oil problems on the global market, the expert added.

If Bush is reelected, there will be no drastic changes in his administration's policy towards Russia either: "Bush connects his role in history with the war on international terrorism and believes it to be his fate." "You have to admit that recently Bush has somewhat shifted his policy towards more attention for international cooperation," Kuchins pointed out. "I believe that the beginning of the Iraqi war was the peak of unilateral action, but it revealed the limits of the US might and the price of unilateralism. Now the Bush administration is trying to improve relations with the allies and partners and this makes it harder for Democrats to criticize his policy. On the whole, the difference between foreign-policy guidelines of the two rivals should not be exaggerated."

When commenting on the recent terrorist attacks in Russia, Kuchins pointed out that the threat of their repetition should "make Washington and Moscow work in a much closer contact to prevent successful terrorist operations." If Basayev and his accomplices manage to destabilize the regime in Russia, potential consequences will be a serious international problem, he said: "Mass murderers, capable of shooting hundreds of children and innocent civilians, will be definitely only glad to commit a really fatal terrorist attack using nuclear weapons." According to Kuchins, Russia's statement that it is ready to make pre-emptive strikes against terrorist bases all over the world has received cautious support from Washington.