Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Washington for a visit on Thursday. He will meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
Lavrov will also deliver a speech at the Carnegie Foundation.
The development of a dialogue between Moscow and Washington in new conditions will be the main subject of these talks.
“The visit’s main task is to restart the Russian-American relations and designate areas in which it’s necessary to work to ensure a successful visit of the U.S. President Barrack Obama to Russia in July,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Andrei Nesterenko said.
“We hope that we’ll manage to have a full-scaled discussion of Russian-American cooperation and use this newly emerged ‘window of opportunities’ for its further development,” the diplomat emphasized.
Nesterenko also said that the modalities of a new START treaty would also be discussed.
The agenda of the talks with American leadership includes urgent problems of interaction between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance.
“During my visit to Washington I hope to discuss an entire range of cooperation within the Russia-NATO Partnership Council,” Lavrov told journalists before departure for the United States.
“We’ll discuss the alarming situation in the Caucasus which is being preserved primarily because of the provocative actions undertaken by the Georgian leadership,” Lavrov said.
Sergei Lavrov will leave Washington for New York on May 8 for consultations at the United Nations headquarters. The Russian foreign minister will deliver a speech at a special U.N. Security Council meeting on the Middle East.
Lavrov’s visit to the United States will last until May 11.
