The top U.S. military officer pleaded on Monday for continued cooperation with Russia despite Moscow”s widely condemned military action in Georgia.
“I believe we”ve got to have a relationship with Russia,” Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Los Angeles.
“I don”t believe we should discontinue engagement on the military side because that relationship is going to be very important in the future,” Mullen said.
The United States and other Western nations strongly condemned Russia for sending troops and tanks into Georgia last month after Tblisi tried to regain control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
In the wake of the war, the Pentagon said it would review all aspects of its relations with Russia. Washington and NATO have canceled military exercises with Russian forces.
While Mullen urged Moscow to respect a French-brokered peace pact and said U.S. ally Georgia deserved strong support, he argued that maintaining cooperation with Russia would benefit America.
