Putin says Russia-U.S. relations warmer, but urges changes

NOVO-OGARYOVO, March 19, 2010, (RIA Novosti)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday that relations between Russia and the United States have become warmer, but urged fundamental changes.

"Putin and Clinton had an open talk," deputy government staff chief Yury Ushakov said following talks between Putin and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"Putin stressed that as a result of steps by the U.S. administration and both sides' reset policies, a more favorable atmosphere has been created in relations, but now the fundamental aspect of our bilateral cooperation needs to be decisively altered," he said.

He gave no further details.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier on Friday that the "reset" in Russia-U.S. relations has become a reality.

Clinton attended a meeting of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators on Palestinian-Israeli peace talks in Moscow earlier on Friday.

Putin hopes Russia-U.S. cooperation leads to Mideast settlement

NOVO-OGARYOVO, March 19, 2010, (RIA Novosti)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday he hopes for successful cooperation with the United States in efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"Unfortunately, work by the Middle East Quartet is taking place against a backdrop of strikes between Palestinians and Israelis," Putin said at a meeting with U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton.

"But I am convinced you and your counterpart [Sergei] Lavrov will thoroughly study this problem and seek additional means to enhance efficiency," he said.

The Quartet, which is made up of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, met on Friday in Moscow. It issued a statement calling on Israel to freeze its settlement activity and dismount settlements erected since March 2001 as well as abstain from demolishing buildings in East Jerusalem.

Tensions between Palestinians and Israel intensified on the eve of the Quartet meeting. On Thursday, a rocket fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip killed a 30-year-old Thai farm worker in southern Israel.

Palestinian security officials said Israeli air strikes hit six sites, including smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border. Other targets included two tunnels near the Israeli border, a weapons manufacturing site, and two open areas in Khan Younis and a metal foundry near Gaza City. Two civilians were reported injured in the attacks.

The Middle East peace efforts stalled last week after Israel's announcement that it had given the go-ahead for the building of 1,600 housing units for Jewish families in the disputed area of East Jerusalem. The news threatened to derail the agreed resumption of peace talks, with the Palestinian side saying it would pull out unless the building plans were abandoned.

Settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, has been the main obstacle to reviving peace talks.

Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction activity and remove unauthorized outposts built since 2001 from Palestinian territories.