Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised incoming US President Barack Obama as “sincere and open” on Saturday but said Moscow needed to see how he turned out in practice. Relations between Washington and Moscow have hit a post-Cold War low amid rows over missile defense, NATO enlargement, Kosovo independence and Russia's war with Georgia. Putin said Russia was ready to cooperate with the United States on a range of international issues, though he cautioned against excessive optimism over the new US leader. “Obama looks like a sincere and open man and this of course attracts people,” Putin said at an overnight meeting with editors of leading German newspapers during a visit to Dresden. But he also said: “I am deeply convinced that the deepest disappointments come from excessive hopes. We need to see what happens in practice.” Putin led Russia as president in 2000-08 and developed a strong personal relationship with outgoing US President George W. Bush, which survived frequent disagreements over policy. Putin said Moscow had noted positive signals from the Obama camp on US plans to build an anti-missile system - something Moscow says threatens its security. “We respect our partners, but we expect the same attitude to us,” Putin said. “We must acknowledge each other's interests and respect each other.” Putin held out hope for improving ties with the West despite a continuing gas crisis which has left much of Europe out in the cold for 10 days. But he also declared that Russia will not change its course to satisfy the West. “If some people think that Russia doesn't fit some standards, that's their right,” he said. “But it doesn't impede us from looking at whether the standards you like are that good.” He said that that the US and Russia have several problems which can only be resolved through cooperation. “The same goes for the problems in the Middle East, with Iran, the problems of non-proliferation in general.” “We have heard that it may not be that badly needed,” Putin told German media editors. “We have heard and are fully in agreement that we have a lot in common when it comes to the solution of problems related to limiting the arms race,” he said. “The security of countries like Ukraine and Georgia can be ensured through other means and there is no need to immediately grant them NATO membership,” he added. Russia has strongly opposed Washington's plans to shepherd former Soviet states into the Western military alliance. Putin said Russia and the United States could cooperate in curBin g the arms race, as well as on the Middle East, Iran and the global economic crisis. “We are ready for such cooperation, and will wait for a political realization of what we heard during the (Obama) election campaign,” he said. The Russian premier said he was not impressed by European euphoria over Obama. “The fact that some European states were strongly inspired by Obama shows that Europeans recently saw many negative things in US policy,” he said.
