U.S. and Russia try to relax

Russia and the United States agreed Tuesday that upcoming political campaigns in the two countries must not be allowed to damage ties between them, as officials on both sides sought to ease tensions that have built in recent months.

The pledges of a more cooperative spirit came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks here with her Russian counterpart and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.

“Condoleezza Rice stressed, and that was supported by President Putin, that our relationship must not become hostage to the election campaigns getting started in our two countries,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei V. Lavrov. “That is our common goal.”

Russia will hold parliamentary elections in December and a presidential election in March. The U.S. will go to the polls to elect a new president and members of Congress in November 2008.

Relations between the two nations have been strained in particular by U.S. plans to install an antimissile system in Eastern Europe. Washington says it is needed to defend Europe and North America, citing the possibility of missile attacks by Iran. Moscow has expressed fears that the move would be a step toward a global missile defense system aimed at devaluing Russia’s and China’s nuclear deterrents.

Although there was no sign that either side had shifted on the missile defense issue, Rice and Lavrov said their nations were cooperating in many areas and wanted to build a better partnership.

The two officials appeared to go out of their way to make a show of friendliness. Lavrov held Rice’s chair for her when she first sat down. Rice stood, smiled broadly and shook hands with Lavrov at the end of their appearance.

Earlier, speaking with reporters, Rice said she hoped her visit would encourage a toning down of Russian criticism aimed at the United States.

“I have said while I’m here that the rhetoric is not helpful,” she said. “It is disturbing to Americans who are trying to do our best to maintain an even relationship. We’re going to have our differences.... There will be times when something like missile defense may even hit an old nerve. But the relationship needs to be free of exaggerated rhetoric.”

Lavrov, at the joint appearance with Rice, said that Russia would take appropriate military measures in response to the antimissile deployment but that the dispute need not poison the countries’ relations.

“The military have their obligation to calculate threats and take countermeasures,” he said. “[But] the reality is that Russia and the United States will inevitably be obliged to stay partners if we both realize our responsibility for the fate of the world.”

At her separate meeting with reporters, Rice cited nuclear nonproliferation and terrorism as issues on which the United States and Russia were cooperating “very well.”

“We have a lot that is going right in this relationship,” she said.

Earlier Tuesday, Rice met with several prominent public figures. Among them was Andrei Kortunov, president of the New Eurasia Foundation, a Moscow think tank.

“It is not for nothing that observers and experts on both sides have begun to talk louder and louder about a crisis in the relationship, if not signs of a new Cold War. But as usual many reports tend to over-dramatize the situation,” Kortunov said in an interview after the meeting.

“Rice has obviously been sent to Moscow to demonstrate that relations between Russia and the United States are under control,” he said, “and that despite some differences, constructive dialogue is continuing.”

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david.holley@latimes.com

Times staff writer Sergei L. Loiko contributed to this report.