Putin, Obama to 'deepen ties'

The presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, have vowed to continue efforts to improve bilateral ties and will sign an agreement on future cooperation at the G20 summit in Mexico in June, Putin's foreign policy advisor said on Tuesday. "A meeting is planned for the Presidents of Russia and the United States at the Los Cabos G20 Summit. This will be a full-scale meeting, in the course of which important agreements will be made, in particular a presidential joint declaration on further cooperation. This has been agreed," aide Yury Ushakov said. Putin and Obama exchanged messages earlier this month, in which the two leaders reiterated "a mutual desire to expand and deepen bilateral relations and upgrading them to a qualitatively new level," , told a news briefing in Moscow. Putin's message, in response to Obama's letter of May 2, was delivered to the United States by former president and now Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who stood in for Putin at a summit of G8 leaders near Washington on May 18-19, Ushakov said. Moscow would like to continue along the lines of Medvedev's much-publicized "reset" policy with the U.S, which saw both sides sign a landmark nuclear arms control treaty in 2010, Ushakov said. Russia will pursue "kind, promising ties" with Washington if both sides maintain a policy of "equality and non-involvement" in the other's affairs, he added . Both Putin and Obama enjoyed their last meeting in summer 2009, Ushakov said. "They talked about a lot of different things for over two hours and both enjoyed it. So now I'm sure they will find a common language," he said.