US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said in spite of differences mutual respect and shared responsibility lie at the core of US Russian relations in the 21st century.
 
America’s top diplomat was speaking during a two day visit to Moscow.
 
Afghanistan, missile defence and cutting both powers’ atomic arsenals featured prominently in talks.
 
Clinton said: “President Obama and I believe that it is this cooperative relationship and acceptance of shared responsibility that is really at the core of the 21st century relationship between US and Russia. One example of that is the work that our technical experts are doing on the START agreement to cut our nuclear arsenals to demonstrate leadership from the two largest nuclear powers in the world”.
 
What to do about Iran’s atomic ambitions was a key talking point with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov not ruling out sanctions.  
 
‘‘We’re very cautious about sanctions in principle. They rarely give results. But there are situations where sanctions cannot be avoided,’‘ Lavrov said.
 
Clinton is seeking Russian backing against Iran should talks over Tehran’s atomic programme fail.
 
Lavrov also said significant progress had been made on a new arms reduction treaty with the US.

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