Obama spoke about Georgia with Fox News
July 8th, 2009 18:08
On areas where we disagree, like Georgia, I don`t anticipate a meeting of the minds anytime soon,` US president Barak Obama said in an interview with the Fox News yesterday. But he added there`s room to work.
`On areas where we have common interests, like fighting terrorism, I think that there is great potential for us to do some work together,` he said.
Obama also discussed Georgia at a speech earlier in the day at the New Economic School. The president strongly urged Russia to allow state sovereignty for all nations, including Georgia and Ukraine.
Obama also spoke about the influence of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Russian leadership. He said meeting Putin led him to understand more about the man.
`I think he would admit that his formative years were shaped in the Cold War,` Obama said. `Some of his continued grievances with respect to the West are still dated in some of the suspicions that came out of that period.`
`I think that President Medvedev is my counterpart, the president of Russia,` Obama said in an interview with FOX News Tuesday. `The prime minister, who I just met today, obviously still has enormous influence.`
The U.S. president said that Medvedev and Putin are on the same page about Russian affairs, even if some think Putin is the master puppeteer controlling the president.