Trump win would shake Washington, help mend ties, says Russia

Moscow, June 2: A victory for Republican hopeful Donald Trump at the upcoming US presidential election could be the major change needed to reverse the negative trend in Russia-US relations, claims the head of the Russian Upper House Committee for Foreign Relations.

"Any continuation of the dialogue (which often looked more like a monologue performed by the US) using the same format that has been used over the past 25 years would automatically reproduce all conflicts and stalemates that we faced before," RT online quoted Konstantin Kosachev as writing on his Facebook page.

"New chances may appear only as radically new tendencies in the White House, and we are talking not only about pro-Russian sentiments, we simply need some fresh air, some 'wind of change' in Washington. Then, we can reset certain things and agree on continuation of the dialogue," the senator added.

At the same time, Kosachev acknowledged that under any administration the US was bound to implement certain geopolitical projects, such as NATO expansion, missile defence or trans-ocean trade partnerships, but noted that new faces in US politics could still bring some pleasant surprises.

"We will wait for surprises because in the ordinary mode and under system-born presidents from traditional clans, like Bush or Clinton, we will definitely have no changes at all," he concluded.

In December 2015, Vladimir Putin described Trump as the "absolute front-runner in the presidential race" and said Russia welcomed the US politician's declared intention to restore normal relations.

"He says he wants to move to another level of relations, to a deeper level of relations with Russia. How can we not welcome that? Of course, we welcome it," Putin said during his marathon annual Q&A session with journalists.

Trump replied that it was a "great honour" for him to receive praise from a "highly respected" leader such as Putin.

IANS