SOCHI, May 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will be patiently developing relations with the West and will not return to the Cold War period in their relations, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday.
"We will be building relations with our Western colleagues with patience and calm," Putin said. "As I said [in the state of the nation address] we will not return to the Cold War era."
Putin said he had made it a point in his address to parliament Wednesday that Russia did not seek in its foreign policy or defense strategy a return to the Cold War era.
"We only want normal, reasonable conditions for our foreign political development. We do not need anything else," the president said.
The president's remarks Saturday and his state of the nation address, which focused on the need to strengthen Russia's defense capabilities and improve the demographic situation, were a response to growing criticism in the West of Russia's democratic record and allegedly politically-driven energy policy.
Russia has repeatedly dismissed the charges, saying it only wants to ensure its national interests and in turn accusing Western countries of being prejudiced against Russia.
