Updated on Thursday, July 02, 2009, 21:43 IST

Moscow, July 02: Ahead of US President Barack Obama's maiden three-day Russia visit beginning next week, his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev has said the bilateral relations between the two former foes have reached Cold War levels.

"Unfortunately, relations between our two countries have worsened over these last years. A crisis of confidence, lack of action, unwillingness to take any new steps -- call it what you will, but the fact remains that, although our countries' presidents had a good personal rapport, Russian-US relations declined to a level practically on a par with the Cold War era," Medvedev said in his video blog posted on the Kremlin website.

Welcoming Obama administration's willingness to press the "reset" button to change the situation, Medvedev expressed readiness to respond accordingly.

"The new administration headed by President Obama is showing its willingness to change the situation and build more effective, reliable, and ultimately more modern relations. We are ready to play our part," the President stated.

He said there are problems of international security like the fight against terrorism, extremism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and drugs trafficking which the two nuclear superpowers simply cannot resolve on their own, acting unilaterally.

"Our two nations have a great responsibility in this respect, for our relations will have a direct impact on shaping the state of our world over these coming decades.

No matter who is president of Russia or the United States, they will always bear this special responsibility for the decisions they make. They will always be responsible before their countries and the entire world," Medvedev underscored in his video blog.

Bureau Report