Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he had noted "positive signals" about US president-elect Barack Obama but cautioned against "big expectations."
"We have watched an election campaign with great attention and we have heard and seen the positive signals which have been directed at us," Putin told German newspaper editors and journalists in Dresden, Germany.
He singled out Obama's stance on the US missile defence plan in Europe and US apparent readiness to wait on a NATO membership for countries like Georgia and Ukraine, which Russia considers its sphere of influence.
"We have heard and are fully in agreement that we have a lot in common when it comes to the solution of problems related to limiting the arms race," he said.
"We have a lot of common problems that we can really only jointly solve. The same goes for the problems in the Middle East, with Iran, the problems of non-proliferation in general."
But he also warned of the danger of raising expectations too high.
"I am deeply convinced that the biggest disappointments are born out of big expectations," he added.
He refrained from making any promises or predictions, saying Russia would be waiting for the pledges Obama had made during his campaign to be be realized.
"One needs to see what will happen in practice," Putin said. "We will see when we get there," he said. (source)
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