Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov has said he had a ‘very positive’ reaction to US Vice President Joe Biden's call for a fresh start in relations between Washington and Moscow.
Mr Biden's pledged a new tone in US foreign policy and said it was ‘time to press the reset button’ in Washington's strained ties with Moscow.
Mr Ivanov made the comments just ahead of a meeting with Mr Biden on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich.
When asked which aspect of the speech he meant, Ivanov told reporters in English: ‘Restarting the button’.
The talks between Mr Biden and Mr Ivanov are the highest-level meeting between US and Russia since the new US administration of President Barack Obama took office on 20 January.
They follow Mr Biden's major foreign policy speech Saturday in which he laid out a vision for the foreign policy of the new Obama administration.
Mr Biden said Russia and the United States should cooperate in areas of mutual interest and indicated that the Obama administration might review a missile defence plans in Eastern Europe that have angered Russia.
