Russia does not dramatize Obama's decision to cancel visit

Russia does not dramatize U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to cancel his visit to Moscow, planned for early September to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published in the Washington Post. "We do not dramatize the fact that the summit was postponed. We are sure Russian-American relations are broader than emotions and mutual displeasure, including in connection with the situation around Edward Snowden," the minister noted. Some important documents, among them a statement of the presidents on strategic prospects for Russian-U.S. relations, were expected to be signed during the planned meeting in Moscow, he said. Russia and the United States continue to cooperate in a number of areas, on Afghanistan and atomic energy. "In Afghanistan, we provide transit possibilities and cooperate to supply weapons and helicopters to the Afghan army and security forces," Lavrov noted. Russia and the United States have agreed to simplify visa formalities. "Now tourists and businessmen from Russia and the U.S. can receive multiple entry visas for three years, and the period to consider applications must not be longer than 14 days," Lavrov noted. No double standards in fighting terrorism There should be no double standards in the fight against terrorism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated in his interview with The Washington Post. The Russian minister was asked whether he feared the possibility of violence spilling over from Syria into the Caucasus. “This should not be addressed just to Russia. The jihadists come from many European countries, Russia included, and some even from the United States; hundreds of them — if you take Europe, Russia and the U.S. — are fighting in the ranks of extremist groups.” The Russian foreign minister is confident that “they are gaining the experience which they will try to use after the Syrian crisis is over elsewhere, first and foremost in their home countries. This is our common threat,” Lavrov stressed. “That is what we must be discussing and not just engaging in the rhetoric of who should go and who should stay, which authoritarian leader is unacceptable and which authoritarian leader could stay for some time as long as he plays the right game. Either we agree that any terrorism is unacceptable, or we will be playing a double-standard game where some son of a bitch is okay because he is our son of a bitch,” Lavrov emphasized.