MOSCOW, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Russia believed unresolved issues with the U.S., including the missile defense issue, could be settled only after the U.S. presidential election, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
"It is clear that we have to resolve that and many other unsettled issues only after the election marathon in the U.S. is over," Lavrov told local magazine Foreign Affairs here.
"Irrespective of the (election) outcome, we are prepared to develop a political dialogue with the United States," he said, adding Russia also hoped there would be no interference in each other's internal affairs regardless of who was the next U.S. president.
Meanwhile, the diplomat stressed Moscow still insisted on legally binding guarantees from the U.S. over the missile defense issues -- "one of the most serious differences between Russia and the U.S.."
"We need to work out a clear legal frame for interactions over the missile defense issue, including legally binding guarantees that the build-up of the U.S. means is not targeting Russia and our nuclear forces, as well as any country in the Euro-Atlantic region," Lavrov said.
He said Russia and the U.S. should also agree on military-technical criteria, which enable controls over these guarantees' implementation.
"Obviously, the U.S. and NATO make relevant decisions without taking into account Russia's interests," he said.
According to Lavrov, Moscow expects the U.S. anti-missile forces would not undermine Russia's deterrence capabilities and would not break the power balance built over decades.
Moscow has long been opposed the deployment of U.S.-led European missile defense facilities near its borders.
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