VYSELKI, Krasnodar Territory. July 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Major progress will be made in Russian-U.S. relations if the United States drops its plans to deploy a missile shield in Eastern Europe "or, for example, revises its position on the enlargement of military and political blocs, or in general stops thinking in terms of blocs," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
It will also be "a tremendous step forward" if the United States removes Russia from the list of countries to which the Jackson-Vanik Amendment applies, something Washington has been "promising to do for about eight years," Putin told reporters.
The Jackson-Vanik Amendment is a U.S. trade law of 1975 under which the United States is to deny most favored nation status to countries that have non-market economies and restrict emigration.