MOSCOW. June 1 (Interfax) - Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev thinks that relations between Russia and the West are even worse today than they were during the Cold War.
"Yes, it's true. I don't mean that it's a situation like the Caribbean Crisis, when everything was hanging by a thread. But in certain aspects, today's situation is even worse [than during the Cold War]," Medvedev said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper when asked whether he thinks relations with the West were better during the Cold War than they are now.
"The situation is worse because our partners assume that Russia may be disregarded. Previously, the principle was that the Soviet Union is not a friend, but it ought to be reckoned with, but today they think, they thought at least until recently, that Russia is a dying country, that one doesn't have to reckon with it, that it may be disregarded in foreign policy matters. That's why they made so many mistakes," Medvedev said.