No Cold War?

Tensions between the United States and Russia are not at Cold War levels, according to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The Russian leader said Thursday that there are no ideological reasons to have any kind of war with the United States in spite of differences over Russia's incursion into Georgia, a U.S. ally.

Russia has complained that the U.S. military presence is growing near its borders. Tensions are high over the Georgian conflict and U.S. plans to install missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic.

But Mr. Medvedev explained that the Cold War stemmed from ideological differences between the Soviet Union and NATO countries.

"We do not have such ideological differences around which a new cold or any other kind of war could start," he said after talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero outside St. Petersburg.

President Medvedev declared he would not "dramatize" Russia-NATO disputes, but said that the alliance needs Russia more than vice versa.

He predicted that the outcome of the American presidential election would not affect U.S. dealings with Russia. The Russian said that the next American president "must hold up relations with Russia — must work for the sake of cooperation both with Russia and with the EU."

This is somewhat encouraging. But on the same day, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian military personnel of manning anti-aircraft systems in Georgia's brief fight against Russia.

Russia has accused Ukraine, another U.S. ally, of helping to arm Georgia before the war in August. But Mr. Putin charged Thursday that there may have been missile sales after the war started.

Thus while the Russian president assures that there is no reason to heighten tensions, Prime Minister Putin finds a way to do so.