Medvedev to Obama: Russia Pays No Heed to U.S. Poll Criticism
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday he had told his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama that Moscow attached "no importance" to Washington's criticism of this month's elections in Russia.
"Of course, I had to say one thing to him: 'You can think of our elections what you want, it is our affair. To speak frankly, we attach no importance to it'," Medvedev said of a telephone call with Obama on Friday.
"We are a big country, strong, sovereign," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
The White House said the U.S. president praised Medvedev's commitment to investigate allegations of flaws in the December 4 vote, which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won with a reduced majority.
The call between the two leaders follows criticism of the United States by Putin, who is expected to take back his old job as president after a presidential election in March next year.
Putin last week accused the United States of inciting the wave of protests against alleged vote rigging after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised concerns about the fairness of the election.
And on Thursday he accused Washington of orchestrating the mob killing of former Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi in October.
Source: Agence France Presse
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