Obama congratulates Russia’s president-elect Putin

President Barack Obama on Friday called Russia’s president-elect Vladimir Putin to congratulate him, inaugurating a relationship that may decide the fate of “reset” US relations with the Kremlin.

Obama called Putin from Air Force One, his deputy spokesman Josh Earnest said, after the once and future Russian leader won a presidential election on Sunday that prompted Washington to ask for a probe into irregularities.

Obama called Putin “to congratulate him on his recent victory in the Russian Presidential election,” a White House statement said.

The US leader “highlighted achievements in US-Russia relations over the past three years with President (Dmitry) Medvedev, including cooperation on Afghanistan, the conclusion and ratification of the START agreement, Russia’s recent invitation to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) and cooperation on Iran.”

Obama and Putin “agreed that the successful reset in relations should be built upon during the coming years” and the US leader said that he looked forward to hosting Putin at the G8 Summit in May at Camp David.

The two leaders also “agreed to continue discussions on areas where the United States and Russia have differed, including Syria and missile defense” and “to continue their efforts to find common ground and remove obstacles to better relations,” the White House said.

The administration regards its reinvigoration of relations with Russia as a signature foreign policy success, but recent spats with Moscow and Putin’s presidential election win have cast doubt on future cooperation.

But on Thursday, the White House said US policy towards Russia was based on interests and not personalities when asked whether Obama would be as friendly with Putin as he has been with Medvedev.

“The reset policy that the president pursued after he took office, with Russia, produced benefits for US national security interests, US commercial interests,” said Obama spokesman Jay Carney.

“We obviously look forward to continuing to cooperate and work with Russia where we agree on issues. And that’s regardless of who the president is.”

Putin has adopted a more confrontational posture towards the West than that pioneered by Medvedev, who seems a better personal fit for Obama than does Putin, a hardnosed former KGB man.

Some analysts have also questioned whether the rising political opposition Putin has encountered in Russia will lead him to adopt nationalistic and populist stances which could cause conflict in US relations with Moscow.

Washington has reacted cautiously to Putin’s election and said it hoped that Moscow would carry out an independent probe after foreign monitors found the results of Sunday’s poll had been skewed in Putin’s favor.

“I believe the international observers noted that Mr. Putin won a majority of the vote. But we also note the irregularities that have been reported,” Carney said.

The State Department said on Monday that it hoped that with the election out of the way, Russia would turn its attention to helping to solve the Syria crisis.

Russia and China have twice used their veto in the UN Security Council to block international action against the regime in Damascus of President Bashar al-Assad, earning an angry US response.