The United States said that it was ready to work with whoever is the next president of Russia.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who took over the Kremlin from Putin in 2008, announced on Saturday he would step aside for the incumbent prime minister in the March 2012 polls and instead serve as government chief. Vladimir Putin announced he planned to return to the top job.We look forward to working with whoever is the next Russian president because we believe clearly that this is in the mutual interest of the United States and Russia and the world, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.President Barack Obamas reset of US-Russia ties marks one of his most tangible claims to foreign policy success.Toner insisted the United States did not think the return of Putin to the Russian presidency would jeopardize future cooperation.We will continue to work on the reset, we believe its been valuable so far, Toner said.Obviously, Putin in his current role has been a part of those discussions and cooperation. But, again, this is a matter for the Russian people to decide. Were getting ahead of ourselves.