Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Federation Council of Russia

The Russian News and Information Agency RIA Novosti, in association with the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, will hold from June 30 through July 1 a conference of the Valdai Discussion Club entitled, Russia and the US: Rethinking Interests.

This discussion was deliberately timed to take place shortly before the Russian- U.S. summit in Moscow in early July.

As a Valdai Club member, I believe there must be a way to “reset” Russian-U.S. relations as it proves to be a vital necessity. There is no point in lining up our forces or flexing our muscles; our cooperation, on the contrary, will benefit the whole world.

A shaky truce between countries like Russia and the United States can be dangerous for those around them. America is tired of the burden of expanding its zones of responsibility. We need each other. Russia and America need a strong partnership as they face a lot of common threats and challenges in this poorly manageable world.

The London meeting between presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama provided the first evidence that a “reset” is possible. The Moscow summit will be a logical follow-up. Still, however visual and accurate this computer metaphor appears, a retuning of relations can be a slow process. Two summits will certainly not be enough to clear all the grudges accumulated over the last eight years.

I believe the disarmament program will be the first thing to experience a “reset,” although the Moscow summit will come amid all the controversies that developed between Russia and the United States during the Bush presidency. That is why the U.S. anti-missile bases in Central and Eastern Europe have become an issue at the new START talks.

There is a hope that negative sentiments in our relations will be gradually reduced with time. Although START is not the only program running under the command shell of Russian-U.S. relations, resetting it would benefit other applications, including efforts to achieve economic recovery, perform anti-terrorist assignments, resolve conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan, as well as act on Iran’s nuclear dossier.