MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian political analyst said on Thursday that a win for Illinois Senator Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential elections on November 4 is a "foregone conclusion," and would be good for Russia.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey put Democratic Party candidate Obama, 47, on 52%, around 10 points ahead of his Republican rival, 72-year-old Arizona Senator John McCain, who is trailing with 42%.

"In many ways the result of the American elections is a foregone conclusion. Everything is leading to Obama becoming U.S. president," said Sergei Oznobishchev, director at the Institute of Strategic Assessments.

According to Oznobishchev, the Republicans are losing and in the eyes of American voters McCain is firmly tied to Republican and Bush's policies. "The idea that the policies of Bush will somehow be different from McCain's just isn't working," the expert said.

The analyst also thinks that an Obama win would be in Russia's best interests, "Under McCain, a product of the Cold War, NATO will continue to expand and it will be harder to reach an agreement," he said. "Obama will look at the world differently."

Oznobishchev's optimism is not shared by many Russian political analysts, who have been cautious in their comments on future U.S.-Russian ties, believing that they could become more unpredictable if Obama is elected.

Andrei Kortunov, president of the New Eurasia foundation, warned that "Relations between the United States and Russia could become more interesting, but Russian authorities would find it more difficult to deal with Obama."

"He will make world affairs more complicated," the analyst said.