WASHINGTON, Dec 7: President-elect Barack Obama called for a reappraisal of frosty US-Russia relations, while chiding Moscow for “bullying” Georgia and other neighbouring nations.

In an interview on NBC program “Meet the Press” broadcast on Sunday, Obama said he was determining when he would meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev or the country’s powerful prime minister, Vladimir Putin.

But he stressed that after he succeeds President George Bush on Jan 20: “I think that it’s going to be important for us to reset US-Russia relations.” Helped by robust economic growth, energy-rich Russia has become “increasingly assertive,” Obama noted.

“And when it comes to Georgia and their threats against their neighbouring countries, I think they’ve been acting in ways that are contrary to international norms.

“We want to cooperate with them where we can,” Mr Obama said, citing nuclear non-proliferation and joint efforts against terrorism.

“But we have also have to send a clear message that they have to act in ways that are not bullying their neighbours.” Putin said on Thursday that Russia had received “positive signals” from Obama that could open the door to dramatic improvement of Russia-US relations, especially over Nato enlargement and US missile defence plans.

Obama has promised to review the effectiveness of the Bush administration’s planned missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.—AFP