Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday said his country is looking forward to developing "more modern relations" with the United States during an upcoming summit.

Russian-U.S. relations have sunk to Cold War levels in recent years, Medvedev said in a video address posted on the Kremlin website ahead of his meeting next week with U.S. President Barack Obama.

"The new U.S. administration under President Obama is showing its willingness to change the situation and build more effective, reliable, and ultimately more modern relations," Medvedev said. "We are ready for this." Medvedev said both parties need to work out mutually beneficial projects in business, science and culture during their meeting. He said they also should shoulder joint responsibility to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and the proliferation of nuclear arms.

Medvedev said he hoped that Obama's visit would help the U.S. administration know Russia better and understand Moscow's real interest in improving bilateral ties.

Obama is scheduled to visit Moscow on July 6-8.

It will be the president's first trip to Russia since he took office in January.

Source: Xinhua