Elaborating on Sino-Russian relations, Morgulov said the most important task is to boost economic cooperation, which lags "far behind" the political cooperation between the two countries.

"Enhancing economic cooperation with China is Moscow's top priority and the two countries have already established a dialogue mechanism between the prime ministers," he said, adding that the two sides are currently discussing a large-scale economic cooperation between Russia's Far East and China's Northeast region.

The trade volume between China and Russia is expected to increase from $48 billion last year to $60 billion this year.

Still, the stated ambition to foster relations with emerging powers in the Asia-Pacific by no means indicates that Moscow will overlook relations with the West, he said.

"Given its unique geographic location, Russia is a country that looks both to the East and the West," Morgulov said.

In this regard, he reiterated Moscow's concern over NATO's expansion.

In Medvedev's new foreign policy paper, NATO's expansion, especially the granting of its membership to Ukraine and Georgia, remains a top concern for Russia.

"Russia opposes NATO's further expansion eastward and is very concerned about NATO's new military bases getting closer and closer to Russia," Morgulov said.

(China Daily July 30, 2008)