The relations between Moscow and Washington could be held hostage to pre-election battles, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

He was commenting on a statement by U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney who said that in the event of becoming president he will not be as flexible towards Moscow as the Barack Obama administration is.

"As the head of state already stressed repeatedly, Russia was and will be keen on further development of the U.S.-Russian bilateral relationship," Peskov said.

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