( dpa ) - Russia has warmed to Prime Minister Donald Tusk's "constructive attitude" for closer relations between the two countries ahead of his visit to Moscow, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
" Russia welcomes Warsaw's reciprocal readiness to achieve good- neighbourly relations, sought by Donald Tusk's government," ministry spokesperson Mikhail Kamynin was quoted by news agency Itar-Tass as saying.
"We expect the Russo-Polish relations to get a powerful impetus for progressive development," he added, referring to the first visit of newly-elected Polish prime minister scheduled for Friday.
Relations between Poland and Russia sank to perhaps a lowest point ever under the conservative nationalist rule of the twin Kaczynski brothers over Russia's opposition to US plans to install a missile defence shield on Polish soil.
But tensions immediately thawed in October with Tusk's arrival and his promise to improve ties with Russia.
Tusk has in particular won allies in Moscow by launching negotiations with Russia on the planned US missile defence system in a change from the hardline of his predecessor.
"There has been no final decision on this project," he told Russian business newspaper Kommersant in an interview published Wednesday.
Responding to a question on compromise proposals that would see Russian officers monitoring the interceptor base on Polish territory, Tusk said he saw "other political means for building trust and establishing multi-partner cooperation."
Tusk, however, stressed that Russia's attitude should take account that Poland is NATO and European Union member state.
Poland has increasingly tended to formulate its foreign policy through the EU when diplomatic relations with Russia were failing, blocking new rounds of an EU-Russia partnership and cooperation agreement over Russia's ban of its meat imports.
Russia lifted the ban with shortly after Tusk's arrival in office.
"My purpose is for an improvement in relations ... and I'd like this attitude to be taken seriously by Russia," Tusk unequivocally told Kommersant.