Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that there are no obstacles to normalizing Russian-West relations, which are suffering the worst crisis since the Cold War because of the situation in Ukraine.

“I think there is nothing to prevent us from normalizing the relations and returning to normal cooperation” Putin said in his interview.

“This does not depend on us. Not only on us. This depends on our partners”, he added.

The statement was made two days after the signing of the Geneva Agreement between Russia, Ukraine, U.S. and EU, which aims to allow a de-escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.

The Russian president also noted that Russia will have better relations with NATO ‘s new Secretary General, former Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg, who will take office in October.

“We have very good relations, even at a personal level. He is a very serious and responsible person”, Mr. Putin said.

The Russian president accused this week the current NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen of secretly recording a private conversation he had with him when the latter was prime minister of Denmark.