Bush says Russia is friend, not foe: paper

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush believes Russia is a friend of the United States and not an enemy, according to an online version of an interview he gave to a German newspaper.

In the interview conducted in Washington with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and various other European newspapers, Bush was quoted as saying Russia was "not an enemy regime but a friend".

According to excerpts of the interview published on the newspaper's Web site on Thursday, Bush said Russian-U.S. relations were complex and that there were areas in which there was a great deal of agreement and others where there were differences of opinion.

A full version of the interview is due to be published in the newspaper's print edition on Saturday.

U.S. plans to build a missile defense shield in eastern Europe have alarmed Moscow and strained relations between the two countries. Russia says the missile defense shield is a threat to its security but Washington dismisses such fears, saying the shield is intended to counter "rogue states".

Russia successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday featuring multiple warheads designed to overcome missile defense systems.