President Vladimir Putin says Russia can work with Mitt Romney if he's elected U.S. president, even though he has called Russia the United States' "No. 1 geopolitical foe."

In an interview broadcast Thursday by the Kremlin-funded Russia Today TV channel, Putin said: "We'll work with whichever president is elected by the American people. But our effort will be only as efficient as our partners will want it to be."

Putin expressed concern about how a Romney presidency would affect the long-running dispute over U.S.-led NATO plans to place elements of a missile-defense system in Europe. Russia contends the system could undermine its own defenses.

Putin said if Romney is elected "the missile defense system will definitely be directed against Russia."

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