U.S. will work with new Russian leader: White House

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it would work on areas of common interest with new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a day after he easily won an election criticized by Western observers as not fully democratic.

"Dmitry Medvedev was elected president of Russia yesterday," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "The United States looks forward to working with him."

"It's in our mutual interest for Russia and the United States to work together on areas of common interest such as non-proliferation, counterterrorism and combating transnational crime," he added.

Medvedev has vowed to uphold the policies of his mentor, President Vladimir Putin, whom he has asked to be prime minister in his new government.

A Western group monitoring the Russian vote has said the outcome broadly reflected the wishes of the people but fell short on a number of issues.

At the U.S. State Department, spokesman Tom Casey noted that U.S. officials including President Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had previously expressed concern about the state of democracy in Russia. "I don't think those concerns were in any way changed by these elections," Casey said.

But Casey said the relationship between Russia and the United States was an important one, and said there was hope it could be improved.

"We'll have to see what new politics or ideas he (Medvedev) brings to office, and certainly, see who else is in his government, and look forward to the opportunity to meet with them and work with them," Casey said.

(Reporting by David Alexander and Susan Cornwell, editing by Patricia Zengerle)