Moscow: Hailing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's initiatives to normalise relations with Islamabad, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has said cross-border terrorism is the prime cause of "serious tension" between India and Pakistan.

"Russia has welcomed initiatives of the Indian Prime Minister aimed at improving relations with Pakistan. We hope the (two) sides will continue effective implementation of the complex of measures for ending cross-border terrorism, which has become the prime cause of serious tension between these two States."

"This would open the way for the resumption of full-format Indo-Pak dialogue under the provisions of Simla Accord of 1972," Ivanov said in an article published by 'Asia and Africa Today' monthly in its latest issue.

Reviewing the situation in various parts of the continent and Russia's relations with the leading Asian nations, Ivanov wrote that India is an obvious priority in Russia's foreign policy.

"In the Southern direction, relations with India are an obvious priority. With the signing of Declaration of Strategic Partnership in October 2000, Russia and India have attained a qualitatively new level of interaction," he said.