MOSCOW - Russia`s foreign ministry said Wednesday it expected that a scandal sparked by the arrest of suspected spies would not hurt improving US-Russia ties, a day after slamming the allegations as "groundless."

"We expect that the incident connected to the arrest in the United States of a group of individuals on suspicion of conducting intelligence activities in Russia`s favour will not negatively affect the Russian-US relations," a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.

"In this connection, we take note of the statement of White House official representative Robert Gibbs," the spokesman said.

Gibbs said on Tuesday he did not believe that the spy scandal would affect "the reset of our relationship with Russia."

BDST: 1519 HRS, June 30, 2010