MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has congratulated president-elect George W. Bush (news - web sites) and his father on a Republican victory in the U.S. presidential vote, Interfax news agency quoted officials as saying on Friday.

 The agency quoted the head of Yeltsin's protocol department, Vladimir Shevchenko, as saying the first Russian president had in both messages called on the new administration in Washington to preserve good ties with Moscow.

 ``At this important moment I would like to express hope that Russo-American relations, to which I and your father contributed a lot, will further progress in the years ahead,'' Yeltsin said to the president-elect.

 Moscow has repeatedly urged the United States not to allow ties with Russia to falter once Republicans re-take the helm in the White House.

 During his campaign, George W. Bush sharply criticized his Democratic predecessors for being too complaisant  with Moscow for the sake of keeping up good ties.

 For George Bush senior, the 1989-93 U.S. president who saw Yeltsin install himself in the Kremlin after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, the ex-Russian leader had the same message.

 ``I hope he (George W. Bush) will continue work to build constructive ties between Russia and the United States, at the root of which you (Bush senior) and I stood,'' Yeltsin said.

 In his message, Yeltsin addressed George Bush with the informal Russian word for ``you,'' usually used between friends.

 Democratic Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) conceded defeat to George W. Bush on Wednesday after a five-week battle over the results of the election which gave a victory in the national popular vote to Gorebut the all-important electoral college to Bush.