Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev found common ground yesterday on issues ranging from arms reduction to Afghanistan. Today, Obama will try for a repeat performance with a different audience: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
While Obama and Medvedev “had a symbolically successful day,” the U.S. president’s meeting with Putin, 56, is “key” and may serve as a “reality check” on Obama’s effort to recast the two countries’ relations, said Andrew Kuchins, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“Obama’s ability to charm is his greatest strength and Putin is not a guy that can be charmed,” said Kuchins.
Obama, 47, and Medvedev, 43, announced after almost four hours of meetings in Moscow yesterday that they agreed to slash their nuclear arsenals and cooperate on military action in Afghanistan as the U.S. and Russia seek to “reset” ties.
The two leaders called for a reduction of nuclear warheads by as much as a third from current limits in a Kremlin meeting. Russia also agreed to allow the transit of U.S. arms shipments to troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Obama told reporters he and Medvedev “resolved to reset U.S.-Russian relations” during their first meeting in April. “After less than six months of collaboration, we have done exactly that,” he said at a Moscow news conference.
Relations had reached a post-Cold War low under President George W. Bush because of disagreements over the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a proposed U.S. missile shield in Europe and Russia’s war with Georgia.
New Commission
The agreement on nuclear targets sets the course for negotiators to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires in December. The two sides also agreed to form a commission headed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia to keep open the lines of communication.
The U.S. intends to host a global nuclear security summit next year, Obama said, adding that a subsequent meeting may take place in Russia. The two countries, which hold 95 percent of the world’s atomic weapons, must lead by example if they expect other countries to collaborate on nuclear non-proliferation, the U.S. president said.
‘Best’ Outcome
“This kind of outcome was the best we could expect,” Pavel Podvig, a researcher at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, said by phone. “The key thing is they put some numbers on paper.”
The two presidents agreed to a reduction of their nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads and between 500 and 1,100 delivery vehicles. Current limits allow a maximum of 2,200 warheads and 1,600 launch vehicles.
George Shultz, secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, hailed the agreement in a statement as “good news” and “an essential step” toward a “world free of nuclear weapons.”
The U.S. will return to the issue of the missile shield, which Russia says would hurt its defense posture, when it completes its review of Bush-era plans, Obama said. Differences with Russia on missile defense can be reconciled, he also said.
The issues of missile defense and Iran consumed the majority of Obama’s and Medvedev’s one-on-one meeting, with Obama insisting that negotiations about nuclear disarmament remain separate from the conversations about the shield, said Michael McFaul, a National Security Council official.
No Linkage
“Let’s be very clear, we are not discussing limitations on missile defense” in the talks over a new nuclear treaty, McFaul told reporters in Moscow.
Russia’s agreement to allow the transit of military personnel and materiel to U.S. troops in Afghanistan helps Obama redouble the American war effort as Pakistan becomes increasingly unreliable as a supply route. Medvedev began allowing shipments of non-lethal cargoes bound for Afghanistan to pass via Russian territory in March. The agreement will save the U.S. $133 million in transit fees it would have paid to Russia.
The two leaders praised each other, with Medvedev calling the talks “open and sincere” and Obama characterizing his Russian counterpart as “professional and straightforward.”
Obama said he and Medvedev discussed issues where the U.S. and Russian positions diverge, including the situation in Georgia. No one has an interest in renewing the conflict that saw Russia recognize the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia after a five-day war, he said.
‘Rivalry of the Past’
“President Medvedev and I are committed to leaving behind the suspicion and rivalry of the past so we can advance the interests we hold in common,” Obama said.
The Clinton-Lavrov commission will see to it that relations don’t deteriorate again, the U.S. president said. The new forum is reminiscent of the so-called Gore-Chernomyrdin commission, which managed relations between the governments of Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin.
Obama also pressed his Russian counterpart to make his country a welcoming place for investors, speaking “deliberately about the stability of property rights,” said McFaul.
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