US president seeks to warm ties with Russia

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Both sides appear to want to use progress on arms control as a path to possible agreement on other, far trickier issues Ğ like Iran and the tiny country of Georgia, a former Soviet republic.

Major difficulties and many others have soured a promising linkage in the first years after the Cold War and pushed ties between Moscow and Washington to depths not seen in more than two decades. "It's not, in our view, a zero-sum game, that if it's two points for Russia it's negative two for us, but there are ways that we can cooperate to advance our interests and, at the same time, do things with the Russians that are good for them, as well," the Associated Press quoted Obama's top assistant on Russia, Michael McFaul, as saying.

But potential tensions still remain, most notably on missile defense. "I have no problem with the success of the summit Ğ the summit will be billed as a success," Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Centre in Moscow, told Agence France-Presse. "The question is which way from the summit, whether the summit leads to a relationship that will gradually undo the real problems."
 
Afghan deal

Russians have said Medvedev and Obama will sign a deal allowing the United States to transport military supplies for operations in Afghanistan across Russian territory. Previously, Washington has only been allowed by Moscow to transport non-lethal supplies by rail. The new deal should allow the United States to transport military supplies across Russia by air. The two countries are also set to sign a declaration setting up the framework for the renewal of the Cold War-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, which expires in early December. But the Obama administration has yet to say whether it will implement a plan devised by his predecessor George W. Bush to install missile defense facilities in the Czech Republic and Poland, which has infuriated Russia.

Moscow believes the missile shield is aimed against its territory but Washington has insisted it is designed to counter the threat posed by Iran.

Medvedev said in an interview with Italian media released Sunday that unlike the previous administration Obama was prepared to discuss the issue. "We are completely capable of finding a sensible outcome," he said.

The shadow of the past was also underlined when Obama stated in an interview with The Associated Press that he believed, "Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new."

By contrast, Obama said he had "a very good relationship" with the youthful Medvedev, prompting speculation he was seeking to divide Russia's hitherto tight ruling tandem.