Moscow, July 6 (DPA) Hailing a “fresh start” in relations, US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev reached basic agreement Monday that there must be a follow-up treaty to the START disarmament pact due to expire at the end of the year.
They also agreed on Russia letting the US use its airspace for military transports in operations in Afghanistan, and announced plans towards what Medvedev called “cooperation commensurate with the 21st century” following what Obama called the “sense of drift” relations had suffered.
The main step announced by Obama and Medvedev was a “joint understanding” which aims to reduce the number of nuclear warheads held by each to between 1,500 and 1,675, compared with the current START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) maximum of 2,200.
They would also aim to reduce the number of rockets capable of delivering the warheads from the current maximum of 1,600 allowed for each side to between 500 and 1,100.
There was agreement that the groundwork had to be laid for a new treaty limiting nuclear arms and preventing their use in terrorist attacks, and the two sides would increase cooperation towards this during the coming months.
At a press conference following their talks, Medvedev said Moscow was seeking a fresh start in relations with Washington, despite their continuing differences. Agreeing to forge ahead with disarmament talks, he said, showed that Russia and the United States
were facing up to their superpower responsibilities.
Obama for his part praised what he called Russia’s contribution in stemming nuclear threats to the world, and he and Medvedev had managed to initiate a fresh start in relations between the two sides.
He stressed the joint efforts being made towards a follow-up to the START pact, and said the United States and Russia aimed to “lead by example” in cutting back their nuclear weapons.
Both sides stressed the need to stabilize Afghanistan, as although Russia has no military involvement there, the Kremlin fears an upswing in tension along its southern flank.
Returning to the nuclear arms issue, Obama emphasised that “as we keep our commitments, so we must ensure that other nations keep theirs,” and to that end “we had constructive discussions about North Korea and Iran.”
The latter’s nuclear activity, he said, “raises the prospect of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, which would endanger global security, while Iran’s ballistic missile program could also pose a threat to the broader region.”
With this in mind, he and Medvedev had “agreed on a joint statement on cooperation on missile defence and a joint threa assessment of the ballistic missile challenges of the 21st century, including those posed by Iran and North Korea.”
In broader relations between the US and Russia, Obama said, the two had agreed to set up a bilateral presidential commission coordinated at foreign minister level.
Commenting on bilateral relations, Medvedev said: “Our desire to discuss these subjects was mutual … since the work we are doing requires goodwill, mutual respect and honest understanding of each other’s position.”
Talks on the controversial missile defence system in eastern Europe that the US had planned were to continue. The previous Bush administration had planned to install a missile defence system – ostensibly against an Iranian threat – in Poland and the Czech
Republic.
Russia strongly opposed the plan, and had linked a nuclear disarmament deal to progress on the eastern Europe missile defence issue.
Russian newspapers had Monday expressed scepticism over whether the meeting really signified a new start – or “reset” – in relations between the two states.
Sticking points include disagreements over Russia’s membership of the World Trade Organization, the status of the Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the prosecution of Russian oil billionaire Mikhail Khordokovsky and other issues.
Russia has also been the only Group of Eight country to acknowledge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the clear victor in the disputed June 12 presidential election.
Obama was to meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Tuesday, as well as representatives of Russian human rights organizations. Obama – who is accompanied by his wife Michelle and their two daughters – is then to fly to Italy where he will attend the annual G8 summit in L’Aquila.
