Obama heading to Russia to "reset" relations (News Feature)

By Mike McCarthy Jul 3, 2009, 2:44 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama heads to Russia next week seeking to 'reset' relations by finding ways to cooperate on a host of challenges, including confronting Iranian and North Korean nuclear ambitions.

Obama is due to arrive Monday in Moscow to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ahead of traveling to the Group of Eight summit in Italy and a subsequent stop in Ghana.

Obama and Medvedev and both expressed hope that they can move beyond the strained ties of the past to find issues of mutual cooperation and to replace a nuclear arms-control agreement that expires in December.

'The president made very clear that he wanted to establish a different kind of relationship with Russia,' Mike McFaul, a senior advisor to Obama for Russian and Eurasian affairs, told reporters. 'We want to actually do real business with the Russians on things that matter to our national security and our prosperity.'

US officials have described the approach as an attempt to 'reset' relations after ties worsened during George W Bush's presidency, mainly over US plans to deploy a missile-defence system to Eastern Europe and Moscow's military intervention last summer in Georgia.

Samuel Charap, a fellow at the Centre for American Progress, said that the conflict in Georgia left Washington and Moscow 'incapable of discussing issues of mutual concern and managing differences.'

'The reset button was intended to ratchet down tensions and create an environment where the two countries could engage in productive discussions on the major issues facing them and facing the world,' Charap said.

Obama's agenda will be full one when he sits down Monday with Medvedev and has breakfast Tuesday with Vladimir Putin, the influential prime minister. Obama wants Russia to take a tougher line with Iran over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, and in response to North Korea's recent nuclear bomb and missile tests.

Obama has identified non-proliferation as a key area where the White House and Kremlin can work together to forge a more cooperative relationship. Obama will be seeking greater Russian support for the conflict in Afghanistan, including the possibility of moving military cargo through Russian territory.

Among the key sticking points are plans to base a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and US support for allowing former Soviet states to join NATO.

The missile shield plan was initiated by Bush to fend off Iran's growing missile capability, but Moscow has strongly opposed the idea, threatening to target Poland and the Czech Republic if they host the bases. While the plan is under review by the Obama administration, McFaul said the United States will not abandon the plans solely to win Russian help in other areas.

'We're not going to reassure or give or trade anything with the Russians regarding NATO expansion or missile defence,' he said.

During an April speech in Prague, Obama warned of the threat posed by the proliferation of nuclear arms and talked of a world free of nuclear weapons, but for now Obama and Medvedev will focus on finding a replacement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, which expires December 5.

That treaty limited both sides to a range of 1,700 to 2,200 nuclear warheads. Both sides currently have arsenals at the high end of the range. McFaul was optimistic that the two sides could go below those figures but said it still too early to propose a goal.

'That requires a lot of heavy lifting, and you can't get to the numbers ... until you know what you can verify,' he said.