Medvedev could meet with Obama next week

Nov 5, 2008, 21:03 GMT

Moscow - Russia expects President Dmitry Medvedev to meet with US president-elect Barack Obama as soon as next week, according to comments Wednesday by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The two leaders could meet on the sidelines of the emergency finance summit of the world's leading 20 economies in Washington November 15, according to Lavrov, who was quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Medvedev's predecessor Vladimir Putin and the outgoing US President George W Bush had agreed in April to have regular contact with one another, Lavrov said.

Next week, Obama and Medvedev may be able to begin an 'honest and responsible dialogue,' the official said.

Lavrov emphasized that Moscow valued a relationship based on 'equality' but did not mention possible issues that would be discussed in such a meeting.

In his first state-of-the-nation speech earlier Wednesday since taking office in May, Medvedev lashed out at the United States' challenges of its policy on all fronts.

He announced that Moscow would deploy short-range Iskander missiles in the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad bordering with Poland - the first detailing of retaliatory steps Russia has said it would take to counter a US missile shield in Eastern Europe.