AFP, Washington, July 2, 2009 – President Barack Obama leaves for Russia Sunday, seeking to honor a US vow to ’reset’ strained but tentatively easing ties with Moscow and to muster a united front against Iran’s nuclear program.
With questions clouding his push for Middle East peace, and facing fresh challenges from US foes North Korea and Tehran, Obama will seek to highlight what aides hope will be an emerging foreign policy success: better ties with Moscow.
His task may be facilitated after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev indicated Thursday that he shared the same goal, saying: ’We are ready to play our part.’
The summit between the former Cold War foes ’is a way of showing what that reset is going to mean in practice,’ said Stephen Sestanovich of the Council on Foreign Relations.
’There’s been heavy use of that metaphor, but until now, not too much clarity about exactly what the reality of a new relationship is going to be.’
Obama arrives in Moscow for private Kremlin talks and a press conference with Medvedev, who dubbed the US leader ’my new comrade’ after their debut meeting in London in April.
On Tuesday, Obama will share breakfast with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who many US observers consider still holds power behind the throne in Russia.
He will also pay his respects to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on a trip that later takes him to the Group of Eight summit in Italy and a journey to Ghana.
Obama and Medvedev will seek to advance their quest to agree a replacement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), a cornerstone of Cold War-era nuclear arms control, which expires on December 5.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the presidents would instruct negotiators to keep working toward that goal, but he stopped short of saying there would be a concrete deal.
’I am certain that this treaty, in its final version, will establish all the parameters, including numerical ones,’ he said, asked about what numerical ceilings would be imposed on warheads and missiles in a new treaty.
’The talks are proceeding in a constructive and results-oriented fashion,’ Lavrov added.
While the main focus of Obama’s visit will be arms control, Washington also wants Russia’s backing on pressing global issues.

’We want to actually do real business with the Russians on things that matter to our national security and our prosperity,’ said Michael McFaul, senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs at the National Security Council.
The leaders, McFaul said, would discuss Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, European security and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.
But talk of a new era of US-Russia ties comes with a caveat — rarely have Moscow-Washington relations been trouble free since the Cold War thaw.
During the administration of former president George W. Bush, the relationship with then-president Putin frayed over issues like missile defense, Iraq and NATO expansion.
There is also the possibility that the ’reset’ button beloved by the Obama team may mean something else entirely to the Russians.
’There is a kind of asymmetry between the American and Russian anticipations and understanding of this metaphor,’ said Lilia Shevtsova, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Washington, she said, views it as an instrument to pursue US interests on non-proliferation, Iran and Afghanistan, while Moscow sees it as a chance ’to prove they have been right on all issues in Russian-American relations.’
Obama is also likely to quietly press Russia for support on two boiling foreign policy crises — North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction tests and Iran’s nuclear drive amid a political crackdown in Tehran.
Some analysts believe Pyongyang may try to force its way onto the US-Russia agenda with a new missile test launch in the coming days.
Russia is also a key player on Iran, at a time when Obama’s engagement effort is being thrown into doubt by Tehran’s suppression of post-election protests.
Senior US foreign policy advisor Denis McDonough said Wednesday Tehran would be ’front and center’ of Obama’s agenda in Moscow and at the G8 summit.
Obama’s visit comes as Russia begins its biggest military exercises in the Caucasus since its war with Georgia last year, which exposed divisions between Washington and Moscow.