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US and Russia mend fences with new nuclear deal
Paul Thompson, in Miami7 Jul 2009
Barack Obama and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev have reached an agreement to cut back their nuclear stockpiles.
But despite five hours of meetings at the Kremlin there was no progress on the contentious issue of a US missile defence system in Europe.
A "joint understanding" signed in Moscow yesterday would see the superpowers reduce their deployed nuclear warheads to below 1,700 each within seven years of a new treaty. The accord would replace the 1991 Start I treaty, which expires in December.
After saying he wanted to "reset" the relationship with Russia, the US president emerged from his first day of talks with two positive agreements, the second being a deal to co-operate on the war in Afghanistan.
Mr Obama said the two countries were both "committed to leaving behind the suspicion and the rivalry of the past". He said the US-Russia relationship had cooled in recent years and reiterated that the trip was aimed at repairing the damage. "The president and I agreed that the relationship between Russia and the United States has suffered from a sense of drift," he said. "President Medvedev and I are committed to leaving behind the suspicion and rivalry of the past."
Mr Medvedev called the arms deal a "reasonable compromise".
For the first time since the US-led war in Afghanistan began in 2001, Russia said it would allow the US to use its airspace to transfer troops and military equipment to Afghanistan.
White House officials talked up the two agreements - although there was a stalemate over the missile defence issue. Mr Obama stressed that the defence shield was not directed at Russia but was designed to counter a missile from Iran or North Korea. "It's important for the United States and its allies to have the capacity to prevent such a strike," he said.
Mr Obama's trip to Moscow marks the first US-Russian summit in nearly a decade. He was accompanied by First Lady Michelle and their daughters, Malia and Sasha. They toured the Kremlin museums accompanied by Mr Medvedev's wife, Svetlana Medvedeva.
Today Mr Obama met Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, widely seen as the most powerful man in Russia. He praised Mr Putin's "extraordinary work" as premier and, previously, as president.
