Medvedev, Obama agree to talks on nuclear reduction

Although hailed by arms control experts, word of the agreement was not seen as a surprising development.

MOSCOW (MCT, Chicago Tribune) - President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed Wednesday to open negotiations on a treaty that could slash nuclear arsenals by a third as part of what they said would be a new era in relations between the two countries.

The agreement, the result of the first face-to-face meeting ever held between the two leaders and coming on the eve of Wednesday's international economic summit, included a promise by Obama to visit Moscow this summer to pursue the talks.

"Over the last several years, the relationship between our two countries has been allowed to drift," Obama said. "What I believe we've begun today is a very constructive dialogue that will allow us to work on issues of mutual interest."

Although hailed by arms control experts, word of the agreement was not seen as a surprising development. Obama had said he favors beginning talks, and Russian officials have been eager to come up with a new treaty to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, which expires in December.

However, the fact that the two leaders reached consensus as the centerpiece of such a high-profile meeting was seen as significant. Combined with directions to negotiators to strive for progress in advance of Obama's visit in July, it signals a major step toward the most significant arms discussions in more than a decade.

"This has been on the radar for quite some time," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington. "The fact that they've put it front and center of their bilateral agenda is important."

The current treaty, which took effect in 1994, limits the world's two largest nuclear arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 nuclear warheads, but expires Dec. 5. A new treaty conceivably could cut arsenals further, to 1,500 warheads.

The White House placed the agreement in the larger context of nuclear proliferation around the globe, a subject the president will address later this week during a meeting of the European Union in Prague, Czech Republic.

But while the two leaders struck a friendly tone in the meeting, officials acknowledged a series of obstacles to an agreement that could be facing the two countries when START expires.

Russia remains intent on persuading Obama to scuttle the Bush administration's plans for missile defense facilities close to Russia's border, in Poland and the Czech Republic. The two sides did not discuss the missile defense plan, but a joint statement acknowledged Russia's concerns. The Obama administration has cooled to plans for the system.

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Russia in recent weeks also has taken a hard-line stance on lingering strategic disputes with the United States. Medvedev has warned against expanding the NATO alliance close to the Russian border and emphasized the need to update his country's aging nuclear arsenal.

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© 2009, Chicago Tribune.