“We Will Barry You”: Obama And Kremlin To Create Special Joint Liasons Board

Jul 6, 2009 3 Comments ›› Pat Dollard

MOSCOW, July 6 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Russia on Monday for a summit with Russian leaders at which a framework deal on arms cuts was to be signed as part of efforts to improve strained ties between Moscow and Washington.

An agreed text of an outline deal on cutting Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals would be put to Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev at a Kremlin meeting later in the day, a U.S. official told Reuters.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov greeted Obama and his family, as they stepped from Air Force One at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport under unseasonally cold, cloudy skies.

But the arrival was not shown live on Russian television.

Obama’s motorcade sped alone along a barricaded highway from the airport towards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for a wreath-laying ceremony. On the city’s outskirts, small groups of onlookers smiled and waved but most looked on without reaction.

“There is text for them to review”, the U.S. official said, speaking anonymously of the nuclear deal.

The agreement would only become final once the two leaders had looked it over and announced it, he added.

In two days of talks, officials say Obama will win the Kremlin’s consent to ship weapons to NATO forces in Afghanistan across Russian territory andd create a joint government commission between Washington and Moscow to improve relations.

Business leaders travelling with Obama want to use the visit to boost trade and investment. Russian trade with the United States was just $36 billion in 2008, the same amount as with Poland, and investment has lagged that of European competitors.

“We hope that President Medvedev will be able to follow through on his continuous campaign to improve the rule of law,” Andrew Somers, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, told Reuters in an interview.

“I think this is a single biggest inhibitor to investment by U.S. companies, their concern about the rule of law.”

Obama will also listen to the country’s embattled democratic opposition, meet former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and make a major speech to Russian students.

But he faces a harder task in trying to achieve his avowed aim of a “reset” in relations between Washington and Moscow.

GEORGIA WAR HURT TIES

Ties hit their worst level since the 1990s last year after Russia sent troops into neighbouring Georgia, a U.S. ally, triggering fierce condemnation from Washington.

Medvedev has said he is “moderately optimistic” about Obama’s visit but the two sides are still deeply divided over U.S. plans to set up an anti-missile system in central Europe, something Russia says threatens its security.

The two nations have not yet come to an agreement on such fundamental issues as Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation, Georgia and U.S. plans to deploy a missile defence system in Europe.

A poll released on the eve of Obama’s arrival showed Russian distrust of the United States. The University of Maryland survey found 75 percent of Russians believed the United States abused its greater power and only two percent had “a lot of confidence” Obama would do the right thing in world affairs.

Medvedev, in an interview released on Sunday, said the United States would only get a full arms control treaty with Moscow if it dropped unilateral plans for missile defence — a linkage which Obama has rejected.

The U.S. leader also faces an awkward first meeting on Tuesday with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia’s most powerful politician, after publicly criticising him last week.

In an indication of the strained atmosphere, Russia’s Kremlin-controlled main television channels — the chief source of news for most Russians — have played down Obama’s visit.

“This is being played as essentially a low-key visit that shows the American leadership’s respect for the Russian leadership,” Dmitry Trenin, head of the Moscow Carnegie Centre think-tank, said. “This is not some star coming to town.”

The Other Russia and Solidarity opposition movements announced plans for a protest in central Moscow on Monday evening to coincide with Obama’s visit. Gay rights groups said they had cancelled a planned demonstration outside the U.S. embassy after the authorities refused to give permiss