American President Barack Obama in Moscow for arms talks
- 00:00:57
- ITN
American President Barack Obama in Moscow for arms talks
Barack Obama has flown to Moscow in the hope of boosting flagging US-Russian relations. Mr Obama is scheduled for two days of meetings with President Dmitry Medvedev and other leaders, including an hour long meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Negotiations on arms control are expected to dominate talks with the current Start I (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) accord set to expire on 5 December. Both sides agree in principle to cut warheads from more than 2,000 each to as low as 1,500 each. Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev have both stated their determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship. Both sides appear to want to use progress on arms control as a pathway to possible agreement on contentious issues, including Iran and Georgia, the tiny former Soviet republic. Those difficulties and others have soured a promising linkage in the first years after the Cold War and pushed ties between Moscow and Washington to depths unseen in more than two decades. The Kremlin announced days before the summit that it would agree to allow the US to use its territory and airspace to move munitions and arms to forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Deals including a directive for negotiators to work toward a Start I replacement are expected to be announced at an Obama-Medvedev news conference after the leaders' scheduled four-hour meeting.
ITN | July 6, 2009
