Moscow: The Russian and US presidents plan next week to sign deals on replacing a Cold War-era missile treaty and the transit of US military supplies bound for Afghanistan, a Kremlin aide said Friday.
The comments by Sergei Prikhodko, the top foreign policy advisor to President Dmitry Medvedev, gave the clearest indication yet of the agenda when Barack Obama next week makes his first visit to Russia as US president.
The leaders plan to sign a “joint agreement on military transit to Afghanistan,” Prikhodko told reporters in the Kremlin.
The transit will be via land and air, but mostly by air, Prikhodko said. Currently, the United States can only transit non-lethal goods across Russia by rail.
Such an agreement would be a major boost to Obama’s efforts to step up the fight against Taliban militants in Afghanistan and would also complement transit agreements Washington has forged with Central Asian states.
Obama’s visit, starting Monday, is aimed at laying to rest a series of disputes that dogged ties between the sides during the administration of his predecessor George W. Bush.
Prikhodko praised the new atmosphere.
“Today we sense a desire of our American partners to combine wide cooperation… with a readiness to breathe new life into the bilateral trade and economic cooperation.”
Despite the rapprochement, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin underlined remaining distrust when he hit back at a comment made by Obama in an interview with Associated Press that he “has one foot in the old ways”.
“We don’t stand bow-legged,” Putin was quoted by Interfax news agency as quipping. “We are firmly standing on both our legs and always look to the future.”
Obama is scheduled to meet the Russian strongman at a breakfast meeting on Tuesday.
Prikhodko meanwhile said the two sides would also sign a declaration setting up the framework for the renewal of the Cold War-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which is set to expire in early December.
Moscow and Washington have placed agreeing on a replacement of the treaty at the centre of their push to improve strained US-Russian ties.
The document on replacing the START treaty will not be a legally binding agreement but a broad political document with a set of guidelines for Russian and US officials, Prikhodko said.
He called the document “an instruction for the delegations… to work out and prepare for signing the documents to replace the START.”
While it would not have dates, there will be numerical targets, Prikhodko said.
A key sticking point is agreeing on an exact number of warheads and delivery vehicles, officials have said. Russia and the US have agreed to reduce the number of deployed warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 on either side by 2012.
Washington has proposed a limit of 1,500-1,600 warheads and 1,100 delivery vehicles, the report said. Russia has most recently said it was not willing to cut the number of warheads below 1,700.
Russia had so far said it would like to agree on the START replacement by the year’s end but Prikhodko said the two countries should not produce the key document in a hurry, with “quantity at the expense of quality.”
“We would like it by the end of this year or beginning of next year,” Prikhodko said.
He said that unlike the previous US administration, the current leadership understood Russia’s position linking US plans for missile defence in Europe and a drive to reduce strategic weapons.
“What’s important for us? A link between the issues of offensive and defensive weapons,” he said.
One of the major sticking points in recent Washington-Moscow relations has been a US plan to install missile defence facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic, an initiative Russia says is aimed against its territory.
Among other agreements to be signed are declarations on cooperation in the nuclear sphere as well as an agreement on development of cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and the US, Prikhodko said.
A high-level economic commission might also be agreed upon, he added.
