MOSCOWûRussia’s president-elect on Monday predicted intense negotiations on U.S. missile defense plans, saying Moscow still has some questions and differences with the Bush administration. “At the same time, we are determined to go ahead,” sai
“We need to provide for continuity in the Russian-U.S. relationship. We have all the requisite tools to do this.” Medvedev’s comments came as he met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in an ornate room in the Kremlin.
Rice agreed with Medvedev, saying the U.S. and Russia have “a firm foundation for cooperation” on missile defense, which the United States sees as a way to defend against missiles from nations such as Iran and North Korea. She also said the U.S. leaders look forward to seeing President Vladimir Putin, who promoted Medvedev as his elected successor.
Gates, who had taken a hard line going into the talks, told Medvedev he hoped the two sides can bridge differences. The Pentagon chief said the U.S. and Russia agree on some issues, and “those where we have disagreements we can see if we can make progress.” Gates, still wearing a sling after fracturing his arm in a fall, joked about his injury as a negotiating tactic.
“With a broken arm, I won’t be nearly as difficult a negotiator,” Gates told Medvedev, who responded in Russian: “We’ll see.” On his way to Moscow, Gates said that it is up to the Russians to show they are not pursuing a “sham game” to thwart U.S. efforts to establish missile defense sites in Europe.
Speaking to reporters en route to the Russian capital from Washington, Gates said he and Rice saw some prospect of progress on long-stalled negotiations over U.S. proposals to establish missile defense sites in central Europe. But he did not sound particularly optimistic. “I wouldn’t get too enthusiastic at this point,” he said.
Setting a tough tone, Gates earlier questioned the sincerity of the Russian government’s objections to missile defense. “My view is we’ve put a lot on the table” in recent negotiations, Gates said. “Now it’s time for them to reciprocate.” Gates and Rice were seeing Putin and Medvedev before daylong talks Tuesday with the Russian defense and foreign ministers.
The sessions come five months after a similar engagement in Moscow that produced no discernible progress toward agreement. Gates said he and Rice were bringing no new missile defense proposals to the talks, which will cover a range of topics, including cooperation against terrorism, future arms control talks and economic relations.
U.S. officials have said they have “tweaked” previous proposals for cooperation that got a mixed reaction from Moscow. Rice suggested the Russians are watching the U.S. election season with an eye to cutting a deal, or at least making headway while there is a known commodity in the White House.
In general, Rice, said, “people want to get as much done as they can, because they sense American politics are going to be unpredictable.” During the in-flight interview, Gates was asked whether he thinks the Russians genuinely object to U.S. missile defense sites in Europe on security grounds, as they have insisted for months.
“Truth is, I don’t really know,” he said. “I don’t know whether there are genuine concerns on the part of the Russians that we can allay and where we can be partners,” or whether their counterproposals for sharing radars and other suggestions are “all basically a stalling exercise” by the Russians. “At some point the Russians are going to have to decide whether they want to be true partners.”
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