(NSI News Source Info) Moscow - March 13, 2009: President Dmitry Medvedev Tuesday predicted a "new page" in Russia-US relations under Barack Obama, amid re
ports Moscow is shelving a missile delivery to Iran that risked irking Washington.
"The signals being received from the US president are completely positive," Medvedev said after a meeting with members of a US commission on Russia relations, including Senator Chuck Hagel and former senator Gary Hart.
In the last years "relations between the United States and Russia deteriorated severely. This makes us sad. But now there is a chance to open a new page in our relations," said Medvedev.
Medvedev also comfirmed he would meet Obama for the first time on April 1 in London, on the eve of the G20 summit in the British capital.
The president's comments were his most upbeat assessment yet of the chances of a turnaround in relations frayed by rows over the 2008 Georgia war and missile defence.
They remarks coincided with a report by the Interfax news agency that Russia may shelve the delivery of its advanced S-300 air defence missile system to Iran.
"Such a possibility is not excluded. The question must be decided at a political level, especially as the contract was worked out on a purely commercial basis," an unnamed source told the news agency.
The fulfillment of the S-300 contract is particularly controversial as such weapons could significantly upgrade Iranian air-defence capabilities at a time of mounting tension with the West.
The source said that the contract was signed in 2005 but the delivery had still not taken place. There was no official confirmation but Interfax is known for running stories with high-ranking military sources.
The comment was published less than a month after Iranian defence minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar met his Russian counterpart, Anatoly Serdyukov for talks whose substance was never officially disclosed.
But the Kommersant newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying at the time Russia was unwilling to supply the weapons at a time when it wants to improve relations with the new US administration Obama.
The United States has never ruled out the option of a military strike against the Islamic republic over its contested nuclear drive, which Western powers fear could be aimed at making an atomic bomb.
Washington is also uncomfortable with Russia's work to build Iran's first nuclear plant in the southern city of Bushehr. The much delayed facility is to start operating by August 22, Iranian officials said on Tuesday.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had on Friday held their first bilateral meeting in Geneva, marking the beginning of a thaw in relations between the two superpowers.
They agreed to work towards a fresh start on missile defence and disarmament issues, including their START disarmament treaty, which is due to expire by December 5.
Russia's war in Georgia in August over the breakaway region of South Ossetia sent relations between Russia and the West plummeting to lows not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow also reacted furiously to plans by the former administration of George W. Bush to place missile defence facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying the move was directly aimed against Russia.
But US Vice President Joe Biden has declared it was time to "press the reset button" in relations and Medvedev has repeatedly spoken of his hopes of the new US administration.
ports Moscow is shelving a missile delivery to Iran that risked irking Washington.
"The signals being received from the US president are completely positive," Medvedev said after a meeting with members of a US commission on Russia relations, including Senator Chuck Hagel and former senator Gary Hart.
In the last years "relations between the United States and Russia deteriorated severely. This makes us sad. But now there is a chance to open a new page in our relations," said Medvedev.
Medvedev also comfirmed he would meet Obama for the first time on April 1 in London, on the eve of the G20 summit in the British capital.
The president's comments were his most upbeat assessment yet of the chances of a turnaround in relations frayed by rows over the 2008 Georgia war and missile defence.
They remarks coincided with a report by the Interfax news agency that Russia may shelve the delivery of its advanced S-300 air defence missile system to Iran.
"Such a possibility is not excluded. The question must be decided at a political level, especially as the contract was worked out on a purely commercial basis," an unnamed source told the news agency.
The fulfillment of the S-300 contract is particularly controversial as such weapons could significantly upgrade Iranian air-defence capabilities at a time of mounting tension with the West.
The source said that the contract was signed in 2005 but the delivery had still not taken place. There was no official confirmation but Interfax is known for running stories with high-ranking military sources.
The comment was published less than a month after Iranian defence minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar met his Russian counterpart, Anatoly Serdyukov for talks whose substance was never officially disclosed.
But the Kommersant newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying at the time Russia was unwilling to supply the weapons at a time when it wants to improve relations with the new US administration Obama.
The United States has never ruled out the option of a military strike against the Islamic republic over its contested nuclear drive, which Western powers fear could be aimed at making an atomic bomb.
Washington is also uncomfortable with Russia's work to build Iran's first nuclear plant in the southern city of Bushehr. The much delayed facility is to start operating by August 22, Iranian officials said on Tuesday.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had on Friday held their first bilateral meeting in Geneva, marking the beginning of a thaw in relations between the two superpowers.
They agreed to work towards a fresh start on missile defence and disarmament issues, including their START disarmament treaty, which is due to expire by December 5.
Russia's war in Georgia in August over the breakaway region of South Ossetia sent relations between Russia and the West plummeting to lows not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow also reacted furiously to plans by the former administration of George W. Bush to place missile defence facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying the move was directly aimed against Russia.
But US Vice President Joe Biden has declared it was time to "press the reset button" in relations and Medvedev has repeatedly spoken of his hopes of the new US administration.
No comments:
Post a Comment