Meeting on a Lower Level

Barack Obama will not discuss major issues with Dmitry Medvedev.

The U.S. will not leave Vladimir Putin’s refusal to participate at the G-8 summit in Camp David without consequences. The White House’s reaction to the Kremlin’s decision will not be limited to Barack Obama’s symmetrical response to ignore the APEC summit in Vladivostok.

According to “b,” the format of the meeting of President Obama with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who substitutes Putin at the G-8 summit, will be totally different from what was planned for the presidents. The time allotted for negotiations is supposed to be significantly reduced and major questions like missile defense and the U.S.-Russian economic cooperation will be excluded from a range of discussed issues. Obama will save them for the G-20 summit in June, which is on the eve of Russia’s joining the WTO and the discussion of the Jackson-Vanik amendment in the U.S. Congress.

The Obama administration responded to the Kremlin’s shocking decision to substitute Putin with Medvedev at the coming G-8 summit in May 18-19 in Camp-David. The White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, announced that Obama will not attend the APEC summit in Vladivostok on Sept. 2 to 9. He said, however, that this decision is not linked to the unexpected Kremlin’s démarche. The reason behind it is because the APEC summit coincides with the Democratic National Convention, when the party will “bless” president Obama to be re-elected in November.

A “b” source in the Department of State explained that the APEC hosts’ decision to change the time of the summit affected Obama’s plans as it is traditionally held in November, though Russia has decided to hold it at the beginning of September. This version, however, has a serious flaw; the date of the APEC summit was long known, but the White House announced Obama’s refusal to go to Vladivostok only after the Kremlin’s démarche.

Another “Y” correspondent at the White House confirmed that Putin’s sudden refusal to participate at the G-8 summit caused some confusion at the White House. “His only meeting with Barack Obama was at a Moscow residence in summer 2009. It was quite cold, by mutual opinion,” reminded “b”s correspondent. This time the White House has made significant confessions and even announced the venue change from Chicago to Camp David two months earlier to let Putin avoid leaving the U.S. on the eve of NATO’s summit, while Russia refused to participate in it.

The White House’s response to Putin’s decision not to come to Camp David will not be limited to Obama’s symmetrical response to ignore the summit in Vladivostok. As it became known to “b,” the White House has decided to change completely the format of the meeting from what was arranged between the presidents.

During the G-8 summit, the U.S. planned to hold closed-doors negotiations at the White House’s Oval Office. Right now, as it was confirmed by “b” sources in the U.S., the time-period of the negotiations between Obama and Medvedev is going to be reduced. The private meeting in the Oval Office will also not happen, and major questions like European missile defense and U.S.-Russian cooperation will be excluded from the range of the discussed problems.

“All these problems are agreed to be put on hold until the G-20 summit in June, considering that it will take place on the eve of Russia’s joining the WTO,” says “b” correspondent. “Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress will start working on removing Russia from the Jackson-Vanik’s amendment. The Obama administration says that it is better to discuss all those questions with Vladimir Putin.”

Apparently, Putin’s refusal to go to Camp David has not only minuses, as it is seen by the White House. Anyway, “b” sources close to the Obama administration assure that many in the White House “breathed freely” with the Kremlin’s decision. “Obama’s politics with Russia has become one of the subjects criticized by the Republicans,” said “b” correspondent. “Thus, a formally warm meeting with Putin, who has to answer many questions regarding human rights in Russia, could have given unnecessary ‘trump cards’ to Obama’s opponents, particularly to his main rival Mitt Romney.”

Moscow is calm as it faces the face that Obama’s and Medvedev’s meeting will be different from the original plan for the two presidents. “It is incorrect to talk about changes in the format of this meeting, because nobody expected it,” explained in the Russian White House. “A U.S.-Russian meeting was supposed to take place in Camp David, but Putin didn’t go to the U.S., so it was canceled. Medvedev is going there not to negotiate with Obama, but to participate at the G-8, though they will have a meeting during the summit. Discussing missile defense and economic cooperation questions was not planned, because it is a presidential issue.”