Tea Time in Moscow

During his official visit to Moscow, President Obama showed his pragmatic side. In the old days, an American president spoke with his Russian colleague and let the prime minister talk to the vice president, but Obama has not made it a big deal to negotiate with both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin.

This “tandemocracy,” or what the Russians call the power constellation of two men in tandem, was indeed effective, Obama said as if he had not been polite enough already. In his speech at the Russian Economic School, he showed himself implicitly critical, such as when he talked about the importance of a free press in a society full of corruption, for example. But this speech was also explicitly full of understanding.

His politeness to Putin went further than necessary according to protocol and was not being answered in the same manner. The prime minister was suspicious as always, but this apparently did not disturb Obama. The motto was “Not confrontation but cooperation.” He has achieved some results thus far.

The main outcome was the agreement, in principle, to reduce the number of strategic weapons on both sides from 2200 nuclear warheads, the ceiling that was set in the START arms control agreement that expires on December 5, to 1500 or 1675. By extension, Obama and Medvedev have agreed to work towards an effective non-proliferation treaty. Cooperation in combating terrorism and drug trafficking will also start anew with a committee headed by Vice President Biden and Prime Minister Putin. America may also again use Russian airspace for transporting troops and weapons to Afghanistan.

The most difficult obstacle, the anti-missile shield that the U.S. possibly wants to build in Poland and the Czech Republic, has become a little less unruly. Experts from both countries are going to analyze the missile threats from Iran and North Korea and reflect on a common database.

The problem is the latter issue especially. Although Obama has delayed the construction of the shield and does not want to keep it exclusively American, the missile shield to Moscow has become proof that since the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. wants to minify Russia.

This is demonstrated today in a commentary by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lavrov. Flights to Afghanistan will obviously be controlled by Russia, and if the missile shield is built there will be no START, he said. These words show that the real negotiations are only just beginning. Suspicion will continue to play a role, but Obama has shown that the Medvedev / Putin pair cannot afford to simply be recalcitrant.

So far Moscow foreign policy was cast in negative terms. Due to the official visit from Obama, Russia must now define what it wants and not only what it doesn’t want.