Russia and US pledge to finalise nuclear cuts

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama and Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev agreed outline cuts in nuclear arsenals and a deal to let US troops fly across Russia, on the first day of an Obama visit intended to mend strained relations.

The two countries, which between them possess 95% of the world’s nuclear weapons, pledged to finalise a new arms treaty cutting the number of deployed warheads to between 1,500 and 1,675 from above 2,200.

Russia will also allow 4,500 flights a year carrying US troops and weapons to the war in Afghanistan to transit its vast territory free of charge, a move hailed by the US as showing Moscow’s willingness to help in the war on the Taliban.

Other deals covered military cooperation, the creation of a new joint government commission and new investment, according to texts released by officials.

“We are confident that we can continue to build on the excellent discussions that we had in London,” Obama told President Dmitry Medvedev at the start of talks in the Kremlin, referring to the first meeting the two leaders had in April.

“And that on a whole host of issues... the United States and Russia have more in common than they have differences and that if we work hard in these next few days we can make extraordinary progress...”

But some clouds remained on the horizon.

Senior Russian officials repeatedly emphasised in the run-up to the visit that Moscow will not sign a landmark deal cutting nuclear arms later this year unless Obama makes concessions on US plans for an anti-missile system in Europe, a project hated by the Kremlin which fears it could threaten Russia’s security.

The leaders played down those differences and an agreed statement on missile threats contained only a generally worded pledge to continue to work together to evaluate threats from ballistic missiles.

Medvedev, smiling broadly as he welcomed Obama in the Green Parlour of the Kremlin, said he hoped that “as a result of our conversations... we will close a number of difficult pages in Russian-American relations and turn a new page”.

Earlier Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov greeted Obama, his wife Michelle and their two daughters as they stepped from Air Force One at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.

The arrival was not shown live on Russian television and there was little sign in Moscow of the “Obamamania” which has greeted the US leader on some other foreign trips.

Obama’s motorcade sped alone along a barricaded highway from the airport toward the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for a wreath-laying ceremony.

On the city’s outskirts, small groups of onlookers smiled and waved but most looked on without reaction.