Obama seeks partnership with Russia

WORKING to turn Russia from antagonist to ally, US President Barack Obama has asked the Russian people to “forge a lasting partnership” with the US, but he acknowledged after talks with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that on divisive issues there won’t be “a meeting of the minds anytime soon”.

Obama was wrapping up a two-day stay in Russia, during which he and President Dmitry Medvedev said they were determined by year’s end to negotiate a new nuclear arms treaty that would slash both country’s arsenals by about one-third.

Obama told the graduating class of the New Economic School that the US and Russia were not “destined to be antagonists”.