Obama Sets Confident Tone In Moscow

President Kicks Off Two-Day Summit With Russian Leader; Predicts "Extraordinary Progress" For Talks

(CBS/AP)  President Barack Obama opened his first Moscow summit with confidence on Monday, predicting "extraordinary progress" out of meetings set to test his diplomatic skills on important priorities such as nuclear arsenal reductions and the fight in Afghanistan.

"The United States and Russia have more in common than they have differences," Mr. Obama said he sat down in an ornate Kremlin room with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "If we work hard in these next few days ... we can make extraordinary progress that will benefit the people of both countries."

With both men eager to reset damaged relations, Mr. Obama's host launched the high-stakes summit with similar good will.

"We'll have a full-fledged discussion of our relations between our two countries, closing some of the pages of the past and opening some of the pages of the future," Medvedev said, through a translator. "It is my hope that it will be possible to tackle successfully" a range of problems from the economy to security and energy and the environment.

The first U.S.-Russia summit since the early part of the George W. Bush presidency presents a challenge for Mr. Obama, with Russia home to a wary public, a two-headed leadership and lingering hard feelings. What much of the world will watch are signs of Mr. Obama's relationship with Russia's two leaders, Medvedev and his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Later, Mr. Obama and Medvedev will announce agreement on the outline of a plan to cut each side's nuclear weapons to as few as 1,500 each, reports CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante.

Also on the agenda: Iran's nuclear ambitions, U.S. support for neighboring Georgia and NATO expansion to Russia's borders.

Above all - Russia wants to reclaim its status as a superpower.

"The world has changed dramatically and it's trying to find those ways where it can be that super power," analyst Heather Conley told CBS News.

Agreements negotiated ahead of time give Mr. Obama something to take home before the summit even got under way, including the nuclear arms reduction and an agreement from Russia to let the United States use its territory and air space to move arms into Afghanistan for the forces fighting extremists there.

Other side agreements meant to sweeten the talks included a new joint commission to try to account for missing service members of both countries dating back to World War II. Four working groups will look into missing military personnel from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and Soviet military personnel still missing from Moscow's 10-year occupation of Afghanistan.

The White House also said that the two countries have agreed to cooperate in the fields of public health and medical research, an arrangement intended to range across public health issues from infectious diseases to promotion of healthy lifestyles to improving global health.

Yet, the two sides remain in a stalemate over the U.S. pursuit of a missile-defense system in Europe. Mr. Obama's administration is reviewing the efficacy of plan, which Bush had pushed hard.

U.S. leaders have expressed hope of getting Russian cooperation on missile defense. But both sides have also shown signs of hardening their positions ahead of the summit.

The basic problem is unchanged: The U.S. contends the program is designed to protect U.S. allies in Europe from a potential nuclear attack by Iran, but the Russians see it as a first step toward a system that could weaken their offensive nuclear strike potential.

"We're going to have to work our way through that," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told "Fox News Sunday."

Mr. Obama's distinctive Air Force One jetliner touched down with drizzly gray skies blanketing Moscow. He continued down a formal reception line on the airport tarmac, introducing his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters to the Russian officials waiting to greet them.

The entourage then headed directly to a wreath-laying ceremony at Russia's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, brilliant sun breaking over the city's center through the days of clouds as they drove in. The president walked slowly behind three high-stepping Russian soldiers, then straightened the wreath's ribbon where they placed it in front of the eternal flame and stood alone briefly.

The summit starts a weeklong trip for Mr. Obama that also features G-8 meetings and a visit with the pope in Italy, and a speech in Ghana.

Mr. Obama's mission in Moscow is two-pronged, divided over two days. Building ties and inking security and cultural deals with the leadership comes first. He will also devote a prominent amount of time to leaders of Russia's civil society to help those relationships, too.

There is plenty of room for improvement. Mr. Obama, who has enjoyed adoring crowds in travels across Europe so far, will face a skeptical Russian population, polling out Sunday shows.

Only 23 percent of Russians have confidence in Mr. Obama to do the right thing in international affairs, according to the University of Maryland's WorldPublicOpinion.org. Just 15 percent of the Russians polled said the U.S. is playing a positive role in the world; most said the United States abuses it power and makes Russia do what the U.S. wants.

"I would like there to be real change, not just talk," said Valentina Titova, a 60-year-old retired economist strolling not far from the Kremlin. "I would like to see American meddle less in other countries. They think they're so superior to others, they put themselves on a pedestal."

Aiming to change attitudes, Mr. Obama will outline his vision for U.S.-Russian relations at a speech at the New Economic School. It is unclear how many people will see it. Russian leaders control the television outlets.

The dominant theme of the summit is security, and Mr. Obama and Medvedev are set to announce progress toward renewing a strategic arms reduction pact that expires in December. The eventual deal could cut warheads from more than 2,000 each to as low as 1,500 apiece.

"At the moment I think we are all moderately optimistic, both the Russian side and the American side, so far as I know," Medvedev said ahead of Mr. Obama's arrival in an interview with Italian news outlets.

As Mr. Obama told a Russian-language news channel in the days before the summit: "America respects Russia. We want to build relations where we deal as equals."

Yet he also caused a stir in Russia by telling The Associated Press last week that Putin has to learn that "the old Cold War approaches to U.S.-Russian relations is outdated." That only elevated the stakes of Mr. Obama's first meeting with Putin, which is set for Tuesday.

Russia and the United States have been allies and adversaries. Obama inherited more of the latter, with relations having tanked in 2008 over Russia's war with neighboring Georgia.

Mr. Obama got off to a solid start, though, with Medvedev during an April meeting in London.

[sam-kiley]

mr obama a dit..
The United States and Russia have more in common than they have differences," Mr. Obama said he sat down in an ornate Kremlin room with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "If we work hard in these next few days ... we can make extraordinary progress that will benefit the people of both countries."

sage résolution, faire la paix, discuter et travailler ensembles...ça rendra service aux deux pays et au monde entier,il ya tellement de problémes a resoudre et qui méritent l'attention des usa et la russie ..et tous les pays du monde ... c'est mieux que de se faire la tete..inutilement..il ya plus important..au revoir

[Sloughfoot]

gravyboat4000 splitting hairs, we are.

[picklepants7]

i wonder what crapy gift oduma brought with him on this trip. some lead laced vegetables from michelle's garden? it would be an improvement.

[Sloughfoot]

The EU was formed for the purpose of crippling America's oversea commerce.
Cancel the missile project, if the EU wants a missile shield let them fund the project.
Russia and the U.S.A. were drug in to Wars through out the 20th Century by family feuds amongst the now EU members. Nether Russia nor the U.S. owe the EU nations any more funding for military or other purposes.

We do owe Russia an apology, I'll make it for our Nation, "I am so very sorry that we trained and armed the Mujaheddin, we were not properly advised as to who could best be our friends".

I don't really wish Russia ill will, however, if I could return all of her sniveling, whining, bellicose satellite countries back to Russia's control and responsibility, I would do so in a New York minute.

[gravyboat4000]

Russia didn't invade Afghanistan. That was the Soviet Union.

Have a nice day. :-)

[Questionews]

Hey CBS why do you only allow comments to be posted on positive stories about Obama and his policies. I see that you have actually posted a story about Biden stating that they misjudged the economy "one whole paragraph" but you do not allow anyone to post a comment on that story. I have come to expect this from CBS one of the POTUS' personal news/Advertisement sources.

by nolies74621 July 6, 2009 4:26 AM PDT



I would say that! There's a story right now on CBS "Obama Waffles on Indefinite Detentionabout" about how Obama is changing his tune towards the Gitmo guys. Apparently there's some really bad dudes there & Obama is going to do pretty much what Bush had planned to do with them.
Ease up! There's going to be more stories on Obama doing stupid stuff & news outlets will cover it. Especially if it can embarrass him.

Hail Obusha!!

[Jim1900]

After the disastrous 8 years of W. and Cheney, Obama has his work cut out for him. There are a lot of areas where the U.S. and Russia can cooperate though, and he will find them.

[hungry1968-16]

by earth562 July 6, 2009 6:52 AM PDT
Hungry,

Where in the world do you come up with this stuff ?






From actually READING the nonsense that you conservative idiots posted on these boards FOR YEARS!!!

All that we've been hearing out of the right is how bad Iran is, what a threat they pose to America, how they harbor terrorists, they want to enslave the world in Sharia Law, etc, etc, etc.

Most liberals have been stating that it's only the REGIME that is the problem, but conservatives wanted no part of reality: in the conservatives eyes, ALL of Iran was radical Islamic extremists, and the WHOLE COUNTRY needed to be nuked into non-existence.

And then the elections happened, and you all awoke to reality: the PEOPLE of Iran are very receptive of "Western ideals", and want a meaningful dialogue with America.

The scary part, is that it took the elections for you clowns to realize what MOST of America knew all along.

[prometheus21]

The basic problem is unchanged: The U.S. contends the program is designed to protect U.S. allies in Europe from a potential nuclear attack by Iran, but the Russians see it as a first step toward a system that could weaken their offensive nuclear strike potential.

"We're going to have to work our way through that," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told "Fox News Sunday."

Considering this didn't even exist, like many of the problems in the world today, until the Bush administration and supporters made it a reality, it's hard to believe that you would have to "work your way" through this. It's entirely unilateral and an unprovoked aggression with respect to Russia.

Why the hell would Russia give any concessions on anything until this is resolved in their favor (unless it was meant as an aggressive act against Russia, in which case, the usual American lies and deception should be rewarded in turn). Complete masters of arrogance, the U.S. government FLOUNDERING IN MASSIVE MASSIVE MASSIVE OVERSPENDING ON DEFENSE AND DEFENSE CONTRACTS leading to MASSIVE, MASSIVE, MASSIVE unmanageable debt leaving it in a MASSIVELY vulnerable position to negotiate almost ANYTHING, never ceases to amaze.

[hungry1968-16]

The ONLY "missile defenses" that we have, should be on OUR BORDERS, protecting OUR nation from attack.

No country in the world could or would object to us doing that.

And THAT is where the whole issue lies - our trying to be the "world protector" or "world police". That's NOT why our nation was founded.

[hower4]

by hungry1968-16 July 6, 2009 7:22 AM PDT
And THAT is where the whole issue lies - our trying to be the "world protector" or "world police". That's NOT why our nation was founded.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You mean "world aggressor" don't you?

[goeswest]

You war mongering Republicans will never be happy.All you want is more war.If John McCain was President instead of Obama you would be gushing with joy over his trip to Moscow or his willingness to deal with Iran or North Korea,but I know it just burns your butt and drives you nuts that we now have a President who doesnt believe in the Republican mantra of shoot first and ask question later.
After 8 years of the Bush/Cheney terrorist regime,the US has been finally liberated.Give Obama 4 years,hopefully 8 years and you wont believe the great changes that will happpen that will restore the honor of this country in the eyes of the world.

[hungry1968-16]

by hower4 July 6, 2009 6:02 AM PDT
True. I wonder how many people on here would agree with the idea of nuking Russia/Iran/North Korea/France/anywhere else they know nothing about but seems to be un-American.






The conservatives are particularly funny, when it comes to Iran.

When McCain was singing "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran", they were all lining up in lock step, telling us how Iran was the "enemy", they all needed to be nuked, they all wanted to kill every American, they wanted to convert us to Islam, etc, etc, etc.

Then Iran had their election, and all of these conservatives suddenly were very sympathetic to the Iranians cause, they wanted Obama to intervene, they felt the UN wasn't doing enough to help out, etc, etc, etc.


My point is, they don't know WHO to like / love / hate, unless they are TOLD who they are supposed to like / love / hate.

Yet they consider themselves "foreign policy experts"?!?!

[hower4]

It's not an issue about conservatives, it's about Americans. You have an immediate aggressive reaction against anyone who isn't American. Why is that?

[earth562]

Hungry,

Where in the world do you come up with this stuff ?

You obviously have Bush Derangement syndrome