US, Russia take ice-breaking moves to mend ties
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2009 marked the "reset" of U.S.-Russia relations as the Barack Obama administration adjusted its policy toward Moscow. Once-stalled interactions between Russia and U.S.-led NATO have also resumed.
However, as the saying goes, "Rome was not built in one day," it takes time to dispel years of mistrust and differences and resolve the outstanding knotty issues.
Reset: a step forward
Since President Obama took office in January, the White House has been actively resetting its relationship with the Kremlin when bilateral ties plunged to their lowest since the Cold War.
One of their sticking points is the missile defense plan in Eastern Europe pushed by George W. Bush, Obama's predecessor, and NATO's continued eastward expansion toward Russia's borders. The five-day war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008 worsened the strained relations.
That does not mean, however, that the two sides have nothing in common. An imminent threat from Afghanistan, for instance, prompted both sides to work together to face some of the common challenges.
The two countries share some common interest and need each other's support in some major global issues such as the nuclear issues in Iran and on the Korean Peninsula, the Middle East, the global financial crisis and climate change.
Frequent interactions between Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev highlighted the bilateral relations in 2009.
Following their first face-to-face meeting in London in April, Obama and Medvedev agreed to work out a successor deal to the expiring Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1), marking a breakthrough of the "reset" process.
The two presidents also reached consensus on nuclear non-proliferation, the fight on terrorism and extremism, tackling the global financial crisis, and the Midest peace process.
Obama's July visit to Russia was widely seen as a success, too, with several vital deals signed, including a framework document for the new START treaty, a joint statement on missile defense, and an agreement allowing 4,500 flights a year to ferry U.S. troops and weapons to Afghanistan over Russian territory for free.
The two leaders met again in November in Singapore during an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and the meeting prompted Obama to say that U.S. relations with Russia "have already been reset."
Although the Dec. 5 deadline for the new START-1 treaty passed without an agreement, Russian media have reported that negotiators in Geneva have reached consensus on key issues.
On Dec. 8 Kremlin aide Arkady Dvorkovich said that the two countries intended to conclude their nuclear disarmament talks in December. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed the statement on the following day by saying that both sides were to strike a successor deal to the START-1 agreement soon.
James Collins, director for Russia and Eurasia program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Xinhua that a new mechanism for reduction of nuclear arms would improve the U.S.-Russia relations by increasing trust and maintaining their credibility in global non-proliferation process.
