Obama and Medvedev 'discuss early summit'
President-elect Barack Obama spoke to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as the future American head of state had another round of phone calls with leaders in other nations.
A Kremlin statement said Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev “expressed the determination to create constructive and positive interaction for the good of global stability and development” and agreed that their countries had a common responsibility to address “serious problems of a global nature”.
To that end, according to the Kremlin statement, Mr Medvedev and Mr Obama believe an “early bilateral meeting” should be arranged.
Mr Obama’s office did not issue a statement describing the call. A Kremlin spokesman declined to elaborate or say when such a meeting could take place.
A Bush administration plan for setting up a missile shield close to Russia’s borders has been a sore point with the Kremlin and has served as another dent in its battered relationship with the US.
On Wednesday, the day after Obama’s election, Mr Medvedev threatened to move short-range missiles to Russia’s borders with Nato allies even as the US offered new proposals on nuclear arms reductions as well as missile defence.
Allowing Russian observers at planned missile defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic were among them, US officials said.
During the presidential campaign, Mr Obama expressed scepticism about the system, saying that it would require much more vigorous testing to ensure it would work and justify the billions of dollars it would cost.
Obama foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said that Mr Obama had “a good conversation” with Polish President Lech Kaczynski about the American-Polish alliance but that Mr Obama had made no commitment on the missile shield plan.
“His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defence system when the technology is proved to be workable,” Mr McDonough said.
That was in contrast to a statement issued by the Polish president. Mr Kaczynski said Mr Obama “emphasised the importance of the strategic partnership of Poland and the United States and expressed hope in the continuation of political and military cooperation between our countries. He also said that the missile defence project would continue”.
