Upbeat Obama Opens Talks With Medvedev

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama began his second day in Russia by meeting with Vladimir Putin at the president-turned-prime minister's country home outside Moscow. The two leaders both expressed a desire for improved relations, and observers said they had a cordial discussion. The president then addressed a Moscow economics university, where he told students that the US and Russia are not "destined to be antagonists." More»

President's trip to Moscow will be hard work, no fun

(NEWSER) - The last time Barack Obama went to Russia, he and another senator were detained by border guards for hours—and his upcoming trip won't be much fun either, say the editors of the Economist. Russia's economy is beholden to unstable oil and gas prices, the country's mortality rate is spiking, and the political system has devolved into "a pretense of democracy." Obama must placate Moscow's "kleptocratic courtiers and former spies" without coming off as a pushover. More»

President will visit Moscow in July

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev pledged to "move beyond Cold War mentalities" at their first ever meeting, at the American ambassador's residence in London. The two presidents agreed to negotiate a new weapons treaty that would see both countries reduce their nuclear stockpiles—the first such talks for more than a decade. Obama also accepted an invitation to visit Moscow this July. More»

Russian president praises and needles US in op-ed

(NEWSER) - Relations between the US and Russia were testy, to say the least, by the end of 2008—a condition for which Dmitry Medvedev, not surprisingly, blames Washington. In a needling op-ed for the Washington Post, the Russian president writes that the proposed missile defense system and support for Georgia and Ukraine's NATO bids "undermined Russia's interests." But Medvedev, who will meet Barack Obama for the first time in London tomorrow, has hope that the "toxic assets" of American policy can be cleaned up. More»

Russian president seems to get in subtle dig at Bush

(NEWSER) - Dmitry Medvedev just loooves Barack Obama…and wasn’t too fond of some other person who shall remain nameless. In an interview with George Stephanopolous on Good Morning America , the Russian premier said Obama is “a very comfortable partner. … The most important thing that distinguishes him from many other people—I won’t name anyone by name—he’s a thinker. He thinks when he speaks.” Stephanopolous cracked up. “You had somebody in your mind, I think,” he said. More»