US President Barack Obama has received a personal response to his letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin: Moscow and Washington must work to overcome antagonism and deal with global political issues as partners, not foes.
The response was delivered by Russian National Security Council
head Nikolay Patrushev, who has been on a two-day visit to
Washington, DC. Patrushev delivered the letter to White House
National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon. President Obama also
carved out time to join the two for a talk, National Security
Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said.
The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, stressed that the
negotiations were conducted in a “business-like benevolent
atmosphere, and were aimed at preparing further top-level
contacts.” Both presidents will have their next face-to-face
meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming 39th G8 summit in Northern
Ireland on June 17 and 18.
If progress is made at the summit, Obama might then make a
special visit to Russia ahead of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg
in September. The deal between Moscow and Washington that could
arise from such a visit — well before the end of the first year of
Obama’s second term — would certainly give him “more flexibility,” as he told Russia’s
then-President Dmitry Medvedev in March 2012, for the rest of his
term.
In April, Obama sent an initial letter
(http://rt.com/politics/obama-putin-letter-composed-310/) to Putin,
delivered by Donilon during a visit to Moscow. Though never
published, the letter reportedly contained a number of constructive
proposals aimed at improving bilateral relations and cooperation on
pressing global issues.
“Ideas covering some of the directions have new elements, which
our country will study carefully and respond to accordingly,”
Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said, referring to the
letter’s contents.
While in Washington, Patrushev also met with US Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel and Deputy Secretary of State William Burns,
reportedly to discuss military cooperation and bilateral
relations.
US-Russian relations in a downward spiral
In March 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced a much-touted ‘reset’ in
relations in Geneva, and the future of US-Russia relations looked
bright. But over the past three years, relations have deteriorated
considerably.
After a year of consultations, the two nations signed and
ratified a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 2010. But despite
that breakthrough, no other positive developments have emerged.
In June 2010, the US arrested 10 Russian agents and later
charged them with espionage. The Obama administration also insisted
on the continued deployment of the US missile defense system in
Eastern Europe, something which Moscow strongly opposes. Secretary
of State Clinton also accused the Kremlin of rigging the 2011
Russian parliamentary elections.
Following the elections, public protests erupted in major
Russian cities, which Moscow claimed were instigated by
foreign-sponsored NGOs. The organizers of the mass protests have
not been detained, though investigations are underway.
Russia then adopted a law inspired by US legislation that
requires all NGOs that receive money from foreign sources to
officially register as foreign agents, forcing many NGOs to shut
down.
In November 2012, Obama signed the ‘Magnitsky Act,’ banning
certain Russian officials from entering the United States or
holding financial assets in the country. Russia was quick to
retaliate, and banned US citizens from adopting Russian
orphans.
Moscow later introduced the ‘Dima Yakovlev List,’ which imposed
a travel ban on certain US officials responsible either for torture
at Guantanamo or for detaining Russian citizens to imprison them in
the US.
And recently, Washington accused Russia of not sharing vital
information on the Tsarnaev brothers, the ethnic Chechens who
bombed the Boston Marathon, and Russia defiantly arrested the third
secretary of the US Embassy in Moscow on espionage allegations.
Despite the deep divides between Moscow and Washington, active
contacts between the White House and Kremlin appear promising.
Russia and the US may have no choice but to unite economically and
militarily in the face of a looming second global economic crisis,
as well as a worsening global political situation, particularly in
the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.
US global ABM system will be curbed — top Russian brass
Statements made by top Russian officials on Friday at the second
international Military and Political Aspects of European Security
conference in Moscow suggest that little has changed in Russia’s
position on the US global missile defense system.
The conference — attended by some 300 Russian and NATO military
experts and diplomats — debated issues of strategic stability,
including NATO’s military buildup in Eastern Europe and the current
role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe.
The head of the Russian president’s administration, Sergey
Ivanov, delivered a speech at the opening of the gathering railing
against the West’s “one-sided approach to the matters of missile
defense.” Only legally binding international agreements could
ensure effective arms control, Ivanov stressed.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu also noted that the
“missile defense problem is sharp,” and that further Western
development would endanger the principle of indivisibility
inscribed in the European missile defense system.
Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov drew a connection
between the further Russian nuclear disarmament proposed by
Washington with the development of the US global missile defense
system. If the US continues with a global ABM system, Moscow may
exit the new START treaty signed in 2010.
At the same time, Moscow is confident it has the means to
overcome US missile defense: “We make no secret that we have
military-technical means to neutralizing the possible negative
impact of the US global missile defense system on the Russian
nuclear forces potential,” Gerasimov said at the opening of the
Moscow conference.
This article originally appeared on : RT