When President Dmitry Medvedev travels to New York this week to address the United Nations and meet Barack Obama who has just scrapped a missile shield plan, the question on everyone's mind will be: how will Russia reciprocate?
While Russians welcomed the move, saying it will help foster dialogue, they have so far refused to say that direct reciprocal steps would be forthcoming. Medvedev acknowledged however the Kremlin understands the ball may now be in Russia's court. "Of course, there is always score counting in politics," Medvedev said in an interview released late Friday. "Primitive compromises and tradeoffs" were out of the question, however, he said.
"If our partners heed some of our concerns then we will of course treat their concerns with more attention," Medvedev said in the interview to the Swiss media. Privately, officials concede the US decision to shelve a Bush-era Eastern European missile Defense plan was not only a boon but a challenge for Russia.
"Naturally ... we understand that we now may be in a more responsible and difficult position," a Kremlin official said. "Indeed we have to respond," he said.
How that will be translated into concrete moves this week when Medvedev addresses a Security Council meeting considering a key resolution on nuclear disarmament and meet Obama remains unclear. A report in Kommersant daily Friday, citing a senior unnamed diplomat, said Washington expected Russia to stop supplies of its S-300 air-Defense missiles to Iran and support tougher sanctions against the wayward state. Russian officials who have ruled out a quid-pro-quo approach in its ties
with Washington, flatly refused to link Washington's decision on the US missile plan to possible Russian concessions on Iran. "It would not be right to think of any responsible movement, collective movement towards more secure and predictable world ... in terms of concessions," said Medvedev's foreign policy advisor Sergei Prikhodko. Meeting with foreign journalists, he sought to downplay expectations of what Russia will bring to the table.
Washington's missile decision was a "serious contribution" to the upcoming meetings of the United Nations General Assembly and a Security Council session on nuclear non-proliferation, both of which Medvedev will address, he said. When the Security Council sits down to consider a key resolution on nuclear weapons on September 24, it should not "antagonise the countries ... and create additional irritants in relations between nuclear and non-nuclear states," Prikhodko said.
He also said it would be unreasonable to expect a quick agreement on the START nuclear arms control treaty or any other deals when Medvedev and Obama meet face to face. "Contradictions remain," Prikhodko added.
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