US and Russia must build bridges

However, Barack Obama, the US president, and Dmitry Medvedev, his Russian counterpart, still have much to discuss when they meet for the first time in London on Wednesday. They must do their utmost to ease the east-west tensions of the recent past. With much at stake in the economic crisis, the world cannot afford the distractions of avoidable political conflict between Washington and Moscow.

The atmosphere has already improved since the Georgia war last summer. The Obama administration has toned down the rhetoric of the Bush years and signalled that it will go slow on the two issues that most irritate Moscow – anti-missile defence deployment in eastern Europe and further Nato expansion.

All this is welcome, as is Moscow’s positive reaction, including the warm words of Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, in an FT interview. The two sides are now accelerating talks on a new strategic arms reduction treaty to replace Start 1 before it expires in December. While Russia and the US will retain huge arsenals, the planned cuts are significant given the grave concern about nuclear proliferation, not least in relation to Iran. There must be no illusions: full nuclear disarmament is a distant dream. But US-Russian readiness to make cuts is a good precedent. As elsewhere, Mr Obama is changing the tone, and by changing the tone creating openings for more concrete developments.

But, the nuclear issue aside, it would be wrong to hope for many early gains in US-Russian ties. Mutual mistrust runs deep. Russia remains a corrupt authoritarian state with limited respect for political rights and a record of bullying its neighbours. Even if the US now refrains from criticising Russia’s internal affairs, serious differences will remain over Moscow’s claims to dominate the former Soviet republics. The west must not give Russia a free hand in the region: the post-Soviet states must have the right to make their own political choices, including co-operating with the European Union and, perhaps at some future date, joining Nato.

That said, Mr Obama is right to seize the moment to develop ties on a pragmatic basis. As well as arms control, the US and Russia can usefully co-operate on many issues, including Iran, Afghanistan, the Middle East and global terrorism. Mr Obama is not about to launch a new era of east-west friendship. But he may succeed in building a few very useful bridges.

A summit between the leaders of the world’s two nuclear superpowers no longer dominates the global stage as in the cold war.

However, Barack Obama, the US president, and Dmitry Medvedev, his Russian counterpart, still have much to discuss when they meet for the first time in London on Wednesday. They must do their utmost to ease the east-west tensions of the recent past. With much at stake in the economic crisis, the world cannot afford the distractions of avoidable political conflict between Washington and Moscow.

The atmosphere has already improved since the Georgia war last summer. The Obama administration has toned down the rhetoric of the Bush years and signalled that it will go slow on the two issues that most irritate Moscow – anti-missile defence deployment in eastern Europe and further Nato expansion.

All this is welcome, as is Moscow’s positive reaction, including the warm words of Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, in an FT interview. The two sides are now accelerating talks on a new strategic arms reduction treaty to replace Start 1 before it expires in December. While Russia and the US will retain huge arsenals, the planned cuts are significant given the grave concern about nuclear proliferation, not least in relation to Iran. There must be no illusions: full nuclear disarmament is a distant dream. But US-Russian readiness to make cuts is a good precedent. As elsewhere, Mr Obama is changing the tone, and by changing the tone creating openings for more concrete developments.

But, the nuclear issue aside, it would be wrong to hope for many early gains in US-Russian ties. Mutual mistrust runs deep. Russia remains a corrupt authoritarian state with limited respect for political rights and a record of bullying its neighbours. Even if the US now refrains from criticising Russia’s internal affairs, serious differences will remain over Moscow’s claims to dominate the former Soviet republics. The west must not give Russia a free hand in the region: the post-Soviet states must have the right to make their own political choices, including co-operating with the European Union and, perhaps at some future date, joining Nato.

That said, Mr Obama is right to seize the moment to develop ties on a pragmatic basis. As well as arms control, the US and Russia can usefully co-operate on many issues, including Iran, Afghanistan, the Middle East and global terrorism. Mr Obama is not about to launch a new era of east-west friendship. But he may succeed in building a few very useful bridges.