Russia Responds to Obama U-Turn With Small Thaw
By GREGORY L. WHITE in Moscow and MARC CHAMPION in Brussels
WSJ
Russia began to signal a small thaw in relations with the West on Friday in the wake of the U.S. cancellation of an antimissile defense system in Eastern Europe, as NATO offered a reset of its own thorny ties with Moscow.
President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would be more attentive to U.S. concerns, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered some rare warm words for the U.S. -- though both continued to say not to expect any direct concessions in response. "It's not a magic wand," a senior Kremlin official said of the U.S. missile-defense move.
In another development that appeared related to the U.S. shift to a more-conventional style of missile defense Thursday, North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally Turkey announced Friday that it would buy $1 billion of interceptors in the style of the U.S. Patriot system that can shoot down medium-range rockets and aircraft. Turkey borders Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The new secretary-general of NATO offered Russia his own olive branch, suggesting Moscow and the West should work to link their missile-defense systems and conduct a joint NATO-Russia review of security threats.
In his first major speech Friday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia should "make its voice heard" in development of the Western alliance's new security strategy. He said he wanted to see a fresh start in relations, strained in the aftermath of Russia's war with NATO aspirant Georgia in August 2008.
(More here.)
WSJ
Russia began to signal a small thaw in relations with the West on Friday in the wake of the U.S. cancellation of an antimissile defense system in Eastern Europe, as NATO offered a reset of its own thorny ties with Moscow.
President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would be more attentive to U.S. concerns, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered some rare warm words for the U.S. -- though both continued to say not to expect any direct concessions in response. "It's not a magic wand," a senior Kremlin official said of the U.S. missile-defense move.
In another development that appeared related to the U.S. shift to a more-conventional style of missile defense Thursday, North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally Turkey announced Friday that it would buy $1 billion of interceptors in the style of the U.S. Patriot system that can shoot down medium-range rockets and aircraft. Turkey borders Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The new secretary-general of NATO offered Russia his own olive branch, suggesting Moscow and the West should work to link their missile-defense systems and conduct a joint NATO-Russia review of security threats.
In his first major speech Friday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia should "make its voice heard" in development of the Western alliance's new security strategy. He said he wanted to see a fresh start in relations, strained in the aftermath of Russia's war with NATO aspirant Georgia in August 2008.
(More here.)
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