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US-Russia 'reset' summit to face hurdles

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-02 13:55

Obama has insisted if Iran's development of nuclear capability can be averted there will be no need for a shield, a suggested incentive for Russia to use leverage with Tehran.

Despite discord over missile defense, there are signs that both sides are looking for ways to recast relations.

The latest was a deal struck between NATO and Russia to restart security cooperation, a step toward rebuilding ties damaged by the war in Georgia. They failed, however, to bridge the gap over Georgia's two breakaway regions that Russia has recognized as independent despite strong Western objections.

Tensions have lingered as Washington has made clear it will not accept Russia's bid to reclaim a "sphere of influence" along its borders.

Nevertheless, Obama has given lower priority than the Bush administration to eventual NATO membership for former Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine, something Russia fiercely opposes.

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Washington is mindful it can ill afford to alienate Russia, whose help is needed on the Iranian nuclear standoff. Moscow, a key trading partner and arms supplier to Iran, has often been reluctant to go along with sanctions on the Islamic republic.

No one expects a meeting of the minds in Moscow either, especially in the wake of Iran's disputed presidential election. "We are not going to be on the same page about Iran," said James Collins, a former US ambassador to Moscow now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Another point of contention could be Obama's expected meetings with opposition politicians and democracy activists as well as with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Russian leaders had bristled at Bush administration accusations of "backsliding" on political reforms.

Also clouding the summit outlook: Russia's stalled bid to join the World Trade Organization and Western concerns about its use of vast energy resources to pressure its neighbors.

Whatever decisions come out of the summit, the world will be watching how the Obama-Medvedev relationship evolves.

Obama has made clear it will be more businesslike than the way Bush, meeting Putin for the first time in 2001, famously said he had gotten a "sense of his soul." Ultimately, their personal rapport did little to stem the slide in relations.

"Obama won't be a look-into-your-soul kind of guy when it comes to diplomacy," said James Goldgeier, an expert at George Washington University and the Council on Foreign Relations.

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