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Putin stuck in the past, says Obama
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-04 08:33
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said former Russian President Vladimir Putin and his hand-picked successor should expect an in-person reminder the Cold War is over when the US leader makes his first trip to a Moscow summit. Days before he departs for Russia, Obama told the AP in an interview on Thursday that Putin "still has a lot of sway" in his nation as its nominal prime minister. "I think that it's important that even as we move forward with President Medvedev that Putin understand that the old Cold War approaches to US-Russian relations is outdated," he said. "Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new." Scheduled to depart on Sunday for a trip to Russia, an international summit in Italy and his first trip to Africa as president, Obama praised Moscow for its cooperation in international efforts to persuade the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran to abandon their nuclear development programs. The main agenda item for Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow is to advance talks on a new strategic arms reduction treaty to replace one that expires in December. In addition to sitting down with Medvedev, Obama is also set to meet Putin, the former president who now is prime minister but still a major force. Putin is still widely seen as more powerful than Medvedev, who was elected in March 2008 after Putin tapped him as his favored successor. Medvedev has used a softer tone than Putin and has spoken of the need to improve Russia's democracy and its justice system, raising US hopes for a shift from the tight Kremlin control of the Putin era. Obama said that meeting with Putin as well as with the president "ensures that he and Medvedev are hearing the same things and seeing the same things so that they can move in concert in cooperating with us on some critical issues". He said Medvedev understands that, but Putin needs convincing that the US wants cooperation rather than "an antagonistic relationship". No understanding of Putin Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Obama was wrong to suggest the Russian premier remains partially mired in a Cold War mindset. "Such a point of view has nothing to do with a true understanding of Putin," he told the AP, and suggested the reason for Obama's view was simply that he "has not yet spoken with Putin - they are not acquainted". Peskov said that Obama's planned breakfast meeting with Putin on Tuesday should clear the air. "I am convinced that after this meeting, the president (Obama) will change his point of view about (Putin)," he said. AP (China Daily 07/04/2009 page11) |
