Translated material
Process restarted
On April 1, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama held talks during the G20 summit in London and made two joint statements. First of all, they agreed to continue reducing strategic offensive weapons in accordance with obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. They decided to begin bilateral negotiations between the two governments to develop a new, comprehensive, legally binding agreement on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive weapons. Obama agreed with Medvedev that because there are different views on the goals of deploying a missile defense system in Europe, questions about offensive and defensive capabilities should be considered together.
Presidents generally emphasize in every possible way that the era of hostility is long behind us and the countries have many common interests, so it makes sense to have a current agenda, joint readiness to solve current problems and openly and honestly resolve disagreements.
As for Afghanistan, which, in addition to missile defense, is one of the main problems, the two presidents agreed to work together to resolve conflicts and the problem of drug trafficking in the region with international forces. There was no mention of the transit of military cargo.
Medvedev and Obama began a dialogue on security and stability in Europe. They noted that their views differ regarding the conflict in Georgia (who would doubt it), but they are ready to make efforts together to maintain peace in the region and emphasize the importance of the agreements reached.
They also called the resumption of the activities of the Russia-NATO Council a positive step. They decided to discuss the problem of improving Euro-Atlantic and European security.
In addition, the presidents supported the idea of quickly continuing the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue and expressed concern about the country's plans to launch a ballistic missile.
Recognizing that Iran has the right to a peaceful atom, they noted that the country must convince everyone that its intentions are exclusively peaceful. They called on Iran to cooperate with the IAEA and comply with the decisions of this organization and the UN Security Council.
And finally, the presidents promised to order the governments of both countries to take measures to complete the process of Russia’s accession to the WTO as soon as possible and create favorable conditions for the development of economic relations between Russia and the United States.