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  Date / Time: 9/19/2009 8:47 PM UTC

  Barack Obama to meet Dmitry Medvedev in wake of missile decision
  

  President Barack Obama will meet Dmitry Medvedev for face to face talks next week in an attempt to urge Russia to back a tougher approach towards Iran.

   

  By Andrew Osborn in Moscow, Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
  Published: 6:53PM BST 18 Sep 2009

  

  Russian missile complex Iskander on display during a military equipment exhibition in the Siberian town of Nizhny Tagil Photo: GETTY

  The leaders are to hold a one-hour meeting in New York on Wednesday with Kremlin officials promising the discussions will be wide-ranging.

  Mr Obama is hoping to hammer out a deal on possible sanctions ahead of talks with Tehran on its nuclear weapons programme set for October 1.

   

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  The meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly will come less than a week after Washington dropped its missile shield plans to the delight of Moscow.

  Mr Medvedev said the decision to abandon plans for defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic meant he would listen to US concerns more attentively in future but claimed there had been no "primitive deals". Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, hailed the move as "brave and correct".

  Mr Medvedev is due to address the UN general assembly next week almost half a century after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev took off his shoe and banged it on a desk at the same forum. US officials are hoping he will use the occasion to signal a new approach to international relations.

  On Friday, there were a series of signs of an immediate thaw in Russia's icy relations with the West less than 24 hours after Mr Obama's announcement.

  In his first major speech since taking over as Nato secretary-general last month, Anders Fogh Rasmussen suggested the US, Nato and Russia join forces when it comes to missile defence.

  "Both Russia and Nato have a wealth of experience in missile defence," he said. "We should now work to combine this experience."

  In a related demarche that may cause unease in some European capitals, he called for Nato and Russia to conduct a joint security challenges review.

  "Russia, sooner rather than later, will recognise that new co-operation with Nato is in their own interest," he predicted.

  Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's famously hawkish Nato envoy, called the speech "very positive," promising it would be carefully analysed in Moscow.

  He also confirmed reports that Russia would now shelve plans to fortify its enclave of Kaliningrad with a rocket battery of Iskander missiles and nuclear bombers in response to Washington dropping its missile shield in Eastern Europe.

  Kaliningrad borders European Union states Poland and Lithuania and Mr Medvedev had said that the Iskander missiles could be used "if necessary" to "neutralise" the shield if and when it was erected in Poland and the Czech Republic. The fact the decision to shelve the Iskander missiles was made public so swiftly suggested the Kremlin was keen to show it is willing to be helpful too.

  At the same time, the Kremlin also made it clear that it wants more concessions itself from the US. In particular, Mr Putin said he hoped and expected Washington would lift a raft of trade restrictions and speed its entry into the World Trade Organisation.

  But the Russian leadership remains divided on the issue of Iran as Moscow enjoys strong commercial and diplomatic ties which it seems reluctant to imperil.

  Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the influential Russia in Global Affairs magazine, said he expected the Kremlin to become a bit tougher on Iran but played down the prospect of a serious policy shift.

  "The Russian position on Iran and sanctions may become more flexible," he said. "But there will be no revolutionary changes."

  Both Russia and the US are also racing to agree deep cuts in their nuclear arsenals before the end of the year in a symbolic deal meant to discourage other countries from going nuclear.

  But the Kremlin conceded it was under real pressure to make its own concessions.

  "We are now in a more sensitive and responsible position because we are expected to respond," a senior Kremlin source told reporters on Friday. "[President Obama's decision] makes Russia attentively weigh new opportunities for co-operation."

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