U.S., Russia agree on arms cuts

On the first day of a visit intended to mend strained relations, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to finalize a new arms treaty cutting the number of deployed warheads on each side by as much as a third.

U.S. President Barack Obama saying (English):

"We have found I think an ability to work together extremely effectively. So, yes, I trust President Medvedev to not only listen and to negotiate constructively, but also to follow up -- follow through on the agreements that are contained here today."

At a joint press conference at the Kremlin, the two leaders also announced a deal to let U.S. troops fly across Russia free of charge-- as more troops are brought in to fight the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

U.S. President Barack Obama saying (English):

"I just want to thank again the Russian government for the agreement for military transit. That will save U.S. troops both time and money. And it's I think a gesture that indicates the degree to which, in the future, Russian-U.S. cooperation can be extraordinarily important in solving a whole host of these very important international issues."

One area in which no agreement was reached was on U.S. plans for an anti-missile system in Europe-- a project the Kremlin fears could threaten Russia's security.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev saying (English):

"Our understanding is that these decisions do concern us and we will have to come to terms on these positions. We realize fully well that the number of threats, including link to the medium-range and ballistic missiles, is not diminishing but is growing in number. So we all have to think about what configuration on the whole the global anti-ballistic missile defense could have."

On Tuesday, President Obama faces a potentially awkward first meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin after publicly criticizing him last week for what he called his "cold war approaches" to relations with the U.S.

Jon Decker, Reuters.