Medvedev backpedals on missile threats

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By Barbara Slavin

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said Saturday that Russia will not carry out its threats to deploy new missiles facing Europe and that the advent of a new U.S. administration provides "great opportunities" to overcome other differences between the United States and his country.

In Washington to attend a meeting of the world's 20 largest economies, Mr. Medvedev suggested that the global financial crisis had a potential silver lining.

"I believe we have great opportunities to restore relations to the fullest extent, and we can build them on a new foundation," the Russian leader told the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Medvedev stunned President-elect Barack Obama by delivering a harsh speech in Moscow the day after the U.S. elections. The Russian threatened to put missiles in the enclave of Kaliningrad if the United States carries out plans to deploy missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic.

On Saturday, he said he meant "nothing personal" by the timing of the speech. "I absolutely forgot about the important political event taking place that day," he said.

The Bush administration has said that the missile defenses are intended for Iran, but Russia objects to their deployment so close to its borders and says they are aimed at Russian targets.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday also seemed to back down from comments critical of the planned missile-defense system.

"Ultimately, it could be a complement against a missile threat coming from elsewhere, for example, Iran," Mr. Sarkozy said Saturday after meetings with other leaders at the global financial summit.

Mr. Sarkozy said on Friday after a European Union-Russia summit in Nice, France, that the system would not make Europe safer.

Mr. Obama has a different view of missile defense than the outgoing U.S. administration and has suggested that he will not deploy radar in Europe until the technology is proven to work.