Medvedev on Obama, Iran
Posted: Friday, September 25, 2009 10:15 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Andrea Mitchell, Barack Obama
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
According to representatives of the Russian government, Russia's President Medvedev praised President Obama effusively during a question-and-answer session with students at the University of Pittsburgh.
Asked about Iran and sanctions, Medvedev reportedly said, according to a transcript provided by the Russians:
"I have this feeling as though I'm still in the meeting with Barack Obama. Yesterday he asked me this very same question. We spent about a half hour talking about that yesterday! I tried to answer that yesterday and I'll try to answer that today in this beautiful hall.
First of all, we are all responsible for global affairs. Since we share this responsibility, no state should refuse it. In this sense, Russia is a responsible country. All of us are involved in promoting nuclear energy and the right to the peaceful use of it. Iran as a state has a right to its own peaceful nuclear program. This is our clear position. That is what I said to Barack Obama yesterday.
I do not believe sanctions are the best way to achieve results. Sanctions were used on a number of occasions against Iran but we have doubts about the results. Nevertheless when all instruments have been used and failed, one can use international legal sanctions. That is common…I think we should continue to promote positive incentives for Iran and at the same time push it to make all its programs transparent and open. Should we fail in that case, we'll consider other options.
In response to a question on the state of relations between the U.S. and Russia:
I would like to see them better than they are today. But today they are better than they were yesterday. The truth of the matter is, one year ago, I got an impression that our relations had hit a dead end, they almost slid to the level of the cold war. I don't want to blame anybody...The bottom line is, we didn't want that to happen. What really matters is to see to it that the number of differences between our countries, our politicians, be smaller. I am very comfortable with communication with the President of the United States for several reasons. We are of the same generation, we had the same kind of education. When I was a postgraduate student, I read legal reviews at the time that were edited by Barack Obama. Had I known he was an editor, I would have read them more attentively.
The mindset is important. Today, when I'm communicating with the U.S. president, I get the feeling that he's attentively listening. He doesn't preach to you as a mentor, which is not very nice. When you are preaching to others, it's not nice. People like him not only here in the United States but in other countries as well. So he's managed to do certain things that others have failed to do. I believe if personal relations between the leaders are good, then it will be easier to build better relations for the future.
(For example), a recent decision by the President of the United States regarding forgoing the third site on ABM missile defense. Of course, this decision was determined by Barack Obama's mindset. It was not pro-Russia nor pro-Chinese nor pro-Europe, this was an American decision. What's important is Barack Obama listened to my position. Perhaps it was part of the basis for his decision. We are learning to listen to each other. This is a change from the previous administration. I think these are bold, courageous decisions, to change decisions of previous administrations concerning foreign policy. This was a complex decision. I tried to put myself in his shoes. It would not have been easy for me. It deserves our respect. We don't know what will happen next, but if we are continually attentive to each other, our relations will have a good future.
