Medvedev looks to Obama to calm political storm

The Russian president says he is looking to Barack Obama to restore trust in the relationship with America. The former American Secretary-of-State Madeleine Albright was sent to talk to Mr Medvedev in Washington by Obama himself

After those discussions Dmitry Medvedev said he was pinning his hopes on a fresh start with the US president-elect. “I think we can create a new framework for a real partnership between the US and Russia,” Medvedev said. “We have a lot of common areas: the stabilisation of the global economy, nuclear proliferation, and agreements over weapons’ control.”

Deals already signed by Washington with Poland and the Czech Republic to host an American missile defence shield are now in doubt.

Barack Obama has indicated he may not continue with the Bush administration’s project which has so angered Moscow. The EU Presidency is calling for a time-out on the project to calm an increasingly tense diplomatic-standoff.