WASHINGTON — When he arrived in Moscow for national security talks Monday, President Obama was tracing the footsteps of U.S. presidents dating back to Eisenhower. And, like many of his predecessors, Obama found out what difficult bargaining partners the Russians can make.
The two sides took small steps toward scaling back their nuclear arsenals but left wide differences and lingering difficulties on other issues, such as Iran, missile defense, American military support to Russia's neighbors and human rights.
"I don't want to use the word 'disappointment,' but clearly there's a long way to go to work out an agreement, and to move U.S.-Russian relations to more solid ground," said John D. Isaacs, president of the Council for a Livable World, an arms control advocacy group.
Although Russia bears little resemblance today to America's onetime chief rival and peer superpower, Obama has the best of reasons for the respectful approach he has chosen for dealing with the new lords of the Kremlin: They can block the path to nearly every one of his foreign policy priorities.
In its role as spoiler, Russia has the leverage to undermine U.S. efforts to contain Iran's nuclear program, to stop extremism in Afghanistan, to broker Middle East peace and to halt the spread of nuclear weapons.
"They have an enormous ability to create problems if they don't think their interests are taken into account," said Paul J. Saunders, a State Department official in President George W. Bush's administration.
Moscow's differences with Washington were on display in Obama's first summit with President Dmitry Medvedev. On most of the key issues, the two could agree only to keep talking.
The leverage over the United States comes from various sources, including Russia's historical ties with other countries, its huge energy resources and its geographic location.
Russia's long-standing economic relationship with Iran has been a principal hurdle to American efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Although the West believes tough sanctions by Moscow would play a decisive role, Russia has continued to balk. At their news conference, Obama cited the threat of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, but Medvedev remained silent, refraining from even mentioning Iran by name.
Russia has been uneasy about the U.S. military presence in Central Asia and has posed a threat to American efforts to keep open military supply lines to Afghanistan, playing a role in Kyrgyzstan's decision this year, later reversed, to deny the U.S. access to one of its bases.
