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Fix Russian Ties, Biden Urges

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The New York Times

Published: February 8, 2009

MUNICH, Germany - The United States will pursue a missile defense plan that has angered the Kremlin, Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday, but he also left open the possibility of compromise on the issue and struck a more conciliatory tone than the Bush administration on relations between the countries.

"It is time to press the reset button, and to revisit the many areas where we can and should be working together with Russia," Biden said in a speech at a security conference attended by global leaders and diplomats.

The highly anticipated speech came just days after Kyrgyzstan's president announced a decision to close a U.S. air base that is crucial to the war in Afghanistan, which President Barack Obama has made his biggest foreign policy priority.

Foreign policy experts said that the Obama administration was likely averse to making any outright concessions on the missile defense system just days after the Kyrgyz announcement, fearing it could be interpreted as a sign of weakness. Biden, they said, seemed to be balancing the need to appear firm against the administration's hopes to reverse a several-year slide in Washington's relations with Moscow.

Some Western diplomats had expected Biden to announce a strategic review of the missile defense system as a way to defuse tensions between Washington and Moscow. Although Biden did not go that far, he did leave room in both the speech - and in an interview afterward - for unspecified changes in the plan.

"We will continue to develop missile defenses to counter a growing Iranian capability, provided the technology is proven and it is cost-effective," Biden said.

Biden's speech was the highlight of the security conference. Most attendees seemed primed to hear how the United States and its new leadership viewed the world. They erupted into applause when Biden walked onstage.

WHAT HE SAID

•The United States will take a nuanced approach toward Iran, striving to act preventively and avoid having to choose between the risks of war and the dangers of inaction.

•Biden rejected the notion of a Russian sphere of influence and said that President Obama would continue to press NATO to seek "deeper cooperation" with like-minded countries.

•The United States needs the help of European countries in taking the detainees now held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Biden repeated Obama's vow that the United States will adhere to its values, not torture, and will close the detention center at Guantanamo that has spurred such criticism from European allies.

A wire report

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