Americas

Americas

US President: â€œI think we’ll do better in 2013â€

27 March 2012 07:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. US President Barack Obama made clear on Tuesday he expects election-year politics to prevent a breakthrough with Moscow on missile defense before 2013 as he staunchly defended remarks caught on camera the day before with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Obama was overheard telling Medvedev on Monday that he would have "more flexibility" to deal with contentious arms-control issues after the November 6 U.S. election, drawing sharp criticism back home from his Republican foes.

Speaking on the sidelines of a global nuclear security summit in Seoul, Obama said he stood by his earlier comments, insisting it was a political reality that "everybody understands."

"I don’t think it’s any surprise that you can’t start that a few months before presidential and congressional elections in the United States and at a time when they just completed elections in Russia," Obama told reporters with Medvedev at his side.

U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield have bedeviled relations between Washington and Moscow despite Obama’s "reset" in ties between the former Cold War foes. Obama’s Republican opponents have accused him of being too open to concessions to Russia on the issue.

In Monday’s talks, Obama urged Moscow to give him "space" until after the November ballot and Medvedev said he would relay the message to incoming Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Obama, responding to a reporter’s question on Tuesday during a break in the summit, said progress on complex arms control issues required dealings with the Pentagon and Congress to build bipartisan support and that 2012 was not a good year to get that done.

"The current environment is not conducive to these kinds of thoughtful consultations," Obama said. "I think we’ll do better in 2013."

The Democratic president has faced stiff opposition from Republicans in Congress to his legislative agenda on everything from job creation to taxes. Republicans have already made clear they have no interest in cooperating on further arms reduction deals with Russia.