Medvedev calls Obama’s nuclear summit a complete success, praises improved relations with US

more images

more images

more images

more images

Medvedev praises Obama for nuclear summit

WASHINGTON — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised President Barack Obama on Tuesday for his nuclear security summit and improved relations between the two countries.

Just days after Medvedev and Obama signed a major nuclear weapons treaty, the Russian leader praised the new atmosphere of cooperation and said it was starting to yield results.

“The environment has been changed and there have been direct results,” he said. “And I must say that I am glad that I was part of that.”

He also called this week’s nuclear security summit hosted by Obama a “complete success.”

Medvedev also sought to temper U.S. expectations for imposing biting new U.N. sanctions on Iran.

He agreed that world powers will have to consider sanctions against Iran if Tehran fails to assure other countries that its nuclear intentions are peaceful.

“If nothing happens, we will have to deal with sanctions,” Medvedev said. “I do not favor paralyzing, crippling sanctions that make people suffer.”

Medvedev expressed concern that Iran’s nuclear ambitions could spark an arms race among Middle Eastern nations.

“If all those countries have nuclear arms, that will open a new page in history of humankind that will be very sad,” he said.

In his wide-ranging speech at the Brookings Institution, Medvedev also warned that political instability in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic, could spin out of control.

“I believe that Kyrgyzstan is on the verge of civil war now,” he said, speaking through an interpreter. “The risk of Kyrgyzstan falling into two parts, the Northern part and the Southern part, is still there.”

The country’s president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, fled the capital, Bishkek, last week after a rally against corruption, rising utility bills and deteriorating human rights exploded into police gunfire and chaos that left at least 83 people dead and sparked protesters to storm the government headquarters.

Medvedev did not mention any of the Kyrgyz figures by name but said: “Some political leaders will have to assume certain political decisions as to their future. “