It has been claimed that US President Barack Obama has offered his Russian counterpart President Dmitry Medvedev a deal in a ’secret’ letter delivered by hand to the kremlin 3 weeks ago say anonymous sources in Washington according to reports in the New York Times.
The letter is believed to suggest that President Obama would back off on plans to site a missile defence grid in Eastern Europe in return for assistance in stopping Iran devolping long range weapons.
An Obama administration official confirmed that President Obama did send a letter to President Medvedev “that covered a broad range of issues, including missile defence and how it relates to the Iranian threat.”
The official however, refused to confirm the existance of or suggestion of a deal in the letter.
A Kremlin source said that President Obama’s letter to President Medvedev offered no trade-off on missile defence and Iran.
Russia has vigorously opposed the missile shield, which would include sites in the Czech Republic and Poland, since it was proposed by the Bush administration and at one point in 2008 even suggesting that any missile sites would be targeted by Russian forces in a bid to disable them.
The stated aim of the shield is to deter Iran from launching nuclear-tipped missiles at US allies in Europe.