Monday, July 6, 2009

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are launching two days of high-stakes meetings expressing confidence that they can make progress.

Mr. Obama and his Russian counterpart sat down Monday in an ornate room of the Kremlin to start the first full-scale U.S.-Russia summit since the early part of the George W. Bush presidency.

Opening their talks, President Obama told reporters that "the United States and Russia have more in common than they have differences." Medvedev said the two leaders will be "closing some of the pages of the past and opening some of the pages of the future."

Just before the meetings began, the two countries announced a few minor side agreements aimed at showing results.