Russia's Diplomatic Obstructionism

By Owen Matthews and Anna Nemtsova

U.S. officials negotiating with Moscow must often feel like the Kremlin's favorite word is nyet. Whether it's sanctions on Iran, missile defense, or arms control, Moscow seems to oppose every issue the U.S. raises. The Kremlin's apparent purpose: to extract as many concessions as possible before ultimately agreeing to some measures, like punishing Tehran or a new version of the START arms-reduction treaty. Exhibit A is Russia's continued blocking of U.S. missile-defense plans. Last year, as a good-will gesture, Washington bowed to Moscow's objections and scrapped designs for a defense shield based in Eastern Europe. Last week, it announced a less-threatening alternative: interceptors in the Black Sea, even farther from Russia's borders--a solution that the Kremlin itself suggested a year ago.

So has Russia agreed? Nyet: the new offer is "even worse," says Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, despite the fact that the interceptors pose no threat to Russia's nukes. Now Moscow says it won't sign the new START deal till the U.S. backs off even these watered-down plans. It all harks back to the Soviet days. Today, though, saying no seems like the only trump left in Russia's arsenal.