Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has confirmed that Russia will not place short-range missiles near its border with Poland, Interfax reported on 26 September.
The Kremlin chief was speaking after the G20 summit in  Pittsburgh. He said there was no longer a need for Russia to deploy Iskander missiles in the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, following Washington's decision to drop plans for a missile defense system in Central Europe.
Russia had threatened to station its own missiles if US President Barack Obama failed to abandon the proposed missile-shield system of his predecessor George W. Bush.
Washington's decision to scale back the missile-defense system in Europe has helped improve relations between Russia and the West. German Chancellor Angela Merkel applauded Obama’s decision to scrap the missile-defense shield. Germany wants to maintain closer economic and political ties to Russia. “It’s a hopeful decision and it will get us to more international co-operation.  I hope we can get over the differences with Moscow now,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.
In a sign of improving relations, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on 25 September that he had been invited to Moscow by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "Foreign Minister Lavrov today extended an invitation to me to visit Moscow this year. I strongly believe in closer NATO- Russia ties," the NATO chief wrote on his Twitter while attending the UN General Assembly in New York.
NATO officials in Brussels confirmed on 25 September that the Twitter account was genuine, saying that a trip to Moscow was certainly "on the cards".
According to Itar-Tass, the visit would take place before the end of 2009, though no concrete date has yet been agreed.
Rasmussen and Lavrov held what were described as "very constructive" talks in New York. Lavrov's invitation came a week after the NATO chief called on the alliance and Russia to begin closer cooperation on issues such as piracy, counter-terrorism and Afghanistan as a way of building trust following the August 2008 war in Georgia. Rasmussen's conciliatory speech was well received by Russian officials. The last time a NATO secretary-general visited Russia was in June 2007.
Meanwhile, on 23 September Medvedev described Washington's decision to scale back the missile-defense system in Europe as a "constructive step in the right direction". Medvedev said that the international community should reply with a "positive response". "We are prepared to engage in a thorough discussion of the US proposals and relevant Russian initiatives regarding cooperation in this area to reach generally acceptable arrangements," Medvedev told the UN General Assembly.
Medvedev urged other countries to embark on nuclear disarmament without waiting for US-Russian agreements on their own nuclear arsenals. He cited previous US-Russian agreements on naval armaments and nuclear weapons as a basis for advancing nuclear disarmament by other countries.
Moscow will host a Global Nuclear Security Summit in April, which will provide the opportunity to discuss nuclear disarmament in detail. The UN will next year review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Medvedev said, urging all countries to make progress in nuclear disarmament. He said that full disarmament had yet to take place despite the end of the Cold War years ago.
Obama and Medvedev also said on 23 September that they were making progress toward an agreement that would reduce the two countries’ nuclear weapons stockpiles. They said they were confident a new START treaty was still on track to be finished by the end of the year.
Medvedev and Obama also agreed to keep up the pressure on Iran to end its nuclear activities and left open the possibility of further sanctions.
The two leaders, meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, said that Iran must be given a clear choice of coming clean on its nuclear programme or face greater international isolation. "If Iran does not respond to serious negotiations and resolve this issue in a way that assures the international community that it's meeting its commitments, and is not developing nuclear weapons, then we will have to take additional actions," Obama said. "Sanctions, serious additional sanctions, remain a possibility," he said.
Foreign ministers from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - plus Germany were to hold a meeting Wednesday on the Iranian situation. The six powers will meet with Iranian officials on 1 October.
Russia has been more reluctant to step up pressure on Iran. But Medvedev left the door open, saying the international community had to do its utmost to convince Iran to make the "right decision" and abandon any ambitions for nuclear weapons. "Sanctions rarely lead to productive results. But in some cases sanctions are inevitable," Medvedev said.