Obama's Russian Tight Rope

Obama needs to work with Dmitry Medvedev and Putin. He'll meet with both in Moscow:

Mr. Obama himself waded into the issue on Thursday when he made a pointed remark about Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, who is Mr. Medvedev’s mentor and is widely assumed to be Russia’s real ruler.

Mr. Obama said that Mr. Putin, the former president, had “one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new.” Mr. Obama said that it was time to move forward and that Mr. Medvedev “understands that.”

The comment suggested that Mr. Obama was trying to build up Mr. Medvedev, who the Americans say they believe may be easier to deal with than Mr. Putin.

American officials said that Mr. Obama and Mr. Medvedev met at the Group of 8 summit meeting in London in April and that they seemed to hit it off. But the officials said they feared that Mr. Putin stood in the way.

Mr. Obama also may have been trying to protect his own domestic political flank, anticipating criticism that he is too easy on the Kremlin.

Mr. Putin, who is often quick with a retort when criticized, seemed to go out of his way on Friday not to take offense at Mr. Obama’s comment. Read the whole thing at NYT