President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed issues relevant to their upcoming summit, the White House said Wednesday. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the two leaders spoke by telephone Tuesday about their effort to reach an agreement on reducing nuclear arsenals, an issue at the center of Obama's visit to Moscow starting on Monday. “They spoke yesterday about the importance of the upcoming summit,” Gibbs told reporters. Obama is scheduled to arrive in Moscow on Monday for a trip that includes talks with Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. From Russia, Obama will attend a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Italy and visit Ghana before returning home. U.S. and Russian officials hope Obama's visit to Moscow next week will produce a breakthrough in negotiations on reducing both country's nuclear weapons and on helping the United States in Afghanistan.
