US President Barack Obama is to meet Central and Eastern European leaders during a Prague visit in a bid to alleviate fears in the region of US efforts to reset ties with Russia, diplomatic sources told the German Press Agency dpa today. The US president is expected in the Czech capital on April 8 to sign a new US-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev. The new START treaty, the signing of which is taking place around a year after Obama's Prague speech in which he gave his vision of nuclear-free world, is also seen part of his efforts to improve relations with Russia. US-Russia ties reached a low point under George W Bush, Obama's predecessor. But Obama's friendlier approach to Moscow has sparked unease in Central and Eastern European capitals, which once were under Soviet dominance. Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said on Hungarian television that he was informally invited to the Prague ceremony, the Czech news agency CTK reported. Romanian President Traian Basescu also plans to participate, CTK said, citing the Romanian Embassy in Prague. According to the report, leaders from Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia may be in Prague next week.
