Updated on
Summary
Barack Obama attempted to reach across the divisions of the Cold War to a new generation of Russian students, with his vision of a world made safer by closer ties between the Kremlin and Washington. The U.S. president told graduating students from Moscow's New Economic School that the future of Russia -- and relations with the United States -- belonged to them. The students of the school sat quietly and applauded only at the end of the 31-minute speech, which was delivered late because Obama's meeting with Russia's powerful prime minister, Vladimir Putin, went over time. Obama's speech was not carried live on the main Russian television channels, showing only on a cable news channel not seen by most Russians. While extending the hand of friendship on cutting nuclear weapons and dealing jointly with North Korea and Iran, Obama also addressed the hangovers from the Soviet Union by warning that empires should not treat other countries as chess pieces.
