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April 1, 2009: In London President Barack Obama meets President Dmitry Medvedev for the first time ahead of a G20 summit to address the global economic crisis. April 3, 2009: NATO holds its 60th anniversary celebration at a summit in Strasbourg, France. At the Strasbourg summit, President Obama criticizes the Russian “invasion” of Georgia, and states that “we can't go back to the old ways of doing business.” April 5, 2009: In a speech in Prague, President Obama promises to move forward with plans for a missile defense system based in the Czech Republic and Poland. April 6, 2009: A Russian tanker delivers the first shipment of LNG from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 project to Japan. April 15, 2009: Sen. Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, holds talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss arms control issues. April 24, 2009: Introductory consultations on the renewal of the START-I treaty take place in Rome. Representing the U.S. is Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller. Representing Russia is Anatoly Antonov, director of the Foreign Ministry’s department for security and disarmament. April 25-26, 2009: Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin travels to Washington, DC to attend a meeting of the G7/G20 finance ministers. U.S.-Russia Relations 54 July 2009 April 28, 2009: The Ford Foundation announces that because of the severe decline in its assets, it is closing its office in Moscow. April 30, 2009: Two Russian diplomats are expelled from the NATO mission in Brussels over allegations of spying. May 1, 2009: The Japanese government announces that it will give $40 million toward an international project to dismantle decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines in the Far East. May 6, 2009: The NATO Partnership for Peace Cooperative Longbow-Cooperative Lancer 2009 peacekeeping exercises begin in Georgia. These involve 1,300 soldiers from 19 member-countries of the alliance. President Medvedev calls them an “open provocation.” May 7, 2009: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov travels to Washington and meets counterpart Hillary Clinton, as well as President Obama, to discuss a wide range of security issues. May 11-12, 2009: Prime Minister Putin visits Tokyo. May 19-20, 2009: The first round of U.S.-Russian consultations on the renewal of the START-I treaty takes place in Moscow. May 25, 2009: The DPRK conducts a nuclear test. May 26, 2009: Russia’s Techsnabexport (Tenex), a unit of Russian state-owned nuclear power company Atomenergoprom, signs a $1 billion deal to supply U.S. electric utilities in California and Texas with nuclear fuel for electricity generation in nuclear power plants. May 29, 2009: Russia and the U.S. formally open a plant in Shchuchye, Siberia to destroy a huge stockpile of artillery shells filled with deadly nerve agents. June 2-3, 2009: Second round of U.S.-Russian consultations on renewal of START-I takes place in Geneva. June 10, 2009: In response to a statement issued the previous day by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman rejects reports that the U.S. is going to deploy elements of a missile defense system on Russian territory. June 13, 2009: At a meeting of finance ministers from the G8 in Lecce, Italy, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says that Russia has full confidence in the dollar and there are no immediate plans to switch to a new reserve currency. June 16, 2009: Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called BRIC countries, meet in Yekaterinburg, Russia to discuss their respective strategies to the world economic crisis. At the meeting President Medvedev criticizes the role of the dollar as international reserve currency. U.S.-Russia Relations 55 July 2009 U.S.-Russia Relations 56 July 2009 June 22-23, 2009: Third round of U.S.-Russian consultations on renewal of START-I in Geneva. June 23, 2009: Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announces that his government reached a new agreement with the U.S. on the status of Manas Air Base in Bishkek. U.S. and ISAF forces will be able to continue using the airbase for non-military supplies for Afghanistan. June 26, 2009: In Moscow, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets the chief of the Russian general staff, Gen. Nikolai Makarov, to discuss bilateral military cooperation and arms control. July 6-8, 2009: President Obama and his family visit Moscow. He attends meetings with President Medvedev, Prime Minister Putin, opposition leaders, business students, and journalists.