July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Russia insists on linking a new agreement on nuclear arms reductions with a U.S. plan to install elements of a missile shield in Europe as Moscow prepares for President Barack Obama’s visit next week.

The U.S. and Russia are working on a new accord to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, which expires in December. Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a “politically binding” framework agreement during the Moscow summit that will include targets for cuts, Medvedev’s aide Sergei Prikhodko told reporters in Moscow today.

“We’d like the agreement to establish the link between START and missile defense,” Prikhodko said, adding that Russia’s concerns about the U.S. missile shield “must be addressed.” Russia views the proposed U.S. system as a threat to its security, while the U.S. insists the shield is intended to protect against missile attacks from so-called rogue states.

Obama arrives in Moscow on June 6 for a three-day visit that Prikhodko said would give a “serious impetus to the full spectrum of relations with the U.S.” During the meeting, Medvedev’s second with Obama, the two leaders will also sign agreements on nuclear and military cooperation and transit shipments of U.S. military cargoes across Russia to its troops serving in Afghanistan, Prikhodko said.

“It’s unrealistic to think that missile defense will be mentioned directly in the agreement,” Fyodor Lukyanov, an analyst at the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy in Moscow, said by telephone.

No Compromise

“I’m afraid there won’t be a compromise,” he said. “The U.S. categorically doesn’t want to tie START and missile defense, primarily for domestic political reasons, since this would complicate ratification. I think the Americans will try their best to avoid this.”

The U.S. may instead propose wording that links offensive and defensive weapons generally, Lukyanov said. “It remains to be seen if Russia will show flexibility and accept such a decision.”

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said if the U.S. were to rethink its plans for a European missile shield and its support for NATO expansion, “this would be a big step forward,” Interfax reported from Stanitsa Vyselki in the Krasnodar region.

Putin also called on the U.S. to repeal the Cold War-era Jackson-Vanik amendment, which the U.S. imposed to punish what is saw as the Soviet Union’s restrictive emigration policies, the Moscow-based news service reported.

Nuclear Warheads

Russia is ready to reduce the number of nuclear delivery vehicles by several times compared with START levels and to bring the quantity of warheads to a number lower than set in an agreement reached in Moscow in 2002, Medvedev said in Amsterdam on June 20. He said such a reduction is only possible if the U.S. addresses Russian concerns.

In Namibia on June 25, Medvedev said Russia hadn’t “closed the door” on talks with the U.S. about its linkage of the missile shield and strategic arms talks. Medvedev reiterated that nuclear warheads should be cut beyond the level in the 2002 agreement, under which Russia and the U.S. pledged to have no more than 1,700 to 2,200 warheads each by December 2012.

Medvedev has repeatedly said Russia is prepared to cooperate with the U.S. to bring order to Afghanistan, where the Soviet army fought a nine-year Afghan war that ended in 1989. Obama is adding 17,000 combat personnel and 4,000 trainers to Afghanistan, a conflict he has called the “central front” of the campaign against terrorism. Russia is keen to increase its role in Afghanistan and last month pledged increased assistance to help the country restore its economy.

Afghan Transit

Russia, which currently allows the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to send non-military rail shipments across its territory en route to Afghanistan, also has bilateral transit agreements with France, Germany and Spain, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s envoy to NATO, said on June 29.

Prikhodko said Russia also expects to create a trade and economic commission during Obama’s visit similar to one headed by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and ex-Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lyubov Pronina in Moscow at lpronina@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 3, 2009 11:21 EDT