Barack Obama will visit Moscow in July. That’s one of the headlines out of the president’s second big meeting of the day, his sit-down with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The pair jointly announced that the U.S. and Russia will begin working on a new arms control treaty that would cut their weapons stockpiles and prevent the spread of nuclear arms to Iran and North Korea. White House officials hope to have the new pact in place by July, in time to replace the current arms pact which expires in December. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Obama described decision to enter talks as “great progress” in efforts to improve what both he and Medvedev have repeatedly called the “drift” of the U.S./Russian relationship. Still, senior administration officials were careful to note that negotiations will be difficult and there is no guarantee of success. “We are going into this with our eyes wide open,” one official said.

Obama officials were quick to distance their efforts to make nice with Russia with those of George W. Bush, who famously cozied up to former Russian President Vladimir Putin at their first meeting. “I was able to get a sense of his soul,” Bush said. Obama aides, meanwhile, said their boss wasn’t trying to be “buddy buddy” with Medvedev, although they did acknowledge the two men had a personal rapport. Among other things, Medvedev and Obama bonded over the fact they are both lawyers and “speak the same legal language,” an Obama official said. But the aide repeatedly insisted that Obama wasn’t a pushover, and that “their rapport was matched by candor and frankness” on areas where the two sides still disagree, like missile defense.