Obama to Meet With 11 European Leaders

By PETER BAKER

President Obama will meet with leaders of Central and Eastern Europe when he travels to Prague next week to sign a new arms control treaty with Russia, the White House said on Friday.

Mr. Obama will have dinner with 11 heads of state just hours after the treaty signing ceremony with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia. The dinner is part of an effort by the Obama administration to balance its embrace of Russia with signs of support for allies in the region that remain estranged from or suspicious of Moscow.

The White House played down the tension that underscored the decision to invite Russia’s neighbors to Prague even as the president seals a new accord with the Kremlin. “This is just an opportunity to meet with, consult with and reiterate our commitment to security for Europe,” said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary.

But it follows what administration officials have acknowledged was a botched roll-out of the president’s decision last year to scrap his predecessor’s missile defense system, a move that alarmed Eastern European countries that viewed it as caving into Russian pressure. Mr. Obama, however, did not abandon missile defense; he reconfigured it to focus on short- and medium-range missiles from Iran. And he has made plans to station some elements of the system in Poland and Romania despite continued Russian objections.

Missile defense was a thorny issue during the year-long negotiations that resulted in the arms control treaty to be signed by Mr. Obama and Mr. Medvedev. Called the “New Start” treaty since it replaces the now-expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or Start, the pact does not restrict American plans to set up an antimissile shield in Eastern Europe. But Russia plans to issue a statement along making clear it will withdraw from the treaty if it decides such a system represents a threat to its security.

Mr. Obama will leave Washington on Wednesday night and arrive in Prague on Thursday morning.

After a meeting with Mr. Medvedev and a lunch hosted by Czech leaders, the two presidents will hold a signing ceremony and a news conference. The dinner with the Central and Eastern European leaders will follow. Those invited are the leaders of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Mr. Obama will meet Friday morning with the Czech president and prime minister before flying back to Washington.