Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin greeted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Moscow Thursday with the same sort of disagreeable surprise that Israel gave Vice President Joe Biden during his visit to the Middle East last week.

Mrs. Clinton had three subjects on her agenda. The first was consultations with the "Quartet" -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- on how to get the stalled Middle East peace talks going again. The second was continuing U.S. efforts to get Russia and China to agree to tougher sanctions against Iran so that it would limit its nuclear development program. The third was to accelerate movement by Russia to agree with the United States on a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

Progress was announced Friday on two of her items. The Quartet called on Israel and the Palestinians to return to negotiations and seek a settlement that would create an independent Palestinian state within 24 months. And Mrs. Clinton said during a news conference after a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that U.S. and Russian negotiators are "on the brink" of a nuclear arms agreement and that a treaty would be signed soon.

All of that was preceded, however, by Mr. Putin dropping a bomb on Mrs. Clinton's call for help with reining in Iran's nuclear ambitions -- by saying that Russia plans to complete this summer a nuclear power plant it has been building for the Iranians.

Like the Israeli announcement to build 1,600 Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem, made as Mr. Biden arrived to boost the "proximity" peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, Mr. Putin's statement on the nuclear plant was either bad timing or a thumb in her eye.

How should Americans interpret this? Russia's role in Iran is not necessarily a bad thing. Both countries are signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and accept to some degree oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Russia has been a partner of Iran's in nuclear development for many years.

In the broader analysis of these developments as a measure of American influence, both Russia and Israel have no doubt remarked that the primary focus of the administration of President Barack Obama has been -- as it should be -- on domestic matters. These include the state of the U.S. economy and the reform of America's health care delivery system.

It would be naive to imagine that the two countries would not take advantage in some international pushing and pulling while the United States is obviously preoccupied.

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