An array of voices is urging Obama to be tough with Russian leaders. A bipartisan group of senators sent a letter last week urging him to express "deep concern" about Iran's nuclear program and to "make it known that Russia should not expect progress on issues of concern to Moscow if it does not take a tougher stance on Iran."
The White House has responded with skepticism about Russia's desire for cooperation and by saying that a clear-eyed view of "mutual interest" will guide U.S. policy.
"They're not prepared to make a lot of concessions merely to reach an agreement" on arms reductions, said Stephen Sestanovich, senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. "The Americans are going to say to the Russians, 'We're prepared to walk away.' We'll see who blinks first."
Obama, meantime, has been sending his own explicit message.
"I think it's important that, even as we move forward with President Medvedev, that Putin understand that the old Cold War approaches to U.S.-Russian relations is outdated," the president said last week in an interview with the Associated Press. "Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business, and one foot in the new."
An aide to Putin fired back, saying that "after visiting Moscow, President Obama will know the realities better."
After Moscow, Obama heads to Italy and a summit of the Group of Eight nations. He has convened a side meeting of major greenhouse gas emitters to discuss energy and climate, and will also meet Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
And on his first presidential trip to sub-Saharan Africa, Obama is pointedly skipping his ancestral home of Kenya and visiting Ghana - among the continent's strongest democracies - to underscore his support of civil society and the rule of law.
Ghana has had five successive elections widely considered free and fair. The most recent election came down to a runoff won by the opposition party, and still resulted in a peaceful transition of power.
With the power he has to shape world perceptions, the first African-American president is notably turning away from stories of chaos on the African continent.
Far too often, says one key Obama adviser, "discussions of Africa are focused on crisis." "Ghana is not in crisis," said Michelle Gavin, the president's senior director for African affairs, "and it's an example for the region and more broadly."
