German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a visit to Moscow urged the Kremlin to accept a U.S. offer to cooperate on nuclear disarmament.

"With the entry into office of President (Barack) Obama, there is a genuine chance for new cooperation between the United States, the European Union and Russia," Steinmeier said Wednesday in a speech to the Russian Academy of Sciences. "The ghost of the Cold War has been banished."

Obama said in April he wants to rid the world of nuclear weapons and that Washington is ready to lead the way. He also called on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to jointly work on finding a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty by the end of the year.

"The extended hand of the U.S. president should be boldly accepted," said Steinmeier, who is currently running for German chancellor. "Hesitation or tactical bargaining could quickly close the window of opportunities again … This has to be the year when international disarmament efforts move back to the top of the agenda."

Steinmeier said Obama's call for a world without nuclear weapons and the outlook for improved U.S.-Russian relations meant a "unique historic opportunity."

While in Moscow, Steinmeier met with Medvedev, his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. When asked whether Russia could be secured without nukes, the latter replied: "Of course. Why would we need nuclear weapons?"

Nuclear proliferation was a key theme of Steinmeier's visit. He told reporters that the U.N. Security Council had agreed to toughen its stance against North Korea's recent nuclear tests. Efforts to draft a joint resolution "were successful," Steinmeier said in a joint news conference with Lavrov Wednesday.

North Korea has sparked international outrage recently with several missile launches and a May 25 underground nuclear test. Observers say the resolution could be voted on and passed as early as Friday.

Steinmeier also urged the Kremlin to show cooperation regarding the international presence in the Georgian breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "Unsolved territorial conflicts have no place in a 21st century Europe," he said.

Russia after the war with Georgia in the summer of 2008 had recognized both provinces as independent. The EU and the United States haven't.

Steinmeier's calls didn't bear fruit. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Thursday suspended negotiations on a renewal of its monitoring presence in Georgia. The decision comes after Russia Wednesday vetoed the final of many compromise plans. The OSCE and Russia had negotiated for five months over a monitoring presence in the two breakaway provinces.

The West wants the OSCE monitors there to prevent abuses of civilians and further clashes between separatist and Georgian forces. Russia sees Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states and says the OSCE should deal with authorities there.

But what links Berlin and Moscow most strongly is neither the Caucasus nor nuclear proliferation -- it's energy security.

Germany imports from Russia some 40 percent of its natural gas and nearly a third of its oil, but several gas price rows between Russia and Ukraine over the past years have increased suspicion of Russia as a reliable supplier.

But while some call for decreasing energy dependence on Russia, Steinmeier has long advocated closer Western-Russian ties. His foreign policy doctrine is about linking Russia economically to the West to influence its democratic development. He has spoken fondly of a recently founded Russian-German energy agency, RUDENA, designed to increase energy efficiency and modernize municipal energy structures in Russia. Steinmeier also lobbied for a global "energy governance" to help defuse new conflicts before they escalate.

"Energy security must not longer divide us, but bring us together," Steinmeier said.