Bush and Putin Begin Meetings

April 4, 2008— -- BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - President Bush and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, both short-timers in office looking to burnishtheir legacies, began their efforts Friday to look beyond theirpresidencies and put the frayed U.S.-Russia relationship on firmerfooting. Bush saw the outgoing Russian president Friday here at aNATO-Russia Council meeting amid new Washington-Moscow tensions. In all, Bush was to be face-to-face with Putin at least threetimes in three days, capping a relationship that has lasted nearlya decade. With Putin leaving office next month, their meeting at Putin'svacation home at the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Saturdayand Sunday will likely be their last as leaders. First, Bush wrapped up his business in Bucharest by meeting withRomania's prime minister, Calin Popescu Tariceanu. Bush congratulated the Romanian leader for "hosting a verysuccessful NATO summit" and brought up a sensitive issue that israised whenever he meets with officials from Central and EasternEuropean nations - their citizens' lack of ability to travel to theUnited States without visas like people from other European nationscan. "I fully understand that contradiction," Bush said, withoutmaking promises of resolution. Bush then headed for Zagreb, Croatia, for evening events andmeetings on Saturday before he moves on Russia to see Putin. Bush went into the first of the discussions with Putin a dayafter having won NATO backing to install a missile shield in theformer Soviet eastern European satellites of Poland and the CzechRepublic over Russian objections. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it a "breakthroughagreement" for the military alliance, and it was sugarcoated bythe announcement of a U.S. deal with the Czech Republic to host aradar site vital to the missile defense system. But Bush lost, at least for the moment, a highly public spatover opening the door to NATO membership to Ukraine and Georgia,which Putin vehemently opposes. Instead of the immediate start tothat process that he wanted, Bush got a written commitment from theallies, including Germany and France, which shared Russianconcerns, that the two nations will become NATO members at somepoint. Bush plans to continue to press the matter before his secondterm expires in January. A senior Russian diplomat said NATO's pledge of eventualmembership to Ukraine and Georgia had badly soured ties between thealliance and Moscow. "A culture of searching for solutions on thebasis of taking mutual interests into account has been lost,"Sergei Ryabkov, chief of the Russian Foreign Ministry's departmentfor European cooperation, told reporters in Bucharest before themeeting between Putin and NATO's 26 leaders, including Bush. Russia also remains deeply worried by the alliance's support forthe U.S. missile shield. "We can't sit aside and watch how they rubber-stamp decisionsmade by other people changing security situation for Russia,"Ryabkov said. Tensions even erupted over how the NATO-Russia meeting wasconducted. The Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, complainedthat television coverage of the session ended before Putin spoke,denying the Russian leader a chance to speak publicly, unlike aNATO-Ukraine meeting earlier Friday. But Ryabkov emphasized that Russia had something to offer NATOdespite the differences. Moscow struck a deal to allow the militaryalliance to ship non-lethal freight across Russia to NATO forcesfighting in Afghanistan. "We work in a pragmatic way and continueto cooperate with NATO in areas where our interests are close orcoincide," Ryabkov said. Rice said both Bush and Putin were expected to produce "astrategic framework" to guide relations between Washington andMoscow under their successors. "Part of that has to be somediscussion of missile defense," Rice said. She stopped short ofsaying outright that the two leaders would find agreement on theprickly subject, though White House officials have been predictingthis seemed possible, if not probable.

Russia views the system as designed to weaken its military mightand upset the balance of power in Europe. Bush argues that theshield is not aimed at Russia but at Mideast countries such asIran.

In a series of concessions, the White House has offered to letMoscow monitor the sites and promised to delay activation of theshield until Iran or another adversary tests a missile capable ofreaching Europe.

Rice said the Russians indicated that those measures were viewedas "useful and important" when she and Defense Secretary RobertGates were in Moscow last month. "We hope that we can move beyondthat to an understanding that we all have an interest incooperation on missile defense. But we will see."

The NATO endorsement of the U.S. missile plan said "ballisticmissile proliferation poses an increasing threat to allies' forces,territory and populations. Missile defense forms part of a broaderresponse to counter this threat."

The statement called on NATO members to explore ways in whichthe planned U.S. project can be linked with future missile shieldselsewhere. It said leaders should come up with recommendations tobe considered at their next meeting in 2009.

Significantly, the document prodded Russia "to take advantageof United States missile defense cooperation proposals" and saidNATO was "ready to explore the potential for linking UnitedStates, NATO and Russian missile defense systems at an appropriatetime."

The United States still is moving to seal an agreement withPoland, where 10 interceptor rockets would be based. ---

On the Net: NATO Summit declaration: http://tinyurl.com/29wnp4 NATO summit site: http://tinyurl.com/3yuwr2 White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/nato/

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-04-04-08 0815EDT