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Russia, US for shared shield
with Europe
Both leaders fail to end differences on defence shield
Sochei—US President George W. Bush hailed a “breakthrough” Sunday at
his final summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin after they
agreed to consider a joint anti-missile defence system with Europe.
“I happen to believe this is a significant breakthrough,” Bush told
journalists after the summit at Putin’s residence near the Russian
Black Sea resort of Sochi.
A joint statement issued after the talks reiterated that Russia
“does not agree” with the US deployment of an anti-missile shield in
Poland and the Czech Republic.
However, the declaration noted that Moscow saw US
confidence-building measures as “important and useful” and that
Russia shared the United States’ “interest in creating a system for
responding” to potential missile threats.
Crucially, the declaration held out the possibility of Moscow and
Washington working together on the anti-missile question — one of
the most divisive areas over the last year of increasingly
tumultuous relations.
“Both sides expressed their interest in creating a system for
responding to potential missile threats in which Russia and the
United States and Europe will participate as equal partners,” the
declaration said.
This was the last summit between Bush, whose term ends at the start
of next year, and Putin, who hands over to Dmitry Medvedev on May 7.
Putin’s acknowledgement that Washington has taken steps to defusing
the bitter row marked an important thaw in the long-running dispute.
At a joint press conference, Putin said he felt “cautious optimism
concerning a final accord” on the US anti-missile plan. “It seems to
me this is possible.”
Bush said that “Russia appreciates confidence building and
transparency measure we have proposed and have declared that they
will be important in influencing Russian concerns.”
Bush also met in Sochi with Medvedev, who was eased in as Putin’s
successor in an election this March that was carefully controlled by
the authorities. He has never held elected office and has little
foreign policy experience.
Bush said he looked forward to getting to know Medvedev “so we’ll be
able to work through common problems.” The Russian president-elect
said he wanted “to act so that our relations develop further without
interruption.”
Meanwhile, President Bush and President Vladimir Putin failed to
resolve their differences over a U.S. missile defense system at a
farewell meeting on Sunday, with Bush saying the system is not aimed
at Russia but at regimes that “could try to hold us hostage.”
At a joint news conference at Putin’s Black sea vacation home, Putin
was asked whether he or his protege would be in charge of Russia’s
foreign policy in early May — when Putin steps down as president and
becomes prime minister
Putin said Medvedev would, and that he would represent Russia at the
Group of Eight meeting of industrial democracies in July in Tokyo.
“Mr. Medvedev has been one of the co-authors of Russia’s foreign
policy,” Putin said. “He’s completely on top of things.”
At their final meeting as presidents of their respective countries,
Bush and Putin complimented each other lavishly, but acknowledged
they remained at odds on some major issues, principally missile
defense and NATO’s eastward expansion.
Putin called the U.S. missile plan — which envisions basing tracking
radar sites in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland — the
most contentious of U.S.-Russian differences and the one the hardest
to reconcile. “Our fundamental attitude toward the American plan has
not changed,” he said.
But, he said, “the best thing is to work jointly” on such a system.
“We’ve got a lot of way to go,” Bush acknowledged.
He said he viewed the U.S. plan — as “defense, not offense. And,
obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to convince the experts this
defense system is not aimed at Russia.”
Bush also said that the system is designed to deal with “regimes
that could try to hold us hostage” in a clear reference to Iran.
“The system is not designed to deal with Russia’s capacity to launch
multiple rockets,” he said.
The president blamed lingering Cold War thinking by some in both
Russia and the United States for making it harder to reach agreement
on missile defense. “We spent a lot of time in our relationship
trying to get rid of the Cold War,” he said. “It’s over. It ended.”
And Bush bristled at a journalist’s question that suggested the two
leaders were merely “kicking the can down the road” on the vexing
missile defense issue.
“You can cynically say that it is kicking the can down the road,”
Bush said. “I don’t appreciate that, because this is an important
part of my belief that it is necessary to protect ourselves.”
In a joint declaration, Bush and Putin said: “The Russian side has
made clear that it does not agree with the decision to establish
sites in Poland and the Czech Republic and reiterated its proposed
alternative. Yet, it appreciates the measures that the U.S. has
proposed and declared that if agreed and implemented such measures
will be important and useful in assuaging Russian concerns.”
However, the two sides did agree to “develop a legally-binding
arrangement following expiration” in December 2009 of the strategic
arms limitation treaty (START). Their joint declaration noted the
“substantial reductions already carried out” under that pact, which
they said was an important step in reducing the number of deployed
nuclear warheads.
On NATO, Russia remains adamantly opposed to the eastward expansion
of the alliance into its backyard that Bush has actively championed
over Putin’s vocal objections.
“I want to be understood correctly. Strategically, no change
happened in our ... attitude to U.S. plans,” Putin told reporters at
a joint news briefing with Bush.
“At the same time there are some positive developments. Our concerns
were finally heard by the U.S. side. I am cautiously optimistic that
we will reach an agreement.”—Agencies
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