By AFP
Sochi, Russia : US President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin claimed progress Sunday toward resolving their dispute over a planned US missile defence system in Europe.
At their swansong summit by the Black Sea, Bush announced a “breakthrough” after Putin softened his opposition to the planned installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. Washington says the system would guard against attacks from “rogue states” such as Iran, but Moscow argues it would weaken Russia’s nuclear defence potential.
Putin reiterated his opposition to the system, but said he was “cautiously optimistic” about eventually reaching a deal. “There is some positive movement” on the dispute, Putin said after meeting with Bush. “The American side is finally listening to our concerns.”
This was a marked change in language from the outgoing Russian president, who in the past has angrily berated the United States for its “unilateral” drive to install missile defences in Europe.
A joint declaration noted that Moscow saw US confidence-building measures as “important and useful” and that Russia shared the United States’ interest in creating a missile shield. The declaration also held out the possibility of cooperation between Moscow and Washington on the anti-missile issue.
“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 is new rhetoric from the presidents who underlined the need to agree,” analyst Alexei Malashenko, from the Moscow Carnegie Centre, told AFP. “Russia has understood that if you can’t beat them, then you must join them.”
It was the last summit between Bush, whose term ends in January 2009, and Putin, who hands over on May 7 to Dmitry Medvedev — a hand-picked successor who has signalled he envisions no major departures from Putin’s policies.
Bush also met in Sochi with Medvedev, who 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.”
The planned US system would install interceptor rockets in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.
Russia says that Iran poses no missile threat to the United States and that it views the shield as a threat to its own offensive capability. Washington insists the system is not intended to threaten Russia.
T he United States says it has made concessions to ease Russia’s concerns, including offering Russian officials access to system sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Poland’s Vice-Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Sunday Warsaw was ready to talk to Moscow about possible Russian involvement in missile shield installations on Polish soil.
“Poland is ready to talk to Russia and to the United States on different forms of access to elements of an anti-missile shield, if these were to be installed in Poland”, he was quoted as saying by the PAP news agency.
A Kremlin source claimed however that the United States was still averse to giving Russia greater participation in the scheme.
Meanwhile, White House national security advisor Stephen Hadley told journalists Sunday that the anti-missile plan row would not be resolved before the two leaders left office. “I don’t think that matters. They can leave it to their respective successors,” he said.
Another major dispute is over the eastward expansion of NATO. While Moscow sees this as an intrusion in its traditional sphere of influence, Western countries say it brings unity and stability to the European continent.
Russia has warned that NATO membership for ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia — whose leaderships are keen to enter the alliance — would undermine European security. Putin was credited with a diplomatic coup last week when the NATO summit refused to put Ukraine and Georgia on a formal track for alliance membership, despite vigorous pleas from Bush.
But the 26-nation alliance said it had no doubt the two states would be taken in later.