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TOYAKO, Japan: US President George W. Bush praised
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Monday as a “smart guy” who
means what he says, even as they clashed on US missile-defense
plans.
The two leaders held their first
face-to-face meeting since Medvedev took the reins from Vladimir
Putin in May, highlighting cooperation in diplomatic efforts to
resolve nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea.
“There are topics on which we
are making progress, such as Iran and North Korea, but there are
topics on which we diverge, such as the missile shield and European
matters, but there are possibilities for agreement,” said Medvedev
at the meeting on the fringes of a G8 meeting, a summit of rich
nations, in Japan.
“While there are some areas of
disagreement, there are also areas where I know we can work together
for the common good,” said the US president. “I found him to be
a smart guy who understood the issues very well.”
“Iran is an area where Russia
and the United States have worked closely in the past and will
continue to work closely to convince the regime to give up its
desire to enrich uranium,” he added.
Seven years after Bush declared
he had looked into Putin’s eyes at their first meeting, seen his
soul and deemed him trustworthy, the US president declined to offer
a similar assessment of the new Russian leader.
“I’m not going to sit here
and psychoanalyze the man, but I will tell you that he’s very
comfortable, he’s confident,” said Bush. “You may not agree
with what he tells you, but at least you know it’s what he
believes.”
Later, Medvedev’s diplomatic
adviser, Sergei Prikhodko, said the Russian president had warned
Bush that installing part of a missile-defense shield in Lithuania
was “absolutely unacceptable.”
Inconclusive US talks with Poland
on basing 10 missile interceptors there have fuelled media reports
that Washington may be looking at other possible sites, including
Lithuania.
“Any missile-defense
installation, no matter where in Europe, is not a threat to
Russia,” said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, who called
any discussion of bases in Lithuania rather than Poland
“premature.”
Bush leaves office in fewer than
200 days and is here at his last Group of Eight (G8) summit, while
Medvedev took office in May and is making his debut at the elite
gathering of leaders of wealthy nations.
“I reminded him that, yes,
I’m leaving, but not until six months and I’m sprinting to the
finish. So we can get a lot done together and, you know, a lot of
important issues,” said the US leader.
Bush had been expected to raise
US worries about the rule of law and democracy in Russia, and
flaring tensions between former Soviet satellite Georgia and its
giant neighbor are on the agenda, US officials said.
He had also planned to reaffirm
his support for admitting Russia to the World Trade Organization as
they met on the margins of the G8 summit of industrialized nations
in this mountain resort.
With his youthful image and
reputation for openness, Medvedev, 42, cuts a different character
than his mentor Putin, who retains the powerful post of prime
minister.
In policy terms, he has few
differences from Putin, notably his opposition to US plans to deploy
a missile-defense system against what Washington says is a threat
from Iran and North Korea.
US Secretary of State Condoleeza
Rice is due next week in the Czech Republic to sign a deal to deploy
an anti-missile radar, and may stop in nearby Poland to sign a pact
to base 10 missile interceptors there, US officials say.
The United States wants to deploy
the shield in central European nations by 2011-2013 amid concerns
about the impact on ties with Russia, which has denounced the plan
as a threat to its own security.
--AFP
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