BUSH ON PUTIN
From a question-answer session at the Eisenhower Building
QUESTION: A month ago, in Chile, you asked Vladimir Putin to explain why he has taken actions widely seen as a move away from democracy. What do you think Mr. Putin's intentions are? And do you think that Russia's behavior has chilled relations with the United States?
BUSH: As you know, Vladimir Putin and I have got a good personal relationship, starting with our meeting in Slovenia. I intend to keep it that way.
It's important for Russia and the United States to have the kind of relationship where if we disagree with decisions we can do so in a friendly and positive way.
When Vladimir made the decision, for example, on the -- whether to elect governors or appoint governors, I issued a statement that said in a free society, in a society based upon Western values, we believe in the proper balance of power.
I think he took that on and absorbed that in the spirit in which it was offered, the spirit of two people who have grown to appreciate each other and respect each other.
I'll continue to work with him in a new term.
And obviously we have some disagreements. He probably has disagreements over some of the decisions I've made. Clearly one such decision was in Iraq.
But this is a vital and important relationship, and it's a relationship where, you know it's complicated. It's complex rather than complicated. It's complex because we have joint efforts when it comes to sharing intelligence to fight terrorism.
We've got work to do to secure nuclear materials. I look forward to working with the Russians to continue to expand cooperation.
I think one of the things we need to do is to give the Russians equal access to our sites -- our nuclear storage sites -- to see what works and what doesn't work, to build confidence between our two governments.
Obviously there's a lot of trade that's taking place trade that's taking place between Russia and the West and the United States. And that trade relationship is an important relationship.
I told Vladimir that we would work in a new term to see if Russia could be admitted to the WTO [World Trade Organization). I think that would be a positive step for relations between our two countries.
And I'll continue to express my belief that, you know, balanced government, the sharing of power amongst government, will lead to stability in Russia.
And the relationship's an important relationship, and I would call the relationship a good relationship.
OPINION
America loves breathing democracy into countries. It loves monitoring and making sure countries follow its accepted rules and regulations. Without being pushy, Bush brings up the fact that a Russia without governors would not have balanced power. He is correct, but maybe Russia can't run on democracy like America can. I like that he acknowledges the difference on Iraq. I like that he wants to get them into the WTO. Bush brings up nuclear materials. Yea, that's definitely something that in Russia's history we have had to monitor. It's also very possible that some underground shuffling of nuclear materials is happening right now. We should focus on getting that figured out instead of being concerned about their form of government. Overall, Putin has proven to have a good relation with Bush. And for that, America should be grateful.
