SOCHI, Russia — President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to overcome sharp differences over a U.S. missile defense system, closing their seven-year relationship Sunday still far apart on an issue that has separated them from the beginning.
“Our fundamental attitude toward the American plan has not changed,” Putin said at a news conference with Bush. “Obviously we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Bush said. Despite the impasse, the two leaders agreed that Moscow and Washington would work together closely in the future on missile defense and other difficult issues.
Putin declared there were no breakthrough solutions but said “certain progress is obvious” in the long-running dispute on missile defenses. He was referring to U.S. concessions to assuage Russia’s concerns. U.S. officials said that was what they wanted to hear him say.
Bush also conferred with Putin’s hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev. He pronounced Putin’s protege “a straightforward fellow” and said he was eager to work with him. On May 7, Putin steps down as president and is expected to be named prime minister.
Putin called the U.S. missile plan — which envisions basing tracking radar sites in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland — the hardest of U.S.-Russian differences to reconcile. “This is not about language. This is not about diplomatic phrasing or wording. This is about the substance of the issue,” he said.
Bush reiterated his insistence that the plan — designed to intercept and destroy approaching ballistic missiles at high altitudes — should not be viewed as a threat to Russia. In a clear reference to Iran, he said the system would help protect Europe from “regimes that could try to hold us hostage.”
Bush and Putin did issue a joint statement on missile defense as part of a “strategic framework” to guide future relations between Washington and Moscow.
The statement outlined U.S. and Russian positions but also held out the prospect for future cooperation, perhaps on a joint system. That, said Putin, represents “certain progress.”
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