US-Russia talks to start on upbeat note

[David]

AP


MOSCOW - The top U.S. and Russian national security ministers pledged cooperation Tuesday as the two nations aired disagreements over a planned U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe that has angered Russia.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she hoped a day of joint discussions she and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were holding with their Russian counterparts would "strengthen our partnership and perhaps overcome some of our differences."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia would do what it could to keep relations with the United States on an even keel as Russian President Vladimir Putin steps down this spring.

Rice made a point of scheduling one meeting that spotlights a main example of U.S.-Russia tension — American disappointment over Putin's consolidation of political and economic power in the Kremlin. She and Gates had breakfast with leaders outside government, including a banker and a political opposition figure.

"I'm very much looking forward to your thoughts about the political situation where and how the transition in this country is taking place," she said at the beginning of the private breakfast. Rice also said she wanted to know what the United States could do to "make this a more open and participatory political system" and encourage economic and entrepreneurial development.

Among those Rice and Gates saw was longtime political opposition figure Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the liberal Yabloko Party. He was one of the opposition candidates who pulled out of Russia's presidential contest in protest, leaving a nearly clear field for Putin's protege, Dmitry Medvedev, who won handily easily earlier this month.

During a brief greeting witnessed by reporters Monday, Putin did not mention U.S. plans for a missile shield system in Poland and the Czech Republic that has stoked Cold War rhetoric about an imperial United States meddling at Russia's doorstep.

Gates and Rice were exploring whether U.S. concessions have softened Putin's opposition to the shield system and brought the two nations closer to an arms control deal to succeed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty born in the Reagan era.

Although Bush was expected to see Putin during a NATO summit next month, the two-day visit closes a chapter in negotiations with Putin as president. The two Cabinet secretaries were taking Medvedev's measure and gauging the balance of power when Putin assumes the nominally weaker role of prime minister.

Greeting Gates and Rice in his ornate office on Monday, Putin recalled that they had held talks last October — a session dominated by differences over missile defense and marked by sharp rhetoric from the Russian president.

"Six months have passed and we believe that in some of these issues we can probably dot the I's and reach final agreement," Putin said.

Putin's vague optimism was matched by cautious words later from Gates.

"I wouldn't say I'm optimistic on any of this stuff," Gates told reporters. "The Russians hate the idea of missile defense. We are trying to figure out a way to make them partners in it," in ways that ease Russian suspicion that the missiles are really intended to be used against them, Gates said.

The Russians have criticized U.S. missile defense efforts for decades, but their opposition intensified when the Bush administration began negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic to build missile defense sites on their territory. The Russians argue that it is a potential threat to their own nuclear deterrent.

Gates said he told Putin that the administration would be willing to negotiate limits on the European missile defense sites as a way of assuring the Russians that the sites will not at some point be transformed into a weapon system that could threaten Russia. He did not say if Putin accepted that idea.

Even before the Americans arrived, Bush had sent Putin a letter framing the discussions. Bush wanted to make sure Putin stuck to the script, and U.S. participation in the unusual session hinged on Putin's agreement.

"The president wanted to assess whether there was openness to cooperation on some of these issues that have been difficult, like missile defense," Rice told reporters afterward. "He wanted to see ... whether President Putin is really interested in pursuing progress on a number of fronts."

When Medvedev is inaugurated as president on May 7, he will formally inherit the considerable powers of the office as spelled out in the constitution. Some experts predict he will serve a lengthy apprenticeship before actually using those powers, while others wonder if he will ever use them.

The constitution provides for a strong president and a weak prime minister, but political analysts say Putin — by far the dominant figure in Russia's political landscape — may not settle for the subordinate role.