Putin tells Bush `no' on Iraq aid (Bush is done)
Russian rebuffs president on Iran too
By Bob Kemper
Washington Bureau
Published September 28, 2003
WASHINGTON -- President Bush was unable Saturday to win from Russian President Vladimir Putin a commitment to aid U.S. forces in Iraq or a pledge to end Russian assistance to Iran's nuclear power program.
While the two leaders underscored what they termed a close diplomatic and personal relationship, the meeting at Camp David nevertheless pointed up sharp differences between the nations and Bush's ongoing difficulty in rallying world support behind U.S. efforts in Iraq.
Putin, who recently said that problems in securing and rebuilding postwar Iraq validated his decision not to support the U.S.-led war there, said Saturday that Russia wants to see Iraq returned to stability quickly.
But he made clear that Russia would not contribute troops or money to the effort unless the United Nations is allowed to play a much more prominent role than Bush has offered it.
The Russian president, ending an overnight visit with Bush at Camp David, also rebuffed U.S. entreaties to stop helping Iran build a nuclear reactor. The U.S. insists that oil-rich Iran wants the reactor so it can develop a nuclear bomb, but Putin has maintained that Russia's $800 million contract in Iran is not aiding a weapons program.
"Russia has no desire and no plans to contribute in any way to the creation of weapons of mass destruction, either in Iran or in any other . . . region in the world," Putin said.
Putin joined Bush in asserting opposition to Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb and called on Iran to cooperate with international nuclear weapons inspectors.
The International Atomic Energy Agency last week found traces of enriched uranium in an Iranian power plant, increasing international pressure on Iran to prove it is not secretly developing nuclear weapons by the IAEA's Oct. 1 deadline.
"We share a goal," Bush said, "and that is to make sure Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon or a nuclear weapons program."
Putin also urged Bush to continue six-way negotiations with Pyongyang to end the threat of a nuclear buildup on the Korean Peninsula. But Putin, whose country has a short border and diplomatic relations with North Korea, also demanded guarantees that neither the U.S. nor any other nation would attack North Korea once it gives up nuclear weapons.
"Russia believes that ensuring [the] nuclear non-proliferation regime should be accompanied by extending to North Korea guarantees in this sphere of security," Putin said.
Despite their obvious comfort with each other as they walked and talked along the sun-bleached path of the presidential mountain retreat, Bush and Putin remain deeply divided over U.S. intervention in Iraq.
Opposition to war
Putin opposed Bush's decision to invade Iraq, with which Russia had diplomatic and commercial ties, without explicit UN approval. And last week, before departing Moscow for the United States, Putin said the difficulty the U.S. is having in pacifying Iraq validated his opposition to the invasion.
Before flying to Camp David on Friday night, Putin told the United Nations that Bush's decision to come back to the UN for help in rebuilding Iraq was evidence that the global body is "simply irreplaceable," a remark apparently meant to rebut Bush's statement that the UN would be relegated to irrelevance if it refused to back the Iraq invasion.
Despite Bush's insistence that the U.S. retain control of the military and reconstruction efforts, Putin told the UN, "Only with the active--and I want to stress this--practical assistance by the United Nations in its economic and civil transformation, only thus will Iraq assume a truly new, worthy place in the world community."
Bush left the UN last week without any commitments of money or troops to help in Iraq. His aides said it could take months to get a new UN resolution that would encourage other nations to assist reconstruction there.
A number of nations are withholding support until Bush gives the UN a more significant role in Iraq's reconstruction. Bush offered to allow the world body to help write an Iraqi Constitution and oversee elections, but world leaders want the UN to assume at least partial control of the reconstruction effort.
"We want to see Iraq a free, democratic and united state," Putin said with Bush at his side. But, the Russian leader added, Russia will not commit the troops or money Bush seeks until "we know the parameters of the resolution."
Having made little or no demonstrable progress on the urgent issues facing them, Bush and Putin went to great lengths in a joint news conference to emphasize the strength of their relations even in the face of disagreement.
"We have proven once again that our partnership is not subject to political dealmaking," Putin said. "Despite all the difficulties that we have to overcome, the spirit and the basic principles of our relationship have remained the same: mutual confidence, openness, predictability and consideration and respect of [the] interests of each other."
Kind words for Putin
Bush said, "Old suspicions are giving way to new understanding and respect. Vladimir and I had some very frank discussions about Iraq. I understood his position. He understood mine. Because we have got a trustworthy relationship, we are able to move beyond any disagreement over a single issue. Plus, I like him, he's a good fellow to spend quality time with."
"Thank you, George, for your warm words," Putin responded.
Putin offered an ominous story--the first time he has told it publicly, he said--about a potential Russia-U.S. conflict that was avoided because the two leaders have a warm relationship.
"When counterterrorist operations began in Afghanistan . . . we were approached by people who intended to fight against Americans in Afghanistan," Putin said. "And if by that time President Bush and I had not formed [an] appropriate relationship, as we have, . . . no one knows what turn would the developments in Afghanistan had taken."
Putin did not identify the nation or group that approached Russia.
Bush and Putin had established a personal relationship that, while tested by Bush's insistence on abandoning a nuclear weapons treaty and Putin's relations with nations that are part of Bush's "axis of evil," were cemented in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
On Chechnya
On Saturday, Putin used Bush's anti-terrorism rhetoric to recast Russia's military engagement in Chechnya, portraying Moscow's ongoing fight with separatists as a battle against terrorists. U.S. opposition to the Chechnya campaign has been softening considerably since the Sept. 11 attacks, culminating with Bush's explicit acceptance of the Chechen rebels as terrorists Saturday.
"Terrorists must be opposed wherever they spread chaos and destruction," Bush said, "including Chechnya." |
