Bush, Putin to meet amid low expectations

By Mike McCarthy Jun 29, 2007, 8:32 GMT

Washington - Both sides are playing down expectations for any breakthroughs ahead of a low-key, two-day summit hosted by US President George W Bush for Russian President Vladimir Putin to soothe sharp disagreements between their governments.

The two leaders will meet Sunday at the Bush family's coastal vacation retreat at Kennebunkport, Maine, hoping that the relaxed, intimate setting will contribute to candid discussions on the wide range of disputes that have left relations at their chilliest since the end of the Cold War.

US plans to base missile defences in Eastern Europe will be high on the agenda, along with a UN proposal calling for for Kosovo's independence from Serbia, backed by Bush but strongly opposed by Putin.

Other sources of friction between Washington and Moscow are Iran's nuclear ambitions, NATO expansion and the state of Russian democracy.

'I would caution against expecting grand new announcements,' White House spokesman Tony Snow said. 'This is in fact an opportunity for two leaders to talk honestly and candidly with one another.'

In a telephone conference with a handful of reporters, Putin spokesman Dmitri Peskov was similarly guarded: 'We prefer not to expect any breakthroughs.'

The harshest rhetoric between the two countries has centred around US plans to field a missile-defence system in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Bush wants the shield to protect against Iran's growing nuclear and missile capabilities, but Russia views the system as a threat to its nuclear missile fleet that could offset the arms balance, and doesn't share the US view that Iran poses a threat.

Seeking to ease the tension, Putin countered earlier this month with an offer to Bush that includes the use of a Russian radar site in Azerbaijan, instead of Washington building a new array in the Czech Republic. Bush has not formally responded to the proposal or ruled it out, but US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that the Azerbaijani site in Gabala cannot be a substitute for the US system.

Russian officials have warned that a rejection of Putin's compromise offer would reinforce the Kremlin's view that the US missile plan is really designed against Russian offences.

'It will raise more questions in terms of the real target of the system,' Peskov said. 'We don't see any threat coming from Iran currently.'

US officials have called it 'ludicrous' to conclude that a missile defence system that includes only 10 interceptors in Poland could thwart Russia's thousands of nuclear warheads. They argue missile defence is essential because of intelligence estimates that Iran could have a ballistic missile capable of hitting Europe or even the United States by 2015, and hope to have a defensive system in place by 2013.

'If a hostile power, a rogue nation gets the capability of putting nuclear weapons on a missile, everybody in Europe and Asia is going to be in jeopardy,' Snow said.

Another key issue that has widened the US-Russian rift is the dispute over the UN plan that would grant Kosovo independence from Russia's traditional ally, Serbia. Moscow has hinted at the possibility of vetoing the initiative at the UN Security Council.

The United States and European Union back independence for the province, which has been UN administered since NATO intervened in 1999 to halt ethnic violence. Kosovo Serbs fear they will be marginalized by majority ethnic Albanians.

There have also been gaps between the United States and Russia over how to handle Iran's defiance of Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment and come clean on nuclear activities, which the West suspects over Tehran's denials to be aimed toward building atomic weapons.

The United States and its allies are pushing for a Security Council resolution that would for the third time in less than a year place additional sanctions on Iran's Islamic regime. Russia has been reluctant to embrace strong measures against Iran, only agreeing to do so after weeks of negotiations and a significant weakening of US backed resolutions.