Bush will raise US concerns to Putin privately

Washington, Jul 11: US President George W Bush will raise concerns about Russia's democracy ''frankly but privately'' with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a top aide said in a sign the issue will not play a major role at a weekend summit.

Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the two countries are expected to seal an agreement to begin negotiations over a civilian nuclear cooperation deal.

The deal, which will trigger months of negotiations and a potentially tough debate in Congress, could ultimately clear the way for Russia to import and store thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel from U.S.-supplied reactors the world.

Bush travels to Germany and Russia this weekend and will attend a Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg.

His recent meetings with Putin have been overshadowed by US concerns that Russia has been backsliding on democracy.

Vice President Dick Cheney talked tough on the issue in May, saying in Lithuania that opponents of reform in Russia were ''seeking to reverse the gains of the last decade'' and that ''Russia has a choice to make.'' But the White House tamped down expectations that Bush would take an equally strident public stance on his trip, avoiding a replay of their February 2005 meeting in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, when the two men clashed over the state of democracy in each of their nations.

''I expect the president will speak frankly but privately with President Putin about recent trends that raise questions about Russia's commitment to democratic freedoms and institutions,'' Hadley said yesterday.

Hadley said Bush has a good relationship with Putin ''and one of the reasons he does is because he thinks it is important for him to be able to sit down privately with President Putin and speak his mind and for President Putin to feel comfortable to do the same.''

DEMOCRACY AND DIPLOMACY

The lower profile on the issue for Bush will allow Putin to hold his St Petersburg summit without being publicly challenged on whether Russia is sufficiently democratic to host the world's major industrialized democracies.

Bush is seeking Putin's help in the United Nations Security Council to pressure both Iran and North Korea to give up nuclear ambitions. So far Putin has agreed on the need to contain the two countries but firmly resisted any suggestions for UN sanctions.

The US-Russian nuclear deal has its roots in the Iran nuclear challenge.

Bush for years had refused such a deal because he wanted Russia to stop building a nuclear power plant for Iran, but the view changed because Russia is now seen as cooperating with Washington on the issue by offering to take Iran's spent fuel to keep it from being processed into bomb-grade material.

Hadley said it was too early to talk about sending spent fuel from US-supplied reactors to Russia.

''It's something that we'll have to talk about because, in order to do that, there would have to be all kinds of technical details and safeguards worked out, and we have not made a decision to do that,'' he said.

REUTERS