Bush-Putin "lobster summit" turns to diplomacy

Kennebunkport (Maine), July 3: US President George W Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin held oceanside talks today to try to ease tensions that have taken their countries' relations to a post-Cold War low.

Meeting at the Bush family's New England estate, the two leaders turned from fishing trips and lobster meals to serious diplomacy as they confronted the main issues that divide Washington and Moscow.

With Bush and Putin at odds over a planned US missile shield, the future of Kosovo and the state of democracy in Russia, their relationship has looked as rocky as the Maine coast that provided the setting for the talks.

Both sides advised against expecting breakthroughs as the informal, two-day summit neared an end.

Instead, they portrayed the meeting as a chance for Bush and Putin to revive the rapport they once enjoyed and to start mending US-Russia relations.

''It was a lobster summit,'' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters after Bush and his father, former President George H W Bush, treated Putin to a dinner of fresh Maine lobster and marinated swordfish yesterday night.

Putin is the first foreign leader the US president has hosted at the century-old Kennebunkport compound, reflecting a growing US sense of urgency about reversing the slide in relations.

The Bushes took Putin on a speedboat tour of the choppy Atlantic waters shortly after his arrival sunday and they went to sea again on a fishing expedition today morning.

Putin was the only one to hook a fish within sight of news photographers watching nearby. The Bushes clapped while a smiling Putin posed with his trophy before throwing it back, apparently for being too small to keep under local rules.

'Sense Of His Soul'

Putin's aides said the two leaders had a discussion over dinner about upcoming elections in both countries that will choose their successors and agreed on the need to prevent campaign politics from impinging on US-Russia relations.

Aides agreed that the relaxed atmosphere was ideal to help the leaders narrow their differences but said it would not be enough to bridge them.

Bush famously said in 2001 he trusted Putin after gaining a ''sense of his soul.'' Since then, US-Russian ties have slid to the lowest level since the Cold War.

Emboldened by Russia's energy wealth and his own popularity at home, Putin has adopted a more assertive posture on the world stage.

At the same time, Putin seems to sense Bush's weakness. Bush's approval ratings have slipped below 30 percent in his final 19 months in office amid growing public disenchantment with the Iraq war, which Putin opposed.

The biggest dispute hanging over Monday's talks was a US plan to locate components of a missile defense system in eastern Europe, Moscow's former sphere of influence.

Saying he was not convinced by US insistence that the shield was meant to defend against ''rogue states'' like Iran, Putin recently threatened to re-target missiles toward Europe.

He caught Bush off guard last month with a counter-proposal -- joint use of Russian radar in Azerbaijan, an offer US officials have promised to study but have cast doubt upon.

Bush was also expected to seek Putin's support for tougher UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Russia has softened previous penalties and may be reluctant to go along.

The two countries also disagree over Kosovo. Washington backs its independence from Serbia. Moscow opposes it.

Adding to tensions has been a recent spate of harsh rhetoric, with Bush chastising Russia for backsliding on democratic reforms and Putin seeming to compare US foreign policy to that of the Third Reich.

It was hoped that the elder Bush, who is not expected to participate beyond acting as host, would help ease strains by evoking a more constructive era in relations that followed the fall of the Soviet Union.

Reuters

RelatedStories