[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
[May 24, 2002]
[Pages 861-867]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
The President's News Conference With President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Moscow
May 24, 2002
President Bush. President Putin, thank you very much. Laura and I
are so grateful for your hospitality and your friendship. It's an
historic and hopeful day for Russia and America. It's an historic day
for the world as well.
President Putin and I today ended a long chapter of confrontation
and opened up an entirely new relationship between our countries. Mr.
President, I appreciate your leadership. I appreciate your vision. I
appreciate the fact that we've now laid the foundation for not only our
governments but future governments to work in a spirit of cooperation
and a spirit of trust. That's good. It's good for the people of Russia;
it's good for the people of the United States.
President Putin and I have signed a treaty that will substantially
reduce our nuclear--strategic nuclear warhead arsenals to the range of
1,700 to 2,200, the lowest level in decades. This treaty liquidates the
cold war legacy of nuclear hostility between our countries.
We've also signed a joint declaration of new strategic relationship
that charts a course toward greater security, political, and economic
cooperation between Russia and the United States. Our nations will
continue to cooperate closely in the war against global terror. I
understand full well that the people of Russia have suffered at the
hands of terrorists, and so have we. And I want to thank President Putin
for his understanding of the nature of the new war we face together and
his willingness to be determined and steadfast and patient as we pursue
this war together.
President Putin and I agree also that the greatest danger in this
war is the prospect of terrorists acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
Our nations must spare no effort at preventing all forms of
proliferation. And we discussed Iran in this context today. We'll work
closely with each other on this very important issue.
Our nations also agree on the importance of a new NATO-Russia
Council that will be launched in a few days in Rome. And Mr. President,
this council is also a tribute to your leadership and your vision. For
decades, Russia and NATO were adversaries. Those days are gone, and
that's good. And that's good for the Russian people; it's good for the
people of my country; it's good for the people of Europe; and it's good
for the people of the world.
Russia and the United States are also determined to work closely on
important regional challenges. Together, we will work to rebuild
Afghanistan. Together, we will work to improve security in Georgia. We
will work to help end fighting and achieve a political settlement in
Chechnya.
Russia and the United States are committed to economic cooperation.
We have launched a major new energy partnership. Private firms will take
the lead in developing and transforming the vast energy reserves of
Russia and the Caspian world to markets through multiple pipelines such
as the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and Baku-Jihan. And I want to thank
you for the cooperation and the willingness to work together on energy
and energy security.
Russia is building its market economy, opening new opportunities for
both our countries. I'm impressed by the level of entrepreneurial growth
here in Russia. It's a significant achievement. Again, it's a testimony
to the leadership of Vladimir Putin.
In a while, we're going to meet with Russian and American business
leaders to discuss how we can continue fostering good relations and
fostering opportunity. We
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want Russia to be a part of the world economy. We look forward to one
day welcoming Russia as a member of the World Trade Organization.
President Putin and I also agree that we'll work to resolve disputed
areas of trading, such as poultry or steel, in a spirit of mutual
respect and trust.
America welcomes the dramatic improvement in freedoms in Russia
since Soviet days, including the new freedoms of Russia's Jewish
community. In recognition of these freedoms, I am determined to work
with Congress to remove Russia from the Jackson-Vanik amendment. It is
time our Congress responded to my request, President Putin's desire,
that the Jackson-Vanik amendment be removed pertaining to Russia.
I also discussed with President Putin the important role of free
press in building a working democracy. And today we will meet with media
entrepreneurs from both countries. It's an issue we discussed before.
The President said it makes sense to have a forum where media
entrepreneurs can meet and visit. And it's going to take place today.
Mr. President, I appreciate that.
I am pleased with our relationship. I am confident that, by working
together, we make the world more peaceful. I'm confident that, by
working together, we can win the first war of the 21st century, and that
is the war coldblooded killers--against coldblooded killers who want to
harm nations such as America and Russia. And I'm confident that, when we
work together in a spirit of cooperation on all fronts, both our peoples
will benefit.
Mr. President, thank you for your hospitality.
President Putin. Distinguished American colleagues, distinguished
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, we've just accomplished the
official part of our talks with U.S. President George Bush. Before our
distinguished colleagues are the visit in Moscow and in St. Petersburg.
But now we can name the major result of our talks--first of all, the
logical development and practical implementation as seen by our
agreements reached in Crawford last year. I mean the signature of the
treaty between Russia on strategic defensive reductions and, first of
all, this document.
It's the statement of our countries to reduce our nuclear arsenals
and the joint work for nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
It's the decision of two states which are particularly responsible for
international security and strategic stability. We're on the level of
adopting the declaration on new strategic relationship which determines
the basic directions in the security and international policy. It will
have a positive impact for economic cooperation and development of our
relations between the institutions of general public. And together with
Mr. President, we discussed especially this aspect, the civil society
between the people of our countries. The declaration formulates the
principles of our dialog, anti-missile dialog; that is, the transparency
and openness and exclusion of potential threats. We confirmed the Genoa
agreement on offensive and defensive systems in all their aspects.
A separate issue, the mechanism of NATO-Russia cooperation within
the framework of 20, it presumes a new level of joint responsibility and
confidence between all its participants. I would like to stress,
especially, that is the international novelty. And it happened because
of the strengthening of Russian-American relations, including in joint
confrontation to international terrorists--struggling with international
terrorism. Russians work together with the American people in September
the 8th, and we're grateful for sincere feelings of compassion headed by
President Bush on behalf of American people because of the recent events
in Kaspiysk. The memory of terrorism victims and the responsibility for
the security of our people means joint struggle against this evil, as
well as the struggle against nazism. The spirit of our cooperation will
mean fruitful results even today.
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That's why the agenda has very concrete issues of interaction
against terrorism on the basis of unique standards against any
manifestation of terrorism and extremism. We need close contacts through
all agencies and services, including special services. Here we have very
positive experience we've accrued over the past years. And we see
today--we feel it today during the negotiations. The bilateral working
group on Afghanistan has demonstrated its efficiency. And we, Mr.
President, would like to transform it on a group to combat terrorism,
especially chemical, biological, nuclear terrorism.
Russia and the United States are oriented to build new relations in
economic activity. Our businessman mentality is much alike, that their
qualities and their joint work is based on free trade and supporting the
initiatives. That's why our task is to open new opportunities for
business community.
We need to avoid obstacles of the past. Here we mean not only the
market status of the Russian economy--and I'm grateful to Mr. President
that he has given a very positive signal during our talks. And it does
also mean such things as Jackson-Vanik amendment. We have to remove
administrative obstacles, which encurls both countries, to cooperate,
especially in the high-tech sphere, which determined the economy of the
21st century; that is, the aeronautics, telecommunications, science and
technologies, new sources of energy. I would like to focus on energy,
especially nuclear energy. We paid much attention to it today. And the
large format of our cooperation will be a great element for the global
economy on the whole.
I would like to stress, in conclusion, that, of course, not all
ideas, not all initiatives, are on paper and in the form of official
documents. But a serious move forward in all these issues is quite
evident for us. Today, we together counteract global threats and
challenges, and we're going to form a stable world order that is within
the interests of our peoples and our countries. And I think it's in the
interest of all the civilized human society.
Thank you.
President Bush. Name your agency.
Nuclear Arms Reductions
Q. I have a question for both Presidents, please. If we've truly
entered a new era, why do you each need 1,700 nuclear weapons? And
President Putin, why does Russia need to continue producing nuclear
warheads? And to President Bush, why does the United States need to keep
some 2,000 of these weapons in storage, ready for deployment?
President Bush. Yes. First of all, remember where we've come from.
We've come from 6,000 to 1,700 in a very quick--or to 1,700 to 2,200 in
a very quick period of time. You know, friends really don't need weapons
pointed at each other. We both understand that. But it's a realistic
assessment of where we've been. And who knows what will happen 10 years
from now? Who knows what future Presidents will say and how they react?
If you have a nuclear arsenal, you want to make sure they work.
It's--one reason that you keep weapons in storage apart from launchers
is for quality control. And the thing I think it's important for you to
know, Ron [Ron Fournier, Associated Press], is that we've made
tremendous progress from the past. And the treaty is setting a period of
time in the rear-view mirror of both countries. And I am not only
confident that this is good for world peace; I'm confident this sets the
stage for incredible cooperation that we've never had before between our
countries.
President Putin. I concur with the assessment given by my colleague,
Mr. Bush. And naturally, our position is well known. We are guided by
the facts that it's more worthwhile, perhaps, to eliminate a certain
part of nuclear potentials. At the same time, I'd like to point out
another thing here. Any man who has at least once in
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his career dealt with arms, had arms in his hands, at least to hunt or a
rifle or whatever, he knows that it's much better, much safer to have it
in stock disarmed, disassembled perhaps, rather than to have it in your
arms and charged with bullets in it and with your finger on the trigger
at the same time. This is a different state of affairs, as it were.
And the fact that we agreed with President Bush regarding such
detente, in such manner, this is a serious move ahead to ensure
international security, which is a very good sign as regards the
relationship between our two countries.
Now, as to why Russia should continue to produce nuclear arms, I'd
like to say that this is not our priority. But in addition to Russia and
U.S. out there, there are other states who possess nuclear arms. What is
more concerning, there are countries who want to acquire weapons of mass
destruction. Experts in the area of international security are aware of
the fact, and they have been talking a lot about nuclear arms as
deterrent.
Moreover, many of them assert--and it is difficult to dispute this
fact--they say the existence of the nuclear arms was an impediment, an
obstacle which contained the world from large-scale wars over the past
decades, let's say. And I think we should take that into consideration
while building a new quality of relationship within the two main nuclear
states of the world.
We also should pay attention to the whole set of relations currently
in the world out there, and we should take into account the prospects of
development of the world in the realm of security, bearing in mind those
potential threats I've mentioned here.
Jackson-Vanik Amendment/Russia-U.S. Economic Relationship
Q. Mr. Bush, when we can hope that Jackson-Vanik will be rescinded,
which currently is very out of place? That's, you know, a remnant of the
cold war here. And will the U.S. continue to use it as a leverage of
applying pressure on Russia and when Russia will finally be recognized
as a marketplace country? And what's the prospect of Russia's accession
to WTO?
And now to Mr. Putin, Russian President. What's your idea of how
U.S. Boeings can help Russian civil aviation?
President Bush. I couldn't make myself clearer during my opening
statement about how I feel about Jackson-Vanik--not much action by the
Congress of the United States, and I hope they act. The market-based
economy is an issue that the President and I talked about. It is a
regulatory matter, the responsibility of which resides at the Commerce
Department. Secretary Evans and I have to
talk about this subject, and we'll have an answer to the President soon.
And in terms of success of Russia ascending into the WTO, it's
something that we want. It's in our Nation's interest that Russia be a
part of the WTO. And we look forward to working with the President and
respective ministers to see that that happens. It's in our interest that
that happen. So it's hard for me to predict the timetables on all the
issues you mentioned. Those over which I have got direct control will
happen relatively quickly.
President Putin. Well, you know, while talking about the whole set
of commercial and trade ties between our two countries, today we've
mentioned more than once that we are facing somewhat an unusual
situation in this area today, which has to do with the fact that while
improving relations in disarmament matters, building confidence and so
on and so forth, at the same time, we're expanding the whole set of
relations in economic area. And naturally, we'll face new problems we
never had to deal with before.
The position taken by the U.S. administration and the President is
known to us as regards Jackson-Vanik. It's precisely the administration
who initiated its rescinding.
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And business communities of our two countries, American and Russian
business communities, and their interaction together with the
interaction of the parliamentary issues, will be able to remove similar
problems in automatic manner, I guess.
Now, as regards your specific question on purchase of Boeings, I
must say that the best lobbyist of the interests of U.S. companies will
be American President standing here, since both Boeings and poultry and
other matters very often have been told by my colleagues. People usually
say, ``Well, it's not on our level, but I must say,'' and then there
will be a lengthy monolog on specific matters.
Anyhow, you've posed a very acute and very specific question. Why
it's acute?--Because it's on the agenda--or practical interaction. And
it's very specific since it has a bearing to very specific matters. And
since it's acute and specific, I'll answer as one should in gentlemen's
society, in a very general manner.
First and foremost, our carriers, in my opinion, should be primarily
guided towards Russian aircraft producers. Why?--because Russian
manufacturers, you know, don't have anywhere to sell their products
otherwise, because they are not let anywhere--or with a lot of
difficulty. They only can sell it domestically; that's the first thing.
And here we can talk about interaction on the market.
Now, the second thing, our carriers, primarily Aeroflot, should be
competitive on the market and should have advanced technology in their
hands. Therefore, they both have American Boeings today; they also have
European Airbus aircraft. And the question has been raised currently on
additional purchase, on replacement of old equipment with those foreign
aircraft.
Now, I should say, depending on the decision to be taken by economic
structures--this is not a political question, mind you. The economic
structure should decide on it. A lot will depend on it in regards of the
state of our political interaction, of course. And our American
colleagues' proposal today is a little bit costlier than the Europeans'
proposal. Had Americans bought our cheap aluminum and steel, then their
aircraft would have been cheaper and more competitive, including in our
market.
So all of this jointly has been a subject of our discussions with
the President here, and our good friend and partner, Secretary of
Commerce and economy. And I think that in the course of normalization of
trade and commerce relations, all these issues will be addressed in a
most mutually advantageous manner.
Iran/Nuclear Nonproliferation
Q. [Inaudible]--state sponsor of terrorism. I wonder because of
that, if these Russians sales that you object to continue, does that--
this new strategic relationship you're discussing today bump up against
what you outlined in your speech to Congress when you said, in the war
against terrorism, you're either with the United States or against the
United States?
And President Putin, the Bush team says that your sales of nuclear
technology and sophisticated military technology to Iran are the world's
single biggest proliferation problem right now. Do you agree with that
assessment, and did you make any specific promises today in your meeting
with President Bush?
President Bush. Well, first, we spent a lot of time on this subject.
And as I said yesterday in Germany, I worry about Iran. And I'm
confident Vladimir Putin worries about Iran, and that was confirmed
today. He understands terrorist threats, just like we understand
terrorist threats. And he understands that weapons of mass destruction
are dangerous to Russia, just as they are to America. And he's explained
that point himself, of course, now that he's standing here.
But we spoke very frankly and honestly about the need to make sure
that a nontransparent government run by radical clerics doesn't get
their hands on weapons of
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mass destruction. It could be harmful to us and harmful to Russia. And
the President can speak for himself. And he gave me some assurances that
I think will be very comforting for you to listen to. And I'm confident
we can work together on this issue. This is in both our countries'
mutual interest that we solve this problem.
President Putin. I will confirm what Mr. Bush has just said, and I
agree with your evaluation of threats in this regard. Generally
speaking, I believe that the problem of nonproliferation is one of the
key problems as regards ensuring international security.
Incidentally, this happened to be one of the main motivating and
underpinning logical stimuluses to work in Russia-NATO framework
together on nonproliferation on nuclear arms.
At the same time, I'd like to point out that cooperation between
Iran and Russia is not of a character which would undermine the process
on nonproliferation. Our cooperation is exclusively, as regards energy
sector, focused on the problems of economic nature. I'd like to point
out also that the U.S. has taken a commitment upon themselves to build
similar nuclear powerplant in North Korea, similar to Russia.
And in addition to Iran, I think, we also need to think about other
countries here. For example, we have some questions concerning
development of missile programs in Taiwan, in some other countries where
we've been witnessing active work of producing mass destruction weapons
and their carriers. All of that should be a subject of our in-depth
discussion both bilaterally and in the frameworks of NATO-Russia
agreement. That's one of the key issues of the modern times, I believe.
It would seem to me that in order to be efficient, in this sense,
like in other areas, we need to address the main task, to upgrade
confidence mutually. And today I mentioned to President Bush here that
as regards Iran and some other countries, according to our data, the
missile programs of those countries, nuclear programs, are built largely
on the basis of the technologies and with the support of the Western
companies. We do have such info, and we stand ready to share it with our
American partners. So if we pursued that way, not dealing with
generalities, then we'll get results with respect to this very
complicated and very important for our two countries track.
And the conclusive question--[inaudible].
Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty
Q. Mayak Radio Station. To both Presidents, to what extent the
treaty ensures real nuclear parity, and are there conditions that the
treaty can be terminated by either side? And how true is the fact that
Russia still remains as one of the nuclear targets for nuclear forces?
And how does that relate to the announced new strategic relations
between our two countries?
President Bush. Well, it is a treaty. This document is a treaty that
will be confirmed by the United States Senate and the Duma, hopefully.
Secondly, treaties have always had outs; there's nothing new about that.
There are conditions of which things may change, and people get out of
treaties. That's the way it's been. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
had an out; there's nothing new about that. And thirdly, you know, we
are going to work to end the--forever end the cold war. And that begins
with the statement that Russia's our friend, not our enemy.
And you say ``targeting''--I mean, the idea of our weaponry--our
military has no aims at Russia. There may be old vestiges in place, but
Russia's not an enemy. You don't think about how to deal with Russia the
way they used to. Russia is a friend, and that's the new thinking.
That's part of what's being codified today.
President Putin. As regards the parity, the parity relationship of
sorts, the weight of military potentials and nuclear potential, and so
on, so forth, each state would have
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its own strategy of development of what you refer to as nuclear
deterrent process. But I'd like to assure you that all the action
undertaken by us in this area fully confirmed with the interests of the
Russian Federation. The documents signed today are a result of joint
effort of the Minister of Defense and Chiefs of Staff and our Minister
of Foreign Affairs, of course, jointly with our American colleagues. And
we proceed from the assumption we have today, and we try to forecast the
status of affairs in the world for a lengthy period of time--I would
like to point out, again, for a lengthy perspective.
Now, as regards the question of verification and control, perhaps,
I'd like to point out that we're very much satisfied with the U.S.
administration approach to this question. Our American partners have
agreed that we need to retain START I, which is provided for by the
system of verification. We agreed we will continue this work on the
basis of the documents signed today as well.
And what was the second part of the question, incidentally? The mike
was off at this time. Regarding those targets, that was not to me. I
will also make a remark here, regarding aiming targets. And Mr.
Baluyevskiy, our military First Deputy Chief of Staff, is here with us.
He and his American counterpart are full aware of those things,
targeting aims and other things involved, and what is the status today
of those aimings and targeting. All in speculations in the press are
nothing but expression of domestic political infight either here or in
the U.S., just on the verge of the visit.
We are not being emotional here. We're not talking to the press, but
as experts, we're full aware of that, and we have no concern whatsoever
in this regard.
Thank you. Thank you for your kind attention and for your
participation.
Note: The President's news conference began at 12:55 p.m. in St.
Andrew's Hall at the Kremlin. President Putin spoke in Russian, and his
remarks were translated by an interpreter. In his remarks, President
Bush referred to the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which placed restrictions
on normalized trade relations between the U.S. and Russia and other
countries of the former Soviet Union based on their economic structure
and emigration policies. President Putin referred to Gen.-Col. Yuriy
Nikolayevich Baluyevskiy, First Deputy Chief of the General Staff,
Russian Federation Armed Forces. Prior to their news conference,
President Bush and President Putin signed the Treaty Between the United
States of America and the Russian Federation on Strategic Offensive
Reductions.