    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I)]
    [February 18, 2005]
    [Pages 269-270]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Interview With Russian ITAR-TASS
    February 18, 2005

    Russia-U.S. Relations

        Q. Thank you very much, Mr. President, for this, again, unique
    opportunity to talk with you.
        The President. Thank you, sir.
        Q. You first time met with President Putin in Slovenia, and now in
    Slovakia is going to be--[laughter]--your 12th meeting. What kind--do
    you think we need now? Do we need a fresh start? And what do you expect
    for this meeting?
        The President. You know, it's interesting. First of all, we don't
    need a fresh start in my personal relationship with Vladimir
    Putin. We're friends, and that's important.
    It's important so that we can--he and I can have good talks, and we can
    understand each other and understand the decisionmaking process.
        Vladimir makes a lot of decisions. And I
    make a lot of decisions. And I like to talk about--him about, ``Well,
    why did you do this?'' or ``Why did you do that?'' And I suspect he
    likes to ask me the same questions.
        Secondly, we've got the framework for a good strategic relationship,
    which is important. I think this relationship can be invigorated. The
    campaign came, and in American public life, I mean--whether it be
    foreign policy or domestic policy, often you kind of shut down when the
    campaign comes. People weren't really sure who was going to be the next
    President for a while. It turned out to be me, thankfully. But--and so
    this is a chance to reinvigorate. I wouldn't say fresh--fresh start is
    okay. I'd call it reinvigorate. We've got the framework, and it gives us
    a chance to move it forward. There's a lot we need to do, a lot we need
    to work together on.

    60th Anniversary of V-E Day

        Q. V-Day in Moscow--in May----
        The President. Yes.
        Q. ----60 years ago, World War II was ended. Your father was a
    pilot, was a hero of Second War.
        The President. Yes.
        Q. What--the best--the people who can--to those who won the war.
    What can you say to the patriots? You are invited to Moscow for the----
        The President. I'm coming. Oh, yes, I want to make sure everybody
    understands I'm coming. My answer is, is that, thank you for your
    sacrifice. The Russian veterans--the people of Russia went through an
    unbelievable period of time of sacrifice. The stories of courage and
    bravery against the onslaught of the Nazis was really fantastic. I mean,
    it was a great lesson for bravery.
        And same in our country--they call it the ``Greatest Generation'';
    that's what they call the World War II people because they sacrificed.
    And it still--this world still requires sacrifice in different ways. But
    there's still needed sacrifice to make sure there's peace. And I'm
    looking forward to the celebrations.

    [[Page 270]]

        Q. The wartime alliance, do you have lessons for us now? We have
    again the common enemy.
        The President. Yes. No, we do. And that's another thing
    Vladimir and I will talk about. He sees
    clearly the common enemy. He's a--and he knows you got to be tough to--
    and resolute and strong. And we will talk about that common enemy that
    is still active. The enemy--there's a set of beliefs they believe in,
    and I believe the best way to defeat those beliefs is by spreading
    freedom and democracy. Free societies don't like to fight. Free
    societies spend more time listening to their people and the demands of
    their people as opposed to being able to fight and spread--in this case
    fighting an ideology that is an ideology of hatred as this--as your good
    country full--fully understands.

    Russia-U.S. Relations

        Q. American-Russian relationship--what was the biggest success
    during your first term? And what are your plans for next 4 years?
        The President. I appreciate that. Look, I think the biggest success
    would be twofold: one, an understanding of the war--the world we live in
    and the war on terror. Now, the enemy hit us, and they hit Russia. They
    hit us in a gruesome way, and they hit Russia in a gruesome way--Beslan,
    these movie theaters. I mean, there are all kinds of terrible events
    that have taken place. And so there's a common understanding that we
    need to work together on the war on terror. And that's important.
        The other thing was the Moscow Treaty. We kind of recognized that an
    era has gone by, that we're reducing our nuclear stockpiles. And that's
    important too.
        Ahead, there's a lot of things we can do. We can work on
    proliferation. We can work on--on disease and hunger. We can work on
    Iran to make sure the Iranians don't have a nuclear weapon. We continue
    to work on Korea. We continue to work for Middle Eastern peace. And the
    roadmap is an opportunity for the United States and Russia to cooperate
    to convince Israel and the Palestinians to do what's necessary to
    achieve peace. And so there's a lot we can do. And I'm looking forward
    to seeing my friend Vladimir Putin.
        Q. Thank you very much.
        The President. Yes, sir.
        Q. Thank you very much.
        The President. Thanks for coming.

    Note: The interview was taped at 11:06 a.m. in the Map Room at the White
    House for later broadcast. In his remarks, the President referred to
    President Vladimir Putin of Russia. A tape was not available for
    verification of the content of this interview.