[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 7 (Monday, February 21, 2005)]
[Pages 264-265]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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.
    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.

[[Page 265]]

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.