|
|
|
|
|
Bush Salutes Slovak 'Allies'
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (CNN) -- President Bush has hailed Slovaks as "friends, allies and brothers" in the fight for global freedom and thanked the country for deploying non-combat troops to Iraq.
In a speech Thursday in Bratislava ahead of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bush saluted the former Soviet-bloc nation for standing with the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"You are showing that a small nation built on a big idea can spread democracy throughout the world," Bush said.
Bush and Putin are expected to sign nuclear security and anti-terrorism agreements at their meeting, which also promises an opportunity to address increasingly strained ties between the two countries.
Earlier Thursday, Slovakian President Ivan Gasparovic welcomed Bush to Bratislava's ornate Presidential Palace.
Bush also met Slovakian Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, praising his economic development work and promising to relax visa restrictions for Slovakians wanting to visit the United States.
CNN's Jill Dougherty said Bratislava "was a classic setting for Bush to convey his message: that the march to freedom around the world was unstoppable."
The Slovak capital played a major role in the 1989 Velvet Revolution that resulted in the peaceful end to communist control of Czechoslovakia.
"Bush talked a great deal about Iraq, where Slovakia has about 100 troops," said Dougherty.
"He linked Slovakia's revolution to Iraq, saying that while Slovakia had a so-called Velvet Revolution, Iraq was now having its own 'purple revolution,' a reference to the dye used to mark voters' fingers in the recent election."
As a light snow fell, Bush told Slovakians gathered at Bratislava's Hviezdoslavovo Square: "The road to liberty and prosperity has not always been easy, but Americans respect your courage and determination to build a better future for your children.
"As you work to build a democratic and free Slovakia in the heart of Europe, America stands with you."
At his summit with Putin, Bush plans to raise Western concerns about the health of Russia's democracy.
"I expressed some concerns at the European Union yesterday about some of the decisions, such as freedom of the press, that our mutual friend has made," Bush told reporters Wednesday.
"And I look forward to talking to him about his decision-making process."
Critics accuse Putin of rolling back democratic reforms that had come to Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989.
News outlets critical of the Kremlin have been shuttered, and critics such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former CEO of the oil company Yukos, have faced prosecution.
Former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, now an Israeli Cabinet minister, said recently that Putin had brought Russia back to "the times of a communist dictator."
The U.S. was also at odds with Putin over his support for the original winner of the discredited Ukrainian election and his announcement last week that he does not believe Iran presents a nuclear threat. (Full story)
Some U.S. lawmakers have called on Bush to suspend Russia's membership in the Group of Eight industrialized democracies. (Full story)
After their first meeting, in 2001, Bush famously declared that he had found Putin "straightforward and trustworthy" and gained "a sense of his soul." But U.S. officials concede that bond is now strained -- and that Bush will make clear that it is up to Putin to ease that tension.
Jamie Rubin, a State Department spokesman in the Clinton administration, said Bush's earlier embrace of Putin "makes it kind of hard for him to now read him the riot act."
"I think the Bush administration realizes that its policy was off-track and they will try to calibrate it now," Rubin said.
National security adviser Stephen Hadley said democratic reform in Russia was "a work in progress."
"Everyone wants a strong Russia," Hadley said. "But in the 21st century, a strong Russia will come the way strength of other states come: It will come through democratic structure."
Hadley said Bush has had "a very constructive relationship" with Putin. The two leaders have cooperated on antiterrorism and counterproliferation measures, and Moscow has aided the United States in talks over the nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran.
"That said, one of the things we've also made clear -- and the president was trying to make clear the other night -- is when President Putin says that he is committed to democracy, people will obviously watch and see how that is manifested in action," Hadley said.
The White House also has raised concern about Russian plans to sell missiles to Syria and its assistance to Iran's nuclear program.
Iran says it is developing nuclear power for civilian energy, but the Bush administration has accused Tehran of working to develop nuclear weapons.
On Wednesday, Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder joined together to insist that Iran must not develop nuclear weapons.
At a news conference after their two-hour meeting in Mainz, Germany, the chancellor said, "We absolutely agree that Iran must say no to any kind of nuclear weapon -- full stop." (Full story)
Meanwhile, Russia has faced periodic terrorist attacks by Islamic separatists from Chechnya, where Russian troops have fought a five-year guerrilla war.
Russian campaigns against the Chechen guerrillas have been sharply criticized by human rights groups.
Nuclear, anti-terror agreements
In Bratislava, the final stop on Bush's five-day, three-city European tour, officials were putting the finishing touches on the details of the agreements Bush and Putin are to sign.
A senior U.S. diplomat said the two leaders were expected to agree on joint responses to potential incidents of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, taking advantage of the expertise of both sides in dealing with WMD.
The diplomat said this may include joint exercises with military and civil response units to such potential attacks.
Russian political observer Sergei Rogov, who advises the Kremlin on security issues, told CNN the idea has been in the works for a year.
Some of the impetus for recent progress, he said, came from experience with the recent Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated south Asia and drew together emergency response teams from around the world.
Bush and Putin are also expected to sign agreements to speed up installation of security systems at Russian nuclear facilities, as well as speed up an existing program to replace highly enriched uranium fuel at research institutes around the world to prevent it from falling into the hands of terrorists.
U.S. officials also are expected to agree on controls on shoulder-fired missiles that have been used against Russian aircraft by Chechen rebels.
For more information, visit http://www.cnn.com.
|
|
|
|
