Europe

Bush unclear on what Putin seeks at meet

(AP)
Updated: 2007-07-02 08:42

The two sides also are fighting over Kosovo. The US backs the Serbian province's desire for independence; Russia sides with Serbia and opposes it.

On Iran, Bush is seeking Putin's backing for a third round of penalties against Tehran for defying U.N. orders to halt uranium enrichment. Iran says the enrichment is intended for a nuclear energy program. The West suspects Iran wants to develop nuclear bombs.

The US has begun discussing with Security Council members a proposal to require all nations to inspect cargo for illicit nuclear-related shipments or arms coming from or going to Iran and to freeze assets of a number of Iranian banks, a senior administration official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are in their initial stages.

Stephen Sestanovich, an ambassador to former Soviet republics under President Clinton, said the issues are too technical and the sides too entrenched for heads of state to produce breakthroughs. What Bush can accomplish, he said, is soothing Russia's sense it has been ignored while making the case that tough talk is hurting Moscow.

"This wouldn't be the worst moment to call Putin on the kind of rhetoric you've heard out of Moscow of late," said Sestanovich, now at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The meeting is the only one Bush has held with a foreign leader in Kennebunkport. Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's national security adviser, criticized it as a "ridiculous" reward for Putin's harsh stance and an inappropriate setting for serious talks. Nearly 2,000 demonstrators, too, protested the meeting and the Iraq war by marching toward Walker's Point and chanting "impeach, impeach, impeach."

Still it could be the last chance for, as Mendleson called it, "rebooting the relationship."

Russia holds elections in March to choose Putin's successor. Bush is out of office in 19 months. So the only other time for the leaders to get together is briefly on the sidelines of a fall summit in Australia of Asia-Pacific leaders.