Disarmament Documentation

President Bush response to Putin's comments on missile defence, June 6, 2007

'President Bush Participates in Roundtable with Travel Pool', Kempinski Grand Hotel, Heiligendamm, Germany, June 6, 2007.

Q What kind of military response would the United States take if Russia retargeted its missiles on Europe, as President Putin has threatened?

THE PRESIDENT: As I said yesterday, that Russia is not an enemy. There needs to be no military response because we're not at war with Russia.

You know, my first meeting with Vladimir Putin I told him, I said, what we need to do is get the Cold War behind us and work constructively on how to deal with the threats of the 21st century. Russia is not a threat. Nor is the missile defense we're proposing a threat to Russia. So I'm going to talk to Vladimir about that. I've already talked to him about it once on the telephone. I sent Bob Gates to talk to him. And we'll have a good dialogue about how we can constructively work together to deal with -- modernize our capacity to deal with the threat to the -- the true threats.

So I don't see any military response needed. Russia is not going to attack Europe. The missile defense system is not aimed at Russia. As a matter of fact, I believe it would be in Russia's interest to participate with us, and have made that offer and will continue to make the offer.

Q Do you take that threat seriously, though?

THE PRESIDENT: I don't think Vladimir Putin intends to attack Russia -- I mean, Europe. So I'll talk to him about it, but it's -- if he's saying the missile defense system is a threat to us, our -- the need, therefore, is to make clear there is not.

By the way, a missile defense system that is deployed in Europe can handle one or two rocket launchers. It can't handle a multiple launch regime. Russia has got an inventory that could overpower any missile defense system. The practicality is, is that this aimed at a country like Iran, if they ended up with a nuclear weapon, so that they couldn't blackmail the free world.

Q What do you make of his motivation for all --

THE PRESIDENT: I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it. I'm going to.

Q Right, and say, this is just some sort of misunderstanding that he doesn't -- you don't see any political purpose behind what he's doing?

THE PRESIDENT: For his own sake inside his country? I'm not sure. I haven't had a chance to visit with him about that. As you know, I've got a visit here and then I'll visit with him in Maine.

Q Do you think it might be an effort to obtain bargaining chips for negotiating over other issues, like Kosovo?

THE PRESIDENT: I talked to him about Kosovo the other day, and I don't recall missile defense coming up. In other words, it wasn't a quid pro quo. So -- he's got deep concerns about Kosovo, and so do we. It's an issue that we're just going to have to continue to work with him on. We believe we ought to move the Ahtisaari plan forward through the United Nations, and he's got reservations about it.

Q Gary Kasparov, who you met with yesterday, has said that Russia is now a police state, and he said the West should stop giving Putin democratic credentials. What do you --

THE PRESIDENT: I think there are -- as I said yesterday, society has advanced a long way from the old Soviet era. There is a growing middle class, there is prosperity, there's elections. It's interesting you would ask the question, do you think he is trying to position himself at home -- thereby meaning that he is concerned about public opinion, which is a sign that there is a -- when public opinion influences leadership, it is an indication that there is involvement of the people. I think what you're referring to is the upcoming elections, is he trying to say something about the upcoming elections. I, frankly, haven't talked to him about that aspect. But if, in fact, he is concerned about the upcoming elections, it does say something about the state of the political scene in Russia.

And as I said yesterday, we've got a friendship with Russia and there is a lot of common interest in Russia. But I expressed concerns about what were Western expectations and what has now happened inside Russia -- for example, rule of law or some press decisions he's made. I've had these discussions with Vladimir, frankly, over my time as President. I remember our meeting in Slovakia. It was a good, frank discussion about decisions he's made, and he asked me about decisions I made.

Now, the fundamental question is, does it make sense to have relations with Russia? I think it does. Do we agree on everything? No, we don't. Are there areas where we can work together? You bet. And that's why I call it a complex relationship.

Same issue with China. China has got a -- we've got an economic interest in China. We've got interest with China in working with North Korea, just like we have with Russia. And, yet, we disagree with China's reluctance to advance the democratic process...

Q Can I go back on missile shields for a second?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q Vladimir Putin says that you're building a shield for weapons that don't exist now --

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

Q Doesn't he have a point? Do you see why he might be suspicious of that?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I would argue that it's best to anticipate what might happen and work to see that it doesn't happen, as opposed to not be prepared if it does happen. I mean, if somebody pops up with a weapon and says, hands up, people will say, well, how come we didn't have a shield? And so it's -- I think we need to do both. I think we need to protect ourselves of what might happen, and then work collaboratively to make sure it doesn't happen.

Q On the missile defense system, if there's a misunderstanding between President Putin saying that this is a threat towards Russia and the U.S. saying it is not, what's more important, pushing the system through, or maintaining a solid, good relationship with Russia, especially since he's leaving office?

THE PRESIDENT: I think it's important to make sure we have a system to protect ourselves against the threats of the 21st century, the true threats. And that would be the threat of rogue regimes using a weapon of mass destruction to either blackmail and/or attack allies and friends; cells moving through our societies with the intent upon killing; radical forces undermining young democracies. Those are the threats, and therefore, we need to address them.

And I will continue to work with President Putin, Vladimir Putin, to explain to him that this is not aimed at him. And there's all kinds of ways you can do that. One is total transparency between our militaries and scientists -- military people and scientists, which I'm more than happy to do.

Q Do you see this as hurting the relationship between you and President Putin?

THE PRESIDENT: No. As I said, it's a complex relationship. We've had issues before. I think if you look at the history of our relationship, there's been some moments where we've agreed and moments where we disagreed. That's just the way -- that's what happens when you've got nations that are influential.

And we've had our disagreements with different allies, had disagreements with France over Iraq, we've had disagreements with other nations. But that doesn't mean they're not friends, or that doesn't mean we can't work with them.

Yes, sir.

Q Are you at all concerned, though, that this current state of the relationship between you and President Putin might have some implications for the outcome with regard to Iran? You've sort of relied on his --

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we've been working very closely with Russia on Iran, and I don't think that this -- first of all, my comments yesterday were very realistic in the sense that said, we're friends, we've got a complex relationship, we can work together, but we've had some disagreements. I just don't see how -- why that, those kinds of statements are going to prevent the United States and Russia from working closely together on key issues, like Iran or proliferation, areas where we can get along.

Obviously, there's disagreement. You mentioned Kosovo. No question he doesn't agree with our position. And so we've got to work together and see if we can't understand each other on a lot of issues. But it's an interesting question about, well, shouldn't you just scrap the system? And the answer is, is that the system exists in the first place to deal with threats. And that's why it needs to go forward...

Q Back to Russia?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, back to Russia. (Laughter.)

Q You seemed to have carefully calibrated your response to some of the comments that you made --

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think what you ought to do -- look, I would suggest going back and looking at a series of my responses. In other words, put -- and yesterday was an important speech to give about democracies. And I think in terms -- if you want to really figure out how I conduct relations with Russia, it would be helpful for you -- if you're interested in writing a genuinely -- I know you are -- an in-depth piece about how I've conducted relations with Russia, to look at different comments I have made relative to different moments of drama, or moments of discord, or moments of agreement.

And I have always said that, one, this is an important relationship. It's an important relationship because when we work together, we can solve problems. I've also said it's a complex relationship because there are disagreements. You asked why -- I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it. The insinuation was that he's doing this for internal political reasons. I can't make that the case. And it would be unfair for me to put words in his mouth, and so, therefore, I won't.

I've also said it's important for there to be a personal relationship between me and President Putin so that we can have frank discussions in a way that enables us to more likely deal with the problems we face. That's why I'll visit with him here, and that's why I'm looking forward to welcoming him to my Dad's house in Kennebunkport. It's an opportunity to continue to have a serious dialogue with serious players in trying to keep the peace.

There will be disagreements. That's just the way life works. And -- but that doesn't necessarily lend itself to speculation that somehow the relationship between me and the President is not a positive relationship. It is a positive -- and I'm going to work to keep it that way.

There are some who say we shouldn't have any relations with Russia. I strongly disagree with that. I think it's important for us to maintain relations with Russia, and on a variety of fronts, whether it be -- you know, look, I want him to join the WTO for a reason; I believe it's -- I think if trade increases between Russia and the United States, it's important to have some structure and ways to resolve the inevitable disagreements that will arise. And that's what happens not only with a nation like Russia, that's what happens all the time in Europe. There's trade disputes where there needs to be a dispute resolution mechanism. And that's one of the things that the WTO provides.

Yes, sir.

Q You talked about the need to prevent extremists from getting their hands on oil in the Middle East or anywhere else. How would you characterize how Vladimir Putin manages his country's energy resources?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, he is -- he has got the opportunity to really develop the greatest asset of Russia, and that's her brain power. He's inherited a very difficult situation in Russia. The demographics indicate that it will be a shrinking society for a variety of reasons. One, it's health care system is good in parts of the country and not so good in other parts. They've got a needle issue -- they've got HIV/AIDS issues. They've got a series of issues that he knows he has to deal with. They've got an old pensioner system. So that cash flow from oil will enable him to modernize his society, and he's making steps to do that.

Secondly, it is a -- obviously, it creates tensions with Europe. His being a sole source of natural gas for certain countries creates a degree of tension. And that's why the European Union and Russia are continuing to work through their issues.

The fundamental question is, will he make enough investment in his oil infrastructure to take advantage of these cash flows, and at the same time, make an investment inside his country. And he believes he is committed , enhancing human capital. The question is, is that is the middle class going to continue to grow? It looks like it has grown substantially in the past.

This country, again, is certainly not perfect in the eyes of many Americans. On the other hand, if you consider where it's come from, it has made substantial progress toward a freer society in the sense that there is a middle class that's growing, and will eventually make more demands. Now, having said that, there's been -- as I said yesterday, there's been some backtracking. We had expectations, and those expectations weren't met...

Q About Russia's economic situation and the use of its oil wells. I guess my question is, are you concerned that Russia's enormous energy wealth is going to kind of create a situation where its leaders are vulnerable to the arrogance of power? In other words, they've got an immense amount of wealth concentrated in their hands, and inevitably that tends to make people act in aggressive ways, doesn't it?

THE PRESIDENT: I think what -- one reason why I promote rule of law throughout the world is to make sure that that very scenario doesn't accelerate. A second initiative that we all have got to take is to diversify away from hydrocarbons, and that's what will eventually yield to national security and economic security for countries that are dependent upon hydrocarbons from other places, such as ourself.

You know, there is -- there are mechanisms in place to basically enable nations to protect themselves. The EU is a mechanism. If you noticed, there's constant jockeying here in Europe with Russia about security. No question, some nations are concerned about their supplies of gas being used for political purposes. And therefore, all of us need to work collaboratively to convince nations not to do that, whether it be Russia or any other nation that is supplying hydrocarbons to the world.

You've heard me say, we import oil from places that don't necessarily like us. Oil is fungible, by the way. But nevertheless, we do. And therefore, it is in our interest, just like it's in the interest of other countries, to diversify. And that's really going to be the interesting challenge here as we move forward in this 21st century. One of the dividends of diversification through new technologies is better environmental quality. And that's why this issue is -- it's got a real poignancy, as far as I'm concerned. One, I know we can be better stewards of the environment. But also, at the same time, it ends up making us less dependent on crude oil from overseas, in our case.

It's coming, and the question is, how do you stimulate new technologies? What is the most effective way to get technologies to the market that will enable the world to control greenhouse gases, for example? And that's really where the -- see, once you get people to agree to a goal, then the next question that needs to be answered is, how best to achieve that goal. We've taken the lead in achieving that goal by spending billions of dollars on new technologies.

We've got new technologies being advanced in cellulosic ethanol. That will help nations once that becomes able to compete in the market. There's new battery technologies being promoted, primarily out of Japan. But nevertheless, it's -- will have the beneficial effect of enabling people to drive without the use of gasoline. Clean coal technologies are going to be a really important part of a strategy to deal with what will be an international goal.

And so the question is how best to stimulate that type of investment. And that's an important discussion to have here at the G8. It's also an important discussion to have at home.

Q Iran. President Ahmadinejad says that Iran's nuclear program cannot be stopped. Is he right?

THE PRESIDENT: Therefore, let's build a missile defense system. And, yes, we're going to work to stop him. That's why we are constantly working through diplomatic channels to continue to apply pressure. And I mentioned the other day, I think we need to go back to the U.N. Security Council. And we'll see...

Source: US Department of State, http://usinfo.state.gov.