Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

President Bush Wraps Up Brief Meeting with Russian President

Aired November 22, 2002 - 10:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has wrapped up a brief meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin today. But there was a lot of ground to cover, too, in that meeting, the U.S. showdown in Iraq, and Russia's concerns about the fallout from such a showdown.
Let's check in now with our Jill Dougherty, our Moscow bureau chief, who has the view for us from the Russian capital.

Good morning, or good evening to you there, Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.

Well, you know, we don't know specifically what they got into. We've seen a couple of quotes coming over the Russian wires, Mr. Putin saying it was a great atmosphere to conduct these talks in, and indeed it really is, it's spectacular palace outside of Saint Petersburg, the gift from Czar Peter the Great to his wife back in the 1700s. But they weren't touring, the palace. They were sitting down for a very brief meeting, in fact, on the ground for a couple of hours. On the top of the agenda was of course Mr. Bush fresh from Prague, wanted to assure Vladimir Putin in person that NATO's expansion is not a threat, even though it is now on the border of Russia.

Second, they wanted to talk about Iraq. Obviously, Mr. Bush would want to thank Vladimir Putin for that positive vote in the U.N. Security Council on the international inspectors. And another thing that he wanted to do was assure Mr. Putin that the interests that Russia has, and they are primarily economic, a lot of Soviet debt, practically $8 billion that Iraq owes Russia that that will be, as he put, it honored.

And then we have other issues that they were hoping to get into, a bit on energy, Russia wants to supply more oil to the United States, supplying very little now, but it has big plans for the future, and then finally Chechnya, which is always a thorn in the side. But the two leaders getting a little bit closer, with Mr. Bush saying there is an Al Qaeda interest in what is going on in Chechnya.

However, he was expected of course to urge Mr. Putin to try to settle it politically -- Leon.

HARRIS: And, Jill, I'm glad you brought up the Chechnya angle, because I wanted to ask you about that. It seemed as though, because it was not talked about coming into the meetings at all, it seems as though Chechnya was going to be sort of the elephant in the back of the room, that no one wanted to acknowledge here. The sense among some watching this administration were trying to get more and more support for the plan to take a strong act toward Iraq at some point, it's been said here now that perhaps Mr. Bush has been giving President Putin sort of an easy go of it or free ride, if you will, on Chechnya. Is that how it's being read there, because of the fact that President Bush has been trying to get Mr. Putin's support?

DOUGHERTY: Well, that is, of course what the critics would say. People here in Russia, Mr. Putin himself, would say Mr. Bush and the world are simply recognizing the fact, what he's been saying for years, which is, Russia is a victim of international terrorism.

He says, Mr. Putin says, that, of course, it's an internal issue that, you know, Chechnya is still officially part of Russia, that there is an international component to this international terrorist component, and now Mr. Bush, just in the past few weeks, you've seen the terrorists, the hostage crisis here in Moscow, and you have also seen the statement by Osama bin Laden, praising that hostage-taking, Mr. Bush is saying there is obviously as he put it, Al Qaeda interests in that issue.

But ultimately Russia, and the United States do come apart on one issue, and that is human rights abuses. The United States still believes that human rights in Chechnya are being abused by the Russian soldiers.

HARRIS: Let's get back to the topic of oil then, a recurrent theme with this administration, there is a line in a report in the "Washington Post" this morning that there is a Russian official who has acknowledged or said to a reporter that there is something of a gentleman's agreement that has been agreed to or has been settled between the two administrations about oil. Do you know anything at all about that?

DOUGHERTY: Well, basically it's a gentleman's agreement on the economic interests that Russia does have in Iraq, and they really are considerable. You know, you have as I mentioned the $8 billion. Some say that nowadays since it's old Soviet debt, it could be worth as much as $10, $12 billion, no one knows. They want that money back. They also have Russian oil companies that have contracts with the Iraqi officials that can't be realized unless the sanctions are lifted.

So there are a lot of, you know, economic interests. Russia has had a long relationship with Iraq, and what Russia has been pushing for, and it's all an economic game, Leon. That is the only interest in it. They wanted some tacit agreement at least that their interests would be honored and respected by the United States. If there is a war, what happens after the war? So they appear to be getting that. Mr. Putin last night on Russian TV said their interests will be honored.

HARRIS: With all of that as a backdrop, finally, let me ask you this about NATO, step back a bit here to what was happening yesterday. How much of a sell job did President Bush actually have to do to settle President Putin on the admission of these seven countries into the NATO pact then, with that agreement there in the background?

DOUGHERTY: You know, not much these days. You've had to say, back in Boris Yeltsin's days, you heard him yelling, and ranting and raving about expansion of NATO. but now it's a completely different world. Nobody here, at least in the Kremlin administration, believes that NATO is really a threat against Russia; nobody believes they will come across the border. What they are concerned about, though, is conventional weapons that might be placed -- or other weapons -- that might be placed by NATO in the new members, and the new members are in the Baltics; they're very close to the northern parts of Russia. So what they want to do is have some type of assurance that NATO isn't going to station a lot of weapons on the border.

But Vladimir Putin does not need a lot of convincing that NATO is not an enemy.

HARRIS: Exactly. Jill Dougherty, always good to see you. Take care, Jill Dougherty, reporting live from Moscow.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




President>


Aired November 22, 2002 - 10:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has wrapped up a brief meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin today. But there was a lot of ground to cover, too, in that meeting, the U.S. showdown in Iraq, and Russia's concerns about the fallout from such a showdown.
Let's check in now with our Jill Dougherty, our Moscow bureau chief, who has the view for us from the Russian capital.

Good morning, or good evening to you there, Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.

Well, you know, we don't know specifically what they got into. We've seen a couple of quotes coming over the Russian wires, Mr. Putin saying it was a great atmosphere to conduct these talks in, and indeed it really is, it's spectacular palace outside of Saint Petersburg, the gift from Czar Peter the Great to his wife back in the 1700s. But they weren't touring, the palace. They were sitting down for a very brief meeting, in fact, on the ground for a couple of hours. On the top of the agenda was of course Mr. Bush fresh from Prague, wanted to assure Vladimir Putin in person that NATO's expansion is not a threat, even though it is now on the border of Russia.

Second, they wanted to talk about Iraq. Obviously, Mr. Bush would want to thank Vladimir Putin for that positive vote in the U.N. Security Council on the international inspectors. And another thing that he wanted to do was assure Mr. Putin that the interests that Russia has, and they are primarily economic, a lot of Soviet debt, practically $8 billion that Iraq owes Russia that that will be, as he put, it honored.

And then we have other issues that they were hoping to get into, a bit on energy, Russia wants to supply more oil to the United States, supplying very little now, but it has big plans for the future, and then finally Chechnya, which is always a thorn in the side. But the two leaders getting a little bit closer, with Mr. Bush saying there is an Al Qaeda interest in what is going on in Chechnya.

However, he was expected of course to urge Mr. Putin to try to settle it politically -- Leon.

HARRIS: And, Jill, I'm glad you brought up the Chechnya angle, because I wanted to ask you about that. It seemed as though, because it was not talked about coming into the meetings at all, it seems as though Chechnya was going to be sort of the elephant in the back of the room, that no one wanted to acknowledge here. The sense among some watching this administration were trying to get more and more support for the plan to take a strong act toward Iraq at some point, it's been said here now that perhaps Mr. Bush has been giving President Putin sort of an easy go of it or free ride, if you will, on Chechnya. Is that how it's being read there, because of the fact that President Bush has been trying to get Mr. Putin's support?

DOUGHERTY: Well, that is, of course what the critics would say. People here in Russia, Mr. Putin himself, would say Mr. Bush and the world are simply recognizing the fact, what he's been saying for years, which is, Russia is a victim of international terrorism.

He says, Mr. Putin says, that, of course, it's an internal issue that, you know, Chechnya is still officially part of Russia, that there is an international component to this international terrorist component, and now Mr. Bush, just in the past few weeks, you've seen the terrorists, the hostage crisis here in Moscow, and you have also seen the statement by Osama bin Laden, praising that hostage-taking, Mr. Bush is saying there is obviously as he put it, Al Qaeda interests in that issue.

But ultimately Russia, and the United States do come apart on one issue, and that is human rights abuses. The United States still believes that human rights in Chechnya are being abused by the Russian soldiers.

HARRIS: Let's get back to the topic of oil then, a recurrent theme with this administration, there is a line in a report in the "Washington Post" this morning that there is a Russian official who has acknowledged or said to a reporter that there is something of a gentleman's agreement that has been agreed to or has been settled between the two administrations about oil. Do you know anything at all about that?

DOUGHERTY: Well, basically it's a gentleman's agreement on the economic interests that Russia does have in Iraq, and they really are considerable. You know, you have as I mentioned the $8 billion. Some say that nowadays since it's old Soviet debt, it could be worth as much as $10, $12 billion, no one knows. They want that money back. They also have Russian oil companies that have contracts with the Iraqi officials that can't be realized unless the sanctions are lifted.

So there are a lot of, you know, economic interests. Russia has had a long relationship with Iraq, and what Russia has been pushing for, and it's all an economic game, Leon. That is the only interest in it. They wanted some tacit agreement at least that their interests would be honored and respected by the United States. If there is a war, what happens after the war? So they appear to be getting that. Mr. Putin last night on Russian TV said their interests will be honored.

HARRIS: With all of that as a backdrop, finally, let me ask you this about NATO, step back a bit here to what was happening yesterday. How much of a sell job did President Bush actually have to do to settle President Putin on the admission of these seven countries into the NATO pact then, with that agreement there in the background?

DOUGHERTY: You know, not much these days. You've had to say, back in Boris Yeltsin's days, you heard him yelling, and ranting and raving about expansion of NATO. but now it's a completely different world. Nobody here, at least in the Kremlin administration, believes that NATO is really a threat against Russia; nobody believes they will come across the border. What they are concerned about, though, is conventional weapons that might be placed -- or other weapons -- that might be placed by NATO in the new members, and the new members are in the Baltics; they're very close to the northern parts of Russia. So what they want to do is have some type of assurance that NATO isn't going to station a lot of weapons on the border.

But Vladimir Putin does not need a lot of convincing that NATO is not an enemy.

HARRIS: Exactly. Jill Dougherty, always good to see you. Take care, Jill Dougherty, reporting live from Moscow.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




President>