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CNN Live Saturday

Bush Visits St. Petersburg, Russia

Aired May 25, 2002 - 12:02   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: First up this hour, President Bush's visit to Russia. He is in the hometown of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he's getting a first-class tour. CNN's John King is traveling with the president, and he joins us now with the latest. Hi there.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Fredricka. That's right. This is President Putin's home town. The Bushes and the Putins at the ballet here in town at the moment. This a day designed mostly for sightseeing for the president and first lady Laura Bush to get a glimpse of Russia's cultural history and heritage, but the two leaders also earlier in the day standing with each other, President Bush and President Putin, both voicing concerns about the rising tensions between the nuclear neighbors India and Pakistan.

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KING (voice-over): Side-by-side, the presidents of the United States and Russia appealed for India and Pakistan to halt cross-border violence and talk of war.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're making it very clear to both parties that there is -- there's no benefit of a war. There's no benefit of a clash that could eventually lead to a broader war.

KING: Both presidents put the burden more on Pakistan. Mr. Bush called for President Pervez Musharraf to keep a January promise to halt provocations in the disputed Kashmir region.

BUSH: The incursions across the line, the line of control, it is important that the Indians know that he is going to fulfill that promise.

KING: Russia's Putin criticized Pakistan for Saturday's test firing of a medium-range missile.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): This testing while the escalating -- there's an escalating tension really aggravates the situation, and Russia is concerned and sorry about that.

KING: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell labeled the Pakistani missile test "disappointing," and both the United States and Russia promised to step up diplomatic efforts.

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KING: Secretary Powell's top deputy will head to India and Pakistani within the next week or so, and President Putin says he also wants to get involved. Mr. Putin urging President Musharraf of Pakistan, the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Vajpayee to attend a regional conference already scheduled for early June in Kazakhstan. Mr. Putin says he will be there and would like a chance to meet with the leaders of India and Pakistan to see if he can help reduce tensions -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well, John, it looks like in addition to taking care of serious business, they're also making some time for some fun and some play, or appreciation of the country there.

KING: That is true. President Putin very much wanted President Bush to come here to St. Petersburg, his home town. President Bush arrived this morning. His first stop was to pay respect. He went to a war cemetery outside of town, Mr. Bush taking time to lay a wreath there. Some 600,000 victims of the 900-day Nazi siege honored there. This was Leningrad back in those days -- in the Soviet days St. Petersburg was called Leningrad. Mr. Bush laying a wreath there, and walking the grounds with President Putin, paying tribute to the war debt. He wrote in the notebook there as well, the registration book, "God bless those who died and God bless their families."

Then Mr. Bush came into downtown St. Petersburg, where the Bushes and the Putins took a tour of the Hermitage. It is the largest art museum here in Russia, a fabulous place full of breathtaking displays. The first thing Mr. Bush saw was a painting. Here now it hangs in the National Gallery of Art back in Washington, D.C. Many years ago it was the property of the Hermitage. It was bought by a collector in the United States. The museum, the head of the museum telling Mr. Bush the fact that it would be on loan here now shows the growing trust between Russia and the United States. The curator joked, to him much more important than the missile deal that the presidents struck just yesterday -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, John King traveling with the president.

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