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Bush in Europe: President Set to Meet With Russian President Vladimir Putin

Aired June 15, 2001 - 08:14   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush wants a wider umbrella for both NATO and the European Union. And he has a receptive audience for that idea in Warsaw, where he makes a major speech today on European policy.

CNN's John King is covering the president's tour of Europe -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Colleen, a receptive audience here in Poland.

But tomorrow the president will sit down for his first meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Mr. Putin is very skeptical about another round of NATO expansion. Remember, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic were added two years ago. Russia objected at the time -- Russia worried now about potential new members to the NATO Alliance -- Russia also concerned as the European Union moves east, again, like NATO, to include some former Soviet satellite states.

And Mr. Bush already has a contiguous U.S./Russia agenda to begin with. He wants to try to persuade the Russians to drop their very deep skepticism for that U.S. missile defense plan -- Mr. Bush also hoping to agree eventually with Mr. Putin on dramatic reductions in both the nuclear arsenal of the United States and Russia -- and the president telling reporters a short time ago he will ask Mr. Putin about recent crackdowns on press freedoms, concerns by some in the Bush administration that Russia's current government is moving away from democracy a bit.

But this is the first meeting between these two presidents, a very substantive agenda. Most of all, though, President Bush says he hopes to take the measure of the man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll focus on a frame of mind and an attitude. This is my first meeting with the president. It certainly won't be my last. The purpose of the meeting is to share a vision about Russia's role in the world and in Europe. It's to assure -- it's to provide assurances to Russia that our country doesn't want to diminish the nation. We want to help elevate the nation. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Perhaps the toughest sell for Mr. Bush in that meeting with President Putin: selling that U.S. missile defense plan. Even many of the NATO allies are skeptical. But his host here in Poland today, President Aleksander Kwasniewski, gave Mr. Bush a bit of a help with that sales pitch -- the president of Poland saying that he believes the U.S. missile plan is not a threat to Europe or to Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEKSANDER KWASNIEWSKI, PRESIDENT OF POLAND (through translator): The United States wishes to build this system not exclusively safeguarding its own interests, but to reinforce general world security. And the United States wants to do some more research and enter dialogue with all partners, both in NATO as well as with Russia and other partners about that issue. And I think this is a very rightful and a very appropriate position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: This is stop four of the president's five-nation European tour, his first official visit to Europe. He's holding out Poland today as an example of why the NATO Alliance should continue to expand and why the European Union, largely an economic partnership, should continue to expand as well, as well as to cooperate with the United States -- Mr. Bush still here for the rest of the day -- ceremonies and a major speech on U.S./Europe relations this afternoon.

He will spend the night here in Warsaw. Then it's on to Slovenia for that sit-down with the Russian president tomorrow -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Thanks very much. CNN's John King for us in Warsaw.

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