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CNN Live At Daybreak

Changing U.S.-Russia Relations Include Nuclear Arsenal Cuts

Aired November 14, 2001 - 05:25   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 and Russian President Vladimir Putin shift the location of their summit to Texas today. Mr. Putin's first stop is Rice University in Houston for a session with American business leaders. And then it is on to a welcoming ceremony in Waco. And from there, he goes on to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas for additional meetings with the president and genuine Texas barbecue. You can't come all the way from Moscow without getting that.

So far, Bush and Putin are pledging to match one another, warhead for warhead, in reducing nuclear weapons.

CNN's senior White House correspondent John King has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush called it history in the making, a new day in U.S.-Russia relations, into the East Room for a dramatic announcement.

The United States will slash its strategic nuclear arsenal by two thirds over the next decade, from 7,000 warheads to roughly 2,000, regardless of whether Moscow matches the cuts.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My attitude is, here's what we can live with and so I have announced a level that we're going to, that we'll stick by. And to me, that's how you approach a relationship that is changed and different.

KING: Russia has about 6,000 warheads. Mr. Putin has talked in the past of cutting back to 1,500 or 2,000, and in an evening speech in Washington, Mr. Putin promised to respond to the Bush proposal.

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA (through translator): A minimal level necessary for maintaining strategic balance in the world. We no longer have to intimidate each other to reach agreements.

KING: Still apart on the issue of missile defense and the related U.S. desire to set aside the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. But it is a polite disagreement now, talks to continue at the Bush ranch in Texas.

PUTIN (through translator): I believe that it's too early now to draw the line on the discussions of these issues.

KING: The two presidents are hand in hand when it comes to the war on terrorism. Both leaders praised the Northern Alliance gains and the Taliban retreat from the capital of Kabul. And Mr. Putin voiced skepticism at reports Northern Alliance forces were executing Taliban prisoners.

PUTIN (through translator): If there are any instances in the course of the military action of the violation of human rights in the treatment of the prisoners of war, we must investigate and take action. But we need proof.

KING: Mr. Bush urged the Northern Alliance to show restraint and took heart in its calls for United Nations help in securing Kabul and in building a broad-based new government.

BUSH: There is no preferential place at the bargaining table. All people will be treated the same.

KING: Scenes like this had both leaders claiming major progress on the military front. Yet the Russian president also said the Taliban retreat from Kabul was a cunning move designed to save resources for fights to come.

(on camera): But one senior U.S. official added a note of caution to all the talk of progress in negotiations with Russia and on the ground against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Said this official, "We should get excited, but not intoxicated, and remember the main event is Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda."

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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