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CNN Saturday Morning News

Bush, Putin Address University Students in Russia

Aired May 25, 2002 - 08:01   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin now this morning with President Bush's visit to Russia. He and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are in St. Petersburg, where the two have spoken to university students.

Our Jill Dougherty joins us now live from St. Petersburg with the latest within that conversation -- hi, Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, Kyra, this is the hometown of Vladimir Putin. He knows St. Petersburg better than he knows Moscow, in fact, and he's really showing it off to President Bush. They began, however, it's a beautiful city but they began at a very sad place, and that is Piskaryovskoe Cemetery. It's where half a million people are buried, people who did not survive the blockade of Leningrad back in WWII. And Mr. Bush signed the book, saying, "May god bless those who died and bless their friends."

From there, Mr. Bush and Laura Bush, his wife, plus the Putins, set off for the Hermitage, of course, one of the famous museums of the world, a huge museum. They spent very little time but apparently had a chance to see some of the riches in that museum.

And then, as you mentioned, they set off for the university here, St. Petersburg University, which is also the alma mater of Mr. Putin. He studied law here a number of years ago.

Mr. Bush told the students, it was basically a Q&A, and he told the students that this was essentially a seminar on how to conduct international relations.

He said when he got out of school, it was the cold war, but, as he put it, that era is over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I got out of college in 1968, America and the Soviet Union were enemies, bitter enemies. Just today America and Russia are friends. It's important for you to know that that era is long gone as far as I'm concerned.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DOUGHERTY: And one of the students asked President Bush what's the image of Russia in the United States? He managed to turn that into an answer about what unites them in terms of terrorism. He said that Russia and the United States are united to fight, as he put it, "bloodthirsty killers" and that the U.S. will do everything to make relations between the two countries cooperative and close -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jill Dougherty live from St. Petersburg, thank you.

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