Bush Has Delicate Task Ahead in Moscow

"This is quite a test for sophisticated diplomacy here," said Fiona Hill, a scholar at the Brookings Institution. "I'd say hats off if they can pull this off."

While Bush pushed Putin on the Kremlin's moves to roll back democratic advances during a meeting in Slovakia in February, the president plans no public confrontation in Moscow. The Kremlin has taken over television, tamed parliament, jailed business tycoons and eliminated elections of regional governors. A court was scheduled to hand down a verdict last week in the trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, but the ruling was postponed until after Bush leaves.

Instead, aides said, Bush will raise the matter during a private meeting and perhaps at a dinner at Putin's country house. Bush will also meet beleaguered human rights and civil society advocates in a symbolic show of support for those resisting Putin's monopoly of power.

Bush has come under pressure to do more to challenge Putin, whom he considers a friend. Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) reintroduced a measure this week calling for Russia to be expelled from the Group of Eight industrialized nations, which Putin will host next year.

On the other side, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), a leading advocate of closer ties with Russia, criticized Bush for not doing more to work with Moscow on issues such as missile defense and energy. "Shortsighted political fixes [and] sending letters to the New York Times tweaking Putin are not the answer," Weldon said during an angry, lectern-thumping speech yesterday. "To me, that's superficial, it's sophomoric."

During their brief meeting, aides said, Bush and Putin plan to discuss Iran, North Korea and Middle East peace as well as developments in the former Soviet Union. Bush wants to reassure Putin, who has been leery of recent revolutions in his neighborhood, that the United States is not trying to curtail Moscow's regional influence.

But Bush's visit to Moscow will bring no concrete agreements, officials said. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a strong push to resolve a years-long logjam over liability that has held up joint ventures such as the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium, officials said, but failed. Officials hope to reach an agreement by the time Bush and Putin meet at the G-8 meeting in July.

"The trip is to a large degree, particularly the Moscow stop, about symbolism, rather than deliverables," a senior administration official said. "It means a lot to Putin. [But] we're not sweeping under the rug what happened after the war."