To Dismay of Some, Bush Takes Gentler Approach Toward Putin

Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin chat ahead of the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg. (By Dmitry Astakhov -- Presidential Press Service)

Negotiators also raced to reach an agreement allowing Russia to join the World Trade Organization. Susan Schwab, the U.S. trade representative, made a breakthrough with the Russians on financial services but has been snagged on agricultural issues.

"I'd be surprised" if they reached agreement in time for Bush and Putin to announce, a senior U.S. official said. But talks stretched overnight. "While a bilateral agreement has not been finalized, significant progress has been made," Schwab spokesman Sean M. Spicer said at 3 a.m. Saturday.

Such issues weren't on the minds of the Russian activists who met with Bush. Among them was Irina Yasina, head of Open Russia, a charitable foundation. It was created by jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose politically charged prosecution has been widely criticized in the West.

Yasina said she described to Bush how Open Russia was shuttered in March after prosecutors froze its bank accounts. "I told him about my dreams for a free country and that my dreams seem to be dead," she recounted afterward. "It's a very big tragedy for me." She told him that the new law on grass-roots organizations "will be the end of Russian civil society. He asked what we need to change. And from my point of view, I said, 'Everything.' "

Yasina also appealed to Bush to raise with Putin the case of Svetlana Bakhmina, 36, a former attorney at Khodorkovsky's oil company who was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of embezzlement and tax evasion. Yasina called the allegations bogus.

"I was impressed that Mr. Bush seemed to be so interested, and he showed a deep knowledge of the subjects," said Maria Gaidar, head of the youth movement Democratic Alternative.

Gaidar, daughter of former prime minister Yegor Gaidar, urged Bush to show broader support. "I said to him it's very important to get wider support for democracy -- not just supporting ultra-liberal human rights organizations," she said. "Russian people are quite conservative, and human rights activism often doesn't work with their sense of family values and patriotism."

Bush said later that he promised the activists he would convey their concerns to Putin. "I assured them that the United States of America cares about the form of government in Russia, that we believe in the universal values embedded in democracy," he told reporters.

He added, "I explained to them my strategy of dealing with Vladimir Putin, who is my friend. Some asked me to deliver messages, which I'd be more than happy to do. I explained to them that it's in the U.S. interests to remain engaged with Russia."

Finn reported from Moscow.