Russia Has 'Derailed' Its Reforms, Bush States

While Bush and Putin argue, the House and Senate have taken steps to block or limit funds for European elements of the missile defense plan.

The House version of the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill has eliminated the $160 million to prepare for construction of 10 silos for U.S. missile interceptors in Poland but would permit work on the interceptors and on a radar system to be based in the Czech Republic.

The Senate has yet to act, but its Armed Services Committee would prohibit spending that money until final agreements have been reached with both countries and the committee approves them.

The 10 missiles have not yet been developed. The plan envisages them as a two-stage version of the three-stage long-range interceptors being deployed at a U.S. base in Alaska while undergoing tests.

U.S. intelligence officials have said it would be between 2010 and 2015 before Iran could have a missile with a nuclear warhead capable of threatening Europe or the continental United States.

In testimony before Congress in April, Pentagon officials said the Poland-based interceptors will not be tested before 2010, one year before their scheduled deployment in that country.

Last month, a State Department official told a House hearing that two tests were scheduled before 2010 and that deployment was planned for 2013.

Since coming to power in 2000, Putin has overseen new controls on the news media and nongovernmental organizations, a centralization of government and the economy, and the marginalization of the political opposition.

In his speech, Bush said that despite the recent strain in relations, American influence would nudge Russia -- and China -- along the road to democracy. "The United States will continue to build our relationship with these countries -- and we will do it without abandoning our principles or our values," Bush said. He also vowed to push "valued partners" Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt "toward freedom."

Bush reaffirmed his commitment to his administration's struggling "freedom agenda," calling it the "most powerful weapon in the struggle against extremism." He denounced "the world's worst dictatorships," including Belarus, Burma, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Bush cited the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as crucial battles in the drive to spread democracy.

"In my second inaugural address, I pledged America to the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world," Bush said. "Some have said that qualifies me as a 'dissident president.' If standing for liberty in the world makes me a dissident, then I'll wear the title with pride."

"It's the most eloquent speech on the universal values of human rights that any American president has ever given. And yet it comes from a president who has given human rights a bad name around the world," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director of Human Rights Watch. "It's tragic that this president doesn't have the moral authority anymore to promote these values. His policies have led many people to become very cynical about America's commitment to the values of freedom."

"The reality is the initiative is in disarray," said Grant Aldonas, a former Bush administration official and now an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "You know, following the outcome of Iraq postwar, when you travel the world, people react with cynicism when you talk about freedom and democracy at this point."

Bush acknowledged that "there will be triumphs and failures, progress and setbacks. Ending tyranny cannot be achieved overnight."

Staff writers Walter Pincus and Robin Wright in Washington contributed to this report.