Senators Urge Partnership With Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with social science and history teachers in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Thursday, June 21, 2007. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Presidential Press Service, Vladimir Rodionov) (Vladimir Rodionov - AP)

Putin made the offer to counter U.S. plans to install missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, and Fried said American officials were "intrigued" by it and the idea of sharing defenses with Russia.

In Moscow, however, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said Russia sees no threat from Iran and that "missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic will have no other target except Russian military bases in the European part of the country."

On the House side of the Capitol, meanwhile, members of Russia's parliament held a friendly discussion with members of Congress.

But Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, raised questions about Russia's human rights record, restrictions on press freedom and anti-U.S. rhetoric by Russian leaders.

His counterpart in the Duma, Konstantin Kosachev, said Russians "are sometimes puzzled and disappointed by some statements that come from the U.S."

Meanwhile, Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to the late President Gerald Ford and Bush's father, criticized the current administration at the Senate hearing.

He said Putin "was kind of pushed aside" when he offered to cooperate with the United States on countering terror after the Sept.11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

And, he said, "preaching to them how they ought to be like us will not succeed and can be counter-productive."

"We ought to focus on things we can do together," Scowcroft said.