Bush Remains Faithful Friend to Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, looks at President Bush as they talk about their meetings, Monday, July 2, 2007, at the Bush family compound on Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) (Stephan Savoia - AP)

Sarah Mendelson, a Russia scholar with the Center for Strategic and International Relations in Washington, said she, too, was surprised by Bush's comments that he found Putin to be honest and forthright.

"The last thing I would expect to hear anyone say about the Putin administration is truth, trust, comfort," said Mendelson.

She was also troubled by Putin's comments comparing Washington and Moscow's relationship with the media.

Western experts have criticized the Kremlin for establishing control of most of Russia's major television stations, which now rarely air critical voices. Mendelson said the Kremlin has failed to investigate the suspicious deaths of journalists.

From the Kremlin's point of view, Putin's warm reception by Bush was both a result of the friendship between the two men and a reflection of Russia's restored strength and influence in the world.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told The Associated Press that some of Russia's critics still wish it were in "transition" from its Soviet past.

"But that time is over and everything is changing," he said.

Bush's praise for Putin probably masked some doubts. In June, Bush said that Russia's progress toward democracy had been "derailed."

Andrew Kuchins of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said he spoke with Bush some time ago about Russia's political future. Bush was concerned, Kuchins said, about relations between the Kremlin and Bush's successors in the White House.

Kuchins suspects Bush asked Putin to speak frankly about the upcoming presidential elections, and the likely policies of his successor, at the talks here Sunday and Monday.

"Bush wanted to see how things played out with the succession and the election in Russia," Kuchins said.

Lilia Shevtsova of the Moscow Carnegie Center said that Bush's overriding concern seemed to be to halt the deterioration in U.S.-Russian relations at a critical time. In a sign of some progress on that front, the two countries pledged Tuesday to reduce their stockpiles of long-range nuclear weapons "to the lowest possible" level.