Having visited Bush in his ancestral vacation house in Kennebunkport, Maine on the Atlantic coast, where two presidents were fishing and regaling themselves with lobsters, Putin went on trying to persuade the American president to refuse from plans to establish elements of the US antimissile system in Eastern Europe. Earlier the Russian president offered Bush a joint usage of the Gabala radar system in Azerbaijan, but the Washington didn’t become interested in this proposal, so at the moment the project of siting of the American antimissile system in Europe remains the main disputable topic in Russian-American relations.
This time Putin made even more tempting offer – to include in the US antimissile defense system radars located in the South of Russia. “We are ready to include in the mutual defense system a new base that is building in the South of Russia designed to prevent missile launching” – said Putin during the press-conference after the informal summit in Kennebunkport.
Like it was with the Gabala radar, the new proposal was sudden. Bush looked perplexed and named it “very innovative” and worthy of examination but at the same time made it clear that the Washington’s position remained unchangeable. “I think the Czech Republic and Poland need to be an integral part of the system.” – He said.
Afterwards a member of the Russian delegation told journalists that Putin’s proposal is of historic importance. But it can be provided only in case of refusal from plans to establish the third position region of the US national antimissile shield and to site a shock missile base in space. “If the USA refuses from these plans, there will be no reason for Russia to direct missiles at military aims in Central Europe” – said the member of the delegation.
Putin suggested also to widen the list of countries that are allowed to participate in consultations on this problem, committing it to the Russia-NATO Council. “We suppose that the list of participants of these consultations can be widened by including in it interested European countries” – president of Russia said.
Bush answered that in his opinion, the president of Russia made a concrete and decisive step forwards, having offered these negotiations in order to include Europe and NATO in it.
The two-day meeting in Kennebunkport – the so-called “lobster summit” was aimed first of all at allaying tension in relations between the two countries, but there was no break-through. It became just an effort to restore the past mutual understanding and begin working under improvement of the Russian-American relationship.
As the Reuters Agency mentioned, the fact, that Putin became the first foreign leader who had been invited in Kennebunkport, just underlines the US anxiety for deterioration of relations with Russia,
At the same time the leaders tried to manifest that personally they were cherishing kindly feelings for each other. After the arrival of the Russian president, on Sunday, Bush invited him to a ride in the family speedboat in Atlantic waters. On Monday they put again to sea in order to fish a bit. Putin was the only who managed to hook a fish, the Bushes acclaimed him. “We really fished rather well, but it was a team result,” - said Putin diplomatically, - “our captain, the 42 president of the USA played the essential role in it”. Having flaunted his trophy, Putin set it free.
During the dinner the presidents discussed some issues, including Kosovo, the Iran nuclear problem and forthcoming presidential elections in Russia and USA. The councilors agreed that the informal friendly atmosphere of the meeting favoured alleviating tension but was not sufficient to eliminate it completely.
During the finale press-conference the both leaders manifested possibility of further confident communication.
"Yes, I trust him. Do I like everything he says? No. And I suspect he doesn't like everything I say. But we're able to show it in a way that shows mutual respect." – Bush said to journalists.
“We notice that level of confidence in our communication in the field of international security, including the antimissile defense can be reached” – claimed Putin in response. In the upshot he said: “All cards are dealt out, the game can begin. But we would like to play one and the same game”.
