Presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush have ruined Angela Merkel's party after all. She was really anxious to ensure that Russian-American differences over deployment of missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic should not overshadow her agenda for the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. Contrary to expectations, however, Putin and Bush have reached agreement - and this has become the big sensation of the summit.
"George and I have reached agreement"

It turns out that President Putin did not come to Heiligendamm with a challenging debate arsenal like his Munich speech. On the contrary, he was the one who proposed a solution that might really interest Washington and relieve the tension in Russian-American relations. At their post-meeting press conference, the two presidents were smiling and even cheerful. The reason for their good mood became clear when Putin explained his proposal: Russia and the United States should both use a radar station in Azerbaijan, currently leased to Russia. This radar is located near the village of Zaragan in the Gabala district of Azerbaijan. It has been in use since 1985, and is intended to track ICBM launches in the southern hemisphere. Putin noted the chief advantabe of this approach: the facilities are as close as possible to the surveillance target. Any new situations involving Iranian missiles, said Putin, could be monitored by intelligence resources. Putin's statement included Russia's approach to potential Russian-American cooperation on a missile defense project. "We have an understanding of common threats, but we also have some differences regarding the ways and means of averting those threats," said Putin. "We have closely examined the proposals made by the United States. We have our own ideas about this, and I explained them in detail to the president of the United States." The main idea concerns joint use of the radar in Azerbaijan.

"We could do this automatically, and the whole system we could create would cover not only part of Europe, but all of Europe without exception," said Putin. According to him, using this option would rule out the possibility of missile fragments falling to the ground in European countries - they would simply fall into the sea or the ocean. Putin said: "This would make it unnecessary to change our position on not targeting our missiles at anyone. Rather, it would create suitable conditions for joint efforts - but this work should be multidimensional, including other interested countries in Europe."

This sensational proposal sounded spontaneous, but the Kremlin must have planned it thoroughly. At the very least, it held consultations with Azerbaijan. "I spoke about this yesterday with the president of Azerbaijan, and the existing agreement would allow us to do it," said Putin. It remains unknown whether Putin has also discussed this matter with the president of Iran - who remains a friend of Russia, for now.

Sources in the Russian delegation at the G8 summit told [Vremya Novsotei] that the Putin-Bush meeting had been "surprisingly positive" - although Bush, of course, was not prepared to respond by immediately admitting that it's unnecessary to deploy missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic. "Of course, the USA still wants to deploy missile defense elements in those countries. But the conversation was very constructive, and the two presidents agreed to continue their discussion in America [when Putin visits the USA three weeks from now]," said an official.

Bush does not intend to brush aside Putin's proposals; this is indicated by the further action they have agreed to take. Following yesterday's political impulse, a working dialogue will be continued at the level of diplomatic, military, and technical experts from both countries. "George and I agreed that our specialists will get started on this as soon as possible," said Putin. "This will obviate the need to deploy our missiles in direct proximity to European borders and the need to prevent the deployment of US missiles in space as part of the missile defense system."

Putin expressed the hope that these negotiations will not be a "smokescreen" for starting any unilateral action. "I told George about this," said Putin.

"Vladimir and I just had a very constructive dialogue, particularly about missile defense," said Bush. "He expressed his concerns to me. He is concerned that the missile defense system is not an act that a friend would do." Further dialogue, according to Bush, will be "a serious set of strategic discussions."

"This is a serious issue and we want to make sure that we all understand each other's positions very clearly," said Bush. "As a result of these conversations, I expect there to be better understanding of the technologies involved and the opportunities to work together."

Vremya Novostei