Bush Putin Agree On Arms Cut Missile

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart George W Bush agreed to link missile defence systems to cuts in nuclear arsenals in a bid to strike a new strategic pact. GENOA: US-Russia arms talks took an unexpected bound forward yesterday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart George W Bush agreed to link missile defence systems to cuts in nuclear arsenals in a bid to strike.
Group of Eight big power summit in Genoa, Italy, signals a shift in US policy on negotiating mutual arms cuts.
President Bush as well, was the understanding that was reached today between us that offensive arms and the issue of defensive arms will be discussed as a set,’’ Putin told a packed press conference. “The two go hand-in-hand in order to set up a new strategic framework for peace,’’ Bush said.
The two men, speaking after their second meeting in little over a month, said it was too early to say how deep the cuts in intercontinental ballistic missiles would go. Bush said he and Putin wanted to “change the mindset of the world’’ and create a strategic security framework for the 21st century freed from the shackles of the Cold War.
Cold War is forever over, and the vestiges of the Cold War that locked us both into a hostile situation, are over,’’ said Bush. The US leader said his top national security advisor Condoleezza Rice would shortly visit Moscow to thrash out with top Russian officials a timetable for talks between defe-nce and foreign ministers.
US has about 7,000 deployed stra-tegic nuclear warheads, while Russia has roughly 6,000. closing out a summit overshadowed by violent street protests, vowed to wage a united attack on global poverty and disease. They failed, however, to resolve a sharp dispute over global warming.
The leaders followed up on a Friday pledge of a new Aids fund with promises to help in other areas as well, from education to expanding debt relief to launching a new global trade round.

Bush was less successful in reaching any compromise. European leaders lobbied hard behind the scenes, but were unable to get the president to reverse his rejection of the 1997 Kyoto accord.

Which brought out up to 100,000 marchers, most of them peaceful, left nearly 500 people injured and claimed the first fatality. Mindful of that, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced that next year’s summit on June 26-28 in Canada will be held away from heavily populated cities in Kananaskis.