AP News, July 13th, 2007
President Vladimir Putin said Friday that U.S.-Russia relations must rise above shifting political trends, as influential top diplomats, ministers and Cabinet secretaries conferred on the two countries' uneasy relationship.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said his group was leaving Russia with "warm, very positive feelings," although he provided no details on the talks.
With ties between Washington and Moscow fraying, Putin met with top level U.S. and Russian diplomats, former government ministers and Cabinet secretaries at the presidential country house on Moscow's outskirts.
Putin told the group that bilateral ties should not be held hostage to election campaigns. Both the United States and Russia hold presidential elections next year.
"We can't afford to let the U.S.-Russian relationship be subservient to political fashion," Putin told the group.
"I hope very much that the results of your discussions will not find their resting place in the archives of the foreign ministers, but will be used," he said.
Former U.S. secretary of state George Schultz and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin joined former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and other Russian officials at the conference, called "Russia-USA _ A View On The Future." Primakov said they had discussed terrorism, climate change and economic issues, but refused to provide details.
Ties between the two countries deteriorated recently, as Moscow reacted harshly to U.S. plans for a missile defense system in former Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe.
Washington says the system will protect Europe from an Iranian nuclear missile attack. Russia says the U.S. system is aimed at its nuclear arsenal, and would upset the balance of strategic forces in Europe.
Kissinger, meanwhile, said the officials had a "frank, cordial discussion on a whole number of important issues for both societies and the rest of the world as well."
"We appreciate the time that President Putin gave us and the frank manner in which he explained his point of view," he said.
Told by a reporter that Russians are concerned about "U.S. military expansion," Kissinger responded: "I do not think that expansion is a problem of the period. The problem of the period is how to avoid nuclear conflict and in this case we believe that Russia and America should have common objectives."
Also Friday, Putin met with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. Russia and China stressed their common desire for a "multi-polar world" _ one not dominated by the United States _ and vowed to keep improving economic ties.
Relations "have reached an especially high level," Putin said, adding the volume of bilateral trade was increasing by up to 43 percent annually.
Communist rivals through much of the Soviet era, Russia and China have found common ground in their opposition to what they call U.S. dominance of world affairs. They have used their clout as veto-wielding permanent U.N. Security Council members to counter U.S. moves, for example, forcing proposed sanctions against Iran to be watered down.
With Russia's population declining, residents of its sparsely populated eastern regions are concerned about the expanding presence of Chinese migrants.
___
Associated Press writer Steve Gutterman in Moscow contributed to this report.
