Bush, Putin split on NATO

ZAGREB, Croatia — President Bush arrived here yesterday for a one-night stop aimed at hailing the spread of democracy into Eastern Europe, on the same day Russia’s president said he sees NATO expansion up to his border as a direct threat.

Mr. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke briefly at the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, in preparation for their highly anticipated last meeting together tonight and tomorrow in the Russian resort town of Sochi.

Mr. Bush will speak today to about 6,000 invited guests in Zagreb’s St. Mark’s Square, and will then meet with leaders from Croatia and Albania, who were invited to join NATO at the summit. Mr. Bush will also meet with leaders from Macedonia, which was blocked from receiving an invitation by Greece, with whom it is in a dispute over its name.

In his speech, the president will trumpet NATO membership as offering the promise of security and stability, talk about Europe being whole, free and at peace, and thank each of the three countries for the contributions they’re making in Afghanistan, a White House official said.

Mr. Putin, however, said he was not happy with NATO’s continued growth closer to Russia’s border.

The appearance of a powerful military bloc along our borders would be taken in Russia as a direct threat to the security of my country, Mr. Putin said during a press conference in Bucharest on the final day of the NATO summit.

Mr. Putin met behind closed doors with leaders of NATO member nations, and then spoke to the press separately.

The Kremlin leader, a former KGB agent, continued to express displeasure at the prospect of Ukraine and Georgia being invited to join NATO’s membership action plan (MAP).

I heard them saying today that the expansion is not directed against Russia. But it’s the potential, not intentions that matters, Mr. Putin said, according to the Associated Press.

Mr. Putin, however, said he told other leaders in the NATO alliance, Let’s be friends, guys, and engage in an honest dialogue. Mr. Bush got into the act, saying in remarks to the closed session that he and Mr. Putin were two old war horses, according to a senior Bush administration official.

In a friendlier development, Mr. Putin signed an agreement to allow nonlethal military goods through Russia to the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Earlier this week, NATO members rejected the request from Ukraine and Georgia to be invited into MAP, despite several weeks of private lobbying and public statements by Mr. Bush, acceding to objections from Germany and France.

Though it was a setback for the Bush administration, a NATO summit resolution Thursday said that Ukraine and Georgia will become NATO members, possibly as soon as December.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer reiterated the promise of a MAP invitation yesterday, saying that these countries will become members of NATO — there can be no misunderstanding about that.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko declared the NATO decision a victory for Ukraine, and Georgian Foreign Minister David Bakradze called it a historic event. The Bush administration trumpeted it as a victory as well, saying it was a sign that NATO members disregarded Russian pressure to deny the two former Soviet republics outright.

A Russian official also expressed displeasure yesterday over NATO’s backing in the resolution of the U.S.-backed missile defense system planned for Eastern Europe.

Sergei Ryabkov, who heads the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department for European cooperation, said Russia has new concerns about plans to integrate U.S. missile defense plans with NATO system.

We can’t sit aside and watch how they rubber-stamp decisions made by other people changing the security situation for Russia, Mr. Ryabkov told reporters.