RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN'S ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FROM THE PRESS AT THE JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH US PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH AT THE DORIA SPINOLA PALACE, GENOA, JULY 22, 2001

Putin: Good day, ladies and gentlemen. We've just finished a meeting with the President of the United States, and discussed the issues on a whole wide range of subjects. First and foremost, I wanted to say with great satisfaction that our meeting was held in a very frank and open atmosphere, and there is no doubt and I can say and confirm that we have not only maintained but in many ways strengthened the spirit of Ljubljana.

Naturally, we discussed the issues that were raised at the G8 meeting, issues of security, economy, environment, education, and culture. The discussion of these issues led us to talk about the world architecture of the 21st century and the development of modern civilization. I can frankly tell you that we discussed this part together with George Bush. It seemed to me that his mental reasoning is very profound.

We are interested in continuing this dialogue both with the American people and its leader. Approaches which were stated by the President in the past, without any doubt, are going to be studied by us, but I can already say now that they will be positively accepted. President Bush and I analyzed our recent agreements and put forth several new steps in terms of setting forth long-term cooperation which is not subject to any kind of considerations of expediency. Today there is very positive dynamism in Russian-American relations. We stated this. The difference in approaches on a couple of topics is still there, but, what is more important is that we are committed to partnership and the search for acceptable and well-balanced decisions.

Naturally, our agenda included issues of strategic stability. There we spent a lot of time on them and we discussed them at length. We reached a most important agreement on the beginning and the schedule for consultations. In Ljubljana, we agreed to set up groups to be formed in the very near future within the foreign and defense ministries.

I have to say that to some extent what was unexpected both for me, and I think for President Bush, as well, was the understanding that was reached today between us on the issue that offensive arms and defensive arms will be discussed together and we will be talking about our mutual striving toward cutting back significantly offensive weapons. We are not really ready at this time to talk about quantitative limits or thresholds, but a joint striving exists. Specialists will study these questions and make concrete proposals. But we are aiming at moving in that direction.

I told the President of the United States about our proposals to launch compensatory processes regarding strategic stability as a whole. And I think that in the very near future, I repeat this once again, our specialists will make progress in this direction. Naturally, we discussed very sharp regional problems, primarily in terms of joining our forces in resolving conflicts, and we agreed that a continued dialogue is the best way of expanding Russian-US cooperation in this field.

Special attention was paid to bilateral issues, particularly economic cooperation. I have to say here that we have a common approach toward developing very dynamically in this sphere, especially since we have the possibility for that, including the interest of our business communities. We discussed the schedule for upcoming contacts and specified issues related to the organization of our nearest meeting in Shanghai at the APEC summit. Mr. President very kindly confirmed his invitation to me to visit the United States, and we talked about some of the details of that trip.

That's all I'd like to say in my opening remarks. Thank you very much.

Question: You were saying just a little while ago about how strategic stability and militarization of space has been discussed. How do you see the biggest difficulties in this dialogue? What are the principal differences between the two countries? And how do you see overcoming these differences? And your proposal on holding a conference in Moscow on the environment, how were the other G8 partners receiving your invitation to Moscow?

Putin: As far as the ABM Treaty and the issues of offensive arms are concerned, I've already said that these two issues have to be discussed together. There is no doubt that one and the other are very closely tied. Neither one, nor the other side should feel threatened in any way. I felt and continue to feel that in addressing these most important issues, we have to maintain a balance, thanks to which mankind could live in an environment of stability and relative peace. This is an issue of principle. And that's first. Second, we share the position of the U.S. President on the need to have large cuts in offensive arms. I've already spoken of this. And together, we're going to move forward in this direction, substantially changing the security situation in the world, making it better. Without any doubt, the reduction of thresholds of nuclear confrontation will ameliorate the security climate throughout the world. There should be absolutely no doubt about this.

Now, as far as your question about the international conference in Russia on the environment, and the reduction of pollution, I can say the following. Prior to coming here to Genoa, I held a meeting with our specialists: scientists, members of the cabinet who deal with this problem. And I have to say that Russia has specialists who are known throughout the world, really big-time specialists. And they told me that even if we fully implement the Kyoto Protocol, this is going to affect the climate as it is today but in a very minor way. The Kyoto Protocol is simply not sufficient to substantially improve the environmental situation in the world, although this movement is certainly in the right direction. This is why Russia, and I want to say this once again, remains committed to the Kyoto Protocol. But what's important is that scientists, public figures, environmentalists and government officials have never got together over these issues. Each of these groups sits there alone and reviews this issue in its own way. And the thought was to get everybody together on one common platform. This proposal was supported very energetically by the President of the United States and other colleagues. At the same time, Jacques Chirac stressed the need to engage members of the public in this work. This is why, as you might have noticed, the following phrase was added at the end: with the participation of representatives of civil society, that is, environmental organizations. I want to thank our colleagues for having supported this so actively. Thank you very much.

Question: You said that the Russian side would cut its nuclear arsenals. Does this mean that you will not increase your arsenal if the U.S. proceeds with missile defense?

Putin: As far as possible answer is concerned, as you said, from Russia, in the event that one side leaves the 1972 ABM Treaty, then I can say the following. We were talking about possible versions of response in the event that one side leaves unilaterally. I was not talking about increasing the number of missiles. I was talking about the possibility of replacing single-unit warheads with MIRV warheads. But, as we said today and as we understood each other, we are ready to look at the issue of offensive and defensive systems together, and then we may not ever need to look at that option. But this is one of the subjects of negotiations. On the whole, we agreed that in any version, today we can go jointly forward toward reducing offensive arms. I'm telling you this with full responsibility. This is an issue of the qualitative and quantitative cuts, but this is something for specialists to discuss.

Question: Please tell us how you assess the Genoa summit results from the point of view of the future G8s, considering the mounting protests of anti-globalists.

Putin: I have to tell you that the people who were out on the streets and raised the issue of the poor countries and their problems, and those who gathered within the framework of the G8, they all were concerned about the same problems. In this sense, we can say that we're all of the same mind. But unlike those who chose these extreme ways of expressing their minds, those who worked here tried to find solutions to these problems. They offered concrete ways that can realistically affect, I hope will affect, the condition of the poorest countries and the situation in the world as a whole. That's why I assess very highly the results, the level and the nature of these discussions. I think we need these kinds of meetings, and I think they will continue. Naturally, we're going to have to pay more attention to the quality of decisions we take and how to implement them fully to the end. Now, as for the dialogue with civil society, one of the forms of this dialogue may be realized in Moscow at an international environmental conference in 2003.

Question: What do you think about projections for a possible considerable change in the dollar's value and its impact on the situation on the world market?

Putin (adding to George Bush's answer): The United States is one of the main trade and economic partners and investors of Russia. This is why the stability of the US economy substantially affects the economic situation in our country. As you know, we have seen positive trends in Russia in the past year. And there is no doubt that we are interested in the stability of the US economy as a whole and its currency. Today the dollar is the main form of payment in our foreign trade operations.

Question: Which regional conflicts, in your estimation, are the greatest threat to international security? What were the results when you discussed these issues at the G8? And what jointly could US and Russia do in this arena?

Putin: Well, of course, these are the Balkans and the Middle East, above all. I have to say that I'm satisfied by the nature and the results of this discussion. It seems to me that this time we heard each other and understood each other's positions on all these conflicts much better. And what's important is that trust in each other is growing as we work to resolve these issues. This is a very important prerequisite for solving these questions. We are going to continue coordinating our efforts both in the Balkans and in the Middle East, taking into account the interests of all the parties that are drawn into these conflicts. Success lies in the coordination of our efforts to work out joint approaches. This is very important, because if we create some kind of cracks through which extremist forces can leak, the whole process will be wrecked. The process of drawing closer together was very obvious here and has a positive nature. I appreciate this very much.

Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.