Washingtonpost.com: Senators Urge Partnership With Russia

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Washingtonpost.com: Senators Urge Partnership With Russia

By BARRY SCHWEID

Warning that relations are in dangerous decline, senior Democratic and Republican senators urged President Bush Thursday to form a stronger partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet July 1-2.

Only Russia has enough nuclear weapons "to wipe us out," Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., said in chairing a review of strained relations with Moscow by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In tandem with European leaders, Bush should make it clear that Russia has much to gain by cooperating on Iran's nuclear program, the future of Kosovo and on missile defense, Biden said.

"Whatever our game plan has been _ and I'm not convinced we've had one _ it clearly isn't working," he said.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the panel's senior Republican, praised Bush for inviting Putin to meet him July 1-2 at Kennebunkport, Maine, at the oceanfront estate of Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush.

It is an opportunity for the two leaders to lead the United States and Russia toward a stronger partnership, Lugar said.

Specifically, Lugar urged Bush and Putin "to solidfy new areas of cooperation" on weapons of mass destruction. He called on Bush to make sure a pivotal 1991 treaty reducing long-range U.S. and Russian nuclear missiles by about one-third, due to expire in December 2009, be extended with legally binding language.

Also, Lugar said, "Russia and the United States must come together to address the threat posed by Iran's nucear weapons program."

"For too long, our governments have been at odds over how to respond to Tehran's behavior," he said.

Iran has rejected U.N. Security Council demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, saying its program is not designed to produce nuclear weapons.

Testifying before the committee Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said "the Russians have moved steadily to put pressure on Iran," although not as rapidly as the United States wanted.

He also said Bush would discuss with Putin an offer by the Russian leader to share radar facilities in Gabala, Azerbaijan, to monitor potential missile launches by Iran or other countries.

Putin made the offer to counter U.S. plans to install missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, and Fried said American officials were "intrigued" by it and the idea of sharing defenses with Russia.

In Moscow, however, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said Russia sees no threat from Iran and that "missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic will have no other target except Russian military bases in the European part of the country."

On the House side of the Capitol, meanwhile, members of Russia's parliament held a friendly discussion with members of Congress.

But Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, raised questions about Russia's human rights record, restrictions on press freedom and anti-U.S. rhetoric by Russian leaders.

His counterpart in the Duma, Konstantin Kosachev, said Russians "are sometimes puzzled and disappointed by some statements that come from the U.S."

Meanwhile, Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to the late President Gerald Ford and Bush's father, criticized the current administration at the Senate hearing.

He said Putin "was kind of pushed aside" when he offered to cooperate with the United States on countering terror after the Sept.11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

And, he said, "preaching to them how they ought to be like us will not succeed and can be counter-productive."

"We ought to focus on things we can do together," Scowcroft said.

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