Bush and Putin Sign Nuclear Arms Treaty

Closing one of the last chapters of the Cold War and proclaiming a new cooperative relationship, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin signed a treaty Friday to cut by two-thirds the number of deployed warheads in their nations’ nuclear arsenals.

But Bush was unable to budge Putin from Russia’s support of an Iranian nuclear power project. U.S. officials fear the deal will increase the risk that terrorists could gain nuclear weapons technology.

The arms control pact coupled with the differences over nuclear proliferation illustrates how the U.S.-Russian relationship has changed. The two presidents have found new areas for strategic cooperation, which they emphasized, but the multibillion-dollar nuclear project is too economically tantalizing for cash-deprived Russia to abandon.

The treaty places “a period of time in the rearview mirror of both countries,” Bush said at the Kremlin.

The two leaders also agreed to expand their nations’ limited cooperation on the development of missile defense systems.

In reach, brevity and the speed of the negotiation that produced it, the nuclear arms agreement is a stark reflection of the changes that have occurred in the world since Moscow and Washington began their rapprochement barely a decade ago.

The two nations now deploy about 6,000 nuclear warheads each. The pact, if ratified by the Senate and both houses of the Russian parliament, would reduce the number to no more than 2,200 by the end of 2012, its expiration date. Under the pact, the decommissioned warheads would be stored or destroyed.

By contrast with the several years of negotiations needed to produce the early arms control treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union, this one was finished in a matter of months. And rather than spelling out in voluminous detail each step in the removal of weapons, the treaty’s five articles are written in a total of 10 sentences.

The presidents signed the pact and a joint statement “on the new strategic relationship” between their nations in the grand St. Andrew’s Hall, the former throne room of the czars that Peter the Great dedicated in 1698.

The documents were contained in leather binders, two in red, two in black. Aides passed them from one president to the other for signing.

The convergence of policies--on arms control, the war on terrorism, economic cooperation and other issues--was matched by a sartorial convergence: Each president wore a navy blue suit and white tab-collar shirt. Their blue ties differed only in tone. Bush was the man with the American flag pin on his left lapel.

But more than the policy agreements and dress demonstrated the breadth of the changes taking place in U.S.-Russian cooperation.

In a city where residents were once kept in the dark about where top officials lived, Bush and his wife, Laura, had dinner Friday evening with Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, at a suburban dacha that serves as the Putins’ personal residence. The couples spent the night at the wooded estate that fronts on the Moscow River. In November, the Putins stayed at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The backdrop of a Cold War relationship turned domesticated, however, only drew attention to the contentiousness of the Russian project helping Iran develop a nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

The two presidents played down those differences at a news conference after they signed the treaty. But a senior Bush administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made clear that no significant progress could be reported. He said that the two sides had discussed the issue in the past and that Bush thinks “there is a way we can move forward.”

To Russia’s denial that it is doing anything that could transfer nuclear weapons technology to Iran, the official said dryly: “It’s interesting that Iran, which is not a country with an energy shortage,” would spend large sums developing a nuclear power capacity.

Another U.S. official said that Putin and Bush discussed the matter extensively and that the Russian leader “strongly defended the civilian nature” of the assistance his nation is providing Iran.

At their news conference, Bush and Putin also said they had spent considerable time on the issue during their approximately two hours of private meetings.

“I worry about Iran and I’m confident Vladimir Putin worries about Iran, and that was confirmed today,” Bush said. “He understands terrorist threats, just like we understand terrorist threats. And he understands that weapons of mass destruction are dangerous to Russia, just as they are to America.”

Expressing their shared concern that “a nontransparent government run by radical clerics doesn’t get their hands on weapons of mass destruction,” Bush added: “He gave me some assurances that I think will be very comforting for you to listen to.”

Putin pronounced nuclear proliferation a key international security problem and said “cooperation between Iran and Russia is not at all a character which would undermine the process on nonproliferation.”

Then, he tried to turn the issue back to Bush. He pointed to U.S. support for civilian nuclear development in North Korea and said that missile development programs in Iran are based largely on Western technology and the support of Western companies. The United States has promised to help North Korea obtain two light-water reactors if the Communist nation opens its nuclear program to international monitors.

The dispute aside, Bush and Putin competed to see who could present a more optimistic report.

Bush said the treaty they signed “liquidates the Cold War legacy of nuclear hostility between our countries” and brings a spirit of cooperation and trust.

Putin said their steps toward stability were “in the interest of all the civilized human society.”

Defending the arrangement under which warheads can be stockpiled, but need not be destroyed, against criticism that the weapons could be redeployed in weeks, Putin, a former KGB officer, said anyone who has held a rifle knows that it is safer to have it disarmed or disassembled “rather than to have it in your arms and charged with bullets in it and with your finger on the trigger at the same time.”

The Russian president, who appears to maintain a mostly dour expression, used self-deprecating humor to illustrate the nitty-gritty level of his economic discussions with Bush.

They talked about trade in aircraft and poultry, he said, noting that presidents might say such matters are not important enough for them to raise and then launch “a lengthy monologue on specific matters.”

And he made a pitch for better access to the American market for the Russian metals industry, saying “had Americans bought our cheap aluminum and steel, then their aircraft would have been cheaper and more competitive, including in our market.”

The two governments turned out a thick sheaf of joint declarations.

They stated their readiness to cooperate in the area of missile defense, only months ago one of the more contentious issues between them as the U.S. neared abandonment of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty. A White House official said they would seek to share information and technology, but no specific arrangements were made.

Demonstrating the expansion of the relationship, they initiated government-to-government cooperation in researching nuclear power plant fuels and agreed to work together on eliminating weapons-grade nuclear material and trying to reduce volatility in the international energy market as they cooperate on various energy projects.

They also pledged cooperation in the Middle East and a continued alliance in the fight against terrorism.

In a carefully choreographed visit--which will continue today when the two presidents share a stage at St. Petersburg State University, Putin’s alma mater--a moment of spontaneity crept in.

The two presidents and their wives had been scheduled to stroll at midafternoon through the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square, bordered by historic churches. U.S. Embassy officials said the Russians had planned to clear the area of tourists and bring in art school students with their easels.

The students showed up, the tourists were never shooed away, and the two couples encountered the crowd.

As they passed the church of St. Michael the Archangel, where the 16th century czar Ivan the Terrible is buried, they were surrounded by the students, tourists and journalists.

After seven minutes of mingling, they headed back to Putin’s office.