BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia – President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged a new era of cooperation Saturday, each praising the other as a straight talker and inviting each other to their homes. Mr. Bush invited Mr. Putin to his Central Texas ranch near Crawford this fall, and Mr. Putin invited Mr. Bush to Russia.
Highlights of the news conference Saturday in Brdo Pri Kranju, Slovenia, with President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin:
“I said to President Putin that we need a new approach for a new era, an approach that protects both our peoples and strengthens deterrence by exploring and developing a new attitude toward defenses in missile defenses.”
– Mr. Bush
“I’m saying this, any unilateral actions can only make more complicated various problems and issues.”
– Mr. Putin
“We proceed from the idea that the 1972 ABM [Anti-Ballistic Missile] Treaty is the cornerstone of the modern architecture of international security.”
– Mr. Putin
“When we hear about things like concerns of the future and about threats in the future, we do agree that together we have to sit down and have a good think about this.”
– Mr. Putin
“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country. And I appreciated so very much the frank dialogue. There was no kind of diplomatic chitchat, trying to throw each other off balance.”
– Mr. Bush
“The Cold War said loud and clear that we’re opponents and that we bring the peace through the ability for each of us to destroy each other. Friends don’t destroy each other.”
– Mr. Bush
“The president is a history major, and so am I. And we remember the old history. It’s time to write new history in a positive and constructive way.”
– Mr. Bush
“When the president of a great power says he wants to see Russia as a partner and maybe even an ally, this is worth so much to us. But if that’s the case, then, look, we ask ourselves a question. Look, this is a military organization. Yes, it’s military. They don’t want us there. They don’t want us there. It’s moving toward our border. Yes, it’s moving toward our border. Why?”
– Mr. Putin
“Everybody is trying to read body language. Mark me down as very pleased with the progress and the frank discussion.”
– Mr. Bush
“This is not a bargaining session. The president didn’t say, ‘Well, if you do this, I’ll do that.’ It’s bigger than that. It’s a bigger relationship than that, and it’s important to understand that.”
– Mr. Bush
“I was so impressed that [Putin] was able to simplify his tax code in Russia with a flat tax. I’m not so sure I’ll have the same success with Congress.”
– Mr. Bush
Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev, July 1959
Mr. Nixon’s visit to the Soviet Union, featuring the “kitchen debate,” was a nearly nonstop argument between Dwight Eisenhower’s hard-nosed vice president and the bellicose Soviet leader over capitalism, communism, rockets and conquest. Mr. Nixon said the door had barely closed at the start of their first session when Mr. Khrushchev began pounding his fist.
Dwight Eisenhower and Mr. Khrushchev, September 1959
The testy leaders established a “spirit of Camp David” during Mr. Khrushchev’s visit to the presidential retreat in Maryland. But the tentative optimism evaporated in recriminations over the U.S. spy plane shot down over Russia in 1960. The incident scuttled a Paris summit when Mr. Eisenhower refused Mr. Khrushchev’s demands to apologize.
John Kennedy and Mr. Khrushchev, June 1961
Their meeting in Vienna followed the Bay of Pigs debacle and was a low point in summitry. Two months later, the Berlin Wall went up and the Soviets soon resumed atmospheric nuclear testing.
Mr. Kennedy put the best face on the meeting in a radio and TV address.
“There was no discourtesy, no loss of tempers, no threats or ultimatums by either side; no advantage or concession was either gained or given; no major decision was either planned or taken; no spectacular progress was either achieved or pretended.”
Mr. Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev, June 1973
Meeting at Camp David, Mr. Nixon gave Mr. Brezhnev a dark-blue Lincoln Continental, knowing the Soviet leader’s taste for fast cars. Mr. Brezhnev motioned Mr. Nixon into the passenger’s seat, gunned the engine and sped off down a one-lane road toward a sharp turn.
“I reached over and said, ‘Slow down, slow down,’ but he paid no attention,” Mr. Nixon said. Mr. Brezhnev finally slammed on the brakes, made the turn and commented later, “This is a very fine automobile. It holds the road very well.” A year later, Mr. Nixon and Mr. Brezhnev got together for arms negotiations in Moscow.
Jimmy Carter and Mr. Brezhnev, June 1979
Mr. Carter and the ailing Soviet leader, meeting in Vienna, signed the SALT II arms control treaty, which the president could not get the Senate to ratify.
“I felt close to him,” Mr. Carter said. “As we walked down a few steps to leave the building, Brezhnev kept his hand on my arm or shoulder to steady himself. This simple and apparently natural gesture bridged the gap between us more effectively than any official talk.”
Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, November 1985
Their first meeting was in Geneva.
“As we shook hands for the first time, I had to admit … there was something likable about Gorbachev,” Mr. Reagan said. “There was warmth in his face and his style, not the coldness bordering on hatred I’d seen in most senior Soviet officials I’d met until then.
“Looking back now, it’s clear that there was a chemistry between Gorbachev and me that produced something very close to a friendship.”
Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin, April 1993
Mr. Clinton and Mr. Yeltsin agreed to call each other Bill and Boris at their first meeting, over salmon and squash in Vancouver, British Columbia, setting a friendly tone that prevailed despite ups and downs in the U.S.-Russian relationship.
