The USA And Russia Must Remove Traces Of Cold War In Their Relations, Believes US President George W. Bush

Since the very first meeting with the Russian President George W. Bush has been absolutely sure that Vladimir Putin and he could not only establish good personal relations, but also leave in the past the traces of the Cold War. A RIA Novosti correspondent reports that President Bush said this on Monday at the meeting with a group of Russian journalists in the Roosevelt Hall of the White House before the beginning of the official visit to the USA by Russian President Vladimir Putin. George W. Bush underscored that for the USA Russia was no longer an enemy, but it was impossible to change the history of the past during one meeting, and for this reason the President of the United States and Russia were holding a series of meetings. Speaking about the negotiations with Vladimir Putin which start on Tuesday, Bush said that in his opinion at this meeting they would move to the sound, new relations. He added that they would discuss many issues with Vladimir Putin, including potential economic cooperation and, in particular, the theme of the Jackson-Vanik amendment. George W. Bush said that he had promised to Vladimir Putin to secure the annulment of this amendment which is a heritage of the Cold War. The American President said that in Washington they would talk about bilateral strategic relations, offensive weapons and the desire of both nations to reduce their offensive weapons. George W. Bush remarked that he would tell Vladimir Putin about his decision in this connection and added that the size of the US nuclear arsenal would be sufficiently lower than the level of today's armaments. The Presidents will also discuss the problem of the Russian-American ABM Treaty and, in particular, how to advance beyond it. The fight against terrorism, too, will be one of the topics at the negotiations, said George W. Bush, pointing out that the USA and Russia had demonstrated to the world that they could cooperate in this field.