US-Russia arms talks took an unexpected bound forward on Sunday, when Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush agreed to link missile defense systems to cuts in nuclear arsenals in a bid to strike a new strategic pact. The pledge, made after a Group of Eight big power summit in Genoa, Italy, signals a shift in U.S. policy on negotiating mutual arms cuts. And it suggests Russia has not yet shut the door on Bush's dream of deploying an anti-missile shield.
"What was unexpected for me, and President Bush as well, was the understanding that was reached today between us that offensive arms and the issue of defensive arms will be discussed as a set," Putin told a packed press conference. "The two go hand-in-hand in order to set up a new strategic framework for peace," Bush said.
The two men, speaking after their second meeting in little over a month, said it was too early to say how deep the cuts in intercontinental ballistic missiles would go.
Bush said he and Putin wanted to "change the mindset of the world" and create a strategic security framework for the 21st century freed from the shackles of the Cold War. "Both of us want to seize the moment and lead," he said. "We're basically saying the Cold War is forever over, and the vestiges of the Cold War that locked us both into a hostile situation, are over," said Bush. The U.S. leader said his top national security adviser Condoleezza Rice would shortly visit Moscow to thrash out with top Russian officials a timetable for talks between defense and foreign ministers on the issue. Russian officials last week accused Washington of foot-dragging over the issue.

Rice herself told reporters later that the two sides would pursue an "aggressive schedule" in the talks.
Bureau Report