President Clinton Defends U.S. Missile Defense Plan to European Leaders
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with U.S. President Bill Clinton's attempt to sell his anti-missile defense plan to Europe and Russia. So far, he is not succeeding. Mr. Clinton's plan could touch off a new arms race: That's the concern of European leaders. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is the latest to object. Mr. Clinton argues that the U.S. must finds ways to counter possible emerging nuclear threats, like North Korea. Although his missile plan is unpopular, Mr. Clinton Friday was awarded Europe's top prize for statesmanship. In a ceremony outside the cathedral at Aachen, the prestigious Charlemagne Prize was draped around his neck. In his acceptance speech, the president said Russia must work hard to preserve its hard-won democracy.</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA: Russia has stayed on a path of democracy, though its people have suffered biter economic hardships, political and criminal violence, and the tragedy of the war in Chechnya, which yet may prove to be self-defeating because of the civilian casualties.</s>MESERVE: In a surprise move, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposes that Moscow and Washington work jointly on a nuclear defense against so-called "rogue nations." He aired the plan in an interview with NBC Thursday. U.S. officials say the idea of a shield to protect both countries from missiles does not appear to be new, but it does indicate that Mr. Clinton will be sitting down with a very different kind of Russian leader on Saturday. Our Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty, reports.</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Moscow summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton will not be the kind of bear-hug get-together Boris Yeltsin used to like. This time, Mr. Clinton is going to meet a different Russian leader who wants to build a different country and a different relationship with the United States. Mr. Putin, inaugurated as Russian president just a month ago, by nature doesn't waste time on small talk. He's moving quickly, trying to maximize his post-election honeymoon. The American president may be hoping for progress on arms control issues, but the Russian president seems to be taking his cue from the early Clinton days. "It's the economy, stupid."</s>SERGEI ROGOV, USA/CANADA INSTITUTE: Without long-term restructuring of Russia's foreign debt, simply no economic recovery is possible because today we pay 40 percent of the federal revenues to the foreign creditors.</s>DOUGHERTY: On the nuclear front, President Putin took the initiative from the United States. He succeeded in pushing the START II arms control agreement through parliament -- something Boris Yeltsin in six years was unable to do -- and a few days later, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The ball, he now says, is in the U.S. court. Russia wants significant further missile cuts. The U.S. is considering a controversial proposal to build a national missile defense system. Even if a compromise could be reached, Moscow questions whether it should be a deal with Bill Clinton.</s>ROGOV: The question is, can Clinton respond positively and can Clinton deliver as a lame-duck president?</s>DOUGHERTY: But the U.S. has its own worries about Russia: Moscow's conduct of the war in Chechnya and a recent raid on a media company that's raising concern over President Putin's respect for freedom of the press. (on camera): Whatever the results of this summit, it marks a shift in U.S.-Russian relations: the end of a personalized, sometimes romanticized view of each other, the beginning of a new pragmatism. Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.