John L. Perry
Friday, July 20, 2001

It was all part of a 94-minute news conference called by the Russian president Wednesday within the ancient walls of the Kremlin, where countless mysterious events taken place over the centuries under czars and commissars and, recently, elected presidents.

In the end, the soul-staring got down to the kind of concept neither Peter the Great nor V.I. Lenin had never envisaged – Mother Russia vis-à-vis the capitalist, democratic West in an age of possible nuclear annihilation.

The subject of the two presidents' respective souls – not exactly a topic of everyday conversation even within view of the turnip domes of St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square – came up in a question at the news conference.

David Montgomery, a reporter for a U.S. newspaper chain, Knight-Ridder (recorded by the Russian transcript translator as "Nightrider"), addressed Putin with a familiarity few Russian heads of state have been accorded in public:

"Vladimir Vladimirovich, you are about to meet for a second time with President Bush.

"During the first meeting in Slovenia he said that he looked into your soul. Did you look into his soul, and if so what did you see?"

Bush had said that when he inspected Putin's soul he found he could trust him.

A former Soviet KGB agent whom nothing seems to faze in a press conference, Putin responded to the soul question put to him:

"You know, maybe it's normal for the USA, but for the Russian ear the phrase is a bit strange.

"When President Bush is mentioned, he is called George Bush Junior. For me, he is not junior. I was born in 1952, he was born in 1946, I think. [Right, on July 6.]

"For me, he is first of all a colleague in the work in the regions. You see, I know how he feels in this sense.

"I, myself, worked in one of the major regions of the Russian Federation for seven years. I was deputy mayor of St Petersburg, whereas Bush was head of one of the major states.

"Maybe that is why it was fairly easy for me to talk to him."

Then, in what has become typical of Putin's handling of the press, he launched right into a question not asked, thus resurrecting a point he wanted to rub in by indirection:

"Second, I should say that I do not share the opinion of some that he lacks experience. He and I are fairly professional.

"In my 18 months as Russian president, I have been trying to gain an understanding of many things myself, and I have tried to do that as deeply as possible.

"I must say that in this respect he is a totally competent interlocutor, with whom one can talk a common language and understand what is being said.

"That is also a positive aspect, because it is hard to talk to a person about something when they do not understand. I had no problems in that respect. He was very well-prepared.

"Third, just as a person, which is probably also an important aspect – I don't know if he will like me saying this or not – it seemed to me that he is a pretty spiritual person, nice to talk to, maybe even – again, perhaps I shouldn't say this – maybe a bit sentimental. But I think that is a good sign.

"Although at the same time, he firmly stood his ground, especially on issues of international security. I have nothing to add there. You know, we did not even try to reach agreement on certain issues that we discussed. We just set out our positions.

"This is all a very good basis on which to build both a personal relationship and to try to find solutions to the complex issues that we have not yet managed to agree on."

Toward the end of the hour-and-a-half news conference, one of the reporters brought Putin back to that larger, if not soul-searching, issue:

"I would like to touch in more detail on a question which we have mentioned just in passing – the Russian-U.S. dialogue on the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and on political stability.

"The dialogue is proceeding with difficulty.

"In what form, from what positions is Russia prepared to conduct it?

"And, a small, additional question: To what extent could your personal relations with President Bush depend on the success or failure of these consultations?"

Putin's response:

"It seems to me that personal relations between leaders of such countries as the United States and Russia are very important, if only because we have amassed the greatest quantity of nuclear arms.

"It is not a matter of indifference to me whom we are having to deal with. It is very important to have a sense of a person.

"You know, even during a telephone conversation you hear the intonation of his voice. And this already has a certain significance.

"Therefore I assess as very positive the fact that normal personal relations are developing between the president and myself.

"As for our approaches to the ABM problem, you know this very well and I will repeat myself here, though I would not wish to do that."

That, too, is now a patented Putin ploy for impressing the press – feign reluctance to dip even a toe into a topic, then plunge in headfirst, as in:

"But it goes without saying that the interests of Russia's national security will be the main criterion. Of this you may have no doubts, not even for a second, for it is this that we shall proceed from above all else.

"However, we will, naturally, arrive at such decisions and proposals as will not violate international stability or undermine the system of international obligations in the area of strategic arms limitation, which has emerged in the space of over 20 years. So, this is how we shall proceed in this direction."

That gives some insight into the mind-set, soul-set, whatever-set that George W. Bush is up against when he meets, once again, with Putin the Garrulous/Putin the Inscrutable in Genoa this week.

The occasion is the annual summit of the major industrialized democracies – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – known as the G-7.

Russia has been invited to attend, expanding the group to the G-8, even though its industrial as well as democratic credentials are somewhat strained.

As Putin heads to Genoa, he has behind him the recent historic Sino-Russian "friendship treaty," which contains under its cloak of secrecy the military and strategic ingredients of a Beijing-Moscow axis aimed directly at the United States.

In view of that, what Bush and Putin see this time when they gaze into one another's soul might be worth a lead-off question at the next press conferences in the White House and the Kremlin.

Bush could be asked:

"Mr. President, when you looked into President Putin's soul in Genoa were you able to see the same trustworthiness you found there after your first look-see?"

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
George W. Bush
Russia
A product that might interest you:
Through the Eyes of the Enemy
Find out the complete details of China`s and Russia`s Military Buildup in Bitter Legacy: NewsMax Reveals the Untold Story of the Clinton-Gore Years