Rice: US not expecting arms agreement with Russia
( 2001-11-09 09:45 ) (8 )

The United States would not expect any new arms control agreements with Russia from next week' s summit between US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, a senior Bush administration official said on Thursday in Washington.

"Not every meeting has to be accompanied by arms control agreements and by a series of agreements, because this is now a normal relationship that's moving forward progressively," said Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser.

Rice said the two presidents would work on a new strategic framework for years, and "we all have to get out of a particular frame of mind that the two sides match weapons cutbacks exactly."

The Russian president and his wife will arrive in Washington on Monday night and will hold talks with Bush on security, economic and business issues on Tuesday. Putins will fly to Houston and then to Crawford on Wednesday to have dinner with the Bushes at Bush's ranch in Texas.

It will be Putin's first visit to the United States and his fourth meeting with Bush.

The relationship between the United States and Russia "is building steadily," Rice said. "I think everyone can see that the relationship has gotten better and better."

She said September 11 terrorist attack on the United States " gave a kind of new impetus" to the relationship.

Bush and Putin "will have extensive discussion of couterterrorism and will continue to discuss issues about the new strategic framework and how to move to a relationship that is more in accordance with their new relationship -- not something based on the 1972 ABM Treaty," Rice said.

Bush has made clear that "he believes that the acquisition of an effective missile defense system for the United States and its allies is one of his highest priorities," Rice added.