April 01, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1429

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, March 31: US President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin may resolve their deep differences over a planned US missile shield when they meet this weekend, the White House said on Monday.

“We may. We’re hopeful,” US national security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters as Bush traveled to the April 2-4 Nato summit in Romania before heading to the Black Sea port of Sochi to meet with Putin.

“I think we’re moving in a direction ... where Russia and the United States could have missile defence as an area of strategic cooperation,” Hadley told reporters after months of difficult discussions between Moscow and Washington.

Bush has discussed the issue with Putin by telephone and in a letter, US Secretaries of State and Defence Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates took up the matter while in Russia recently, and a Russian delegation came to Washington for three days last week for talks on a range of issues including the controversial plan.

Putin had raised the possibility of cooperation when he visited the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, last summer, and “we are trying to see if we can articulate that in concrete terms,” said Hadley.

“It’s not done yet. I think we’re making progress, we’re going to continue to work at it,” he added.

The plan would see 10 missile launchers stationed in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic by 2012 — actions Russia has said pose a direct threat to its security.Washington says the scheme is to protect it and its European allies against missile threats from “rogue” states such as Iran, while Moscow sees it as a threat to its own security.

Russia has also threatened to withdraw from a Cold War-era treaty limiting short- and medium-range missiles in Europe if the US goes ahead.

“We’re not going to resolve all our differences, you know this is a complicated relationship. There are areas where we disagree, where we are trying to enhance cooperation,” said Hadley.

“There are areas where we disagree and we’re trying to manage those disagreements. That’s the framework in which we’re moving forward. We have talked a lot about it,” he added, referring to missile defence.—AFP