ST. PETERSBURG: President Bush, facing television cameras at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, announced that the two would meet with media representatives as part of his effort to convince Russia of “the important role of the free press in building a working democracy.”

When the meeting happened a while later, it was a Kremlin gathering of a few news media figures who were given four minutes to make presentations to the presidents: two minutes for an American newspaper owner and two minutes for a Russian journalist. Participants said Bush and Putin thanked them without responding to the issues they raised. Although the event was meant to highlight support for a free press, news media coverage was not permitted.

Vladimir Posner, one of Russia’s best-known television journalists and Russia’s representative at the event, said he was pleased that the subject of press freedom was raised.

The closed meeting reflected the tone that Bush has set on his three-day visit to Russia, the first of his presidency. Putin has been widely criticized for closing down an independent television station here, and he has overseen the prosecution of a brutal military campaign against Chechen separatists. But in public appearances, Bush did not confront Putin on these issues.

Bush extolled the virtues of a free and open society, visited a church and a synagogue, and met with Russian journalists, human rights workers and religious leaders. But he emphasized mutual cuts in strategic nuclear arms and cooperation in the war on terrorism.

In recent days Bush has set a strikingly different tone than he did in his remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in November 1999. At the time, Putin was prime minister, and the Russian military was pushing ahead with a new offensive in Chechnya. Bush, then on the campaign trail, declared that “we cannot excuse Russian brutality” and argued that “Russia cannot learn the lessons of democracy from the textbook of tyranny.” He said there would be no cooperation without “civilized self- restraint from Moscow.”

“When the Russian government attacks civilians, killing women and children, leaving orphans and refugees, it can no longer expect aid from international lending institutions,” Bush said then. “The Russian government will discover that it cannot build a stable and unified nation on the ruins of human rights.”

As with Bill Clinton and others before him, though, Bush has since discovered that it’s easier to talk tough as a candidate than as a president. The Sept 11 terrorist attacks led Bush to build an international coalition for the war in Afghanistan, and Russian cooperation was critical for US forces to use Central Asian countries as bases of operations. Other considerations have taken a back seat, and not just with Russia; during a trip to China earlier this year, Bush played down concerns about Beijing’s human rights record.

The emphasis on the fight against terrorism has dovetailed with Putin’s own agenda. He launched the Chechen offensive after a series of apartment house bombings in Moscow and other cities that he blamed on Chechens, although none was apprehended. From the outset, Putin has cast the Chechen war as a battle against terrorists.

Russian and international human rights groups have called attention to numerous examples of brutality and abuses in the Chechen conflict, including cases in which Russian troops have rounded up civilians and allegedly tortured and killed them. On his current trip, Bush’s only public mention of Chechnya in Putin’s presence was a neutral line: “We will work to help end fighting and achieve a political settlement in Chechnya.”—Dawn/The Washington Post News Service.