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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Bush European Travels, Russia Bound

Aired November 22, 2002 - 06:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to President Bush and his European travels. With the NATO summit in Prague behind him, Mr. Bush now heads on to Russia. He'll make a brief stop in St. Petersburg, where he'll meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
And then he'll head to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius to celebrate the Baltic nation's invitation to join NATO in 2004. And while in Russia, Mr. Bush will also meet with President Vladimir Putin, and he'll offer words of reassurance.

CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty joins us from Moscow with details on those words of reassurance.

Good morning.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

Well, it really is a brief visit there in St. Petersburg, the hometown of Vladimir Putin, just about three to four hours on the ground. It will give Mr. Bush a chance to personally say to Vladimir Putin, do not worry, even though NATO is literally at your doorstep on the borders of Russia, it is not a threat.

And another basic issue that is likely to come up, that certainly is Iraq. Another chance for President Bush to thank Vladimir Putin for making that decision to vote yes on the U.N. resolution. It was a major decision by Mr. Putin on a key issue for Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): Russia's involvement in Iraq goes back decades to the old Soviet Union. Moscow provided billions of dollars to build Iraq's infrastructure. It also supplied weapons and military equipment, and trained thousands of Iraqi engineers and scientists.

And even today, Iraq is still trying to keep Russia as a friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What we want concretely is Russia's moral, political and diplomatic support. Iraq thinks Russia must help its traditional partner.

DOUGHERTY: But these days, President Vladimir Putin is on the side of the international community, demanding that Saddam Hussein obey U.N. resolutions. Yet, Russia still has a vested interest in Iraq, and it boils down to money. Baghdad still owes Moscow at least $8 billion in Soviet-era debt for weapons, and if U.N. sanctions on Iraq are lifted, it might get some of that back. Russia also is the biggest player in the U.N.'s Oil for Food program, handling 40 percent of the oil Iraq is allowed to sell worldwide.

Russian oil companies have pending deals to rebuild and develop Iraq's oil industry, but can't cash in on them until sanctions are gone.

So, Russia supports the international community but wants some guarantees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia will not stand in the way of whatever action the United States will take with regard to Iraq. Russia will not be Saddam Hussein's last defender. However, Russia wants not only its economic interests protected, but also its political interests.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY: And so, last night on Russian TV, the Russians actually heard pretty much what they wanted to hear from Mr. Bush, and that is he said there are interests that Russia does have in Iraq, and as he put it, those interests will be honored.

Carol, a couple of other different issues as well. One is energy. Russia really wants to become an alternate energy supplier to the United States. It's a long way in the future, but they certainly want that. That could come up.

And then finally, Chechnya. Mr. Putin has been saying all along it's international terrorism, and now, Mr. Bush appears to be taking at least some of that argument, saying that there is clearly an al Qaeda connection -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, interesting. Jill Dougherty, thanks.

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