Bush avoids public spat with Putin over democracy [video report]

ST PETERSBURG, Russia - US President George W. Bush has backed away from a public confrontation over Russia's democracy with President Vladimir Putin, adhering to a pledge not to lecture the Kremlin leader.

At a joint news conference overnight, the two made clear they discussed their differences privately on what critics say are declining civil liberties in Russia, and stepped gingerly around the issue in their public comments.

With Bush needing Russia's help on pressuring Iran and North Korea to forswear nuclear weapons, and with Middle East violence surging, democracy issues did not appear to play as dominating role in their talks as when they met in Slovakia last year.

Bush said it came up at their social dinner on Friday night.

"I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq, where there is a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country, you know, would hope that Russia would do the same thing," Bush said.

He quickly added: "I totally understand, however, that there will be a Russian-style democracy. I don't expect Russia to look like the United States. As Vladimir pointedly reminded me last night, 'We have a different history, different traditions'."

Putin pounced on the reference to Iraq. "We of course don't want to have a democracy like the one in Iraq, to be honest," he deadpanned, to laughter from Russian-speaking listeners.

Upon hearing the translation of Putin's remark, Bush interjected: "Just wait."

Russian non-governmental organisations say their ability to operate free from state interference has been drastically curtailed by a Kremlin-sponsored law passed this year. Washington has joined criticism of the law.

Masha Lipman, editor of the Carnegie Moscow Center's Pro et Contra journal, wrote in The Washington Post on Saturday that "the Russian government has resorted recently to police practices strongly reminiscent of those used some three decades ago in the Soviet Union".

Bush met a number of Russian rights campaigners on Friday and said he would relay their concerns about curbs on civil liberties to Putin.

"Look, he's willing to listen, but he also explains to me that he doesn't want anyone telling him how to run his government," Bush said on Saturday.

Putin said: "Nobody knows better than us how to strengthen our own state. We know very well that we cannot strengthen it without developing democracy. And of course we will do this. We will do it independently."

Ahead of Bush's talks, the US Senate unanimously adopted a resolution that called on Bush and other G8 countries "to let President Putin know that his attempts to turn back the clock on democracy are unacceptable".

- REUTERS