Bush-Putin dispute may not be resolved

WASHINGTON – A U.S.-Russian dispute over a missile shield in Eastern Europe is too complicated to be resolved during two days of talks next month between President Bush and President Vladimir Putin, a Kremlin spokesman said Thursday.

Dmitry Peskov said the United States should freeze the proposed anti-missile plan while Washington and Moscow evaluate a counterproposal from Putin.

While ties between Moscow and Washington have been described as being at their worst since the Cold War, Peskov said the relationship was “definitely not living through its golden age. But I wouldn’t agree that we’re in the worst period” since the Cold War.

As conceived by the United States, the missile shield would break the strategic balance of power that has helped keep the peace in Europe for decades, Peskov said in an interview. “Of course Russia will have to restore that balance somehow,” he said.

Bush and Putin are to meet July 1-2 in Kennebunkport, Maine, at the oceanfront estate of Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush.