HEILIGENDAMM, GERMANY — Russian President Vladimir V. Putin proposed Thursday that an existing missile defense radar system in Azerbaijan be used to protect Europe from a possible attack by Iran, and President Bush said the United States and Russia would begin talks to find areas of potential strategic cooperation.
The surprise proposal from Putin, and the reaction from Bush and other American officials, suggested that the two leaders were seeking ways to step back from their heightening confrontation over a U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense network in Poland and the Czech Republic. Prior to Putin's proposal, U.S. officials had been preparing for a confrontational meeting with the Russian president.
Bush did not immediately accept Putin's offer but said that his Russian counterpart had "made some interesting suggestions." Bush's national security advisor, Stephen J. Hadley, characterized Putin's idea as "bold" and "interesting."
Putin made his pitch at a 45-minute meeting with Bush during a break in the Group of 8 summit of the world's leading industrialized nations, on the sun-dappled grounds of this resort on the Baltic Sea.
Amid a series of demonstrations and the scheduled business of the summit on issues including global warming, Putin's offer to cooperate on an antimissile program and Bush's announcement that each would send top military figures and diplomats to what he called "a serious set of strategic discussions" overshadowed other developments.
Bush said he expected the forthcoming talks to produce "better understanding of the technologies involved" in the proposed missile defense weapons and to increase opportunities to work on them together.
Bush has argued that interceptors he has planned to deploy in Poland and the radar units destined for the Czech Republic are intended to thwart possible long-range missiles from Iran. The two-nation system would be the third site for Washington's global missile defense system; the other two, still being tested, are in Central California and Alaska and are meant to defend against possible attack from North Korea.
Iran has medium-range missiles, but is believed to be trying to develop long-range weapons capable of reaching targets beyond the Middle East. The United States and other Western nations say Iran is also trying to develop a nuclear weapon.
Putin has contended that the Bush proposal would constitute a threat to Russia and could lead him to retarget Russian missiles at Europe.
