US President George W. Bush and Russian
President Vladimir Putin signed a landmark nuclear disarmament treaty today and hailed a new era in relations that the US leader said would lead to "incredible cooperation."
The treaty, the first strategic arms reduction pact in nearly 10 years, obliges the United States and Russia to slash their nuclear arsenals by two-thirds to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads over the next decade, bringing them down to their lowest level ever.
Mr Bush told his Russian host that the historic accord proved "that we are friends, that we are going to cast aside old doubts, old suspicions and welcome a new era in relations between your great country and our country."
"I am confident that this sets the stage for incredible cooperation that we've never had before between our two countries," Mr Bush said after the two leaders signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty in the Kremlin's ornate Andreyvsky Hall.
The nuclear arms treaty and a separate strategic partnership accord signed along with a series of other cooperation accords underscored the new relationship between the former Cold War rivals in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
Mr Putin has wholeheartedly supported Mr Bush in his war against terrorism and the new entente has generated benefits in almost every area.
"Today we are speaking about an absolutely new quality of our relationship, regarding questions of security, questions of reducing our strategic potentials and creating a new secure world," Mr Putin said after one-on-one talks with Mr Bush.
The only disagreement was over Moscow's nuclear cooperation with Iran, one of three countries Mr Bush has said forms an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea, that threatens world security.
Mr Bush said he was worried that Tehran's "radical clerics" could put Russian technology to ill use but Mr Putin sought to reassure him that Moscow's cooperation with Iran was limited to the construction of a nuclear power plant for civilian use at Bushehr.
"Our cooperation with Iran is limited to energy, it only has an economic character," Mr Putin said, adding that Moscow was just as concerned about missile programmes in Taiwan.
Despite the ongoing spat over Iran, the two presidents announced what Mr Bush called a "major new energy partnership" to boost US private sector involvement in developing Russia's Caspian oil industry.
But Mr Bush disappointed Moscow's hopes that he would use the summit to announce the lifting of Cold-War era restrictions on trade with Russia, or the granting of market economy status.