Transcript of Putin's Press Conference

[Moderator] Thank you. I would ask the esteemed guests to stop getting into the way of their colleagues and prevent them from asking their questions. Thank you. More questions please.

Relations with President Bush

[Question in English] David Montgomery (?Nightrider) Newspapers. Vladimir Vladimirovich, you are about to meet for a second time with President Bush. During the first meeting in Slovenia he said that he looked into your soul. Did you look into his soul and if so what did you see? From your perspective, to go on from our friend Trudy (?Ruben's) question, [remainder of question overlaid by translation].

[Putin] You know, maybe it's normal for the USA, but for the Russian ear the phrase is a bit strange. When President Bush is mentioned, he is called George Bush Junior. For me, he is not junior. I was born in 1952, he was born in 1946 I think. For me, he is first of all a colleague in the work in the regions. You see, I know how he feels in this sense. I myself worked in one of the major region of the Russian Federation for seven years, I was deputy mayor of St Petersburg, whereas Bush was head of one of the major states.

Maybe that is why it was fairly easy for me to talk to him. Second, I should say that I do not share the opinion of some that he lacks experience. He and I are fairly professional, and in my 18 months as Russian president I have been trying to gain an understanding of many things myself, and I have tried to do that as deeply as possible. I must say that in this respect he is a totally competent interlocutor, with whom one can talk a common language and understand what is being said.

That is also a positive aspect because it is hard to talk to a person about something when they do not understand. I had no problems in that respect. He was very well prepared.

Third, just as a person, which is probably also an important aspect – I don't know if he will like me saying this or not - it seemed to me that he is a pretty spiritual person, nice to talk to, maybe even - again, perhaps I shouldn't say this - maybe a bit sentimental. But I think that is a good sign.

Although at the same time, he firmly stood his ground, especially on issues of international security. I have nothing to add there. You know we did not even try to reach agreement on certain issues that we discussed, we just set out our positions.

This is all a very good basis on which to build both a personal relationship and to try to find solutions to the complex issues that we have not yet managed to agree on.

[Moderator] Esteemed colleagues, we have been working for an hour and ten minutes. I propose that we have two final questions. Row seven on the right. Please.