ARAB-RUSSIAN RELATIONS - Sept. 27 - Bush Presses Putin On Iran.

Putin and Pres. Bush end 2-day talks at Camp David. Their talks centred on Iraq's future and Russian aid for Iran's nuclear programme. (Before they met, Bush was asked whether he will press Putin to end Russia's aid for Iran's nuclear programme. He replied to reporters: "You bet I'll talk to President Putin about it this weekend". The Bush administration says Russian technology is helping Tehran develop nuclear weapons. Russia has denied that. And after a decade of US complaints about an $800m deal to build a reactor for a nuclear power plant at Bushehr, Russia says it still plans to push ahead with the project. Bush on Sept. 25 did not spell out what he would say to Putin on the subject, but said: "It is very important for the world to come together to make it very clear to Iran that there will be universal condemnation if they continue with a nuclear weapons program". The Bush-Putin meeting comes as diplomats say IAEA experts again have found traces of weapons-grade uranium at a second site in Iran. The diplomats says minute quantities of the substance were found at the Kalaye Electric Co., just west of Tehran. The IAEA has set an Oct. 31 deadline for Iran to prove its nuclear work is only for energy purposes as it claims. On Iraq, US officials said on Sept. 25 Bush was to press Putin on the importance of US-led stabilisation and reconstruction efforts. Putin opposed the war in Iraq and joined French and German efforts to prevent passage of a UN resolution that Bush sought authorising the use of force. Before the Camp David talks, Putin said Russia's position had not changed. He said "the situation that is developing in Iraq is the best confirmation that Russia was right". But Putin told US reporters Russia was ready to put aside differences over the war to work with the US on rebuilding Iraq, even holding out the possibility of eventually sending troops. Yet he insisted that the UN must have a real role in Iraq, a position he forcefully reiterated on Sept. 25 in his UN speech. Bush insists on a dominant US role in overseeing the transition to Iraqi sovereignty).