RUSSIA - July 18 - Putin Gives Press Conference.

Pres. Putin tells the news conference Moscow will not act jointly with China to counter a US missile shield should it be built, adding: "Russia at present has enough strength and resources of its own to react to any change in international and strategic stability". He expresses hope that he could reach some accord with the White House on such a defence, saying he and Pres. Bush are building a close relationship that can prove important in talks over how to deploy a missile shield without abandoning decades of arms-control agreements. Asked to describe conditions under which Moscow and Washington might negotiate changes in the ABM Treaty, he says Russia will be guided first by its national security interests and any decision will be based on the degree to which treaty changes would upset the existing international arms-control regime. He says: "I think that personal relations between leaders of such countries as the United States and Russia are very important, at least because we have accumulated the biggest amount of nuclear weapons. This is why I assess positively the fact that normal personal relations are taking shape with the president".