RUSSIA - May 24 - Putin Meets Bush.

Pres. Putin and US Pres. Bush meet in the Kremlin and start talks to sign a landmark treaty slashing the long-range nuclear arsenals by two-thirds. "Welcome to Moscow, my dear friend", Putin said as Bush strode into the Kremlin's ornate Green Room. Before entering the Kremlin in a motorcade, Bush placed a wreath of white carnations and irises at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier by the towering Kremlin wall, honouring Russian and Soviet war dead, including over 20m in World War II. The nuclear arms treaty will be the first major disarmament pact between the two countries in nearly 10 years. But even before Bush touched down on his first visit to Russia, the dispute over Moscow's nuclear co-operation with Iran returned to haunt the relationship. In Berlin, Bush suggested at a news conference that Moscow was contributing to weapons proliferation by helping Iran build a nuclear power plant at Bushehr. He said: "Russia needs to be concerned about proliferation into a country that might view them as an enemy at some time and if Iran gets a weapon of mass destruction deliverable by a missile, that's going to be a problem... for all of us, including Russia". A senior US administration official called Russian assistance for Iran's nuclear programme "the single-most important proliferation threat there is". FM Igor Ivanov rejected the US fears as groundless. He told NTV: "Russia is firmly loyal to the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction". He said construction of the $800m Bushehr plant is carried out strictly under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. There have been suggestions that Washington might try to persuade major industrial nations to reduce old Soviet debt in return for Moscow giving up the Iran project. Ivanov also said Moscow was opposed to any proposed military strike on Saddam Hussein "and Russia is doing everything to prevent such an operation beginning". About 300 people protested outside the US embassy in Moscow on May 23, burning the US flag and denouncing Bush. But the protests were small compared with the Berlin demonstrations, which brought thousands out on to the streets. Bush and Putin want their meeting to give new impetus to their partnership forged in the common fight against terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks on the US. Putin is to show Bush around his home town of St Petersburg on May 25.