Putin invites Bush to confer in move to avoid public clash

President George W. Bush announced Wednesday that he had accepted an invitation by President Vladimir Putin to visit Russia next week, signaling an effort to avoid a public clash over NATO and missile defenses when Bush travels to Europe next week.

The meeting — expected to take place on April 5 and 6 in Sochi, a resort city on the Black Sea — is likely to be the last between them before Putin steps aside as president and is replaced by his protégé, Dmitri Medvedev.

Medvedev is also likely to attend the meetings for what would be his first substantive discussions with Bush.

Bush's secretaries of state and defense, Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates, went to Moscow this month after the president had sent a letter offering to formalize negotiations on a series of disputed issues.

Those included the administration's plans to base parts of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, which Russia opposes, as well as stalled efforts to resume negotiations on reductions and verification measures for the two countries' strategic nuclear arsenals. iht