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Clinton, Putin Hold Phone Talks on Okinawa Summit
President Bill Clinton held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday on upcoming Okinawa G8 summit and U.S. failed missile defense system test, the White House said.
"This is the second time that President Putin has picked up the phone and called President Clinton so I think that's evidence that they are establishing a businesslike relationship," White House National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.
Crowley said much of the conversation was about the upcoming G8 summit, scheduled on July 21-23, in Okinawa, Japan.
They also mentioned the failed missile defense system test conducted on Saturday, and the two presidents would discuss the NMD system in the summit, he added.
"President Putin briefly mentioned that he was aware that the test on Saturday had failed but that they would talk about missile defense in Okinawa within the context of following up on their discussion when the president was in Moscow" in June, Crowley said.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said earlier in Moscow that President Putin would try to persuade Clinton to drop plans to deploy the NMD system and offer new initiatives, including further cuts to nuclear arsenals, to boost the case against the NMD system, which Moscow said would be a threat to global stability.
Crowley said Clinton would hear from his national security team before deciding whether to move the defense system forward.
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