Bush Confident on Good Ties With RussiaUS President George W. Bush said Thursday he was confident that the United States could have good relations with the Russia despite his decision to expel 51 Russian diplomats for spying."I am confident that we can have good relations with the Russians. We've got some areas where we can work together. We made the right decision," he said. Powell Calls Ivanov on US Expulsion of RussiansUS Secretary of State Colin Powell told his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov Thursday that Washington still intended to have a cooperative and productive relationship with Moscow despite of a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats.Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer, Powell said he had a "long conversation" earlier Thursday with Ivanov about the expulsions. Powell said: "As a result of the Hanssen case, and as a result of our reviewing their presence in the country, I met with the Russian ambassador yesterday and informed him of our decision to expel four Russian intelligence officers who were directly implicated in the Hanssen case." "I made clear to the ambassador the actions the Russian government needs to take to address our long-standing concern about the level of their intelligence presence in the United States," he said. "I said to him that with this action we took yesterday, that I took with the Russian ambassador, we consider this matter closed," Powell said. "We have important interests in maintaining cooperative and productive relations with Russia, and we intend to continue working to advance those interests," he added. 51 Russian Diplomats Are Being OustedPresident George W. Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice said Thursday that 51 Russian diplomats are being ousted from the United States because their large presence here "is just not representative of the kind of relations we would want to have with Russia."Russia's military presence in Washington had "been on the agenda for several years," Rice said, adding that she does not think the move will hurt relations between the two countries. Meanwhile, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush signed off on the action and was "involved extensively" in the decision to oust the Russians. "The president looks forward to having a productive relationship with Russia," Fleischer said. "The president also will have a policy that is marked by realism." He said the United States, dating to the Clinton administration, has raised concerns about the "number and level of intelligence officers that Russia has in this country." U.S. officials said the move was in retaliation for the planting of a suspected spy at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is the largest number of Russians ordered out of the United States since the Reagan administration expelled 80 Soviet diplomats in 1986. |
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