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Transcripts   /

Beginning of Meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush

April 6, 2008, Bocharov Ruchei, Sochi

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President,

Let me once again wish you welcome to Sochi. I am very happy that you have accepted this invitation.

Following on from the meeting in Bucharest we now have an opportunity to discuss our bilateral relations and talk about security issues. We already started on these matters yesterday and today we can properly settle down to work and continue our discussions.

Aside from everything else, it is a great pleasure to be able to show you Sochi, the capital of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Welcome!

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES GEORGE W. BUSH: Thank you. I, first of all, was most grateful for the dinner that you gave last night. Secondly, thank you very much for providing fantastic entertainment. I'm only happy that our press corps didn't try — see me trying to dance the — dance the dance that I was asked to do.

Vladimir Putin: On the contrary, it’s a great pity. They would have seen what a good dancer you are.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Yes, well, thank you very much. We'll leave it at that, Mr. President. I do want to — you know, it's going to be a very interesting meeting. This is the final meeting that we will have as Presidents of our respective countries. We have met a lot over the past years, and I've come to, you know, respect you. I respect the fact that you love your country. You've been a strong leader. You're not afraid to tell me what's on your mind. And when it's all said and done, we can shake hands. And so I thank you very much for your wonderful hospitality here.

April 6, 2008, Bocharov Ruchei, Sochi