CRI听力：U.S., Russia Fail to Agree on Missile Defense

US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin fail to overcome sharp differences over a US missile defense system and NATO's eastward expansion.

Putin says "No changes have happened in our principal stand on the American plans."

Putin calls the US missile plan - which envisions basing tracking radar sites in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland - the most contentious of US-Russian differences and the one the hardest to reconcile.

"I want to be understood correctly - no changes have happened in our principal stand on the American plans…what can convince Russia that this system is not directed against our country?"

Bush blames lingering Cold War thinking by some in both Russia and the United States for making it harder to reach agreement on missile defense.
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"We've spent quite a lot of time in our relationship trying to get rid of the Cold War. It's over. It ended."

Their joint declaration notes the "substantial reductions already carried out" under that pact, which they say is an important step in reducing the number of deployed nuclear warheads.

Despite the impasse, the two leaders have agreed that Moscow and Washington would work together closely in the future on missile defense and other difficult issues.