A parley with Putin

THE MUTUAL dependence of the United States and Russia, which both countries too often seem to disdain, formed the backdrop to Friday's visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the dacha of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a suburb of Moscow.

The central aim of the visit was to resolve differences over the Bush administration's plan to site a radar station in the Czech Republic and 10 antimissile interceptors in Poland. The administration insists this extension to Central Europe of a missile defense system currently being deployed in Alaska is meant to counter the prospect of a long-range missile threat from Iran. The Kremlin fears that such a system could eventually be upgraded to negate Russia's nuclear deterrence.

There is a great deal at stake in this dispute, not only for the United States and Russia but also for many other countries. So it is a good thing the two sides are engaged in dialogue among their specialists and top government officials. But if their efforts at conflict resolution are to succeed, both sides will have to climb down from positions that are rooted in self-delusion, paranoia, or political posturing.

The United States will need to acknowledge that its missile defense system has yet to prove it can discriminate between live warheads in space and simple decoys. It will have to take seriously Putin's offer of a Russian missile tracking site in Azerbaijan that could shorten the response time to a missile launch from Iran. And if Putin wants an American concession on missile defense sites in Europe, he must exert all Russia's influence to dissuade Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons.

Before they entered Putin's dacha to begin talks Friday, Rice and Gates had to listen as the former KGB officer told the press: "We hope that in the process of such complex and multifaceted talks, you will not be forcing forward your relations with the East European countries." This was Putin's way of sounding a theme that has played well for him at home. He was insinuating that the US scheme for installing a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, far from responding to an eventual threat from Iran, was really a disguised element of a plan to encircle and humiliate a resurgent Russia.

To their credit, Rice and Gates sought to dial down the rhetoric of confrontation. "That which unites us in trying to deal with the threats of terrorism, of proliferation are much greater than the issues that divide us," Rice said. And Gates bluntly noted that their common security concern was the threat of long-range missiles in Iran.

Encouragingly, both delegations said afterward that the talks had been constructive and detailed. Let's hope they bear fruit, because Russian-American cooperation is becoming indispensable for meeting the most dangerous threats to global security.