SIMON: Rest of the G8 leaders are going to be arriving in St. So it seemed like more than a bit of a dig there. At one point, President Bush mentioned the new democracy in Iraq during that press conference and Putin quickly jumped in and said, and this is a quote, we certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq. SIMON: It doesn't sound like he's asking for a lot of input from President Bush or much of anyone else. But we know for sure that we cannot strengthen our nation without developing democratic institutions and this is the path that we'll certainly take, but certainly we will do this by ourselves. President VLADIMIR PUTIN (Russia): (Through Translator) Nobody knows better than us how we can strengthen our own nation. SIMON: Well, we have a - let's listen to what President Putin says about - someone asked a question about the state of Russian democracy. Today he said he always raises such concerns in person with Putin, and in private, and he said he learns a lot from the discussion, and today at one point he said he doesn't insist that Russia have a U.S.-style democracy. President Bush is very diplomatic when he talks publicly about this. There's worry about human rights and a crackdown on the press in Russia and a crackdown on political dissidence. sees as Putin's increasingly authoritarian hand. What's been the single biggest irritant in U.S./Russian relations? Putin's hands and looked into his eyes and was able to get a sense of his soul, and liked it. SIMON: Don, a while back President Bush famously announced that he had shaken Mr. He'd like Putin's backing, but again no resolution on that here today. President Bush wants to further isolate that nation in the wake of those missile tests from earlier this month. Both do say there should be no nuclear weapons in Iran. Putin says Israel's use of force needs to be balanced. Both these leaders said they want the violence to stop, but they differ. There's the Middle East, the current crisis. Additionally, obviously there are all these pressing issues out there. So that's something concrete that they've announced already today. GONYEA: Well, he did announce an agreement to coordinate efforts to stop the transfer of illicit weapons around the world. SIMON: And what's the president want to accomplish? It's the first time that Russia has hosted the Summit and it comes as President Bush's special relationship with President Putin is coming under increasing scrutiny and strain.

SIMON: Presidents Bush and Putin are holding their own one-on-one meetings in advance of the official start of the G8 Summit this evening. The longer-term solution is for nations around the world and nations in the neighborhood to support those who support the advance of democracy. BUSH: The solution, short-term solution, is for Hezbollah to stop the attacks. President Bush spoke about the situation during a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier today. This escalating violence in the Middle East is overshadowing this weekend's meetings at the Group of Eight economic powers in St.

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