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> From: "Owens, Missy" <Missy.Owens@hq.doe.gov>
> Date: March 10, 2011 3:13:45 PM EST
> To: "'missy.owens@gmail.com'" <missy.owens@gmail.com>
> Subject: Fw: Final Moscow Pool Report: Readout from VPOTUS-Putin meeting and more
>

>
> From: White House Press Office <noreply@messages.whitehouse.gov>
> To: Owens, Missy
> Sent: Thu Mar 10 15:02:26 2011
> Subject: FW: Final Moscow Pool Report: Readout from VPOTUS-Putin meeting and more
>
>
> From: Weisman, Jonathan [mailto:Jonathan.Weisman@wsj.com]
> Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 2:58 PM
> To: Dudley, Amy; Alexander, Elizabeth; Allen, Elizabeth M.
> Subject: Final Moscow Pool Report: Readout from VPOTUS-Putin meeting and more
>
> Two senior administration officials gave a lengthy readout of VPOTUS’s meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as well as his meetings with opposition figures and human rights activists, and the visit to Moldova Friday.
> On Putin, the two-hour meeting included about 15 minutes with just the two of them in Mr. Putin’s office in the Russian White House. One official called is “a serious discussion about serious issues” – missile defense, Jackson-Vanik and Russian accession to the World Trade Organization, Georgia, Afghanistan and energy.
> The most attention went to missile defense, where the administration sees “a real opportunity to turn an area of arguably the most contentious dispute into an area of cooperation.”
> The leaders came away with a clear commitment to pursue an agreement on joint missile defense this year, and they agreed the issue cannot be left to lower-level officials but must be pursued by the leaders of the two countries.
> “This year is the year to get this on track.”
> On WTO and Jackson-Vanik, VPOTUS privately offered assurances of U.S. support. But he laid out the political landscape in Congress and what it would take. He offered no explicit links, such as saying Jackson-Vanik would be repealed only when reforms are completed.
> “There are not explicit links, but there’s a practical relationship,” one official said. For some in Congress, it will be progress on Russian-Georgian relations. For others it will be human rights.
> “The more the Russians can do on the issues they control, the better the environment,” he said, adding, “We do not believe holding on to Jackson-Vanik is a lever that advances human rights and democracy in Russia.”
> The officials said that message was particularly resonant coming from VPOTUS given his long history in the Senate and his tough but successful fight to get New START ratified.
> “When he speaks about the facts of life with Congress, he speaks with particular authority.”
> There was a linkage between WTO and Georgia, simply because as a member of the WTO, Georgia will have a say in whether Russia can join. VPOTUS “urged the Russians to engage the Georgians seriously.”
> VPOTUS solicited Putin’s views on Afghanistan, since “the Russians have some experience with the subject.”
> He also asked Putin how he sees Russia’s energy future and encouraged the world’s largest oil producer to keep producing, with prices so high. But the officials said there was no real “ask” on energy, since Russia is already at peak capacity and therefore cannot do much to lower oil prices.
> With the civil society and human rights activists, VPOTUS “was very much in listening mode” on their proposed policy initiatives, one official said, but “on the diagnostics, there was a lot of agreement.”
> One official mentioned Sen. Ben Cardin’s proposal to ban visas and freeze assets of 60 Russian officials suspected of playing a role in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who charged Russian police with corruption, was arrested, and died in custody. VPOTUS mentioned Magnitsky by name in his speech at Moscow State University.
> “We purposely mentioned Magnitsky to show we are not in an argument with Sen. Cardin on this,” one official said. “We’re not defending things that we find to be an erosion of democracy and human rights.”
> “We’re not pulling our punches. We’re not arranging our schedule to avoid hearing criticism of this government and us.”
> On Moldova, one official called the poorest country in Europe “a real success story we feel is worth applauding and encouraging.”
> Moldova just had elections considered free and fair that brought to power a reformer eager to integrate with the European Union.
> “There is a new wind in the sail of democracy,” one official said, pointing to the Arab world. “They are doing difficult work that we want to encourage.”
> “The world is watching. The U.S. is watching.”
>
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