Putin and Bush Spend a Night at the Ranch

CRAWFORD, Texas -- Vladimir Putin, wannabe cowboy and newly minted close buddy of U.S. President George W. Bush, eagerly wanted to ride a horse in Texas, so he may have been disappointed to learn that Bush zips around his ranch in a Ford pickup.

That's what was awaiting the Putins as they landed at the Bush ranch outside Waco on Wednesday afternoon. The Bushes, carrying umbrellas to shield their guests from the rain, met the Putins when they arrived by helicopter for an overnight stay at the Bush home.

Putin is the first foreign leader to visit the president's 650-hectare Prairie Chapel Ranch, and Bush said, "I want to show him some of my favorite spots.''

But Bush also had another plan up his sleeve. Putin hadn't by Wednesday agreed to amend or walk away from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Even Bush's pledge on Tuesday to cut the U.S. nuclear arsenal by two-thirds did not succeed in producing that.

So Wednesday night, at the rambling stone house that the Bushes have just completed in central Texas, Bush shifted to Plan B. It involved plying Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, with mesquite-smoked beef tenderloin, southern fried catfish, grilled sourdough bread and pecan pie, all washed down by a Texas hill country wine and consumed to the country music of an Austin band.

On Thursday, Bush made it clear that the plan hadn't worked.

But the two leaders did get a chance to develop a closer relationship.

Putin arrived Wednesday well briefed and almost properly attired. By the time his helicopter touched down at the new helipad 500 meters or so from the Bushes' house, he was wearing black slacks, a black short-sleeve golf shirt and a wide belt. But at a moment when he desperately needed cowboy boots -- it's muddy on the ranch, especially Wednesday -- he was left with loafers.

It wasn't Putin's first stop in Texas. He spent the morning with another Bush -- the president's father, George -- at Rice University, where he addressed a hall filled with students and business leaders. Putin strode into the room with former President Bush and his former secretary of state, James Baker. Putin recalled that when he first met Baker, he himself was a "modest city bureaucrat and Mr. Baker was a big boss."

Putin briefly made the case that Russia needed a bigger voice in NATO. But he sensed, correctly, that the invited crowd wanted to talk business, not politics, so he quickly turned to comparisons between Russia and Texas, focusing, naturally, on oil. "I'd like to say that in the Russian market, your risks are much lower than a few years ago,'' he said.

Things would have been fine if he had stuck to the economic comparisons. But then he wound into a joke about cowboys in both countries that his translator mangled badly, and that left the audience entirely confused. "It sounded,'' an administration official said, "a little like our ABM negotiations.''

Back at the ranch, the talk was all about the dinner carefully planned for weeks by Laura Bush. Secretary of State Colin Powell flew in with Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. There were the local celebrities -- Ben Crenshaw, the golfer, and Van Cliburn, the pianist.

Putin was accompanied by Security Council head Vladimir Rushailo, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, first deputy of the presidential administration.

They ate in a breezeway that connects the main house from the guest quarters. There were toasts, and Bush brought out a birthday cake for National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who turned 47 Wednesday. (NYT, WP)