-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Putin Warns Bush on Missile Defense Updated: Sat, Jun 16 1:26 PM EDT By RON FOURNIER, AP White House Correspondent BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned President Bush on Saturday that going it alone on missile defense can only make U.S.-Russian relations "more complicated." Bush focused on the positive, announcing that Putin will visit Bush's ranch in Texas for an autumn summit. Bush, in turn, will visit Putin at his home in Russia. Emerging from more than two hours of inaugural talks at Brdo Castle, the two leaders exchanged warm personal compliments. The summit closed Bush's five-day, five-nation maiden tour of Europe, where he encountered skepticism from allies over not only his missile defense policy, but also global warming, trade and capital punishment. Bush met Putin inside the elegant 16th century estate that was a favorite Alpine resort for the late Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito. Bush said Putin was a man Americans can trust. "I was able to get a sense of his soul. ... I wouldn't have invited him to my ranch if I didn't trust him." Putin saluted his American counterpart as "an honest, straightforward man who loves his country." For all the warmth, Putin acknowledged remaining discord, particularly over Bush's dreams of a U.S. missile shield. "The differences in approaches do exist, and naturally in one short moment, it's impossible to overcome all of them," Putin said. Bush had hoped to use the meeting to thaw the chill in U.S.-Russian relations over his plan to scrap the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty banning the kind of missile defense he envisions. Putin, speaking in a joint news conference closing out the summit, did not appear moved. He called the ABM treaty the "cornerstone of the modern architecture of international security." "Any unilateral actions can only make more complicated various problems and issues," Putin said. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Bush said the two men had good discussions. "We talked straightforward. Nothing was rejected out of hand," Bush said. Asked if that included missile defense, Bush repeated, "Nothing was rejected out of hand." Bush chafed at a question about what incentives he might have offered Putin to gain Russian acquiescence. White House aides had said in advance that Bush was prepared to offer Putin inducements such as arms purchases, military aid and joint anti-missile exercises with Russia. "We didn't have a bargaining session. We had a session between two men who came to office for the right purpose," Bush said. He asked Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to work with their Russian counterparts on developing a "new approach for a new era" in security arrangements. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Commerce Secretary Don Evans will head to Moscow soon to further work on economic and commercial ties, Bush said. Bush and Putin meet again next month in Genoa, Italy, at the G-8 summit of industrial powers. On Saturday, Bush tried to put his signature charm to work, paying Putin perhaps the highest of compliments from an American president prizing tax cuts: "I was so impressed that (Putin) was able to simplify his tax code in Russia with a flat tax. I'm not so sure I'll have the same success with Congress," Bush said. On missile defense, atop Bush's foreign policy agenda, Putin voiced unwavering reservations and appealed for a go-slow approach. Without restating Russia's opposition, Putin said, "The official position of the Russian government is known." The United States and Russia must work together to identify security threats and officials from both countries should sit down to "try to find a way together to solve these problems," Putin said. Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice welcomed that as an invitation to further dialogue on missile defense. "They gave experts ... a desire to go now and talk about concrete issues," Rice said. On another contentious issue, Bush reiterated his support for expanding NATO while Putin went to lengths to explain his apprehension about the Western alliance expanding toward Russia's borders. Drawing chuckles from Bush, Putin fished around on his lectern for a declassified 1954 memo in which NATO, casting the Soviet Union as an enemy, rejected Soviet interest in membership. "Look, this is a military organization. ... It's moving towards our border. Why? This is the foundation of all of our concerns," Putin said. Their initial meeting - just the two leaders plus one security adviser and one translator apiece - lasted an hour and 40 minutes, about 40 minutes longer than scheduled. Bush and Putin took a break to stroll along a gravel road winding through pines on the castle grounds, then went into another meeting. The overall summit lasted a little more than two hours. In Ljubljana, riot police brought in armored cars and a water cannon to disperse about 1,000 protesters who had marched to the Russian embassy Saturday afternoon. Earlier Saturday, security guards and riot police detained a handful of environmental activists after they breached a fence surrounding the U.S. embassy compound. Other protesters chained themselves together outside the compound, holding a banner reading "Stop Star Wars." *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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