Remarks and a question-and-answer session with students at St. Petersburg State University in St. Petersburg

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 3, 2002

May 25, 2002

President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for having me here. It's a great pleasure, as always, to be with young people, but especially here since I graduated from this university; it's a double pleasure for me to be here. But this university played a dual role in my career. The first time, when they basically gave me a present--they just gave me the degree that I earned--that was the one important part. [Laughter]

The second very important facet in my life was when I worked here for the rector of the university as an assistant, helping him in the area of international contacts between and among various universities. And what I was doing was doing the same thing the rector was just talking about; I was setting up the initial contacts between our university and various other universities around the world. So what we did once, we invited the president of a midsize college from St. Petersburg, Florida, to come here and pay us a visit, since they had the same name. So then, what I did is I talked the former mayor, Mr. Sobchak, to receive this president of this college. So he, in turn, invited him to come to the United States. And this Mr. Carter, who was the head of this college in St. Pete, arranged a visit with one of the Presidents of the United States at the time, and I think his name was Bush. [Laughter] After that, he invited me to come to work for him, and the rest of my career is history, as they say. [Laughter]

Well, to be very, very serious now, it's really a great pleasure to have business and dealings with students because students are very direct, as you know. And they also feel the rhythm of civilization as it's changing.

When we were guests of the Bushes in Crawford, Texas, we also were given an opportunity to meet with young people. I think this will become a very fine tradition.

President Bush. That's fight.

President Putin. And I think Mr. Bush also was waiting for this opportunity, because he asked me several times about this possibility. Well, George Bush and I don't know each other for that long; I think it's a little bit less than 2 years. But what we're trying to do is establish the environment which would be very conducive to having people in both of our countries meet, have opportunities to make contacts, and get along better.

I don't want this to sound like a major report here, but I just want to inform you that we have just signed two major agreements between our two countries. One of them is having to do with the reduction in strategic arms of the two countries, and the other one is called an agreement on a new strategic relationship between the two countries. As we all know, people are divided into two groups, optimists and pessimists, and the pessimists will always find something wrong. Optimists, however, will find in these two documents that we signed a lot of things that are very useful and beneficial.

But it's wonderful to deal with young people because, by their very nature, they're optimists and they look into the future. And that's why we're here, among other things.

So today, when we were coming to the conclusion of our visit to the Hermitage-- and we were running late so we were in a hurry--Mr. Piotrovsky, who really had very little time, said, "By the way, before we leave I want to show you a portrait," which was a portrait of our great Tsaritsa Catherine the Great. And Mr. Bush, without missing a beat, said, "Oh, and by the way, where is the portrait of Potemkin?" [Laughter]

So when you ask questions, I ask you to give me the easy questions and give Mr. Bush the tough questions. [Laughter] And with pleasure, I give the word to George Bush.

President Bush. Thank you very much. Madam President, thank you for your hospitality. Laura and I are honored to be here at this famous university. I'm particularly pleased to be coming to this university because it is the alma mater of your President and my friend, Vladimir Putin. But even more importantly, it is Mrs. Putin's alma mater. [Laughter]

The President was talking about a seminar on international relations. I guess this is the most sophisticated seminar on international relations that you could possibly have, So I'll give you a quick insight as to what it's like to be involved with international relations.

There we were, as guests of the Putins in their private home last night. We talked about our families; we talked about our passions; we talked about matters of life that friends would talk about. The best international relations start when people care about the other person, when they try to figure out how the other person thinks and what makes the other person's life go forward. We've had a lot of negotiations, of course. But the thing that impressed me the most about the President and his wife was how much they loved their daughters. That's a universal value. It's an impressive value.

When I got out of college in 1968, America and the Soviet Union were enemies--bitter enemies. Today, America and Russia are friends. It's important for you to know that that era is long gone as far as I'm concerned. The treaty we signed says a lot about nuclear arms. It speaks about the need for peace, but it also says the cold war is over, and America and Russia need to be and will be friends, for the good of the world.