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Before Bush left the Czech Republic for the G8, he responded to the criticism of NATO's plans for a missile-interceptor defense by President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Both NBC and ABC had their White House correspondents cover Bush's statement; CBS mentioned it only in passing. Bush sent a mixed message: ABC's Martha Raddatz (subscription required) focused on the positive as the President invited the Russian military to participate in the missile defense system; NBC's David Gregory chose the negative with Bush's "pointed criticism" of Putin for allowing Russia's political reforms to be "derailed."
Gregory found NBC file footage from 2000 of then anchor Tom Brokaw interviewing Putin about his support for such a missile defense: "We may create an umbrella to protect the whole of Europe, for example. We want to discuss this substantively and meaningfully" with then President Bill Clinton. The issues that were supposed to top the agenda at the G8 Summit such as global warming and HIV/AIDS "will be put on the back burner," concluded ABC's Raddatz, because of a US-Russia relationship that is "deteriorating." NBC's Gregory pointed out that Bush called that relationship "complex;" he added "that may be polite."
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