Bush seeks a ‘partner and ally’ in Russia

President Bush today held out an olive branch to Vladimir Putin on the eve of his first meeting with the Russian president saying he wants to make Russia a ‘‘partner and an ally.’’

Bush will also propose to Putin, when they meet in Slovenia tomorrow, that they scale down the level of contacts between their two countries in order to lower the profile of arms-control negotiations.

‘‘We want Russia to be a partner and an ally, a partner in peace, a partner in democracy, a country that embraces freedom, a country that enhances the security of Europe,’’ Bush said in Warsaw during a state visit to Poland.

Asked about the latest reports that Russia might be shipping weapons material to Iran, a long-standing US worry, Bush said:

‘‘I am concerned about some reports of proliferation of weapons throughout Russia’s southern border, for example - countries on her southern border - and I’ll bring that subject up.’’

Bush said he would raise the topic as part of his rationale for building the US missile defence shield that Russia so strongly opposes.

The more a ‘‘rogue nation,’’ such as Iran or Iraq, has the capacity to build weapons of mass destruction, Bush said, ‘‘the more necessary it is for freedom-loving people to halt any political blackmail they may choose to inflict upon us.’’

The United States has no expectations of an agreement on the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which Bush wants to scrap in order to build his an anti-missile system. Putin prizes the treaty as a foundation for controlling nuclear weapons.

Bush said his first priority in his high-stakes inaugural meeting with Putin will be ‘‘to develop a trust between us.’’

‘‘He doesn’t know me, and I don’t know him very well. First and foremost, it’s got to start with the simple word ’friend,’’’ Bush said at a joint news conference with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

Russia’s economic success is in American interests, Bush said, adding that ‘‘if Russia makes the right choices, she will attract a lot of US capital.’’

While prospects for an arms control accord are remote, Bush intends to approach Putin for cooperation against terrorism and hopes his proposal for managing US-Russian relations could give the summit special weight, said the officials. Chechnya and Afghanistan are terror concerns.

As part of the proposed overhaul, Bush wants to abandon the high-level panel, run by then US Vice President Al Gore and then-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, that oversaw major US-Russia issues during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

The Gore-Chernomyrdin commission is ‘‘deader than a doornail,’’ one official said in describing what Bush intends to tell Putin.

The administration is calling the process Bush will propose ‘‘decentralising.’’

Bush’s approach is that issues involving the two countries should be managed by departments in Washington and Moscow instead of by formal commissions that can involve massive delegations, the officials said.