posted July 19, 2006 12:11 PM              

Monday, July 17, 2006; Posted: 6:46 a.m. EDT (10:46 GMT)

George W. Bush says he held frank talks with Vladimir Putin before the G8 summit.

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Manage Alerts | What Is This? ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a suggestion from U.S. President George W. Bush that his country should emulate democracy in Iraq.

During a joint news conference Saturday in St. Petersburg, Bush said he raised concerns about democracy in Russia during a frank discussion with the Russian leader.

"I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world, like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same," Bush said.

To that, Putin replied, "We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy that they have in Iraq, quite honestly." (Watch as Putin reacts to Bush's position on Iraq and the Mideast conflict -- 2:25)

The Bush administration has publicly voiced its disapproval over Putin's appointment of local governors, crackdown of the press and pursuit of what the United States calls political persecution against the Yukos oil company.

The two leaders met ahead of the G8 summit of the world's leading industrialized nations, and discussed a variety of topics, including Russia's WTO bid.

Bush said the two leaders are close to reaching a deal but added "there's more work to be done." (Full story)

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