Bush hopes U.S.-Russia shield talks beneficial

SOFIA (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Monday said he hoped that a plan for U.S. and Russian experts to analyze each other's proposal for a missile defense shield would be beneficial.

"There's a process where we can collaborate, share information in a very transparent way which I think will be beneficial," for hopefully designing systems that "protect us all", Bush said.

Bush reiterated that he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin in talks at the Group of Eight summit in Germany last week that: "I simply do not view Russia as an enemy."

He said he discussed with Putin having U.S. experts analyze the Russian proposal for a missile defense system that would include a Russian-controlled radar in Azerbaijan and suggested the Russian leader assign his experts to analyze the U.S. proposal.

"And that's where we left it in Germany," he said. "So we're going to have a group of people come together ... to discuss how to deal with the true threats of the 21st century," Bush said.