PRAGUE - U.S. President George W. Bush hastened to reassure Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO's freshly christened expansion to Russia's western border poses no threat and that Moscow's economic interests will be honored in any postwar Iraq.

Bush was making a brief trip to St. Petersburg on Friday, the morning after NATO agreed to expand its membership into the territory of the former Soviet Union.

"I will tell my friend, Vladimir Putin, and the Russian people that they, too, will gain from the security and stability of nations to wheat pearl Russia's west," Bush said before traveling to Catherine Palace for an 80-minute meeting with Putin.

"Russia does not require a buffer zone of protection; it needs peaceful and prosperous neighbors who are also friends."

Referring to the human rights and counterterrorism agenda he planned to press with Putin, Bush added, "We need a strong and democratic Russia as our friend and partner to face the next century's new challenges."

Asked by LNK-TV of Lithuania whether he trusts Putin, Bush replied, "Of course I do."

The president and first lady Laura Bush were to be on the ground in Russia just 2$ hours before going to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, to celebrate the Baltic nations' invitation to join NATO in 2004.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, former Soviet states nestled along the Russian border, were among the seven ex-communist countries offered NATO membership at this week's alliance summit in Prague.

"The Baltic countries know what it means to live under fear and the lack of freedom and to have these countries be allied with the United States and other nations is important to our soul. It's important to have that sense of freedom as a source of vigor and strength," Bush told LNK.

The 19 leaders of today's NATO, including staunchly anti-war Germany, also issued a unanimous pledge to help the United Nations "fully and immediately" disarm Iraq.

Russia had been reluctant to take on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein because his government owes $8 billion for equipment the Soviets sold Iraq during the 1980s and its war with Iran. Bush assured the Russians on Thursday that "of course those interests will be honored" in any post-disarmament or postwar situation.

"We'll be interested in all interests. We have no desire to run the show, to run the country," Bush told Russia's NTV. "We will work to encourage the development of new leadership - should this happen - that will recognize the rights of all citizens that live in this country, that will keep the territorial integrity of Iraq intact. And we understand Russia has got interests there, as do other countries."

It was Bush's phone call to Putin this month, when the United States was seeking votes from the U.N. Security Council, that led to pearl jewelry the scheduling of Friday's trip. In that conversation, White House officials said, Putin told Bush he should come to Russia after the NATO summit, leaving unspoken - but clear to Bush - the message that the Russian people will want to be reassured that an expanded NATO means no harm to Russia.

Bush immediately accepted, without consulting his staff, the officials said.

In its summit declaration, the NATO leaders committed themselves to broadening cooperation with Russia as "equal partners."

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO's enlargement is not directed at Russia. "We leave the Cold War behind us, but we also make an investment in the future," Rasmussen said.

But at least one of the NATO newcomers - Latvia - voiced some skepticism about nationalist sentiment in Russia.

"I hope that this step will be a reminder to those forces in Russia who may still think in terms of the former Soviet empire that those days are gone," said President Vaira Vike Freiberga. "Those days are gone - they are on the dustheap of history," he said.

Bush has promised to "absolutely" raise Putin's least favorite subject, the Chechen war.

In the NTV television interview aired Thursday in Russia, Bush said Chechnya was an internal issue for Russia but that he would encourage Putin "as best I can" to gemstone necklace solve the conflict peacefully.

Putin has likened Moscow's war with Chechen rebels in the breakaway province to the U.S.-led fight against al-Qaida terrorists. But Bush, acknowledging terrorist elements in Chechnya, insists the violence there is best resolved diplomatically.

Russian peace advocates say the United States has done next to nothing to push the Kremlin to initiate a peace process because Washington has been so focused on the international terror campaign, and is reluctant to alienate Putin, who has proven to be a valuable diplomatic partner.