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WASHINGTON - President Bush, in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, offered U.S. assistance in the Moscow hostage crisis and said "this is a time of solidarity between the United States and Russia."
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Putin informed Bush that the crisis would prevent Putin from attending the Asian Pacific Economic Conference in Mexico this weekend. Bush had planned to meet Putin for talks there.
Bush placed the call "to express America's support for Russia in this hostage takeover. He said the United States was prepared to help Russia with whatever Moscow needed, and this for the two nations to work closely together, the spokesman said.
Asked if the situation was terrorism-related, Fliescher replied, "It's clearly terrorists."
He said the White House was unsure how it would fill the hole in Bush's schedule. The president and Putin were to meet over lunch Saturday. /The Associated Press/
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