(29 Jan 2009)
POOL
1. Wide of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk entering room and shaking hands with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
2. Putin and Tusk seated
3. Pan close-up from Putin to Tusk
4. Pan from cameras to leaders talking
AP TELEVISION
5. Tusk leaving hotel and approaching media
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister:
"After the meeting I think there were... I can be optimistic, more optimistic than before. I feel that this kind of issue is not the preferred option for Russia and it's hope. I'm not sure. It's hope. But I feel that Prime Minister Putin said very seriously that he wants to find other solutions, not this kind, near Poland. (Reporter asking if he's optimistic) More optimistic than before. Not 100 percent, but it's better."
7. Wide of Tusk speaking to reporters
STORYLINE:
Poland failed to obtain assurances from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Russia would back off a threat to put Russian missiles near the Polish border.
But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was "optimistic" about the situation.
Putin met his Polish counterpart at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, amid tensions between the two neighbours over the missile issue and over Russian natural gas supplies.
The meeting came a day after a Russian military official reportedly said Moscow would back off its pledge to deploy missiles near Poland if the US followed through with plans to put a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
The Russian comments were reported by the Interfax news agency in a report the Kremlin distanced itself from, but that may have been aimed at testing US President Barack Obama's intent to build the shield.
"After the meeting I think there were... I can be optimistic, more optimistic than before," Tusk said. "I feel that this kind of issue is not the preferred option for Russia and it's hope. I'm not sure. It's hope. But I feel that Prime Minister Putin said very seriously that he wants to find other solutions, not this kind, near Poland."
The two prime ministers shared warm words at the start of the meeting and Putin accepted an invitation to come to Poland.
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