MADELEINE BRAND, host:

From the studios of NPR West, this is DAY TO DAY. I'm Madeleine Brand.

ALEX CHADWICK, host:

I'm Alex Chadwick.

Coming up, things are getting a little testy between Washington and Moscow. We'll have a report from NPR's Greg Feifer in the Russian capital.

BRAND: First to the seaside town where Germany is hosting the annual G-8 Summit of the world's leading industrial powers. German chancellor Angela Merkel has made climate change her top priority, but President Bush is resisting her proposals.

Here to talk about that and some of the other major issues at the G-8 is NPR's Don Gonyea. He joins us from Rostock, Germany on the Baltic Sea. Hi, Don.

DON GONYEA: Hey, how are you?

BRAND: Well, I'm fine, thanks. Let's start with the global warming issue. What are the differences?

GONYEA: Well, Angela Merkel wants very tough - and here's the key word - enforceable limits on the level of greenhouse gases in the air. She wants to cut them in half by mid-century and she's been pressing other G-8 nations on that issue.

The White House says that's the wrong approach. It has not signed on. President Bush has instead proposed - just last week, in fact - a series of international summits to set some goals. Again, no targets, some goals. The official position from the White House is, hey, there's a lot we all agree on here, but don't look for any specifics.

BRAND: President Bush will hold meetings, private meetings with various leaders. His first meeting of the summit was with Chancellor Merkel. How did it go?

GONYEA: Well, they get along very well. But Merkel has to be disappointed, since she knows - because of the U.S. largely - she won't get the agreement on climate change that she really once hoped for at this summit, that it's Germany's turn to host and to set the agenda. Still, they met. They came out. They talked to reporters. They both worked to put a positive face on things. Let's hear Chancellor Merkel. She speaks through an interpreter here.

Chancellor ANGELA MERKEL (Germany): (Through translator) We just had a very intensive and a very good debate. There are a few areas here and there we will continue to work on. But I trust that we will work out joint positions on that. So let me say, yes, again, I do hope and trust that a very strong message will come out at this summit meeting and we started here on a very good footing indeed.

GONYEA: Good footing indeed, but it doesn't sound like she quite believes it. Then came President Bush with his own upbeat look at things.

President GEORGE W. BUSH: I also come with strong desire to work with you on a post-Kyoto agreement about how we can achieve major objectives. One, of course, is the reduction of greenhouse gases. Another is to become more energy independent.

GONYEA: So you might get the impression that, hey, we're friends, we're partners, we're working all this out. But really, it doesn't seem like that's happening.

BRAND: Hmm. So let's talk about the security measures. They were quite extraordinary, from what I understand - a $17 million fence against all those protesters?

GONYEA: Stretches for seven miles. The leaders, the members of the G-8, are isolated. They're way off in the Baltic Sea. They're a long ways from where I'm working. Here as well the protesters have gathered around the perimeter of this fence and they've been trying to break through it. Some of the protests over the weekend were violent.

Today there have been some clashes, less violent. But this is what happens at the G-8 Summit. The leaders are off, they're isolated. There's a lot of action on the perimeter, but they barely know what's going on inside there at the resort.

BRAND: All right, Don, the other big issue is obviously the relationship between the U.S. and Russia. Did President Bush have anything to say about that today?

GONYEA: You know, the rhetoric between the two sides has been escalating in recent days. President Bush is clearly trying to dial things back. He was asked about Putin's complaints about the missile shield and he seemed to get agitated. He said, look, we're not at war with Russia. Russia's not going to attack Europe. It was like kind of quit asking me about this. He hopes things will be less tense. We'll see what Putin thinks.

BRAND: And the two are meeting tomorrow.

GONYEA: Exactly.

BRAND: NPR's Don Gonyea from the G-8 Summit in Rostock, Germany. Thank you.

GONYEA: It's a pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.