PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) – President Bush and the Czech Republic’s leaders on Tuesday defended plans to base part of an American missile shield here despite fierce opposition from Russia.

“The people of the Czech Republic don’t have to choose between being a friend of the United States or a friend with Russia,” Mr. Bush said in his stop at this former Soviet satellite. “You can be both. We don’t believe in a zero-sum world.”

Mr. Bush, in the Czech Republic as part of an eight-day trip to Europe, spoke as Russia’s opposition to the proposed defense system mounts. Russia believes the shield in Eastern Europe is meant for it, and says it has no choice to boost its own military potential in response.

Mr. Bush dismissed those concerns. He said he will make his case directly to Russian President Putin later this week on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit.

“My message will be Vladimir – I call him Vladimir – that you shouldn’t fear a missile defense system,” Mr. Bush said. “As a matter of fact, why don’t you cooperate with us on a missile defense system. Why don’t you participate with the United States.”

The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, said it was significant that Mr. Bush promised to make “maximum efforts” to explain his position to Putin.

“We have pointed it out to our guest that it is very important that we win maximum support for this project of the Czech Republic who are very sensitive to those issues,” Mr. Klaus said. “I suppose this is what President Bush clearly realizes.”

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek endorsed the plan as well.

Most Czechs aren’t happy about the proposal for an American anti-missile radar base to be built at the Brdy military zone southwest of the capital. Recent polls here show more than 60 percent of the public in opposition.

Mr. Bush appeared with his hosts in a high-ceilinged hall of Prague Castle. Although the event was billed as a press conference, the three leaders took no questions.

Despite Mr. Bush’s declaration that the Cold War is over, the international debate over the missile defense system likely will drown out everything else during his stay in Prague.

The White House has billed a speech Bush will deliver on democracy at Czernin Palace as the highlight of his visit here. His Czech counterparts expressed some complaints, such as a two-tiered visa system for European nations that leaves their citizens out in the cold.

Mr. Bush acknowledged those concerns, and pledged to work with Congress on a remedy.

Earlier, he was welcomed to an arrival ceremony at the Prague Castle courtyard, with a military band playing anthems and troops in pale-blue uniforms marching in formation.

Czech leaders have brushed off Russia’s objections to the defense shield.

Most Czech citizens, though, worry about Russian threats to embark on a new arms race in response, and they fear that the installation could make the tiny country a terrorist target.

In Prague last weekend, more than 1,000 people protested the plan. Demonstrators planned to show their displeasure again Tuesday outside medieval Prague Castle.

Over the weekend, Putin stepped up already incendiary remarks about America and its intentions with the shield, warning that Moscow could take “retaliatory steps” including aiming nuclear weapons at American military bases in Europe.

Mr. Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, called this sort of talk “not helpful.”

Still, he, the president and other American officials have sought to cool down the situation – to no avail. They insist the network is meant to protect NATO allies against a missile launch from Iran, not Russia.

The president’s speech in Prague could stoke the fires further.

As part of taking stock of “the freedom agenda,” Mr. Bush plans to mention Russia as a difficult area, Mr. Hadley told reporters traveling Monday with Mr. Bush to Europe on Air Force One.

“He’ll talk a little bit about the challenge of promoting democracy in countries, big countries in particular, where we have a complex relationship and a number of interests, places like China and Russia,” Mr. Hadley said.

He said the speech was not aimed at Russia, and that Mr. Bush would handle that bit of it “in a very responsible way.”

Still, the remarks were not likely to be well-received by Mr. Putin.

With the Iraq war raging and that country in disarray, some criticized Mr. Bush’s effort to refocus attention on his “freedom agenda” – the byproduct of the president’s promise to predicate Amerca’s relations with all nations on their treatment of their citizens and to advance democracy in every corner of the globe.

Mr. Bush’s message is typically better received in small, newer democracies. The Czech Republic, for instance, has deployed troops to help support the American-led campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Bush was invited to make the speech as part of a conference on democracy hosted by Natan Sharansky, a former prisoner of the Soviet regime who has continued to champion freedom, and former Czech President Vaclav Havel, who led the Velvet Revolution that ended communism in the former Czechoslovakia in 1989. The president also plans to meet with current and former dissidents from around the world.

From Prague, Mr. Bush was to travel to Germany’s Baltic Sea resort town of Heiligendamm for three days of meetings between the leaders of the world’s eight major industrialized democracies. The rest of his eight-day European trip was to include a stop in Poland – also a proposed site for part of the missile defense system – as well as visits to Italy, Albania and Bulgaria.