BUSAN, South Korea — President Bush told Russian President Vladimir Putin today that the United States supports a proposal from Moscow that could deny Iran the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

"It may provide a way out," National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said of the Russian plan, discussed during an hourlong meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents that ranged across a variety of difficult topics.

Putin is often criticized in the West for rolling back democratic progress by imposing state control of national broadcasters, scrapping elections for regional governors, and dismantling the Yukos oil company giant after its former CEO opposed the Russian leader.

U.S. officials' concerns have grown with the introduction of legislation last week in Russia's State Duma by members of Putin's party that would keep foreign non-governmental organizations from operating offices in Russia and deny foreign funds to Russian organizations that engage in certain political activities.

Two former vice presidential candidates, Republican Jack Kemp and Democrat John Edwards, had urged Bush to bring up the issue with Putin. "If this proposal comes into force, the government will clearly have in its hands the authority to close down public organizations simply because it finds their views and activities inconvenient," Kemp and Edwards wrote Bush. They are co-chairmen of a Council on Foreign Relations task force on Russia.

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Bush raised the matter with Putin but would not describe what he said. "Sometimes there are issues that can be more productively discussed out of public view," he said.

The Bush-Putin session on the sidelines of the annual conference of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum emphasized their shared fight against terrorism, Moscow's aspiration to join the World Trade Organization by the end of the year, and the campaigns to stop North Korea and Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Russia, a key Iranian ally, has refused to support Bush's eagerness to go to the U.N. Security Council with suspicions Iran is trying to build a nuclear arsenal. Also, over U.S. objections, Russia is building a nuclear reactor for a power plant in Iran and says it believes Iran's assurances the plant is for civilian energy use alone.

But Bush praised Putin for several steps Russia has taken that "would reduce the proliferation risks" in Iran, Hadley said.

Russia has helped bring Tehran back into European-led negotiations over its enrichment of uranium and reached agreement with Iran that any spent fuel rods from the plant would be sent back to Russia. And Bush expressed support for a Russian plan that would allow Iran to convert uranium but move the enrichment process to a facility to be built for Iran in Russia, Hadley said.

In theory, that would deny Iran the capacity to produce weapons-grade uranium needed for nuclear weapons.

Though Iran has "not surprisingly" so far rejected the idea, Hadley said: "We think that doesn't end it. This will be an issue we will return to."

The pace of democratic progress under Putin's leadership has increasingly become a sour note in Bush's meetings with his Russian counterpart, clouding a relationship that quickly moved to a first-name basis and became stronger after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

But appearing in a hotel suite for their fifth meeting of the year, the pair projected only warm smiles and friendly chitchat. "Hey Vladimir. How are you? Looking good," Bush said, tapping the Russian on the back.

"The dynamic in the room was very positive, very loose," White House counselor Dan Bartlett said.