Even as President Bush downplays concerns about tensions between the United States and Russia, he is using a trip to Croatia to showcase some of the differences that have caused those tensions just before final talks with outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hours before the pair start working on a new "strategic framework" they hope to announce to guide relations beyond their time in office toward a less rocky future, Bush on Saturday is lauding U.S.-promoted developments in Russia`s backyard. In a speech to an invited group of up to 7,000 Croatians in a public square in Zagreb, the president is extolling the virtues of extending NATO membership and spreading Western-style democracy throughout all of Europe, including eastward to former Soviet states on Russia`s borders. Ahead of Bush`s arrival, thousands massed quietly and listened to local singers in St. Mark`s Square, used as the site of the inauguration of every Croatian president for the past 700 years and considered "the center of Croatian politics." But while there was little chance of an unfriendly crowd there, as the invitations were given to the Croatian government to distribute, hundreds of anti-war demonstrators protested Friday night upon Bush`s arrival in other parts of Zagreb. Bush also met Saturday with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, signing a guest book to signify improved U.S.-Croatian relations. By evening, Bush was to be at Putin`s summer home at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the two men will cap an often contentious seven-year relationship that will come to end when Putin leaves office next month. Over dinner,and again in talks Sunday, Bush and Putin are expected to make nice and emphasize the positive, such as the strategic framework and Russia`s agreement this week to allow shipment of nonmilitary NATO supplies to Afghanistan through its territory. But in his Zagreb speech, Bush intends to congratulate Croatia and Albania - both of which were under Moscow`s Cold War-era influence - for the invitations to join NATO that they won this week. He is also urging a similar welcome for Macedonia, which snagged on Greek objections. He`ll reinforce this message by having a celebratory lunch for the leaders of the newest members of NATO`s club. Bush also is expected to renew calls for NATO to open the admission process for Ukraine and Georgia, ex-Soviet republics whose aspirations to become part of the alliance are particularly opposed by Russia. In a victory for Putin, Ukraine and Georgia were snubbed at this week`s NATO summit. But Bush and his aides have been quick to point out that leaders of the alliance vowed to eventually open the path to joining, possibly as early as December. Putin`s victory, they say, may be short-lived. In his Zagreb address, Bush describes NATO membership "as a vote of confidence and one that offers the promise of security and stability" for these once communist-run entities, according to White House officials. In addition, the president plans to point out the success of initiatives he has promoted in the region, particularly democratization in the volatile Balkans, where the effects of the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia still roil relations between Washington and Moscow. Most recently, the United States and many of its European allies rallied around independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo. Russia strongly opposed that, too. Bush is to discusses the importance of security and stability in the Balkans, noting that at their summit in Romania, the NATO leaders offered "intensified dialogue" to Bosnia and Montenegro, two other states that were once part of Yugoslavia. Croatia`s one-time nationalism once made Washington wary, and the country drew Bush administration ire by opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq and refusing to allow U.S. soldiers exemption from war crimes prosecution. But Croatia`s emergence as a stable nation in the turbulent region, the pro-Western government it elected in 2000 and its contribution to the fight in Afghanistan has more recently earned it U.S. support. Bush`s praise for the growth of democracy on Russia`s doorstep comes as his administration continues to harshly criticize increasing Kremlin authoritarianism. That is not likely to go unnoticed by Moscow. The U.S. plan to deploy a missile shield in Europe is another source of friction between the two countries. Though the concept is vehemently opposed by Russia, it won NATO leaders` full support this week.