Putin gets West's stamp of approval

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, MARCH 12. A one-day unofficial visit by Britain's Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, to Russia on Saturday gave a final stamp of the West's endorsement of Mr. Vladimir Putin as Russia's next President, despite the continuing brutal war in Chechnya.

Mr. Blair was the first Western leader to have met Russia's Acting President, Mr. Putin, who is tipped to win the March 26 presidential elections in Russia. Mr. Blair and his wife came to St. Petersburg at a private invitation of the Putins for a weekend cultural programme that included a tour of Russia's historical sights and a night at the opera, but the Russian and British leaders also squeezed in two rounds of intensive talks that covered Chechnya, Balkans and bilateral ties.

Afterwards, Mr. Blair described the meeting as ``a very good omen for the future,'' while Mr. Putin said the discussions helped him better understand Western concerns over Chechnya ``in order to correct our own policy'' in the region.

Mr. Blair praised Mr. Putin as a ``highly intelligent'' leader ``with a focussed view of what he wants to achieve in Russia'' and stressed the need for the West to maintain working relations with Russia. For his part, Mr. Putin, 47, played up the things he said he had in common with Mr. Blair, 46, saying they were ``both law graduates and of the same generation.''

Predictably, the two sides disagreed on Chechnya, with Mr. Blair urging Russia to use ``proportionate'' force against rebels and investigate allegations of human rights violations in the region, and Mr. Putin refusing to bow to Western pressure to halt the five-month-long military operation against ``international terrorism.''

The British leader acknowledged that Russia was dealing with a ``terrorist insurrection'' in Chechnya, while Mr. Putin voiced willingness to cooperate on humanitarian issues in Chechnya with international bodies, including the Red Cross, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, and the United Nations.

Mr. Blair made it clear the West would not let the war in Chechnya stand in the way of its relations with Moscow. ``There is a great desire to see Russia engaged with the rest of the world,'' he told a news conference and called for ``an open and clear dialogue'' with Moscow.

Mr. Putin used the occasion to urge all nations to pool their efforts in combatting international terrorism and said Russia could learn from the relevant British experience in Northern Ireland. He also made an intriguing claim that American missiles, fired at a suspected hideout of the Saudi militant Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, ``would have hit more of the right places'' if the U.S. had consulted Russia on the issue.

Coming two weeks before Russia's presidential elections, Mr. Blair's visit is bound to boost Mr. Putin's chances for an outright win in the first round of voting. A Russian daily said Mr. Putin also gave the West ``a pertinent reminder of Russia's past imperial grandeur'' by taking the British leader on a tour of the Russian Tsars' palaces and a premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's opera War and Peace based upon Leo Tolstoy's epic.

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Section  : International
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