International

Blair, Putin play down differences

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JUNE 26. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, today warned that terrorism, religious extremism and weapons of mass destruction posed a danger to the world and said it was important for all countries to `confront' the threat jointly. "These are real concerns,'' he said pointing out that differences over Iraq should not come in the way of addressing these concerns. Mr. Blair was speaking at a joint press conference after his talks with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Blair and Mr. Putin played down their quarrel over Iraq with the latter offering full cooperation in rebuilding Iraq. He said on "key issues'' he concurred fully with Mr. Blair and was willing to put his "name under every word he (Mr. Blair) has uttered''.

"We have come very very close on Iraq and we can and should work together.'' he said.

Mr. Putin, who opposed the British-U.S. invasion of Iraq, maintained that it was important to find the weapons of mass destruction. He said Russia had also suspected that Iraq had such weapons, and "we need to know who has access to them''. In recent weeks, Mr. Putin has insisted that Britain and the U.S. should honour Russia's pre-war oil contracts with the Saddam Hussein regime, and it is one of the issues he was assumed to have raised during his visit.

Both Mr. Blair and Mr. Putin sounded effusive about the new turn in British-Russian relations after the recent frostiness over Iraq. Mr. Blair said their relations were "stronger than (they had been) for many, many years''.

Mr. Putin, who is the first Russian leader to be accorded the full status of a state-level visit in more than 130 years, said the talks were held in a "constructive and open atmosphere''. Though Mr. Blair said that Chechnya was discussed, it was not known if he conveyed to Mr. Putin the widespread concern here over Moscow's crackdown on Chechens and the alleged human rights abuses by Russian security forces.

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