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Putin flies to Britain to smooth Iraq differences
London, June 24: Russian President Vladimir Putin begins a historic, pomp-laden visit to Britain today that both sides hope will repair some of the diplomatic damage sustained over the Iraq war.
London, June 24: Russian President Vladimir Putin begins a historic, pomp-laden visit to Britain today that both sides hope will repair some of the diplomatic damage sustained over the Iraq war.
In the first state visit by a Russian head of state since
Tsar Alexander II in 1874, the former KGB spy will stay at London's
Buckingham Palace as a guest of Queen Elizabeth, enjoying a state
banquet and royal carriage ride.
But Putin's mind will be on far more than pageantry.
Diplomats will be watching closely during the four-day visit to see if he manages to assuage offended British pride for his public taunting of Blair at a news conference in April over the failure to find Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
The issue is even more sensitive now for Blair, as he faces a parliamentary inquiry and falling public credibility over allegations he hyped up evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons.
''We do not intend to put salt into wounds,'' one high-ranking Kremlin official said before Putin's departure.
''We have wounds of our own,'' the official said, referring to Russian vulnerability to western concerns over alleged rights abuses in Chechnya and nuclear cooperation with Iran.
Blair, who received a bottle of vodka from Putin on his 50th birthday in May, was glowing about the Russian in public.
Calling Putin's visit ''a remarkable event in the lives of our two countries,” Blair told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency on Monday that the Russian leader ''impressed me from the very beginning, and I regard him as a very strong politician who speaks plainly''.
''In political matters, if differences arise we are able to deal with them and we work together closely,'' Blair said.
Bureau Report
But Putin's mind will be on far more than pageantry.
Diplomats will be watching closely during the four-day visit to see if he manages to assuage offended British pride for his public taunting of Blair at a news conference in April over the failure to find Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
The issue is even more sensitive now for Blair, as he faces a parliamentary inquiry and falling public credibility over allegations he hyped up evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons.
''We do not intend to put salt into wounds,'' one high-ranking Kremlin official said before Putin's departure.
''We have wounds of our own,'' the official said, referring to Russian vulnerability to western concerns over alleged rights abuses in Chechnya and nuclear cooperation with Iran.
Blair, who received a bottle of vodka from Putin on his 50th birthday in May, was glowing about the Russian in public.
Calling Putin's visit ''a remarkable event in the lives of our two countries,” Blair told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency on Monday that the Russian leader ''impressed me from the very beginning, and I regard him as a very strong politician who speaks plainly''.
''In political matters, if differences arise we are able to deal with them and we work together closely,'' Blair said.
Bureau Report