Ex-Soviet states need help too, Putin tells Blair
Patrick Wintour in Moscow
Tuesday June 14, 2005
The Guardian
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, warned Tony Blair yesterday that
former Soviet states such as Georgia and Tajikistan needed as much
help as Africa if they were not to become a battlefield.
Speaking with Mr Blair after talks at the presidential dacha outside
Moscow, Mr Putin also rejected criticism of his increasingly
authoritarian style of government, saying the attacks were an
interference in his country’s domestic policy. He joked that, unlike
Africa, Russia did not settle its disputes by eating its adversaries.
Mr Blair was in Moscow to pursue his agenda for the G8 summit of
leading industrialised countries focusing on climate change and Africa.
He felt forced to open the press conference with an apology for
his failure to attend Russia’s 60th anniversary celebrations of the
victory over Nazi Germany, held in Moscow on May 9. Mr Blair sent his
deputy, John Prescott, who was then dispatched to the back row of world
leaders in what was seen as a sign of Mr Putin’s anger at the British
indifference to the role played by Russia in Europe’s liberation.
Mr Blair said: “I was preoccupied with deciding the new government
and I was unable to attend that commemoration. But I would like to
pay tribute to the courage, heroism and dedication of the Russian
people and Russian armed forces in the way they defeated the Nazis,
and so helped ensure our generation enjoyed freedom.”
Mr Putin said Russia, one of the key energy suppliers of the future,
was close to Britain’s objectives for cutting carbon emissions. He
said the task now was to draw in states that had not signed the treaty,
or had only done so in a formal way.
Mr Blair said: “There is a real prospect of progress on Africa and
climate change.”
Russia takes on the presidency of the G8 next year and Mr Putin
signalled that he would make the fate of the Commonwealth of
Independent States, especially Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan and
Kyrgyzstan, a priority. All four states have suffered revolutions or
insurrections, with often difficult ethnic conflicts or a lack of
democracy creating tensions in neighbouring states. Mr Putin said:
“The situation in the CIS is equally important as that in Africa.”
Some of the 12 CIS states were technically classified as heavily
indebted countries and “need the support of the international
community. We should not turn the CIS space into a battlefield,
rather we should transform this space into a field of cooperation.”
He said the G8 should be assisting these states in developing democracy
and helping enhance their economies.