Blair holds talks with Putin
The Russian president Vladimir Putin has held talks with Tony Blair on the last day of his state visit to Britain today.
He joined the Prime Minister at the opening of a Russia-UK energy conference at Lancaster House this morning before holding an hour’s private talk with Mr Blair.
Mr Putin is due to visit a Russian naval ship and the Royal Observatory in Greenwich with the Duke of York and then a statue of Peter the Great in Deptford this afternoon. The visit will be rounded off later today when Mr and Mrs Putin hold a banquet for the Queen at Spencer House.
Speaking after their meeting at a joint press conference, Tony Blair stressed the importance of strengthened UK-Russian relationships, insisting that differences over the Iraq war should be seen as firmly in the past.
“The threat is not a clash between the big powers in the world, but from these extremist terrorists and unstable states developing these weapons and the combination of the two coming together”, Mr Blair maintained.
He also played down suggestions that the UK should be forced to choose allegiances between either Europe or the United States over issues such as the recent conflict in the Middle East, a US-UK action strongly opposed by France, Germany and Russia.
Insisting that choice to be a “false” one, Mr Blair added: “We have got to get Europe and America and indeed Russia working together”.
Mr Putin’s UK visit has passed fairly uneventfully so far. Whilst visiting Edinburgh yesterday the president spoke of the ancient cultural and military links between Russia and Scotland, which he first visited eight years ago as part of a trade delegation.
However he also warned that international relationships could not be taken for granted despite the end of the Cold War.
‘We have come across new difficulties, new controversies and new threats of ethnic conflicts, international terrorism, organised crime, drug trafficking, environmental disasters, mass epidemics and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
“We should adequately respond to this challenge and the most adequate mechanism to react is solidarity. That can only be done by cooperation and trust,’ he explained.
Mr and Mrs Putin will return to Russia tomorrow.
