RUSSIA: KASYANOV AND PUTIN MEET BLAIR

Описание: (21 Nov 2000) English/Nat
XFA
During a one day whirlwind visit to Moscow, British Prime Minister Tony Blair met for talks with Russia's Prime Minister Kasyanov and President Vladimir Putin.

Tony Blair struck a decidedly conciliatory note towards the Russian President's sometimes controversial policies.

Blair who was meeting Putin for the fifth time in nine months, said he would not shy away from confronting Russia on difficult issues.

The British Prime Minister did seem to show understanding for Putin's policies on Chechnya.

He expressed the need to appreciate the Chechen issue from a Russian perspective conceding that the rebels did pose a tangible threat to Russia's stability.

The British Premier said he sees Putin as a very competent and intelligent leader who understands the needs of today's Russia.

Blair was shown by Russian television on Monday chatting animatedly with Putin at an unpretentious Moscow restaurant.

A British official said they had discussed the Middle East, convulsed by new violence after Israeli helicopters fired on Palestinian targets in response to a bomb attack; Iraq, where Moscow wants U.N. sanctions lifted; and the Balkans.

Following their encounter Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to have heaped praise on the British Premier.

Blair paid a high-profile unofficial visit to Russia in March, when Putin was still acting president, and his trip was widely seen as an image-booster for Putin just ahead of the March 26 presidential election.

Putin reciprocated by making Britain the first Western country he visited after being elected.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We have to understand the scale of the problems that the President of Russia has to deal with - and they are unlike any of the problems that any of us in the Western world have to deal with. He's dealing with an economy that needs absolute fundamental restructuring, civic society that needs to be rebuilt after the years of communism, and external relations that have a whole series of historical legacies that have to be overcome. I don't think it is surprising that he is and presents himself as a strong leader, a patriotic leader for Russia."
SUPERCAPTION: Tony Blair, British Prime Minister

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"You take the issue of Chechnya. We've made and always make clear that the humanitarian concerns, the concern that any use of force should be proportionate, our concern in the end that it should be solved by political means. But it's important to realise the Russian concern about the destabilisation in Russia the possibility of that spreading to other areas, their concern about acts of terrorism and sabotage. It's just important that we get those things in balance and that we try to understand how he is trying to deal with those problems from his own perspective."
SUPERCAPTION: Tony Blair, British Prime Minister

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...