Brit PM Tony Blair said that he plans to have a "frank discussion" with Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit on US Missile shield and Litvinenko issues
LONDON: British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday he plans to have a "frank discussion" with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit, amid rising tensions between the West and Moscow.
Blair, speaking hours before heading to Germany for the meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised nations, said he would broach both Putin's latest comments on a planned US missile shield and the killing of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London. "What I'll do certainly when I meet President Putin is just to have a frank conversation about the state of the relationship, between not simply Britain, but Europe and Russia," he told the BBC. "I don't really think that in the end it will be in the long-term interest of Russia to have a relationship with Europe or with the western world that is scratchy and difficult," he added.
The G8 summit in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm, planned to focus on climate change and Africa, risks being overshadowed by the growing tension between Russia and the West. During the weekend, Putin threatened to target Russian nuclear missiles at European cities if the United States goes ahead with plans to set up anti-missile bases in ex-Soviet central European countries.
Putin also branded Britain as "foolish" if it thought Moscow would agree to extradite former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi, wanted by London over the radioactive poisoning of Litvinenko last November.
On the Litvinenko case, Blair was firm. "We have got to try and resolve it, we know what issues the Russians have there but we can't have someone murdered on British soil in that way and nothing happen, so it is a discussion we will have to have," he said.
Overall he said the West had to be straight with Putin. "I think behind the scenes at the G8 there will be the opportunity for people to have a frank conversation about Russia, with Russia," he told the BBC. "People want a good relationship with Russia but it is a relationship that can only prosper if it is clear that we share certain values and principles," he added.
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