Global Policy Forum

By Patrick Wintour

Tony Blair's first public attempt to heal the diplomatic wounds of the Iraq war suffered a humiliating rebuff yesterday when Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, refused to lift UN sanctions and mocked the possibility that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq. Mr Putin also clashed with Mr Blair by demanding UN weapons inspectors be allowed back into Iraq and challenged Mr Blair's vision of a new world strategic partnership, arguing it would be unacceptable for the US to dominate the international community.

The public dressing down for Mr Blair came during a 63-minute press conference staged by the two men at Mr Putin's private residence outside Moscow. The two men had a fabled special relationship and Mr Blair had high hopes he would be able to wean Mr Putin away from his new anti-war alliance with France and Germany. Mr Blair started with the full diplomatic niceties but became increasingly animated until he issued a dire warning of a new world order in which two different poles of power act as rivals to one another. The world faced a choice between a partnership between the US and the main countries of the world or a continued "diplomatic stand off", he said.

Mr Blair had been hoping to use his influence to persuade Russia to agree to the Anglo-US demand to lift sanctions on Iraq in return for giving the UN an as yet unspecified "vital role" in the reconstruction of Iraq and its new government. But Mr Putin said Russia and its partners "believe until clarity is achieved over whether weapons of mass destruction exist in Iraq, sanctions should be kept in place". Almost mocking Mr Blair, he went on: "Where is Saddam? Where are those arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, if indeed they ever existed? Perhaps Saddam is still hiding somewhere in a bunker underground, sitting on cases of weapons of mass destruction and is preparing to blow the whole thing up and bring down the lives of thousands of Iraqi people."

He added that sanctions could not be lifted since they had been introduced because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction."It is only the security council that is in a position to lift those sanctions, after all they introduced them." He also derided Mr Blair's talk of a new world order, saying: "If the decision-making process in such a framework is democratic then that is something we could agree with, but if decisions are being made by just one member of the international community and all the others are required to support them that is something we could not find acceptable."

Mr Putin insisted that the weapons inspectors could return now so that they could be summoned to any site in Iraq to make a "professional conclusion" on whether the weapons existed. The inspectors could be protected by UN or blue-helmeted soldiers along the line of the settlement reached in Afghanistan. He added that Russia was in a position to take immediate steps. The tone and content of Mr Putin's rebuff will cause deep anxiety inside Downing Street which has been increasingly concerned that, following the war in Iraq, a new bi-polar world order is established with the US on one side and France and Germany on the other.

Although Mr Blair said he was not disappointed by the Russian response, No 10 had hoped for a more flexible position - especially since Iraq's $8bn outstanding debts to Russia will be examined by the so-called Paris club, the bankers of the leading industrialised countries. Downing Street was concerned last night over the implications of the mini-EU defence summit in Brussels yesterday. Mr Blair said he could not support such a new European defence institution if it became a threat to Nato or sought to duplicate its activities.

Mr Blair also revealed a reluctance to become involved in another bout of diplomatic wrangling primarily with France and Germany over the UN's involvement in Iraq. He said: "Getting agreement with the UN is important, and it is important we get a vital role for the UN, but we are not going back into the rigmarole we had the last time over the second UN resolution." He underlined the point at his press conference saying the role of the UN in post-war Iraq would be "the first test" of his proposed new strategic partnership. He asked: "Are coalition forces prepared to accept a vital role for the UN, but are our colleagues on the security council prepared to accept that our soldiers having fought and died in respect of this war cannot simply hand Iraq to the sole charge of the UN while the coalition forces are there on the ground stabilising the situation."

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