Assessing the summit
- 8 Jun 07, 04:15 PM
Tony Blair has just got onto Blairforce One - he came here by helicopter following what he describes as 'very frank' talks with Vladimir Putin. He said that the atmosphere in the room, on a personal level, was (and I quote) "perfectly cordial" - not exactly the warmest language he could have used. The PM went on to say that the issues that had been raised had "not been resolved" - the issues discussed being energy, the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, and of course, the missile defence system.
The PM will be, I suspect, pleased with what has gone on at this summit, but his concern over Russia is absolutely palpable - you can almost feel it. He told us that the Russian president had set out his belief to him that his country wasn't properly treated by the West, and Blair in return had said to him that Russia was a real cause of concern. Mr Blair added, almost wistfully, that he had been "perfectly frank" with Mr Putin - but said that what follows now would be another matter.
It's striking how the tone of the rhetoric has changed in just a couple of days. Earlier in the week we had this extraordinary Cold War rhetoric, where the Russian president kept referring directly to the conflict, to the sight of Mr Putin and George W Bush grinning at each other, gripping each other's hands in front of the camera, with Putin offering what he described as a compromise. In truth what is probably happening is that he's playing to two audiences - an audience at home that wants to see him stand up for Russia, and an international audience which wants to be reassured that Russia can be a predictable partner in international negotiations.
