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  • Putin urges ex-Soviet leaders to stick together

    Putin urges ex-Soviet leaders to stick together
    By Richard Balmforth

    Reuters
    May 8 2005

    MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday urged
    leaders of the 12-member club of ex-Soviet states, some of them
    already shifting to the West, to stick together to fight extremism
    and terrorism.

    Putin, avoiding controversy as he raised the curtain on three days
    of summits and parties marking the Allied victory over Nazi Germany,
    made no mention of the political about-face in four members of the
    Commonwealth of Independent States.

    But, referring to a U.N. call to fight national extremism, terrorism,
    racism and xenophobia, he said: "I am convinced the CIS is capable
    of becoming an effective instrument for such a joint fight."

    Security forces threw a ring of steel around Red Square and the Kremlin
    -- focal points for celebrations on Monday that will be attended by
    U.S. President George W. Bush and more than 50 other world leaders.

    The biggest danger comes from Chechen separatists who have staged
    deadly attacks throughout Putin's five years in power and rarely
    let Victory Day pass without incident. Russia seeks help from CIS
    neighbours in efforts to cut their supply routes and end a campaign
    seen by many here as a threat to Russian unity.

    Ten of the 12 leaders attended the informal summit of the CIS, an
    ill-assorted alliance of states stretching from Central Asia on the
    border with China to the edge of the European Union.

    It was an occasion for Putin to reflect on Russia's waning influence,
    in a region where it once held absolute sway, as former colonies
    shift their allegiance from Moscow and towards a welcoming and more
    financially alluring West.

    Georgia's pro-western leader boycotted because of a row with Moscow
    over Russian bases on its territory. Azerbaijan's president stayed away
    because of tension with the Armenian leader over a disputed territory.

    But Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko, elected against Moscow's wishes
    after a pro-western revolution late last year, was present as was
    the leader of Moldova who also wants to turn his tiny country away
    from Moscow towards western Europe.

    But Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko -- described by Washington as
    Europe's last dictator -- took his place at the round table meeting.
    Interfax news agency quoted him as saying earlier in Moscow that
    there would be "no revolutions or bandits actions" in his country in
    the near future.

    Ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, where the entrenched leadership was swept away
    in a chaotic, unplanned coup in March, was represented by acting
    president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

    The four other autocratic rulers of former Soviet Central Asia were
    also present, including Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov
    who has built up a bizarre personality cult.

    Most have made plain that they will not ease their grip and allow
    'people power' revolutions of the sort seen in Georgia and Ukraine.

    PUTIN UNDER FIRE

    Putin, under criticism over his democracy record from the United States
    as well as being at odds with some CIS leaders, hopes the high-profile
    ceremonies around Monday's 60th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of
    Nazi Germany will lift his international image.

    Bush himself was scheduled to fly in later on Sunday for dinner and
    what could be tense talks with Putin following the U.S. leader's trip
    to the Latvian capital Riga.

    In Riga, Bush on Saturday called the Cold War division of Europe
    after 1945 one of the greatest wrongs of history, angering Russia at
    a time when it is marking the war in which 27 million Soviet citizens
    were killed.

    Putin, who earlier this month described the collapse of the Soviet
    Union as the 20th century's biggest geo-political catastrophe, says
    the Red Army was a liberator, not an oppressor, of Eastern Europe.

    He has ignored calls by the Baltic nations for atonement.

    Moscow's city centre was awash with Soviet-style hoardings and banners
    lauding victory over Germany. Police, interior ministry troops and
    OMON special forces sealed off the Kremlin and Red Square.

    Heavy trucks blocked access roads and officials said military aircraft
    and helicopters were patrolling the skies around the city to protect
    leaders arriving on Sunday.
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