Blair happy to be Putin's link to the West

By Robin Oakley, CNN.com European Political Editor

LONDON, England (CNN) -- On the way back from his first visit to Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg in March, before the Russian President had been endorsed by the electors, I asked Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair how comfortable he felt doing business with a former KGB spy.

It was fine, he replied. "And the training shows. This was the first of my overseas visits where the plans didn't leak in advance."

The PR-conscious, outgoing Blair and the chilly, media-suspicious Putin have contrasting styles as politicians. But they clearly believe they have something going for them in combination. This week's Moscow visit by Blair is their fifth meeting this year.

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Some European colleagues raised eyebrows at Blair's rush to establish a relationship with an authoritarian Russian leader much criticised over the brutalities in Chechnya.

Blair questioned Moscow's response to acts of terrorism, without any obvious results. But there has been improved access to Chechnya for international organisations.

But Blair has been willing to take risks in establishing a major international role as the first western statesman to develop a relationship with Russia's new strongman. He believes that Britain's dual role as a member of the European Union and as the possessor of a special relationship with its traditional military ally, the U.S., gives him particular leverage in Moscow.

Putin for his part is happy to have an intermediary with Washington whose plans for a missile defence shield against rogue states he sees as dangerously adventurist.

He is happy to build a relationship with a European leader whose parliamentary majority makes it likely he will be around for some time to come. There are obvious advantages for both sides in intensifying their dialogue. Blair is anxious to see Putin maintain the path of economic reform in Russia, promoting a market economy and establishing better public order after the instability evident under the ailing Boris Yeltsin.

Putin is keen to draw in more western investment, from Britain and others.

The Russian President needed the seal of approval which Blair offered by supporting Putin's economic reforms.

On his latest trip to Moscow, Blair has signalled his readiness to mediate between Putin and the next American President over the U.S.'s missile defence plan, which would involve an abrogation of the 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile treaty.

Putin says this would trigger a new arms race and lead Russia to pull out of all arms agreements. At the G8 Summit in Okinawa, Japan, in July, Putin won the support of French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in opposing the missile defence plan.

Blair, however, has been more cautious in public. His press secretary Alastair Campbell said on Monday that it was not a question Blair yet had to answer yet.

But en route to see Putin in Moscow, Blair offered a clue. He declared: "Whereas we have been understanding of the American desire to take action to defend itself against rogue nuclear states, we want to make sure that takes place within the context of the negotiated treaties."

America's missile defence plan will require the co-operation of UK listening stations. That, and the fact that Blair has now met Putin for a fifth time, are likely to put Blair high on the list of prime ministers to be invited to Washington in the new year by America's next president.

The new administration won't want him getting too friendly with Putin.

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