Putin Makes Historic Visit to Britain
In the first state visit to Britain by a Russian since the 19th century, Vladimir Putin came to London on Tuesday as the guest of Queen Elizabeth II and was greeted with royal pomp and ceremony: a red carpet at the airport, an artillery salute and a state banquet at Buckingham Palace.
The Russian president’s visit is an effort to repair damage done by the U.S.-led war on Iraq – which Britain joined and Russia opposed – and reflects Russia’s growing economic importance to Britain.
In an interview, Putin said relations between the two countries had matured since the fall of the Soviet Union. “They are no longer about ideology. We have become true partners,” Putin told the British Broadcasting Corp.’s “Breakfast With Frost” program.
Putin and Prime Minister Tony Blair have cultivated a close relationship, and the two leaders will likely play down, at least in public, differences over Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
No politics was discussed Tuesday as Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, were treated to a welcome with a color and scale rarely seen in Britain.
Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, was at Heathrow Airport to greet the couple as they stepped off their private jet onto a red carpet, before they were whisked into central London.
Scarlet-garbed Grenadier Guards and mounted cavalry troops, their plumed silver helmets glinting in the sun, stood by as the monarch, her husband Prince Philip and Blair welcomed the Russian leader’s motorcade at Horse Guards Parade.
Putin stood beside the queen on a dignitary-packed dais as a military band played the Russian national anthem and an artillery salute sounded from nearby Green Park.
After Putin and Philip inspected the honor guard, the dignitaries rode in open horse-drawn carriages to Buckingham Palace, where the Russian couple will stay during the four-day visit.
Putin then laid a wreath, in the colors of the Russian flag, at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, representing war dead, in Westminster Abbey. A state banquet was planned at the palace later Tuesday.
It is the first state visit to Britain by a Russian leader – although Putin and other Russian leaders have visited for political talks – since Czar Alexander II stayed with Queen Victoria in 1874, when the czar’s daughter was marrying Victoria’s son.
After the Bolsheviks killed Czar Nicholas II and his family – relatives of Britain’s royal family – in 1918, relations between the two states grew strained.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Anglo-Russian relationship has flourished. The queen made a state visit to Russia in 1994, and Britain was the destination of Putin’s first trip to the West after being elected president in 2000.
Blair and Putin are expected to hold wide-ranging talks on Iraq after a lunch including their wives at No. 10 Downing St. on Thursday.
Russia opposed the Iraq war, but now wants to ensure it gets a share of the postwar contracts. Putin has warned Britain and the United States not to “squeeze out” Russian firms in the reconstruction effort, and said he expected oil contracts signed between Russian companies and the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein to be honored.
Iran’s nuclear program is also on the agenda. Britain fears Iran may be using its nuclear power program, which Russia helped build, as a cover to develop an atomic bomb. Russia insists Iran has no nuclear weapons program.
Blair is also under pressure from lawmakers and rights groups to condemn human rights abuses in Chechnya, where Moscow is waging a long-running war. But he does not want to let the criticism harm the prospect of better relations with Russia.
The visit also serves to promote commercial ties between the two countries. Britain exported more than $1.65 billion worth of goods to Russia last year, and Britain is the country’s largest foreign investor.