Tensions mark the close of G8 summit

Tensions mark the close of G8 summit
By Andrew Ward in Rostock and and Hugh Williamson, Bertrand Benoit and Fiona Harvey in in Heiligendamm
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: June 8 2007 19:12 | Last updated: June 9 2007 01:36


Growing tensions between Russia and the west overshadowed the close of the Group of Eight summit of industrialised nations in Germany on Friday, as Vladimir Putin hardened his stance on the future of Kosovo and offered further controversial proposals to challenge US plans for Europe-based missile defences.

The deepening rift prompted Tony Blair, the outgoing UK prime minister, to warn that people were now becoming “worried and fearful about what is happening in Russia today and Russia’s external policies”.

Mr Blair, whose imminent departure from office enabled him to be particularly blunt, said there there were “real issues” between Russia and the west, adding: “I don’t think they are going to be solved any time soon.”

A series of bilateral talks between Mr Putin and other leaders apparently failed to bridge the differences. Mr Putin dismissed the proposed missile shield as being “very close to our borders and aimed at Iranian weapons which don’t exist”.

Having already surprised the US with an offer to use a Russian radar base in Azerbaijan for its missile defence shield, Mr Putin on Friday suggested that, instead of Poland, the Pentagon place its missile interceptors in Turkey, Iraq or on ships.

He also toughened his stance on the future of Kosovo, rejecting French proposals to resolve the future of the troubled territory, under which Kosovo and Serbia would be given six months to negotiate an alternative status for the region or see it become independent.

The tensions eclipsed the proclaimed achievements of the summit, which was marked by progress on climate change but disappointment for African countries as G8 countries refused to act on promises to boost aid to their continent significantly.

The surprise agreement to begin negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto protocol this December at a United Nations conference in Bali will now make that meeting the most significant on climate change since the protocol was negotiated 10 years ago.

Claude Mandil, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told the Financial Times: “It was very, very good progress...Of course there was a compromise but what was dropped was something that was not important.”

The G8 leaders refused to be specific on when they would meet pledges made at the 2005 Gleneagles summit to boost development assistance by $50bn by 2010, and said they would only “continue their efforts” to increase funding for Aids treatment by $60bn.

Abdoulaye Wade, Senegal president, expressed disappointment, saying his country had “not received an extra dollar in aid” since the Gleneagles pledge at the summit two years ago.

Bono, the rock star and Africa campaigner, condemned the G8 for “broken promises”. On one estimate, only $3bn of the $60bn target will materialise by 2010.