The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and Russian President, Vladimir Putin, met in Moscow yesterday for the fifth time in 10 months. No documents were signed and, according to reports, no major issues resolved. It has simply emerged, both sides would have us believe, that the two leaders are extremely good friends and that Britain is in the process of establishing yet another "special relationship" - this time with the former enemy of its best friend.
Mr Blair has been extremely active in his courtship of Mr Putin. In an unprecedented move last March, he virtually took part in Mr Putin's election campaign by accepting an invitation to visit Russia while Mr Putin was still acting-president and seeking the support of the electorate. It did Mr Putin's canvassing effort no harm at all to be seen in presidential pose with the leader of a prominent European state. In return, Mr Putin made Britain his first foreign port of call as newly-elected president of the Russian Federation. Other prominent countries, such as France and Germany were more circumspect. While every bit as aware of the need to engage with Russia and make it feel comfortable in its relations with Western Europe, they felt it necessary to wait until the elections were over and in doing so, showed respect for the democratic process.
On his current visit to the Russian capital, Mr Blair defended his new "special relationship" by intimating that he was building his friendship with Mr Putin, not in the interest of the United Kingdom, but for the world in general. "I know people say there is a risk in being so close with Russia and with President Putin but I think this is something that is well worth doing. It is important for Britain to have a Russia that is stable and engaged with the outside world. If Britain can play a role in that, I think that it is good for the world," he said.
Although he did not make it clear if other countries had asked him to act on their behalf, there is some reason to believe that his initial campaigning visit at least may have been helpful to the United States as well as the United Kingdom.
There was something else Mr Blair could have done in the course of the visit which ended yesterday, something that President Clinton managed to do before him. The only significant media group in opposition to Mr Putin's administration has been under severe pressure from the Kremlin. Its headquarters have been raided, its owner has been imprisoned, released with all charges dropped but then charged again.
The group's radio station, Ekho Moskvy, proposed that Mr Blair participate in a phone-in similar to that which Mr Clinton agreed to, following the raid of the group's headquarters shortly after Mr Putin's inauguration. Unfortunately, Mr Blair did not see his way to participate. A strong and unambiguous stance on media freedom would have been welcome. It would, to use Mr Blair's own words, have been "good for the world."