Blair gave Putin silver cufflinks for his birthday

Blair also visited the new Kremlin chief at a time when he was suspected of human rights abuses in neighboring Chechnya….reports Asian Lite News

The new Labor prime minister has spearheaded a Western attempt to woo the former KGB agent as an ally at the “top table” of global diplomacy. Declassified documents from two decades ago show how he pushed for the creation of a NATO-Russia Council with Putin at the center.

Blair also visited the new Kremlin chief at a time when he was suspected of human rights abuses in neighboring Chechnya.

Documents released by the National Archives in Kew, south-west London, include an October 2001 letter to him from media officer Magi Cleaver.

She spoke about the Prime Minister’s upcoming trip to Russia, Pakistan and India, and reminded him that Putin had invited him to “come and celebrate his birthday”.

Cleaver added: ‘So we are bringing a set of new silver No 10 cufflinks as a gift – he will be the first leader to have them.’

Blair compared Putin to influential French leader Charles de Gaulle during talks with US Vice President Dick Cheney.

His foreign policy adviser, John Sawers, wrote that the Labor leader “believed it was best to give Putin a place at the top”.

Other newspapers reveal how grateful the Moscow leader was for Blair’s support at the first meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Rome in May 2002.

A letter from the Private Secretary to No. 10 reads: “Putin was full of praise for the Prime Minister’s initiative to establish the NATO/Russia Council.

Another official note adds: “The NRC meeting was a notable event. Putin took his place at the Council table in a scene unthinkable a very short time ago. He performed with skill and was one of the most impressive performers at the luncheon – contributing with ease, confidence and candor. As a further step in bringing Russia out of the cold, this was a remarkable opportunity.”

He said newly elected US President George W Bush was “relaxed and impressive”, and hoped member states would develop “transparent intelligence cooperation” over the next five years.

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt wanted NATO and Russia to launch “the first joint peacekeeping operations” in the Balkans.

French President Jacques Chirac “showed (the usual) signs of boredom” but rose from the lunch table to kiss the hand of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wanted Putin to speak on behalf of the committee at a summit to defuse the state of near-war between India and Pakistan.

Putin told the group he faced national hardliners who viewed NATO as “adversary or enemy” but “understood the implications” of their new advice.

Lord Robertson, NATO Secretary General, urged members to consider where the international peace initiative “should be in five to ten years”.

But another document, titled Putin’s Progress, details how the man who has become synonymous with warmongering, intrigue and political assassination said one thing and did another.

“Despite the heat of Putin’s rhetoric about close Russia-UK ties, the Russian intelligence effort against UK targets remains at a high level.

“The Russian intelligence presence in the UK is at Cold War levels and they continue to try to post active and hostile officers to work against British interests around the world.”

Last August, the Daily Express revealed how Putin was allowed to grill Britain’s security chiefs at a special emergency Cobra meeting.

Sources said he looked “steel” and “creepy” as he questioned the heads of MI5 and MI6 and Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism chief.

The Kremlin boss was visiting London in October 2005 at a time when Blair wanted him to help the West’s war on terror. But just a year later, Moscow assassins murdered critic Alexander Litvinenko in a London hotel by feeding him a lethal dose of deadly polonium-210.

ALSO READ: UK delivers counter explosive ordnance to Ukraine