You are here
Home > News > Blair thought Putin should be ‘on top table’: declassified U.K. National Archives

Blair thought Putin should be ‘on top table’: declassified U.K. National Archives

Newly declassified documents released by the U.K. National Archives reveal that in 2001, then-PM Tony Blair argued the freshly-minted Russian ruler deserved a seat at the world’s “top table” and could thereby be encouraged to adopt Western values. Better-informed officials nevertheless questioned whether the ex-KGB spy could be trusted.

Blair explained his approach towards the Russian President in a conversation with the recently sworn-in U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney back in February 2001. PM Blair believed “it was better to allow Putin a position on the top table and encourage Putin to reach for western attitudes as well as the western economic model”.

Blair explained to the inquiring Cheney that Putin was a “Russian patriot, acutely aware that Russia had lost its place in the world”. The British PM said that while describing Putin as a “Russian De Gaulle” would be misleading, the former French president and the new Kremlin ruler had similar mindsets. Blair did add he thought it was right to put pressure on Putin on a number of issues.

No, Prime Minister

Downing Street officials were more sceptical behind the scenes, however. A few months earlier, a paper on “Putin’s Progress” was prepared for John Sawers, then defence adviser to the prime minister and later head of MI6.

The files, authored by an anonymous author and marked as “confidential”, were part of briefing notes prepared by Sawers’ team for Blair’s 2001 U.S. visit. The author of the report pointed out that the Russian President’s “constructive” comments made to Blair were sometimes “belied” by Russian actions.

Kursk disaster 22 years later: writing on the wall

The life of Russian servicemen seems to have value for the rulers of the Kremlin only insofar as they make for warm bodies to be hurled at the…

see more

The long list of examples included the sinking of the Kursk submarine which claimed the lives of all 118 Russian sailors on board. While Putin publicly said he was grateful for the offers of British help, Russian officials had obstructed assistance and repeated unfounded rumours that the disaster was caused by a collision with a British submarine spying on the Russian navy’s manoeuvres.

Putin had told Blair during the latter’s Moscow visit, that he did not want to be viewed as “anti-NATO” and would not try to slow the alliance’s enlargement, but this had been flatly contradicted by the Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev, who told his NATO counterparts it would a be “major political error” and that Russia would “take appropriate steps”.

“Despite the warmth of Putin’s rhetoric about the close links between Russia and the U.K., the Russian intelligence effort against British targets remains at a high level. The Russian intelligence presence in the U.K. is at cold war levels, and they continue to try to post active and hostile officers to work against British interests worldwide,” the notes state.

Other key issues included Russia’s “concerning” supply to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction programme.

Silver cufflinks and natural gas links

In 2000, Blair had courted controversy with a hastily arranged and private visit designed to personalise ties with Putin. He was also in Moscow in October of the next year.

“You will recall Putin actually asked you to come to celebrate his birthday on Sunday – so we are bringing a set of the new silver No 10 cufflinks as your gift – he will be the first leader to have them,” Magi Cleaver, a Downing Street press officer, wrote in the memo to Blair.

The duration of the visit did not extend long enough for Blair to attend the party, but Blair did praise the “strong leadership” of Putin and reiterated that the Cold War was over.

German chancellor claims independence from Russian gas

Germany had freed itself from dependence on Russian gas but was working to bring energy prices down, by securing new gas delivery contracts from…

see more

A senior U.K. diplomat reported that Blair suggested to Putin during a visit to Moscow in October of the following year that he might like to meet “major British energy players” on a return visit to London in order to stress their commitment to work together.

Putin offered to build a gas pipeline across Belarus and under the Baltic Sea that would supply the U.K. and “ensure stable supplies for decades to come”.

Had the plan come to fruition, 20 years onward the U.K. would be enjoying the same stability Germany has thanks to the Nord Stream and Druzhba pipelines.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Top