Yesterday the Spanish politician arrived in Moscow for a private visit on the President's invitation. Aznar ruled his country for eight years, in 1996-2004.
He has a "kind and time-tested friendship" with the Russian President, the former prime minister said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
"He kindly invited me to visit him in Moscow. It will be a meeting of two old friends," Aznar said, pointing out that he had had such relationship with Putin since their first meeting.
"I will never forget that Vladimir Putin's first foreign trip as President was to Spain. You do not forget such things. Since then we have had very good relationship that was strengthened at every meeting. I have been to Moscow with my wife and children, and we have established relations of mutual respect and trust, which have helped us and our countries," he said.
He described Putin as "a serious person, with whom you can have a dialog, discuss any difficult issues and come to agreements."
"I do not mean that I have always agreed with him or that I approve of everything he does. But you can be sure that he is a very serious politician," Aznar emphasized.
"My sincere wish is for the relations between our countries to reach an even higher level and for the incumbent Spanish government to cherish them as much," said Aznar, who is the honorary president of the People's (Conservative) Party, which was in power until March 14, 2004.
He spoke in favor of international cooperation in fight against terrorism. There can be made no differences between terrorists, he believes.
"A terrorist in Madrid, Bali or Casa Blanca, in Jerusalem, Istanbul, New York or Beslan is the same terrorist. So I have publicly announced my support to President Putin's action related to the tragedy in Beslan and his fight against terrorism," the former prime minister said.
In this connection he criticized the statement of the EU representatives after the Beslan hostage taking, describing them as "absolutely unacceptable".
"I believe that the EU has made a great mistake. And I understand the Russian leadership's frustration at such a reaction. The reasons are political. There can be different points of view on some or other events, but it is unacceptable to apply double standards to similar events," Aznar believes.
