MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - Vladimir Putin set out Russia's priorities during its presidency of the Group of Eight industrialized nations Tuesday, and highlighted Russia's status as a major nuclear power with a correspondingly important role to play in global affairs.
Speaking at a Kremlin news conference that lasted for just shy of three and a half hours, the Russian leader also played down concerns that the country was using its abundant energy resources as a way to pressurize neighboring counties, and said that an espionage scandal with the United Kingdom would not mar bilateral relations. He did, however, criticize foreign influence within non-governmental organizations in a related matter.
Putin said that Russia would concentrate on three issues during his presidency of the G8 this year: energy security, efforts to combat disease, and work to improve education. He said he wanted to focus on "Russia's effective participation" in the resolution of problems while holding the rotating presidency. Russia had been coordinating the agenda with the G8, he added.
The president called Russia's G8 membership "absolutely harmonic", and dismissed calls from some quarters to expel the country from the club of the world's richest nations. That stance, Putin said, was adopted largely by experts on the Soviet Union, who were living in the "last century."
"Even though the Soviet Union ceased to exist, they are still there because they have no other specialist subject," he said, all the while highlighting Russia's experience as an emerging economy.
Putin said he knew what the other leaders of G8 nations - which account for two-thirds of the world's economy - thought about Russia's participation in the organization, and was scathing about suggestions that the country was undeserving of its place.
"No one is against, [and] everyone is for Russia's inclusion in this club and its proactive participation in this club, because no one wants the G8 to turn into a collection of fat cats."
Addressing probably the most contentious issue in current global affairs - Iran - Putin reiterated Russia's offer to set up a uranium enrichment center in the country and expanded the idea further by suggesting that facilities could be built in other "nuclear club" countries, providing access on a non-discriminatory basis to nations looking for nuclear fuel for power production.
"Russia is a suitable partner for resolving such problems, given the country's highly developed nuclear energy sector, highly skilled staff, experts and comprehensive nuclear infrastructure," Putin said.
The Russian offer to enrich Iranian fuel has been seen as a compromise in the standoff between the Islamic Republic and the West over its nuclear programs after Tehran caused widespread international concern with a recent announcement that it had abandoned a two-year moratorium on uranium enrichment research. The proposal potentially removes the need for Iran to pursue controversial research that could also give it the technology to build nuclear weapons.
Some countries, led by the U.S., suspect Tehran of pursuing a secret weapons program and have been pushing the referral of the Iranian nuclear file to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic if it is found to have been in breach of its international commitments. Iran has consistently stated that it only wants nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, looks increasingly likely to refer the matter to New York.
Putin also told the news conference that Russia remained one of the world's leading nuclear powers and had a unique nuclear missile system capable of penetrating any defenses.
"Whether a missile defense system exists or doesn't exist, it doesn't matter [to the missiles]," he said.
He said the ballistic missiles were capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and changing height and direction at hypersonic speeds, adding that the new systems had been tested recently.
Turning to a recent controversy that has taken up just as many column inches as Iran in Russia, Putin appeared to take a softer line than some other politicians on an incident that exposed four alleged British intelligence agents in Moscow eight days ago. Although some figures in the political world have been baying for blood, the Russian leader said the scandal would not undermine relations with the United Kingdom.
"We are proceeding from the assumption that a proper decision will be made at the political level and the problem we encountered will not reduce the level of interaction with Britain," Putin said.
The Federal Security Service, which identified the British agents and seized a high-tech British spying device disguised as a rock, linked the espionage scandal to financing of non-governmental organizations working in Russia - a conclusion that has been disputed and subjected to vehement criticism in the West.
Putin, who signed a law at the end of last year giving the authorities wide-ranging powers to monitor the activities and finances of NGOs, stuck to his consistent line on the matter by insisting that the organizations maintain transparency and act within their remit.
"We are for their funding being transparent... [but] we don't want them [NGOs] led by puppeteers from abroad."
NGOs receiving funding from abroad are widely suspected in Russia of having played a prominent role in upheavals that swept aside the incumbent authorities in neighboring Georgia and Ukraine in favor of more pro-Western authorities.
Speaking about Russia's policy in the former Soviet Union, Putin supported the transition to market prices for energy supplies.
"I am convinced that it will help us achieve our foreign policy objectives and goals," Putin said.
He also said the countries of the former Soviet Union were not yet ready for a system in which the election-winning party forms the government.
"I am against introducing such practice into Russian political life today," Putin said. Countries in the region still needed a "firm presidential authority," Putin said, given that their statehood had not long been established.
Members of the international journalistic community were also interested in the president's views on bilateral relations and the future of the Middle East peace process after the Palestine election triumph of Hamas.
In answer to a Japanese journalist's question concerning difficulties in relations between the two countries, the president said Moscow and Tokyo had found a common language and would be able to resolve disputed issues dating back to World War II.
Although a November trip to Japan failed to yield a breakthrough in ownership talks over four disputed islands that should eventually lead to the signing of an official peace treaty with Japan to mark the conclusion of hostilities, Putin said he was "satisfied with the results" of the visit.
"We discussed openly and in detail the complex issues pertaining to a peace treaty," he said, referring to the disputed sovereignty of the four islands in the southern Kurils. He also cautioned against using the problem as an instrument for addressing internal political issues and said Russia would seek a solution with due respect for Japan's interests, but based also on its own national interests.
Speaking about the situation in Palestine, Putin said the election victory of the Hamas movement was a serious blow to U.S. efforts to promote peace in the Middle East. However, he also said that Russia had never considered Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
"Our position is different from that of the United States and western Europe," Putin said. "But that does not mean that we condone everything Hamas does or the statements it recently made."
He said Hamas should change its position that it had won popular trust and must demonstrate positive results from its leadership to the population.
"For this purpose, Hamas should abandon radical statements, recognize the state of Israel and establish contacts with the international community," he said, adding that it would be a mistake to stop aid to the Palestinians.
