8 June 2007
Ongoing differences with Russia will take time to be resolved, the Prime Minister has said.
Speaking to journalists after bi-lateral talks with President Vladimir Putin, Mr Blair said that his counterpart felt that Russia "was not being treated properly" by the West.
Mr Blair said he had responded that "people were becoming worried, fearful about what was happening in Russia today", particularly around foreign policy.
"We had a discussion that lasted about an hour and it was a very frank discussion. It went through all the issues you would expect us to go through and we set out each other’s views, which are well known.
"The atmosphere on a personal level was perfectly cordial but there are real issues there and I don’t think they will be resolved any time soon.”
The UK and Russia are in dispute over the requested extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, a suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London last year. Russia has also voiced its opposition to a so-called missile defence shield which the US plans to build across a number of countries in Eastern Europe.
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