The main outcome of the visit of the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to St Petersburg has been to provide a boost to the popularity of Russia's acting premier, Mr Vladimir Putin, in the run up to the presidential elections on March 26th. It is hardly surprising that the pro-Kremlin media portrayed the visit as recognition of a significant player on the word stage. One of the main issues in the campaign is, after all, the restoration of the country to its previous status as a major power. The image of the visit conveyed to the Russian electorate by state television was that of Mr Putin as the embodiment of the new Russia playing host, as an equal at the very least, to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
There was little equality, however, in the results of the meeting between the two leaders. Mr Putin received a boost to his apparently unassailable electoral prospects. Mr Blair, while he used the occasion to raise questions about alleged human rights abuses by Russia, returned to London without the slightest commitment from Mr Putin on the issue. Much has been made of Mr Putin's agreement to allow international observers into Chechnya but such agreements had in many cases already been concluded before Mr Blair's visit. The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, Mr Alvaro Gil Robles, had achieved this for his own organisation and it is hoped that some time next month the United Nations commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, will lead a team to the region.
Mr Blair was apparently charmed by Mr Putin in the splendour of St Petersburg and has been contacting other western leaders to tell them how impressed he was. He also, rightly, pointed out that Russia should not be isolated by the west, that it should be encouraged to progress further on the road towards democracy and respect for the rights and the lives of its own citizens. He stressed too that Russia does have a serious problem with terrorism and pointed to the apartment bombings last year in which almost 300 people died at the hands of unknown assailants. It was also important for him to emphasise that acts of the utmost barbarity have been committed on the territory of Chechnya by bandit warlords including the beheading of British hostages. These entirely justified elements, as might have been expected, completely outweighed his criticism of Russia's actions as far as the message conveyed to the electorate was concerned.
That Mr Blair came to Russia at the height of a presidential election campaign to make favourable comments about a single candidate falls little short of participation in that campaign. It is true that Mr Blair has had the good sense to back the odds-on favourite but he has also backed a hawk when there are other more liberal and pro-western candidates in the race. The British leader might have been better advised to have visited Russia after its people had voted.