14 February 2007

Russian President Vladimir Putin pressed his plan for a regional conference to unblock the peace process on Tuesday, and urged Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas to set up an efficient government to help reach a final settlement with Israel. Speaking in Amman, Putin launched his second scathing attack on Washington in a week, accusing the Bush administration of using Russia as a "threat" to secure funds from Congress for its military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Putin was in Jordan on the last leg of a Middle East tour of three US allies that demonstrated Russia's regional ambitions and its differences with American policies.

After talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II earlier in the day, Putin said there was a growing consensus for a new international conference on the Middle East. His proposal would engage Syria in the talks, a prospect likely to unsettle Washington.

"We confirm our call for a broad international conference in the Middle East and we see the number of supporters of this proposal growing," Putin said in a statement he read to reporters as he stood alongside King Abdullah.

"But it should be well prepared and the agenda [should] include the Palestinian,  Lebanese and Syrian tracks."

Abdullah said he had underscored "the importance of resolving the core conflict" in the Middle East - the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Abdullah highlighted the importance of Russia's role in the so-called "Quartet" of Middle East peace mediators.

Putin later held 50-minute talks with Abbas, who briefed the Russian leader on the agreement reached between Fatah and Hamas during last week's talks in Mecca.

"We hope that very soon conditions will be created for lifting the blockade. It will be lifted to allow you to take the next step toward full-scale settlement," Putin was heard telling Abbas at the start of their talks at Amman's airport.

He also told Abbas it would be "very useful" if an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza last June were freed.

Abbas told Putin "if there are no unpleasant surprises" the current government would quit in the next few days and Palestinian Premier Ismail Haniyya of Hamas would form a government with the rival Fatah faction.

King Abdullah said that he and Putin had "agreed that negotiations for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state should be accelerated."

On Iraq, they expressed "mutual commitment to helping ensure Iraq's unity, stability and security," Abdullah said, adding that the two also discussed Iran's nuclear standoff with the West and "continue to believe that a diplomatic solution to this crisis must be found."

Responding to questions over blistering attack he made against US policies last week, Putin said: "For over 10 years we have been listening to what our partners have been saying about different topics. We are very patient and very tolerant but we have the feeling that we are misunderstood."

"They have begun to stir up so-called threats created by Russia, which don't exist, in order to ask the US Congress for funds for their military action in Afghanistan, Iraq, and to build their anti-missile shield in Europe."

A statement released after Putin's meeting with the Jordanian king focused on economic cooperation.

It said they signed agreements on encouraging investment and two commercial deals: one between Russia's AvtoVAZ carmaker and a Jordanian carmaker, and another on the possible assembly in Jordan of the Russian KA-226 general-purpose helicopters.

Analysts say Moscow favors a broader and more comprehensive approach to solving problems in the Middle East over a US drive to first secure a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis before dealing with other regional problems. - Agencies