Flying Accusations From Moscow
June 6th, 2007
Vladimir Putin has accused George Bush of inciting another cold war, according to news reports in Russia.
The Russian president said that with the luxury of experience from the Soviet years he won't be launching a full-scale defence programme - but may still take the opportunity to test the new intercontinental ballistic racket missiles RC-24.
Putin, who is participating in his last G8 meeting, also anticipates fresh conflicts erupting in Europe if the US develops a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. In response, Polish president Yaroslav Kachinsky accused Putin of a shift towards a more aggressive, Khrushchev-style rhetoric.
But with the agenda largely focused on global economics, investment protection and global warming rather than "Russian issues", Russian analyst Aleksandr Rar said that the summit looked less like a Group of 8 than of 7+1.
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