Bush faces war opponents

A conciliatory U.S. President George W. Bush flew into Russia yesterday to face world leaders who opposed him over Iraq, with a historic gala providing a glamorous setting for repairing damaged ties.

Lavish festivities to mark the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin's home-town, brought together the key players in the bitter debate leading up to the Iraq war, including the leaders of France, Germany and Britain.

Speaking in Poland on the first stop of a week-long postwar trip to Europe and the Middle East, Bush ruled out confrontation and took a conciliatory tack, saying the US was committed to a strong partnership with Europe against terrorism.

"This is no time to stir up divisions in a great alliance," he said in Krakow. He used a visit to the nearby Auschwitz death camp to spell out his case for pre-emptive strikes on "evil".

"The United States is committed to a strong Atlantic alliance to ensure our security, to advance human freedom and to keep peace in the world," he said, thanking Poles for backing on Iraq that contrasted with fierce French and German criticism.

The presence of the more than 40 leaders, following many months of international tension, turned the $1.5 billion party into an occasion for intense global diplomacy.

Bush, Putin and other leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised powers also go on to a G8 summit in the French town of Evian today.

Despite Bush's calming words, Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice did not mince her words in an interview with a French newspaper, telling Le Monde there had been times Paris seemed to view Americans as more dangerous than Saddam Hussein.

And the Evian summit still promises to be a tense gathering, with the US leader challenging Europe to tear down trade barriers and open up to genetically modified crops.

Before he arrived in St Petersburg, European Union allies breezed through a separate summit with Putin, who seeks re-election next March, treading delicately on sensitive issues.

Today, Bush meets Putin for a separate summit when the future of post-war Iraq and the growing issue of Russia's nuclear co-operation with Iran will be sure to be discussed.

A senior US official accompanying Bush said Russia shared its concerns about Iran's nuclear programme but that Washington would press Moscow on the issue during the visit.

Washington has sharply criticised Russian involvement in Iran's plans to build a nuclear power plant, which the Americans say is a cover for a nuclear weapons programme.

Earlier yesterday, Putin used the meeting with EU leaders to voice anxiety over EU enlargement into ex-Soviet territory. But EU leaders gave him an easy ride on Chechnya, where he has run foul of them in the past over abuses by Russian soldiers.

A final statement, while calling for human rights in Chechnya to be protected, condemned "any kind of violence, in particular terrorist acts" - a reference to rebel attacks.

Putin renewed calls for visa-free travel to the EU for Russians and, though he secured no target date for such a decision, he won agreement that this was a long-term prospect.

Among other encounters, China's Hu Jintao, on his first foreign tour as head of state, met Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for their first summit.

They agreed to try to bring North Korea and the US back to the negotiating table on the question of Pyongyang's nuclear plans.