Tony Blair said today he will seek a “frank conversation” with Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit over the Russian President's increasingly fractious relations with the West.

The Prime Minister said that he wanted to discuss issues including the US’s plans for a missile shield and the murder of Alexander Litvinenko when the men meet at the event in Germany today.

However, Mr Blair insisted that he did not believe the tensions would result in “some great confrontation”, because it was not in Russia’s interests to have a “scratchy or difficult” relationship with international partners.

The row over nuclear arms is threatening to overshadow the three-day summit, where leaders are hoping to strike a key deal to tackle climate change which includes both America and China.

It’s Grrrrr8 (honest)

As the G8 summit begins in Germany, Hugo Rifkind explains everything you need to know – and lots of stuff you don’t

Multimedia

• Audio: Behind the scenes at the G8

• Pictures: G8 summit

BACKGROUND

• Quotes: what Putin told The Times

• Blair reinvented the Middle Ages

• The West is starting this Cold War

• Save the planet: give to China

Related Links

• G8 activists clash with police amid climate row

• Briefing: the Merkel Method & how the G8 works

• Russia's threats are running on empty

In an interview with The Times this week, Mr Putin threatened to target Russian nuclear weapons at European cities if America presses ahead with siting a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, both former Eastern Bloc countries close to Russia.

President Bush yesterday tried to defuse the “Cold War” row over his missile defence plans, assuring Mr Putin that “Russia’s not our enemy”. At a press conference with Czech leaders in Prague, Mr Bush stressed that the bases were a “purely defensive” plan to thwart the potential of a nuclear threat from Iran.

Inviting Russian generals and scientists to join their American counterparts, Mr Bush added: “You shouldn’t fear a missile defence system. As a matter of fact why don’t you cooperate with us?”

A few hours later, however, in a speech on democracy organised by former Soviet dissidents, Mr Bush risked inflaming tensions all over again by accusing Russia of derailing democratic reforms and, along with other countries such as China, failing to embrace fundamental freedoms.

His speech went on to stress that, despite “strong disagreements”, the US had a “complex friendship” with both Russia and China which meant that “in the areas where we share mutual interests, we work together”. He added: “Part of a good relationship is the ability to talk openly about our disagreements.”

Today Mr Blair swung his support behind Mr Bush, and spoke bluntly about Russia's objections. He pointed out that the US had promised to be “completely transparent” over its plans to base a nuclear defence in Poland and the Czech Republic, and to “share the technology”.

“The fact is this has always been about the danger of rogue states. The truth of the matter is that, for all sorts of reasons, it is not something that is really about Russia at all and yet suddenly it is put up by Russia in this way, in quite a confrontational way,” he told the BBC.

“Now I think the sensible thing, and this is what I’ll do certainly when I meet President Putin, is just to have a frank conversation about the state of the relationship between not simply Britain but Europe and Russia.”

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