RUSSIA - April 29 - Blair Visits.

British PM Tony Blair arrives in Moscow for talks with Pres. Putin. (The summit between the two leaders - held at the Kremlin's suggestion - is the first face-to-face meeting they have held since last autumn, well ahead of the war, after Blair declined a previous invitation to attend a summit earlier this month in St. Petersburg attended by the leaders of France and Germany). Speaking at a news conference with Blair, Putin distances himself from US policy on Iraq, stepping up his campaign for a strong post-war role for the UN. Putin stands out firmly against lifting sanctions against Iraq until the international community is satisfied that there are no weapons of mass destructions in Iraq. He says: "Sanctions can only be removed if there is no suspicion [about the existence of such weapons], which should be subject to a Security Council vote... Perhaps Saddam is sitting in a underground bunker on a case of weapons of mass destruction preparing to blow them up, we simply don't know". He stresses there is a risk that those weapons could still be used or transferred to terrorist groups, as Blair looked on uneasily. (The UK and the US have called for a rapid lifting of sanctions). Blair told reporters on the way to Moscow there could be no question of the US and UK being dragged into a repeat of the "rigmarole" at the UN that preceded the Iraq war. In a conciliatory gesture, he stressed the need for "international verification" of the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which he said he personally believes. But he did not specify whether that process should be carried out by UN weapons inspectors. He also stressed - in a nod to Moscow's demands - that the UN "should have a vital role" both in providing humanitarian assistance and also in the political and economic reconstruction of Iraq. However, he said the "first test" for a strategic partnership within the international community would require a recognition that the coalition forces would not just hand over control to the UN after risking the lives of its soldiers.