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Putin wants to be equal 8th, with G-7

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The Group of Eight foreign ministers line up for a group photo session on the 16th green of Tom Watson Golf Course in the compound of Seagaia resort complex in Miyazaki, southern Japan, July 12, 2000. Ministers from left: Javier Solana of the European Union, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott of the United States, Igor Ivanov of Russia, Robin Cook of Britain, Lloyd Axworthy of Canada, Yohei Kono of Japan, Lamberto Dini of Italy, Hubert Vedrine of France, Joschka Fischer of Germany and Chris Patten of European Union. (AP Photo/Yun Jai-hyoung)

July 13, 2000 

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia, which started its meetings with the world's seven richest industrial countries as a supplicant for economic aid, now considers itself an equal partner in the group, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks released Wednesday.

Putin's statements ahead of the July 20-23 summit of the Group of Eight in Okinawa, Japan, came as Russia continues to assert its status as a world power despite its economic troubles and domestic political battles.

Russia began its connection with the Group of Seven - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan - in 1997 when U.S. President Bill Clinton invited then-President Boris Yeltsin to attend a G-7 summit, as a bid to soften Russia's objection to NATO expansion.

Gradually, Russia became more integrated into the group even though its economy is far smaller and shakier than the other countries', and the group has reoriented itself from focusing on economic issues to covering broader political matters.

Putin, in an interview Tuesday with Russian and foreign journalists, noted that Russia's early work with the G-7 focused on establishing relations with international financial organizations to secure loans for Russia.

"Today, we abandon this format of communication with the leaders of the main industrialized countries and assume that we will discuss - like all other participants of this club - global matters foremost," Putin said, according to the news agency ITAR-Tass.

U.S. Secretary of State Strobe Talbott smiles at the start of the Group of Eight Foreign Ministers meeting at World Convention Center "Summit" in Seagaia resort complex in Miyazaki, southern Japan, Wednesday, July 12, 2000. Talbott was here to replace Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who cancelled her participation in the G-8 presummit meeting in Japan to attend the Middle East peace talks near Washington. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Putin has shown clear determination to bolster Russia's status as a world power. Since his election in March, he has traveled extensively, to Western Europe and former Soviet republics, and held a summit with Clinton in Moscow in June.

He also is to travel to China and is expected to visit North Korea en route to the G-8 summit. Putin further plans to make an official visit to Japan in September, said Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who is in Japan for a G-8 ministerial meeting.

But despite the push to keep Russia's global influence high, Ivanov announced a new foreign policy concept this week that calls for trimming Russia's interests abroad in order to save scarce resources and placing more emphasis on the country's economic recovery.

One of Russia's top foreign concerns is the U.S. proposal to amend the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to allow construction of a limited missile-defense system to guard against attacks by "rogue states" that are believed to be developing nuclear weapons.

Russia claims such a system would undermine the treaty's core philosophy and Putin said he would continue to push for the United States to reconsider.

"We do not think that (attack threats) exist today, or come from certain countries," he said, according to ITAR-Tass.

Putin plans to hold a bilateral meeting with Clinton during the G-8 summit, and also meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the agency cited Ivanov as saying.