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Putin slams U.S.

Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: In the run-up to a Russia-U.S. summit next month, President Vladimir Putin has rejected American dictat in international relations and called for an overhaul of bilateral ties.

Russia "will not join any ultimatums [over nuclear proliferation], which only push the situation into a dead end and strike a blow against the authority of the U.N. Security Council," he said in clear reference to Washington's demand for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.

"I am convinced that dialogue and not isolation of one or another state is

what leads to resolution of crises," he said in a key foreign-policy speech at an biannual meeting of Russian diplomats in Moscow on Tuesday.

The Russian leader accused the U.S. of encouraging more countries to aspire for nuclear weapons by pursuing the policy of indiscriminate use of force.

"The hyper-exaggerated reliance on force in international relations is one of the causes behind the desire of a number of countries to acquire weapons of mass destruction."

Mr. Putin rejected U.S. and Europe's charges about Russia's "neo-imperial ambitions" and "energy blackmail".

Manhunt

Mr. Putin has ordered the secret services to hunt down and destroy the killers of five Russian diplomats in Iraq, even as the Russian Parliament called on Iraqi and coalition forces to apprehend the culprits.

Four Russian embassy personnel were captured and later executed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Mujahedeen Shura Council. A fifth Russian was killed during the kidnapping of the diplomats.

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