US, Russia on collision course at G8 summit

FE Team | Published: June 07, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

HEILIGENDAMM, June 6 Germany (AFP): A war of words between the United States and Russia threatens to overshadow the Group of Eight summit which starts here Wednesday with climate change officially topping the agenda.
A massive security operation swung into action, with 16,000 police deployed to guard leaders of the world's most industrialised nations in a resort on the Baltic Sea.
The leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States will meet in a luxury beachfront hotel sealed off by a 12-kilometre-long (seven-mile) fence topped with barbed wire.
Protests against the summit by anarchists and anti-globalisation groups have degenerated into violence since Saturday, leaving hundreds of police and demonstrators injured.
US President George W. Bush, his wife Laura, and their entourage arrived on Tuesday to jeers from anti-war and anti-capitalism protestors.
On the eve of the gathering, Bush steered towards a confrontation with Russian President
Vladimir Putin as he took Moscow to task for "derailing" reforms.
The Kremlin rejected Bush's accusations, saying Russia was "a democratic country that shares common world and common European values."
It was the latest flare-up in a row between Moscow and Washington over US plans to base a missile defence system in central Europe.
Moscow describes the shield as an aggressive step which would threaten its security, but Washington argues it is designed to guard against attacks from states such as Iran and North Korea.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the G8 leaders to give the fight against climate change a new impetus.
"The accelerated climate change is a serious threat. If we don't stop it, it will lead to massive environmental problems and increased economic burdens," Merkel wrote in Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.
"Therefore we need decisive action from the international community.
She has staked Germany's presidency of the G8 on persuading her counterparts to agree to limit the global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2050.