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Press Association Mediapoint, UK
May 10, 2013 Friday 3:03 PM BST
PM AND PUTIN 'SHARE AIMS ON SYRIA'
David Cameron has said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin share
``fundamental aims'' in seeking an end to the bloodshed in Syria.
Speaking during a joint press conference in the Black Sea resort of
Sochi, the Prime Minister said the situation in Syria was ``appalling
and deteriorating''.
He said: ``It's no secret that we have had differing views on how best
to handle the situation but we share fundamental aims: to end the
conflict, to stop Syria fragmenting, to let the Syrian people choose
who governs them and to prevent the growth of violent extremism.''
Mr Cameron also announced that the UK and Russia had agreed there
should be ``limited co-operation'' between their security services in
the build-up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi next year.
Mr Cameron said: ``The history of Syria is being written in the blood
of her people.''
The Prime Minister welcomed the US-Russian agreement to hold a special
conference aimed at delivering a ``transitional government based on
the consent of the Syrian people as a whole''.
He added: ``The President and I have agreed that, as permanent members
of the United Nations, we must help to drive this process, working
with partners in the region and beyond, not just bringing the regime
and opposition together at one negotiating table but Britain, Russia,
America and other countries helping shape a transitional government
that all Syrians can trust to protect them.
``We urgently have to do more for the sake of the people of Syria to
break the vicious cycle that threatens to destroy Syria and that
threatens to export violence and extremism around the world.''
Mr Cameron set out plans for security co-operation ahead of the Sochi
Games as he met Mr Putin at the President's summer residence in the
city.
He said: ``We both want the Sochi Games to be a safe and secure Games.
So today I have agreed with President Putin that there should be
limited co-operation between our security services for the Sochi
Olympics.''
The Prime Minister said his talks with President Putin had been ``very
substantive, very purposeful, very useful''.
But he acknowledged: ``Of course, it is no secret that there are
issues where we differ. We don't duck these, we have had very frank
discussions, as we have today.
``But a more effective relationship will help make people in both our
countries safer and better off and that is what we have been focusing
on today.''
Mr Cameron's agreement to British security involvement ahead of the
Sochi games marks the first co-operation between UK and Russian spies
since links were broken over the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
The UK offered assistance to the Russian Federal Security Service
(FSB) following a fatal bombing in the Moscow airport of Domodedovo in
2011, but the Russians rejected the offer, a Foreign Office spokesman
said.
Mr Putin thanked Mr Cameron for their ``substantive and frank'' talks,
but was more cautious in his wording when it came to discussing the
situation in Syria.
The Russian President said: ``We have common interest in putting an
immediate end to violence in that country and launching the peace
settlement in preserving Syria as an integral and sovereign state.
``We discussed a number of steps and options to resolve the crisis.''
In the joint statement after the talks, he focused instead on
increased trade and investment between the UK and Russia, and a
cultural exchange programme which will take place in London and Moscow
in 2014.
He also thanked the UK for its help in preparing for the Sochi 2014
Winter Olympic Games following the staging of the event in London last
summer.
He said: ``More than 60 British companies are involved in the
preparation for the Sochi 2014 games. They are quite successful and we
are grateful to our British partners.''
Downing Street said the two leaders spoke for around two hours
accompanied only by their respective national security advisers before
the talks continued over lunch - covering topics including the Middle
East peace process and North Korea.
No 10 also revealed details of the gifts exchanged by the pair.
Mr Putin was handed reminders of his visit to see the judo at the
London Olympics - in the form of a photograph of him with Mr Cameron
at the event, another of him standing with the Russian he watched win
gold, and his ticket.
In return, Mr Cameron was handed a bottle of 40-year-old Armenian
cognac which he told the president he would place in the Chequers
study used by Winston Churchill after being informed the former
premier was also given a bottle by Stalin in 1945.
May 10, 2013 Friday 3:03 PM BST
PM AND PUTIN 'SHARE AIMS ON SYRIA'
David Cameron has said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin share
``fundamental aims'' in seeking an end to the bloodshed in Syria.
Speaking during a joint press conference in the Black Sea resort of
Sochi, the Prime Minister said the situation in Syria was ``appalling
and deteriorating''.
He said: ``It's no secret that we have had differing views on how best
to handle the situation but we share fundamental aims: to end the
conflict, to stop Syria fragmenting, to let the Syrian people choose
who governs them and to prevent the growth of violent extremism.''
Mr Cameron also announced that the UK and Russia had agreed there
should be ``limited co-operation'' between their security services in
the build-up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi next year.
Mr Cameron said: ``The history of Syria is being written in the blood
of her people.''
The Prime Minister welcomed the US-Russian agreement to hold a special
conference aimed at delivering a ``transitional government based on
the consent of the Syrian people as a whole''.
He added: ``The President and I have agreed that, as permanent members
of the United Nations, we must help to drive this process, working
with partners in the region and beyond, not just bringing the regime
and opposition together at one negotiating table but Britain, Russia,
America and other countries helping shape a transitional government
that all Syrians can trust to protect them.
``We urgently have to do more for the sake of the people of Syria to
break the vicious cycle that threatens to destroy Syria and that
threatens to export violence and extremism around the world.''
Mr Cameron set out plans for security co-operation ahead of the Sochi
Games as he met Mr Putin at the President's summer residence in the
city.
He said: ``We both want the Sochi Games to be a safe and secure Games.
So today I have agreed with President Putin that there should be
limited co-operation between our security services for the Sochi
Olympics.''
The Prime Minister said his talks with President Putin had been ``very
substantive, very purposeful, very useful''.
But he acknowledged: ``Of course, it is no secret that there are
issues where we differ. We don't duck these, we have had very frank
discussions, as we have today.
``But a more effective relationship will help make people in both our
countries safer and better off and that is what we have been focusing
on today.''
Mr Cameron's agreement to British security involvement ahead of the
Sochi games marks the first co-operation between UK and Russian spies
since links were broken over the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
The UK offered assistance to the Russian Federal Security Service
(FSB) following a fatal bombing in the Moscow airport of Domodedovo in
2011, but the Russians rejected the offer, a Foreign Office spokesman
said.
Mr Putin thanked Mr Cameron for their ``substantive and frank'' talks,
but was more cautious in his wording when it came to discussing the
situation in Syria.
The Russian President said: ``We have common interest in putting an
immediate end to violence in that country and launching the peace
settlement in preserving Syria as an integral and sovereign state.
``We discussed a number of steps and options to resolve the crisis.''
In the joint statement after the talks, he focused instead on
increased trade and investment between the UK and Russia, and a
cultural exchange programme which will take place in London and Moscow
in 2014.
He also thanked the UK for its help in preparing for the Sochi 2014
Winter Olympic Games following the staging of the event in London last
summer.
He said: ``More than 60 British companies are involved in the
preparation for the Sochi 2014 games. They are quite successful and we
are grateful to our British partners.''
Downing Street said the two leaders spoke for around two hours
accompanied only by their respective national security advisers before
the talks continued over lunch - covering topics including the Middle
East peace process and North Korea.
No 10 also revealed details of the gifts exchanged by the pair.
Mr Putin was handed reminders of his visit to see the judo at the
London Olympics - in the form of a photograph of him with Mr Cameron
at the event, another of him standing with the Russian he watched win
gold, and his ticket.
In return, Mr Cameron was handed a bottle of 40-year-old Armenian
cognac which he told the president he would place in the Chequers
study used by Winston Churchill after being informed the former
premier was also given a bottle by Stalin in 1945.