Putin bags gold in judo faceoff over Syria

LONDON (Reuters) - Black-belted Vladimir Putin locked horns on Thursday with British leader David Cameron over Syria and a crackdown on Kremlin opponents before watching Russia take gold in an afternoon of judo diplomacy at the Olympic Games.

Putin, who had dispensed with his dark jacket in the heat of the final, shot to his feet, roaring cheers for the native of Dagestan, a tiny Muslim region of Russia's southern flank, who took the gold medal in a men's judo final.

The former KGB spy then rushed down to the mats to congratulate Tagir Khaibulaev, embracing him with a Russian bear hug and then posing for photographs while Russians, one even dressed in a white fur hat, waved the Russian red, blue and white flag embossed with the two headed Russian eagle.

Prime Minister Cameron earlier tried to push the former KGB spy to take a tougher line on Syria, Russia's firmest foothold in the Middle East, and stop blocking Western-backed resolutions aimed at stepping up pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.

But after 45 minutes of talks in Downing Street, for which Putin put in an unusually punctual appearance, Cameron and Putin said Russia and Britain still differed over Syria.

"I look forward to taking the president to the judo but note that we will be spectators, not participants," Cameron told reporters, then the two men travelled to the Olympics.

Cameron raised the fate of female punk band, Pussy Riot, whose members are on trial in Moscow for anti-Putin lyrics, with the Russian president as part of wider talks on human rights.

In a stark illustration of the still frosty ties between Britain and Russia, Putin used his stretched, Russian-number-plated black Mercedes limousine while Cameron used his armored grey Jaguar to leave Downing Street.

The two leaders watched the judo together but Putin was the leader to see his team take gold: Russia's Khaibulaev defeated Olympic champion Tuvshinbayar Naidan of Mongolia, taking Russia to the top of the medals ranking in judo.

British fighter Gemma Gibbons pulled off a shock win over the world champion to get to the final of one of the women's competitions, but took silver after a defeat at the hands of the United States' Kayla Harrison.

Russia hadn't won a judo gold since the break-up of the Soviet Union so the London Games are by far their most successful games in judo since then.

BLACK BELT PUTIN

A one-time judo champion in his native city of St Petersburg, Putin talked animatedly with Cameron through a translator and appeared to be explaining judo to the prime minister at times.

For the 59-year-old Kremlin chief, who revels in his hard-man image, the sight of judokas body-slamming each other on the Olympic mats offered a powerful backdrop to his talks.

But Russia's "alpha-dog" leader appeared elated at the Russian win and in good spirits on the first trip to Britain since the 2006 death from radiation poisoning in London of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko.

Putin's last visit to London was in 2003 though he attended the Group of Eight summit in 2005 at Gleneagles in Scotland.

At one point Cameron took the risky step of leaving Putin, who controls the world's biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons, with Foreign Secretary William Hague, also a judoka, to congratulate Gibbons.

In previous foreign trips, Putin has showed off his judo skills on the mats and despite a plea from London Mayor Boris Johnson, Putin stayed in his dark business suit.

"Oh, I hope he will take part. What is he, a dab (hand), I think that's what we want to see, stripped to the waist. We want the politicians Olympics, that's what we want," Johnson said.

Russia is currently joint top of the judo medals table with 3 gold and a bronze.

KREMLIN CRACKDOWN

Putin is facing criticism in Moscow for trying to silence dissent after members of Pussy Riot went on trial and a prominent opposition blogger, Alexei Navalny, was charged with embezzlement.

As Putin entered the prime minister's office in central London, one protester screamed: "Free Pussy Riot", which echoed across Downing Street, in reference to the band who sang out an anti-Putin punk prayer in Moscow's main cathedral.

In a letter in the Times newspaper, a dozen leading rock musicians including Jarvis Cocker urged Putin to give a fair trial to Pussy Riot, whose members face up to seven years in jail for protesting inside the Moscow cathedral.

Andrey Sidelnikov, one of a handful of protesters outside Downing Street, was wearing a "Free Pussy Riot" t-shirt.

"We don't want to see Putin in a democratic country, and we want to send a message to Cameron about supporting political prisoners in Russia," he said. "In a real democracy you can't be sent to prison for singing a song."

Russia has faced growing Western criticism of its position on Syria, with the United States and Britain demanding Moscow drop its support for Assad.

Western powers believe that ousting Assad is the only way to end the bloodshed in Syria, though diplomats say privately that there is little appetite in Western capitals for direct military involvement.

Russia, on the other hand, provides arms to Damascus and has blocked three Western resolutions calling for an increase in pressure on Assad. Putin showed little sign of shifting Russia's position.

Putin, whose testosterone-fuelled appearances have earned him the nickname "alpha-dog" in U.S. diplomatic cables, is in London - home to many influential Russians and political exiles - on a private visit at Cameron's invitation.

But diplomatic efforts are complicated by Russia's difficult relations with Britain itself, ranging from espionage to human rights to the 2006 poisoning of Litvinenko.

"He (Putin) is not welcome in London, neither by Russians who live here or Londoners themselves," Litvinenko's widow, Marina, who lives in Britain, told Reuters.

"It will not be a comfortable visit for Putin. A lot of uneasy questions will be raised."

(Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman and Gleb Bryanski in Moscow and Mo Abbas and Michael Holden in London; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Peter Millership)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/black-belt-putin-tackle-cameron-syria-130158722.html

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