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Putin Spokesman Downplays Russian Divide Over Libya

   VOA News  March 22, 2011
   Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (l) and his Slovene counterpart
   Borut Pahor shake hands in Brdo Slovenia, March 22, 2011

Photo: AP

   Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (l) and his Slovene counterpart
   Borut Pahor shake hands in Brdo Slovenia, March 22, 2011

   A  spokesman  for  Russian  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says Putin's
   comments  Monday on the crisis in Libya were his own personal opinion,
   while President Dmitry Medvedev expressed Moscow's official position.
   Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday Putin's description of the United
   Nations-backed  air  strikes against Libya as a "medieval crusade" was
   the  prime  minister's  personal  point of view. Peskov said President
   Medvedev's position is Russia's only official policy.
   The  spokesman  addressed reporters in Slovenia, where Putin is set to
   hold high-level talks on building a natural gas pipeline.
   Putin's  criticism  of the U.N. resolution sparked talk of a deepening
   divide between the prime minister and his political protege, President
   Medvedev.
   Medvedev responded Monday and called Putin's comments "unacceptable."
   Russia  abstained  from the U.N. Security Council vote authorizing the
   air strikes against Libya.
   Putin  was  scheduled  to meet Tuesday with Slovenian President Danilo
   Turk and Prime Minister Borut Pahor in the capital, Ljubljana. Â
   The   countries  are  trying  to  clear  the  final  hurdles  for  the
   implementation of the South Stream pipeline project.
   The  pipeline,  to  be built by Russia's Gazprom and Italy's ENI, will
   bypass  Ukraine, which has been at the center of several gas price and
   payment disputes between the two eastern European neighbors.
   The disputes have caused interruptions of Russian natural gas supplies
   to many European countries during the cold winter months

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