| MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir
Putin won the prized trophy of Group of Eight membership at a
summit in Canada, but some back home still wonder how a country
so poor could be a true member of the rich nations' club.
After years of G8 summits that won Putin and predecessor Boris
Yeltsin spots in the class photo but no place at certain meetings,
Russia at last won formal membership on Thursday, with a rotation
slot to host the yearly gathering in 2006.
The induction follows an ebullient Russia-U.S. summit last month
and the launch of a new cooperation scheme between Russia and
NATO, all signs of burgeoning friendship since Putin lined up
squarely behind Washington after the September 11 attacks.
Putin, who has long been at pains to show that his pro-Western
stance pays real dividends, also won from fellow G8 states $20
billion in aid over 10 years for decommissioning Soviet-era nuclear,
chemical and biological weapons.
But the aid brought home the point that Russia is the only member
of the industrial powers club that needs to ask for help, instead
of lavishing it on others.
"For years now Russia has been signaling the West that
we want to be closer, and the West has been signaling back that
they want to see how things turn out here," Oleg Morozov,
head of a centrist group in Russia's parliament, told Reuters.
"Russia's acceptance as a full-fledged member of the G8
is evidence that the signals Russia and the West were sending
each other have been heard by both sides, and understood."
The daily Vremya Novostei wrote: "The G8 summit that ended
yesterday in Canada was a memorable milestone on the path of hastening
Russia's drawing closer to the West.
"After the May breakthroughs with America and NATO, the
leaders of all the world's leading countries have now unambiguously
announced their support of Kremlin policies."
STILL SOME WAY TO GO
But Sergei Ivanenko, deputy head of the liberal Yabloko party,
noted that Russia still has some way to go to catch up with the
members of what was once a Group of Seven: the United States,
Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Britain and Italy.
"Equal partnership between Russia and other members of
the G8 exists, of course, but not on all questions," he told
Reuters. "Above all, Russia lags behind the other members
in economic development.
"Twenty billion (dollars) is about a third of our entire
Russian budget. If such large amounts are sent just to resolve
one state task -- and the state faces thousands of such tasks
-- that means the financial health of the state is not so good."
The daily Novoye Izvestia wrote: "Such massive aid is usually
a testament...to the poor state of the recipient, which is unable
to deal with problems on its own.
"So the 'equality' that has been achieved is still a bit
flawed," it added.
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