{"id":445,"date":"2025-03-04T15:18:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T16:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=445"},"modified":"2025-03-11T23:05:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T23:05:44","slug":"uk-pledged-35000000-in-aid-to-putins-regime-under-tony-blair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/04\/uk-pledged-35000000-in-aid-to-putins-regime-under-tony-blair\/","title":{"rendered":"UK pledged \u00a335,000,000 in aid to Putin\u2019s regime under Tony Blair"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Caption:\t<\/div>
A newly emerged Cabinet Office file has given a snapshot of a different time when the UK actively courted Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UK pledged more than \u00a335 million to Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia<\/a> through \u2018eye-catching\u2019 projects supported by Tony Blair\u2019s government, a newly released file shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Millions of pounds were earmarked for initiatives including retraining\u00a0military officers for civilian life, a number of \u2018cyber-centres\u2019 and management training in the president\u2019s name. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Cabinet ministers were presented with a round-up of \u2018bilateral activity\u2019 as they prepared for Putin\u2019s visit to the UK in December 2001, when he\u00a0held talks with\u00a0Blair at Chequers,<\/a> the traditional country retreat of British prime ministers in Buckinghamshire.<\/p>\n

The attempt at \u2018soft power\u2019 ultimately failed, with\u00a0Putin ordering the first round of military aggression against Ukraine<\/a> in 2014, followed by the all-out attack<\/a> three years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The formerly confidential book revealing the projects to UK government eyes has emerged at a time of increased focus on foreign aid as Donald Trump <\/a>and Sir Keir Starmer make cuts to their nations\u2019 spending.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Blair has previously been said to have conducted a \u2018wide-ranging charm offensive\u2019 to win over Putin,\u00a0despite concerns at the time over the Kremlin\u2019s military aggression <\/a>beyond its borders. <\/p>\n

The UK-Russia\u00a0projects included training\u00a0Russian military<\/a> and civilian peacekeepers as part of a \u2018Conflict Prevention Fund\u2019 and building \u2018civil society capacity\u2019 in the North Caucasus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The book, released at the National Archives,<\/a> details how this strand involved \u2018helping the\u00a0Russian military adapt to a post-Soviet world through an officer resettlement programme.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, the scheme had retrained some 2,000 officers per year at a cost of \u00a32 million at centres in five cities. \u00a0<\/p>\n

In total, over 12,000 were retrained since 1995 with the scheme expected to run until 2003, according to the previously secret file.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The preface states: \u2018The summary aims to round up interesting and eye-catching activities (which do not need to be particularly expensive or large), rather than aiming to be exhaustive.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\t<\/div>
Then British Prime Minister Tony Blair walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his dog Koni at his private dacha outside Moscow (Picture: AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marked \u2018restricted \u2013 confidential library, Cabinet\u2019, the document goes on to list a wide range of activities, including British Council <\/a>\u2018cyber-centres\u2019 in Moscow, Irkutsk, Samara and Nizhny Novgorod. The facilities were said to be \u2018providing new IT services to young\u00a0Russians.\u2019<\/p>\n

Another initiative entitled the \u2018Russian President\u2019s Management Training Initiative\u2019 aimed to provide UK attachments for newly graduated managers from the federation and improve their performance. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The former Department for International Development (DfID) gave \u00a35.1 million to support the project between September 1997 and December 2001, according to the briefing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

HIV and AIDS was another focus for DfID which had \u2018earmarked\u2019 \u00a325 million for related projects over the next five to seven years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"A\t<\/div>
The British government aimed to foster bilateral ties with the Kremlin (pictured) through a range of projects (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The brief reads: \u2018This will aim to support the Russian Government and society in making a timely and effective response to HIV\/AIDs by targeting vulnerable young people. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The new programme will focus on policy and advocacy, improving understanding of epidemiology and high-risk behaviours and large-scale harm reduction pilot projects. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It will complement existing projects on harm reduction and outreach work among injecting drug users and commercial sex workers in Sverdlovsk and Samara Oblast and elsewhere.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Initiatives led by the British Council were also listed, including \u2018multi-cultural, multi-ethnic education\u2019 in Sochi,<\/a> a large resort city.<\/p>\n

In a snapshot of a markedly different age in UK-Russia relations, there is also a reference to \u2018partnership programmes between UK and Russian remand prisons.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"BLAIR\t<\/div>
Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a beer hall in Moscow during an informal meeting in 2000 (Picture: AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Declassified UK<\/a> has probed the relationship between Blair and Putin during the early 2000s. The media organisation covering UK foreign policy found evidence of a \u2018wide-ranging charm offensive\u2019 launched by Blair to win round his opposite number. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Director Mark Curtis told Metro<\/strong>: \u2018Tony Blair courted Putin for years after he first took office in 2000. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018He increased UK arms exports to Russia while Putin was waging a brutal war in Chechnya and developed a strong personal relationship. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The overwhelming reason was to secure the interests of BP, which extracted billions worth of oil under Putin and became a strategic partner to the regime in Moscow.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

A previous file release in 2022 showed how Blair wanted Putin to be given a seat at the world\u2019s \u2018top table\u2019 to encourage him to adopt Western values.\u00a0In the papers, the British PM described Putin as a Russian patriot, sensitive to Russia\u2019s \u2018loss of respect\u2019 abroad. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The former Labour leader has since changed tack on Putin, saying in 2023 that \u2018Russian aggression in Ukraine must be defeated.\u2019<\/p>\n

Giving his own recollection of his meetings with the Russian president, he said that he had tried to reason with him over allowing Ukraine to choose whether to join NATO or not before his opposite number said, \u2018It\u2019s not their choice, they\u2019re with us.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Days after the full-scale invasion began BP announced that it would exit Russia and offload its stake in the federation\u2019s oil giant, Rosneft.<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/01\/24\/intelligence-experts-ominous-warning-wests-shadow-war-russia-22429809\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">Intelligence expert\u2019s ominous warning over West\u2019s shadow war with Russia<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><title>Arrow<\/title><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2024\/01\/19\/putins-sinister-game-plan-finally-revealed-20142967\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">Putin\u2019s sinister game plan is to \u2018rot and degrade\u2019 his way to victory<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><title>Arrow<\/title><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2024\/12\/06\/british-soldier-27-putins-hitlist-says-a-badge-honour-22130942\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">British soldier, 27, on Putin\u2019s hitlist says it is a \u2018badge of honour\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"mailto:josh.layton@metro.co.uk\"><strong>josh.layton@metro.co.uk<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A newly emerged Cabinet Office file has given a snapshot of a different time when the UK actively courted Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime (Picture: Getty) The UK pledged more than \u00a335 million to Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia through \u2018eye-catching\u2019 projects supported by Tony Blair\u2019s government, a newly released file shows.\u00a0 Millions of pounds were earmarked for initiatives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}