SAINT PETERSBURG, July 15: US President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin appealed on Saturday for an end to the raging violence in the Middle East, but clashed on democracy in talks here and failed to clinch a key trade deal.

Meeting ahead of a G8 summit, the presidents papered over their differences on Israel’s offensives in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, which have triggered fears of a regional war.

President Bush put the blame on Hezbollah movement and Putin said Israel’s response had to be measured.

“We share the same concerns,” President Bush told a joint press conference with host Putin.

“We are concerned about violence. We are troubled by the loss of innocent life,” he added, demanding that Hezbollah ‘lay down arms’ and end attacks on Israel and urging Syria to pressure it into doing so.

President Putin acknowledged Israel was concerned for its security because of attacks by militant groups, but insisted that ‘recourse to violence must be balanced and it must be stopped as soon as possible.’

Bush-Putin talks came ahead of the G8 summit — which also includes the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — starting with an informal dinner on Saturday and running to Monday.

The US leader, who had vowed to raise concerns over democratic reforms in Russia, clashed with the Kremlin chief at the press conference.

President Bush pressed President Putin on issues such as a free press and free religion and suggested war-torn Iraq might be a model for Moscow.

To which President Putin retorted, to laughter: “We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq.”

The two leaders also failed to achieve a breakthrough on trade.

Negotiators from the two sides had been locked in intensive talks in a bid to overcome lingering obstacles to a bilateral deal which would have enabled Russia to join the World Trade Organization.

Separately, the US and Russia adopted a control and monitoring mechanism aimed at keeping atomic materials out of the hands of extremists.

The two leaders also discussed North Korea and Iran, with Bush saying they were working together to achieve an international consensus.

On the margins of the summit, Russian riot police broke up an anti-G8 rally by communist activists, arresting at least five. —-AFP