ST PETERSBURG: Little had been left to chance by the Kremlin, including the weather. But even the seeding of the clouds could not prevent an awesome hailstorm from battering the Konstantinovsky Palace where Russia’s showcase G8 summit was held on Sunday.

In control of the summit, if not weather, President Vladimir Putin parried criticism of his democratic record from his Western guests with barbs that went to the quick of his western counterparts’ own domestic crises.

Tony Blair’s trauma over cash for peerages was his target late on Saturday. Questioned over British criticism of his style of government, he told a press conference: “We take into consideration their views on such issues but we take our decisions ourselves.”

He interrupted a translator to add: “There are also other questions. Questions, let’s say, about the fight against corruption. We’d be interested in hearing your experience, including how it applies to Lord Levy.”

Earlier, George Bush had suggested that Russia could benefit from the democratic reforms imposed on Iraq. Mr Putin told reporters, to a loud laugh:

“I’ll be honest with you: we of course would not want to have a democracy like in Iraq.” Discussing the Middle East, he said Russia did not want to get involved in “crusades and holy alliances”.

The retorts capped a public relations offensive designed to show a Kremlin increasingly open to the western media and criticism from its governments, but equally disinclined to take it to heart.

A combination of Russia’s growing role as an energy superpower, coupled with the intense domestic crises of its western allies, has rendered it almost immune to criticism from other members of the G8 over its authoritarian style.

Critics of the West’s policy towards Russia have said censure has been stifled by London’s and Washington’s efforts to secure a footing in Russia’s energy industry.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service