KIEV, June 2: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed hope on Sunday that a regional summit in Kazakhstan this week will be able to deter Indian and Pakistani leaders from escalating their dispute over Kashmir.

Referring to the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin together with his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin at the Almaty conference Tuesday, Annan said he was “confident he (Putin) and the Chinese president will be able to dissuade them” from raising the level of the dispute over Kashmir, which both India and Pakistan claim.

Annan noted that he would be visiting Moscow on Tuesday and said he “looked forward to discussing the situation with President Putin.” He said he hoped Putin “will be able to speak to both leaders”.

Annan also said the UN decision to evacuate the families of its staff from Pakistan and India “should be seen as a precautionary measure and not as an indication that war is imminent.”

“I hope we will be able to avoid that,” he added.

The UN chief, who was greeted at Kiev’s Boryspil airport by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko, is in Ukraine for a two-day visit to discuss the fight against AIDS and the continuing health consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.—AFP