Putin urges global terrorism fight

Putin has called for a "common European security space"

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Intense political and diplomatic activity is expected in Brussels where a third day of meetings gets under way there.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, NATO and Europan Union officials are working out how to translate into action their pledge of support to the United States.

Putin is expected to urge European Union leaders to forge closer security ties with Russia as part of a global fight against terrorism.

Putin is due to meet a senior U.S. security official and NATO chief George Robertson on Wednesday as part of the EU-Russia summit.

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The scheduled meeting comes a day after Putin said he was convinced Osama bin Laden had a role in the September 11 attacks on the United States and suggested Russia's cooperation in fighting terrorism should usher in a new era in its relations with the West.

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British Prime Minister also warned Afghanistan's leaders that they face imminent military action for not surrendering bin Laden.

At his ruling Labour Party's annual conference in the southern English city of Brighton, Blair warned the Taliban: "We will put a trap around the regime. Its choice is surrender bin Laden or surrender power."

Bin Laden is wanted by the U.S. as the suspected mastermind of the hijack attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and crashed another plane in Pennsylvania.

Putin also said Russian intelligence agencies had all the evidence they needed to show that bin Laden was involved in the attacks, but that they could not pinpoint the exact degree of that involvement.

Speaking in Brussels after talks with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt on Tuesday, Putin called international terrorists "bacteria that adapt by living off their host body" and said a global alliance was needed to fight them.

"The effort will never work unless we unite the whole international community in a common front against terrorism," he was quoted by The Associated Press as saying.

Putin said the creation of a "common European security space" was urgently needed in the light of the attacks.

"I think it is one of the most important questions today," he was further quoted by Reuters as saying.

"We are ready to widen our cooperation, both with NATO and also European security structures which are being formed, and give a new quality (to those relations).

"As for cooperation with Europe, then I think it is time to reflect on the creation of permanent consultative structures in the security field."

Global conflicts

On Wednesday, U.S. State Department counter-terrorism coordinator Frank Taylor was due to brief Russian officials on the evidence the U.S. has compiled about the direct involvement of bin Laden in the attacks on September 11.

Russia and the 15-nation EU are expected to issue a joint declaration on terrorism after their summit, at which energy and economic cooperation is also on the agenda.

An EU diplomat told Reuters the joint declaration would underline the need for close international cooperation, under the aegis of the United Nations, in combating terror groups.

EU officials said Wednesday's talks with Putin would include global conflicts, including the Middle East and the Balkans, and EU plans to enlarge into ex-communist eastern Europe.

Chris Patten, the EU Commissioner for External Affairs, said the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon showed "the whole international community needs to stand together in the face of new threats to our shared values."

He added: "Russia has impressed many by her willingness to set history aside and to align herself solidly with the international coalition against terrorism. I hope this also opens the way to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Chechnya."

He was referring to the breakaway Russian province, where Moscow says it is fighting the same international terrorism network that was behind the deadly attacks on the United States.

Putin said Russia would support U.S. military action against those responsible for the attacks, but has ruled out Russian military involvement in a U.S. strike in Afghanistan.

He said Russia would work with the West to help tackle terrorist financing and support networks for extremists, as well as tackling causes of terrorism, including poverty and instability.

"I think military force is not enough to fight terrorism ... we have to eliminate the base upon which terrorism is founded, eliminate the causes," he said.

"We are ready to strengthen our cooperation with NATO and European military structures, to give a new quality to our relationship."

Human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement that the EU should not "soft-pedal" on human rights in its efforts to shore up the global anti-terrorism coalition.

"There is a universal right to justice for innocent victims everywhere, whether they be buried under the rubble in New York, Grozny (the Chechen capital) or Moscow," said Dick Oosting, head of Amnesty's EU office in Brussels.

"There is a tendency emerging to soft-pedal on human rights in order to foster the broadest possible coalition, Russia being one of the more obvious examples."