Putin warns Israel over Arafat

The Russian president said Israeli action against Arafat would be "a mistake"

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a warning to Israel that ousting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "would be dangerous and a mistake."

Putin warned Israel against any attempts to remove the president of the Palestinian Authority, warning that such an action "would only radicalise the Palestinian movement."

Putin was speaking on Monday during a press conference broadcast live on Russian national television.

He fielded questions for just over two hours from 700 journalists in his second mass news conference.

Putin also called for Russia's acceptance into the World Trade Organization.

He said "it would be dangerous and stupid" for Russia not to join.

Russia needs to raise the living standards of its people, and the only way to do that is to further integrate its economy with the global marketplace and the WTO, which covers more than 95 percent of the world's markets, he said.

Putin also said the Baltic nations -- Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania -- were free to join NATO, but that their admission would neither strengthen their security, nor the security of NATO.

The main threats, he said, were international terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.