Sebastian Smith
AFP White House correspondent. Previously Rio, NYC, Moscow, Tbilisi, London, Paris -- and a couple years at sea.
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/ 4 April 2008

Tensions rise at Russia-Nato summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday started a tense summit with Nato leaders amid mounting tensions over United States anti-missile defence plans and the alliance’s expansion toward Russian territory. In a rare moment of cooperation, Russia and Nato concluded a deal on land transit for non-military freight to Afghanistan.

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/ 12 September 2007

Russian prime minister and Cabinet resign

President Vladimir Putin accepted the resignation on Wednesday of his prime minister and government, paving the way for the Russian leader to hand-pick a successor when he steps down next year. The resignation of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and the entire Cabinet was shown on state-run Vesti television.

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/ 6 June 2007

Dark days for Putin-Bush friendship at G8 summit

Six years after they first met and United States President George Bush reported gazing into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s soul, the two leaders face some tense talks at the Group of Eight (G8) on Thursday. Bush’s strong personal ties with Putin have been at the heart of US-Russian relations since a summit in Slovenia in June 2001.

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/ 28 December 2006

Russia fingers Israeli fugitive in poison probe

Moscow says an anti-Kremlin businessman living in Israel could be behind the radiation poisoning of Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, but the allegation only further complicates a spectacularly bizarre murder case. The prosecutor general said it had found links between the fatal poisoning of Litvinenko and Leonid Nevzlin, a former executive in the Yukos oil company who fled criminal charges in Russia.

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/ 26 October 2006

Nato urges Russia to lift Georgia sanctions

Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged the Russian Federation on Thursday to lift punitive sanctions against its southern neighbour Georgia during a visit that was intended to ease tensions between the Western military alliance and Moscow. At a Kremlin meeting, the Nato chief and President Vladimir Putin accentuated the positive in what has long been a rocky relationship.