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Luke Harding | guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 May 2012 18.35 BST
Exclusive: Russian President Delivers Another Snub To Western Alliance
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=political-pictures-vladimir-putin-subtle-bird.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/political-pictures-vladimir-putin-subtle-bird.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Vladimir Putin will not be coming to the London Olympics, diplomatic sources have said,
in an apparent signal of the Russian president's continuing displeasure and irritation
with Britain.
Putin will not attend the London 2012 opening ceremony on 27 July, sources confirmed,
despite the fact that Moscow will host the Winter Olympics in 2014 in the Black Sea resort
of Sochi. Instead, the Russian president is likely to dispatch his prime minister, Dmitry
Medvedev, to London.
The snub follows Putin's controversial decision earlier this month to boycott the G8 summit
hosted by the US president, Barack Obama. Putin claimed he was too busy forming his new
government to attend, and sent Medvedev instead. He has accused the US of inciting street
protests against him and is unhappy with Washington's missile defence plans in Europe.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=Vladimir-Putin-008.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/Vladimir-Putin-008.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
There are also major differences on international affairs, with the west exasperated by Moscow's
stalwart support for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and its spoiling role at the UN security
council. Russia, for its part, sees US and UK support for Syria's rebels as part of a
western-engineered plot to force regime change in Damascus.
Exclusive: Russian President Delivers Another Snub To Western Alliance
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=political-pictures-vladimir-putin-subtle-bird.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/political-pictures-vladimir-putin-subtle-bird.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Vladimir Putin will not be coming to the London Olympics, diplomatic sources have said,
in an apparent signal of the Russian president's continuing displeasure and irritation
with Britain.
Putin will not attend the London 2012 opening ceremony on 27 July, sources confirmed,
despite the fact that Moscow will host the Winter Olympics in 2014 in the Black Sea resort
of Sochi. Instead, the Russian president is likely to dispatch his prime minister, Dmitry
Medvedev, to London.
The snub follows Putin's controversial decision earlier this month to boycott the G8 summit
hosted by the US president, Barack Obama. Putin claimed he was too busy forming his new
government to attend, and sent Medvedev instead. He has accused the US of inciting street
protests against him and is unhappy with Washington's missile defence plans in Europe.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=Vladimir-Putin-008.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/Vladimir-Putin-008.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
There are also major differences on international affairs, with the west exasperated by Moscow's
stalwart support for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and its spoiling role at the UN security
council. Russia, for its part, sees US and UK support for Syria's rebels as part of a
western-engineered plot to force regime change in Damascus.
