Translated material
Summons from the killers
Terrorists, in fact, managed to disrupt the G8 summit
Explosions in London occurred about an hour before the official opening ceremony of the G8 summit in Scotland. When Tony Blair met the heads of state at the Gleneagles complex, he already knew about the tragedy. Only its scale was not known. But by the end of the first meeting, Tony Blair was determined that he needed to be in London. He spoke to journalists, read them the newly adopted G8 joint statement on terrorism and left Gleneagles.Formally, the G8 summit proceeds as usual: pre-planned meetings are held, pre-prepared reports are discussed. But in reality, of course, the terrorists managed to disrupt the main political event of the year. Against the background of the London tragedy, the problems of global warming or assistance to Africa faded into the background. The ranks of journalists thinned: many “on relays” went to London. Of course, the traditional photographing of all summit participants was cancelled. After Tony Blair's departure, the British delegation canceled all bilateral events. The bilateral meeting between Blair and Vladimir Putin, which was scheduled for yesterday evening, was also cancelled. Until the return of the British Prime Minister to Gleneagles, the adoption of any documents by the G8 leaders was also postponed. True, for a long time it was unknown when Tony Blair would return from London.
Each summit participant considered it their duty to make a special statement. George Bush spoke first. He simply walked up to a group of journalists and talked to them. “I was struck by the contrast between what we all saw on our screens today when we discussed the problems of African countries, and those images from London that I saw on TV. While some people are discussing how they can help poor African countries and how to deal with climate change, other people are violating human rights and killing innocent people,” the US President said.
This was followed by statements from Gerhard Schröder and Vladimir Putin. The German Chancellor's words were distributed in the form of a press release. And the Russian president recorded a televised address between the G8 working meeting and the meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki. He said that in Russia, “like no other country in the world, they especially worry about what happened, sympathize with the victims and express their condolences.” According to Putin, the tragedy in London “once again demonstrates that we are all doing too little to unite our efforts in the most effective way in the fight against terrorism.” However, probably, yesterday he himself was unlikely to be ready to propose measures that would guarantee peace from terror.
Putin's speech was broadcast several times on monitors in the press center, but, to the disappointment of most journalists, he spoke in Russian, and the broadcast was not accompanied by translation.
Tony Blair at that time held an emergency meeting of his cabinet, representatives of the intelligence services and police in London. By this time, the press had already broadcast many rumors that the terrorist attacks were known in advance, and Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in London, was even warned in the morning not to leave the hotel. Tony Blair made a statement after the meeting at Downing Street, but did not confirm any sensations. At the same time, he did not question the version that the terrorist attacks were carried out by one of the hitherto unknown Islamist groups. “We know that these people acted under the slogans of Islam,” said the British prime minister. “But we also know that the majority of the world's Muslims are law-abiding people like us, and that they hate terrorism.”
Blair thanked Londoners "who behaved in a respectable manner" and the intelligence services for their good work in dealing with the consequences of the terrorist attacks.
"Today is a sad day for the British people, but we will not change our British way of life," the Prime Minister said. Blair called the previous day, when the International Olympic Committee in Singapore decided to give the 2012 Olympics to London, the happiest of his life.
According to unconfirmed reports, the British Prime Minister returned to Gleneagles late yesterday evening, having had dinner with the G8 leaders. Today, on the final day of the summit, aid to Africa is to be discussed.