ON MARCH 10th 2000, two weeks before a Russian presidential election, Tony Blair made a trip from Downing Street to St Petersburg to accompany Vladimir Putin to a performance of Sergei Prokofiev's "War and Peace". The idea came from a senior kgb officer, who suggested to his mi6 counterpart that it would help boost the international legitimacy of Mr Putin, who as prime minister had just launched a brutal war in Chechnya. Mr Blair obliged, becoming the first foreign leader to endorse the incoming president.
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