Nato summit hit by last-minute row
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was today embroiled in a diplomatic row with the Ukraine which marred the closing of Nato’s two-day summit.
Delegation name plates were hastily switched from the customary English to French, to avoid Ukraine’s President Kuchmar being seated between Mr Blair and United States President George Bush at a meeting this morning of the European Atlantic Partnership Council in the Czech capital, Prague.
Ukraine has been accused of selling a military radar system to Iraq in defiance of a United Nations arms embargo imposed after the Gulf war.
America and Britain have accused President Kuchmar of personally authorising the sale.
The Ukrainian leader was not invited to the summit, even though his country is one of 27 Nato partners” who do not enjoy full membership of the alliance but co-operate with it.
He was, however, entitled by right to attend this morning’s meeting as his country’s head of state. When it became clear he was determined to enforce his right to attend, the name plate switch was put into place to avoid diplomatic embarrassment for Mr Blair and Mr Bush.
In French, the United Kingdom becomes Royame-Uni and the US Etats-Unis while Ukraine remains the same.
Mr Blair attended this morning’s meeting only briefly before flying home to London for a meeting with chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blitx.
Ukraine’s foreign minister later accused Britain and America of being “unreasonable” in their demands to know whether the radar system had been sold, citing commercial confidentiality as the reason why details of the contact cannot be disclosed.
