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The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair began at the Astoria Hotel in St Petersburg and continued in Peterhof.

The leaders exchanged opinions on a wide range of bilateral cooperation and global issues, in particular touching upon further development of the Russian-British trade and economic relations, fighting global terrorism, including in the North Caucasus, and on the situation in Central Asia and in the Balkans.

After the meeting, the leaders made a statement for the media.

Upon return to St Petersburg, Mr Putin and Mr Blair and their spouses visited the Hermitage Museum and attended the opening night of Sergei Prokofyev’s “War and Peace” opera at the Mariinsky Theatre. The opera, based on the famous novel by Leo Tolstoy, was directed and conducted by Valery Gergiev, produced by Andrei Konchalovsky with sets by Georgy Tsypin.