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Putin reaches out to Hungary over revolt

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday acknowledged Moscow's moral responsibility for the brutal Soviet suppression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising.

Putin was on the first day of a visit to Hungary -- only the second by a Russian leader since the collapse of the Soviet Union -- amid signs that Russia is seeking a bigger economic role in a region Moscow once dominated.

President Laszlo Solyom and an honor guard welcomed the Russian leader at the presidential residence perched high above the Danube River before closed-door meetings between Putin and Hungarian officials. Putin later joined Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany and other officials at parliament.

Although energy issues were expected to dominate talks during Putin's two-day visit, the main event was to be the formal return of a trove of priceless, centuries-old books seized by the Soviet Army during World War II and taken to Russia.

Budapest has long demanded them, and Gyurcsany is playing up the event as the final "spiritual gesture" in normalizing the two countries' relations.

Yet, other divisive issues lurk below the surface, including the anniversary later this year of the 1956 uprising that was suppressed by Soviet tanks.

Speaking to reporters after nearly an hour of talks with Solyom, Putin noted that his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, had come to Hungary in 1992 and condemned the Soviet role in crushing the revolt.

"Of course, modern Russia is not the Soviet Union, but we can still feel some sort of moral responsibility for these events," he said.

"Our task is not to forget the past and to think about the future," Putin said.

The two heads of state hailed an ongoing thaw after years of cool relations following the Soviet breakup. Hungary's prime minister said during his talks with Putin that the time had come to heal wounds from the Soviet period, and he said Hungarian policies toward Russia would be driven by "less ideology."

"With this visit, the past has come to a close," Gyurcsany said.

Budapest has moved more slowly through its post-communist reform process, compared with Poland, for example, which while stoking its economy has also angered Moscow with strident pro-Western orientation.

Hungary has, though, swiftly integrated itself into Western alliances and trade blocs, joining the U two years ago and NATO in 1999. The country also sent troops to Iraq as part of the US-led coalition there.

Putin and Gyurcsany oversaw the signing of more than a half-dozen agreements on telecommunications, migration, cultural ties and debt repayment.

They also emphasized oil and natural gas cooperation; Russian oil giant OAO Lukoil and the state-controlled gas monopoly OAO Gazprom have been eyeing Hungary's energy sector, including the country's largest gas and oil company, MOL Rt.

Hungary relies on Russia for gas -- by as much as 90 percent -- and last month, the country was rattled when a Siberian cold snap resulted in a significant drop in gas deliveries.

Putin touted Hungary's potential role as a hub for gas supplies to southern Europe, and he sought to quell criticism about Russia's reliability as Europe's largest single gas supplier.

A New Year's dispute with Ukraine -- through which most of Russia's European-bound gas travels -- resulted in shortfalls in several European countries and a round of criticism for the Kremlin.

"No one in Europe should ever have any doubts about the reliability of Russia gas to Europe. Never," Putin said.

Across from the parliament, a small group of protesters waved banners reading "Respect Human Rights." On Monday, Amnesty International and other groups published newspaper ads calling on Gyurcsany to discuss with Putin the increasing restrictions on human rights groups in Russia.
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