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Putin pledges to support German bid for permanent UN Security Council seat
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-06 21:48

Russian President Vladimir Putin backed Germany's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council in an interview released Friday, arguing that Germany has long since atoned for Nazi-era crimes and should not be held back on the world stage.

Germany, along with Brazil, India and Japan, has been lobbying for a permanent seat on an expanded Security Council. However, the push has met a mixed response, with European partner Italy advocating instead the creation of new seats for regional groups.

``Now that Germany has drawn the right conclusions from the atrocities of World War II, now that it has atoned and created mechanisms that prevent a repeat of the tragedies of the past, we cannot force the current and future generations of Germans ... to continually flagellate themselves,'' Putin was quoted as saying in an interview with the Saturday edition of the Bild daily.

``The country should not feel that it its rights on the world stage are impaired,'' he added. ``For that reason, the Russian Federation will support strengthening Germany's role in the UN, also as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.''

Germany has become more assertive about pursuing its interests abroad under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, born in 1944 and the first German leader with no personal memories of the war. In 2003, along with Putin and French President Jacques Chirac, he led opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.

Schroeder has developed a close personal relationship with Putin, who served in the former East Germany as a KGB agent and speaks fluent German.

``The German-Russian friendship should not be a cause for concern to anyone,'' said the chancellor, who also was interviewed by Bild. ``It is directed against no one.''

The UN Security Council currently has five permanent members -- the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China.

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