Vladimir Putin's meeting with the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during which the Russian president warned other countries against the use of force on the Tehran regime, has been interpreted in several different ways today.
The Times reports: "President Putin forged an alliance with Iran yesterday against any military action by the west and pledged to complete the controversial Iranian nuclear power plant at Bushehr."
But the Independent sees it differently, writing that the US "appears to have successfully leaned on Russia", citing Mr Putin's continued withholding of nuclear fuel from Iran's sole reactor based on "legal and financial" details.
The Telegraph also notes that Mr Putin gave "modest hope that the project would be completed, but refused to give a date". But, in its leader, it cautions: "Mr Putin may come to regret the games he is at present glad to play with a serious source of instability on his southern flank."
Simon Tisdall, in his world briefing in the Guardian, notes: "Mr Putin is hardly falling over himself to help Iran become a nuclear weapons state, if that is what Tehran is indeed trying to do." He concludes: "In short, Russia is playing both sides against the middle, using current tensions with the west to advance its national interest."
This is an extract from The Wrap, our digest of the daily papers.
