NEW DELHI, May 26 (IslamOnline) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended an invitation to the leaders of India and Pakistan to attend a meeting in early June 2002, to prevent an escalation of the conflict over Kashmir.

Putin told a Russian news agency during a visit with U.S. President George W. Bush to the northern Russian city of Saint Petersburg, Saturday, May 25, "I hope they will come, so that we can discuss the matter here and prevent further escalation of the conflict."

"Russia regrets that, in the context of the conflict, missile tests were being carried out," Putin added, in an allusion to Pakistan's test-firing Saturday of a nuclear-capable Ghauri missile.

Putin's unilateral move to broker peace talks came on the second day of the Russian-American summit.

According to press reports from Saint Petersburg, Bush and Putin, fearing South Asia is catapulting toward war, have joined forces in pressuring Pakistan's president to curb cross-border violence in Kashmir and ease tensions with neighboring India.

The double-team diplomacy came after Pakistan launched the first in a series of missile tests Saturday despite objections from the United States and Russia.

"There's no benefit of war," Bush told reporters. "There's no benefit of a clash that could eventually lead to a broader war."

"We're deeply concerned about the rhetoric. It is very important for [Pakistani] President [General Pervez] Musharraf to ... do what he said he's going to do, and that is to stop the incursions across the line," Bush said.

Bush did not mention the missile test, but U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the administration was disappointed. "I don't think it was a particularly useful thing to do right now," said Powell, who is traveling with Bush. Powell's deputy, Richard Armitage, is arriving in the subcontinent June 4.

The Russian move comes in consultation with Bush, who is very eager to avert war at this juncture since there are American troops based in three bases in Pakistan and his so-called “war on terror” in Afghanistan is still in progress.

Any war between India and Pakistan, even on a small scale, will endanger the lives of American soldiers on Pakistani soil as well as hamper American efforts to hunt down the remnants of Taliban and Al-Qaeda, who are allegedly scattered in southern Afghanistan as well as in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Bush said Saturday he believes Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Musharraf will both attend the meeting in Kazakhstan, which is proposed to be held on the sidelines of a summit of the Council on Cooperation and Confidence Measures in Asia in Almaty, Kazakhstan, starting June 3.

According to reports in the Indian media, Vajpayee has no plans to meet Musharraf during this summit.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, in a news conference in Saint Petersburg, did not say whether Putin would meet with both leaders at the same time or separately.

Pakistan has welcomed Putin's announcement. "Pakistan welcomes all proposals for talks with India aimed at reducing tension," Foreign Office Spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said yesterday.

Pakistan Information Minister Nisar Memon also said that Pakistan would positively respond to the Russian President's invitation.