Kim's visit annoys Russian press

Mr Kim's train disrupted Muscovites' weekend plans

When the train of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il finally arrived in Moscow, it left Russian newspapers fuming at the inconvenience caused by the security operation and wondering what was the point of his visit.

"Hundreds of thousands of Russians have been inconvenienced by Kim's arrival," according to Vremya MN.

One of Moscow's mainline stations was shut down for three hours on a Friday evening - just when Muscovites are heading out of town to their dachas, it wrote.

"All this goes well beyond the hassle caused by closing off roads when our president is travelling

Vremya MN

To add insult to injury, Mr Kim will leave for St Petersburg on Sunday evening - just when Muscovites are coming home from their dachas.

Not to mention the disruption caused to long-distance trains along the Trans-Siberian.

"All this goes well beyond the hassle caused by closing off roads when our president is travelling," Vremya MN writes.

"The latter we can understand, since in a country at war (and Russia is at war in the North Caucasus) one can accept security measures for the commander-in-chief ... But why mess us around like this because someone else's head of state is visiting? It's beyond us."

Annoyance

The heavyweight broadsheet Nezavisimaya Gazeta is similarly annoyed, by both the disruption and the official attitude.

All inconvenience and loss should be compensated for somehow, from an apology to payment of damages

Rossiyskaya Gazeta

It tried to find out more from the Moscow railway authorities. "We were told by the railway press office that there's nothing out of the ordinary and trains have been cancelled for technical reasons," it writes.

"Well stuff the reasons. The commuter trains are twice as full on Fridays, with people returning home from work in Moscow and also Muscovites heading for their dachas. The 13 cancelled trains would have carried over 15,000 passengers."

Even the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta is upset, and supplies some legal advice for its readers: "There is no provision in law for measures like these, to the extent of closing down entire railway stations and cancelling trains," a top lawyer tells it.

"So all inconvenience and loss should be compensated for somehow, from an apology to payment of damages. When you buy a ticket, you have a contract ... If one side doesn't honour the contract you can go to court for compensation, and in this case you'd most likely win."

'Not much of a return'

Nor are the papers any more enthusiastic about the substance of the visit.

Moscow is not going to do any arms deals or expand its military links with Pyongyang, or hand out money to it on ideological grounds.

Izvestiya

"Official Russian sources have already said there will be no breakthroughs," the prominent daily Izvestiya writes.

"Moscow is not going to do any arms deals or expand its military links with Pyongyang, or hand out money to it on ideological grounds.

"Nor is Russia going to write off North Korea's several hundred million dollars of debts.

The only more or less significant event will be the signing of a declaration that sets out where the two countries stand on a range of international and bilateral issues. And that's about it. Not much of a return for days of travel and tedium, a titanic and stoic voyage by the Great Leader."

Questions about the future

However, "for all its exotica and mystery, Kim's visit raises questions for the new Russia and compels us to look back and think about the future," Izvestiya continues.

One can sneer about his grandiose titles, but "this is a mirror in which we see ourselves in a past life."

The Americans are laughing their heads off at the welcome Kim's getting here

Vremya MN

In the form of Kim Jong-il, "the spectre of communism" has come to Russia.

Vremya MN is unimpressed: "There are no foreign-policy gains to be had from being friends with North Korea," it writes. "Annoy the Americans? They're laughing their heads off at the welcome Kim's getting here."

According to Nezavisiymaya Gazeta, Mr Kim has not so much the Kremlin as the White House in mind.

"His arrival in Moscow is not only a return visit after hosting Vladimir Putin last year in Pyongyang," the newspaper writes.

"It is also an attempt to use Moscow as a go-between to resume talks with the USA, which have more or less stopped since the Republicans came to power."