HMM — first various documents start leaking out of Baghdad, implicating the Russians in violations of U.N. sanctions, and perhaps worse. Now we get this:

The anti-war coalition of France, Germany and Russia seemed to be crumbling yesterday after President Vladimir Putin put out a series of conciliatory signals to America.

Senior Russian officials told the Izvestia daily newspaper that the Kremlin has “no illusions about any long-term perspectives for the axis”. One official said: “Sooner or later Iraq will fall and Russia and the United States will resume normal relations.”

The source added that Russia never expected any long-term principled position from either France or Germany.

“The Axis?” What I like best about this quote is that even its members seem to think of it as the “Axis of Weasels.”

UPDATE: Here’s more:

A summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French and German counterparts has been dubbed a failure by some officials here, who warned the troika’s “peace camp” alliance would crumble with the end of the war in Iraq. . . .

Putin is still pushing to protect a nascent friendship with US President George W. Bush in the face of strident opposition from the Russian media and top government officials. Analysts have long argued that Putin is far keener to preserve friendly ties with the United States than with the pro-European, anti-war camps embedded in much of the Russian media and the foreign and defense ministries.

The story (from Riyadh Daily) even reports that Putin is willing to forgive some Iraqi debts in the interest of good relations with the United States. How much should we make of these stories? Beats me, but it sure doesn’t sound like a united front.