Jordan's King Abdullah lays wreath at tomb of unknown soldier.

(27 Aug 2001)
1. Kremlin wall
2. Honorary guard, cortege of King Abdullah II arrives
3. Wreath-laying ceremony
4. King Abdullah
5. Honorary guard
6. Wreathlayng
7. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall
8. Wreathlayng
9. King Abdullah
10. Russian guardsmen
11. Honorary guards marching
12. Honorary guards marching
13. King Abdullah
STORYLINE:
Jordan's King Abdullah II headed to a Russian military air base in a city famed in the Soviet era for its weapons factories, during a visit aimed overall at urging a greater Russian role in the Mideast peace process.
Abdullah, on his first official visit to Russia, laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin walls on Monday morning before leaving for Tula, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Moscow.
In Tula, the king was to visit the 106th elite airborne division, an instrument design bureau and a weapons museum.
Abdullah was to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday.
The visit will include talks on boosting trade - and possibly on purchases of Russian weapons.
Russian news reports said the king may be interested in high-precision weapons for land forces, and in anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems.
Jordan's 120,000-strong army is partially equipped with Soviet weapons bought by Abdullah's late father, King Hussein, in the early 1980s.
Its Russian-supplied arsenal includes air defense systems, tanks and machine guns.
But Russia may run into competition with the United States, which has boosted military aid to Jordan and given Jordan the status of a non-NATO ally as a reward for Amman's 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
Violence in the Middle East was expected to be a focus of Abdullah's talks with Putin and other Russian leaders.
Russia is an official co-sponsor of the Mideast peace process launched in 1991 but has played a far smaller role than the United States.
Moscow ties to the Arab world have frayed since the Soviet Union's collapse a decade ago as its relations with Israel have improved.
Abdullah, accompanied by Queen Rania, is scheduled to visit St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
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