McCartney rocking back in the USSR

SIR PAUL McCartney became the first Beatle to sing inside the Kremlin last night, treating President Vladimir Putin to an impromptu version of Let It Be before singing to thousands of Russians in Red Square.

Putin, who confessed to being a Beatles fan in his youth, told McCartney the band had been an inspiration during Soviet times, despite Kremlin efforts to discourage Western music.

Asked whether he had listened to the Beatles when contacts with foreign music were discouraged by the communist leadership, Putin said: "It was very popular, more than popular. It was like a breath of fresh air, like a window on the outside world."

McCartney met Putin in the Kremlin for tea and a guided tour, hours before the first Russian show of the musician’s 40-year career.

He promised to give the expected 20,000-strong audience a special performance of the Beatles hit Back In The USSR.

Commenting on his meeting with the Russian president, McCartney said Putin "seemed to be a really nice guy".

Thousands flocked to the concert. Tickets sold for hundreds of dollars in a country where monthly wages are below 60.

Strolling through the Kremlin grounds, McCartney said his trip to Russia had dispelled many notions he had held, including what he might have thought when he wrote Back In The USSR.

"I didn’t know anything about it then," McCartney said. "It was a mystical land then. It’s nice to see the reality. I always suspected that people had big hearts. Now I know that’s true."