by MARK REUTTER

In a strange twist to international relations, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Severstal, embattled owner of the Sparrows Point steel mill, needed a welcoming embrace from U.S. authorities.

“They need support. They need signals that they are welcome,” Putin said of Russian companies doing business in the U.S., specifically citing Severstal, which purchased the giant Baltimore county mill – now subject to various environmental and labor disputes – in 2008.

Putin maintains close ties to Alexei Mordashov, Severstal’s founder and owner, and encouraged the billionaire businessman to expand his empire into North America as part of Russia’s plans to become a global metal-producing leader.

Putin’s remarks were made during Clinton’s state visit to Moscow seeking to reset relations between the countries, especially regarding nuclear disarmament.

A number of economic and regulatory problems currently beset Severstal Sparrows Point. These include a dispute with the United Steelworkers of America, stemming from the company’s plan to terminate hundreds of union jobs, and a crackdown on pollution by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).

MDE recently took the unusual step of subpoenaing company records related to pollutants coming from the mill’s blast furnace, while Severstal lawyers are threatening to delay clean-up orders by the state involving a company landfill alongside Baltimore harbor.

According to RIA Novosti, the Kremlin’s official news agency, Putin told Clinton that “we are ready to work more intensively with Congressmen and discuss what is happening in our country and what is happening in your economy.”

In response, Clinton told Putin that it was important for the two countries to work together on economic and trade issues.