Pamela Anderson visits Kremlin to lobby for animal protection

Actress Pamela Anderson on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin's powerful chief of staff at the Kremlin to lobby for the protection of rare animals.

The Canadian-born former Baywatch actress, 48, raised issues from the conservation of endangered Amur Tigers to a legal ban on killing baby seals and stopping aquariums from keeping killer whales in captivity in a televised meeting with top official Sergei Ivanov.

"I think Russia could really win over some hearts and minds in the West if Russia were to take a leadership position on defending wildlife and the rights of animals," Anderson said, sitting at a round table with Ivanov and activists from the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"Millions of people around the world are looking for world leaders that have compassion for defending nature, biodiversity and the rights of animals," she said.

"Russia has proven to be a nation unafraid to take undaunted action where action is needed."

Anderson was given a private tour of the historic Kremlin fortress in central Moscow and was warmly welcomed by Ivanov.

"For me, today's meeting is very unusual and interesting since I can discuss with beautiful women the problems of protecting wildlife and very beautiful animals," Ivanov, a former KGB agent, said.

Anderson came to Russia after writing to President Vladimir Putin asking him to support her environmental causes, particularly her fight against whale hunting.

In September she attended an economic forum in the far eastern city of Vladivostok to urge Russia to do more to protect wildlife.

Anderson attended a charity auction to raise money to protect endangered species and sold off a bright red float used in the 1990s US television show Baywatch for 3 million rubles ($45,000).