RUSSIA: Warm Words Don’t Clear the Ice

By Kester Kenn Klomegah Reprint | | Print |

Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, May 17 2007 (IPS) - After extensive talks over two days with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian government and civil society leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appears to have made some limited headway through sharp differences on strategic and geopolitical matters.

After extensive talks over two days with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian government and civil society leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appears to have made some limited headway through sharp differences on strategic and geopolitical matters.

The Washington-based Freedom House says the Rice visit to Moscow this week came at an important time in U.S.-Russia relations.

“It is essential for the two countries to continue a dialogue on a range of critical issues,” Christopher Walker from Freedom House told IPS. “Given the trajectory of human and democractic rights in Russia, it is vitally important that the United States – and its allies in the European Union (EU) – maintain a clear and consistent voice on these fundamental issues towards Russia.”

A Russia that continues to give short shrift to the rule of law, press freedom and other basic elements of a rules-based, accountable system will ultimately not be a reliable partner for the West, he said.

Russian analysts had their own perception. “We know that the United States is always interested in penetrating into our economy, and that’s why it’s adopting all kinds of strategies to achieve this. But White House officials also acknowledge the fact that Moscow has awoken from its slumber and is watching developments from a more progressive perspective,” Vyacheslav Grushin, international security policy researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Strategic Studies told IPS.

“There will definitely come a point when the two opposing countries will strike a compromise, but Russia might not easily give in on sensitive matters that concern its national security. I think that this position is already known to everybody across the Atlantic.”

While the United States has been at loggerheads with Russia over a host of thorny issues down the years, the Kremlin and Rice have expressed their mutual readiness to discuss these, and to tone down unfriendly diplomatic rhetoric.

“I think the discussions that were held bordering on the whole range of bilateral and international problems paved the way in seeking solutions to them, and at least, the landmark meeting presents one fact, that despite strong confrontation at each other, both can still cooperate on some pressing questions of global interest,” Evgeny Bazhanov, international political studies professor at the prestigious Russian Diplomatic Academy told IPS.

Russian officials indicated they were not looking for a military race. Russia’s mid-tem military development programme will not be reviewed despite U.S. plans to deploy a missile defence system in central Europe, a Russian senior military official said.

“The armed forces development plan through 2010 was approved by the Russian President. It is being implemented and will not be amended,” said Gen. Yury Baluyevsky, chief of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces.

He said the plan could only be revised if drastic changes occur globally, and that Moscow will respond without fail if it sees missile defence as a threat to its national interests.

Gen. Baluyevsky told a news conference that Russia does not intend to use the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty to provide an asymmetric response to U.S. missile shield plans, adding that Russia could respond with less expensive options.

But Moscow has condemned the U.S. plan, dismissing the official U.S. explanation that it needs a missile defence system to counter possible attacks from Iran and North Korea.

First deputy prime minister Sergey Ivanov said in April that there were no grounds to talk about possible Russia-U.S. cooperation in strategic missile defence. “We believe this system – strategic missile defence – is, to put it mildly, of a somewhat fanciful nature.”

The two sides also found no common ground on the issue of Kosovo, the Albanian- dominated southern region of Serbia that looks headed for separation. “They discussed Kosovo and agreed to look for solutions that could satisfy all parties involved, although such solutions are not visible at the moment,” foreign minister Lavrov said.

Civil society remained a bone of contention. In an interview with the Russian NTV Channel, Rice said the U.S. does not interfere in elections in Russia, but intends to help non- governmental organisations (NGOs) and the development of civil society.

The Russian government has faced criticism from Western leaders for restrictions imposed on rights groups and NGOs operating in the country, and the issue is often cited as an example of Russia’s alleged backsliding on democracy.

“It is necessary to make all new efforts in order to work out joint solutions to existing problems,” an independent deputy of the State Duma Vladimir Ryzkov told IPS. “In spite of all difficulties, dialogue with Russia should continue, without forgetting in this case about the situation with democracy and human rights in Russia.”

Despite progress, differences remained through the visit, Ryzkov said. “I think that significant differences remain on Iran, Iraq, expansion of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) to the east, on politics in Georgia and Belarussia, and about the routes of delivery of oil and gas from central Asia to the west.”