U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney
Photo: AP
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
America Exports Democracy to St. Petersburg
// The G8 summit
Last weekend, U.S. President George W. Bush tried to allay the harsh statements about Russia made by Vice President Dick Cheney in Vilnius. He said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild, for example, that he has “very warm feelings toward Vladimir Putin.” But that is little conciliation for Russian authorities, since Bush also repeated Cheney's desire to make democracy in Russia the main theme of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg.
Cheney's speech, in which he accused Russia of undermining democracy and using energy for blackmail, began a lively discussion among the world's leading politicians about the future of Russian-Western relations. After the world press interpreted the U.S. vice president's speech as a declaration of a new Cold War, the White House has felt the need to comment on it. Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan made a special announcement that Cheney's statements did not mark the beginning of anew policy toward Russia, but a continuation of the existing policy.
Then Cheney decided to comment on his speech himself. The vice president talked with journalists in the airplane on the way back to America and said that his Vilnius speech did not mark a break in relations with Russia. But he again criticized the Kremlin for gutting civic freedoms and using natural gas an instrument of pressure on its neighbors. He also mentioned former Russian presidential economic adviser Andrey Illarionov, who also criticized the Kremlin in a speech in Vilnius. Cheney said that he like Illarionov's speech very much.
Thus Cheney's interpretation of his speech did not reverse anything he said in Vilnius. He again stressed that Russia has not become a democratic state, even though expressing hope that Russia would remain a partner, with democratic practices within the country and friendly relations with its neighbors. He said that the G8 summit could be a decisive moment in Russia's relations with the West with a “free and open exchange of ideas” among the leaders.
The U.S. head of state followed up in his interview with Bild. As usual, Bush drew attention to his personal contacts, saying that he had very warm personal relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We have the kind of relationship where I can sit near him and ask him directly why he made a decision,” the U.S. president boasted. He also acknowledged that Russia has the problems that Cheney spoke about in Vilnius. He said that Russia gives mixed signals about its commitment to democracy that caused doubt about its intentions of becoming a genuine democracy with freedom of the press and religion and other democratic freedoms. Bush also mentioned Russia's natural gas wars with its neighbors, although in phrases softer that Cheney's “blackmail and intimidation.” Bush said that he was concerned about “economic nationalism” and the use of oil companies to achieve political goals.
While Bush was trying to soften his vice president's statements, some of his fellow Republicans found Cheney's statements to mild. Influential Sen. John McCain, who is seen as the likely Republican presidential candidate in 2008, again demanded that Bush not attend the St. Petersburg summit. In an interview with the CBS television network, McCain said that Russian authorities flagrantly violate human rights and pressure neighboring countries in an attempt to reestablish the Soviet empire. Commenting on Bush's friendship with Putin, McCain said that “Friendship ends where persecution and repression begin.”
Russian authorities reacted very harshly to Cheney's Vilnius speech and it aftermath. The Kremlin delegated the right to respond to it to Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko. He published an article in the British Financial Times on Monday in which he denied everything said by the U.S. vice president and characterized it as a return to the thinking of the Cold War. The real goal of Khristenko's article, however, was to prevent the reorientation of the talks at the St. Petersburg summit. While Cheney said that the main topic at the summit should be democracy, Khristenko steadfastly referred to energy security. Khristenko said that Russia would introduce its plan to ensure world energy security that would in turn ensure the stability of world energy markets and make them more accessible to developing countries. “Let us hope,” Khristenko wrote, “that, when out partners in the Big Eight gather in St. Petersburg in July, they will act in the spirit of serious dialog and practical cooperation.”
Mikhail Zygar
All the Article in Russian as of May 10, 2006
|
|
|
