Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during their meeting in Moscow on Saturday, October 21, 2006.
Photo: AP
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Russia Approaches the WTO Via Iran
// Condoleezza Rice Discusses a Package Deal between Russia and the US
Yesterday United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concluded a visit to Moscow, completing the final leg of a weeklong tour that has taken her to Tokyo, Seoul, and Beijing. The main goal of her trip was said to be to put increased pressure on North Korea, but the Korean problem turned out not to be at the top of the agenda. Ms. Rice's trip to Moscow resembled a trading fair, where a whole variety of problems, from Iran to Russia's WTO accession, were discussed. The Kremlin's position on every topic was harsh in the extreme. However, Kommersant has learned that Russia is proposing to finally decide all of the questions on the table at the meeting between presidents Putin and Bush in November at the APEC summit in Hanoi.
A Hard Day for Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice spent less than twenty-four hours in Moscow: she arrived in the Russian capital at noon on Saturday and left for Washington early yesterday morning. After starting her visit with a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Ms. Rice spent two hours in negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and yesterday she had dinner with Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov. In addition, on Saturday evening Ms. Rice met in the Marriott Hotel with journalists from "Novaya Gazeta." In her remarks opening the meeting, Ms. Rice expressed her condolences to slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya's son Ilya, who was attending the meeting, and spoke of the importance of preserving freedom of the press in Russia.
The fact that Ms. Rice was not in the Russian capital only to talk about North Korea, which had been the main topic of her trip around Asia, was no secret either in Washington or in Moscow. Both sides were aware that, although the negotiations would be complicated, it was imperative to move forward with them. "We have many questions, and the Americans also have many questions for us. This meeting will be a good reason to synchronize our watches," said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislyak, explaining the idea behind Ms. Rice's visit to Moscow, which was undertaken on Washington's initiative.
A "Repentant" Kim Jong-il Aids Moscow
Under the circumstances of the escalation of the North Korean nuclear crisis, it was inevitable that the Korean question would grab the position of top item on the agenda. Part of Condoleezza Rice's task was to attempt to convince Moscow to continue to exert severe pressure on Pyongyang by implementing UN Security Council resolution #1718 concerning North Korea.
However, Ms. Rice's already difficult task was unexpectedly further complicated by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. On the eve of her arrival in Moscow, the Chinese representative, fresh from a meeting with Kim Jong-il, announced the sensational news that the North Korean leader had supposedly promised to not carry out any more nuclear tests, apologized for carrying out North Korea's first test on October 9, and even expressed his readiness to return to the table for the six-sided talks. If, of course, the US would make concessions to Pyongyang in return.
Kim Jong-il's initiative threatened to seriously undermine Ms. Rice's hand. However, in her reaction Ms. Rice rose to the occasion and confirmed her reputation as an experienced diplomat. Upon arrival in Moscow, she immediately attempted to present the news as a replay of the North Korean leader's previous broken promises, stating that she doubted the sincerity of Pyongyang's intentions to renounce further nuclear tests. "I am not certain whether Kim Jong-il actually talked about that," she said in response to the latest move by North Korea. Ms. Rice made it clear that this may simply be the latest of "Kim Jong-il's jokes."
Nevertheless, the news of the "repentant" Kim Jong-il noticeably lightened the task facing the Russian side, which, according to Kommersant's sources, was aimed at recommending to the United States that it not rush into taking further harsh measures against North Korea. According to sources, during the negotiations Moscow proposed that Washington give Kim Jong-il time to think over the signal sent by the UN Security Council and suggested that the US block the introduction in the UN General Assembly (GA) of an anti-Pyongyang resolution authored by Japan (the Japanese side has already given the accompanying text to the GA's First Committee).
Moscow's main suggestion to Washington on the Korean question was that the US agree to direct talks with Pyongyang, a move which, according to the Kremlin, would allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to be extracted from the current deadlock.
Moscow Helps Tehran
Iran was another pressing question in Ms. Rice's talks in Moscow. Despite the differences between the two nuclear crises, the Russian side made sure that Ms. Rice understood that in neither case does Moscow intend to blindly fall in line with America's call to punish Iran using whatever weapons can be found in the UN's arsenal. Moscow also stressed that the degree of its further support of a future UN Security Council resolution on Iran, as was the case with the resolution on North Korea, will be contingent upon the concessions that the US is prepared to make to Russia.
One of the concessions that Moscow is counting most on is an immediate repeal of sanctions imposed by the American side against the chiefs of the Russian companies "Rosoboronexport" and "Sukhogo," which have been accused of being in cahoots with Iran. In particular, according to Kommersant's sources, the question of sanctions against Russian companies was discussed in detail during the meeting between Ms. Rice and Vladimir Putin. The sanctions were introduced soon after Mr. Putin's July meeting with George Bush in Saint Petersburg, which many observers called "effective."
Meanwhile, as in the situation with Pyongyang, Ms. Rice's arrival in Moscow coincided with a new "peaceful initiative" from Tehran, which announced that it may impose a moratorium on its work on the enrichment of uranium, but only after a new round of talks with the "group of six." And although the novelty of this initiative was far from indisputable, Moscow profited by the opportunity to present the Iranian initiative to Ms. Rice as a result of explanatory work carried out by Russian Security Council head Igor Ivanov during his recent visit to Tehran. Seizing on the "Iranian initiative," Moscow reminded Condoleezza Rice that sanctions against Iran should not be an end in themselves and that if the question of imposing them should arise, then they will be carefully meted out in stages and will chiefly involve bans on Tehran acquiring nuclear technology.
Moscow Demands a Ticket into the WTO
According to a statement released on Saturday by presidential press secretary Aleksey Gromov, during their meeting Vladimir Putin and Condoleezza Rice discussed "future Russian-American contacts on the highest level." According to Kommersant's sources close to the Kremlin, the discussion involved the organization of a "full-scale meeting" between Putin and Bush during the Hanoi talks scheduled for November 18-19 as part of the yearly APEC summit. According to Moscow's design, the next meeting between the leadership of the two countries should remind the world of several forgotten successes of the G8 summit that took place last July in Saint Petersburg.
However, for that to happen, several agreements that have not been being discussed recently in relations between Russia and the US will have to be brought back to the table. According to Moscow, the first such agreement should be the elimination of the last obstacles on Russia's path of accession to the WTO. In the opinion of the Russian side, the conclusion last week in Geneva of a two-sided consultation on two unresolved questions – the defense of intellectual property rights and the conditions for the import of beef and pork into Russia by the United States – shows that a joint WTO protocol can be signed by the beginning of November. In conjunction with this, during the upcoming summit in Hanoi Moscow intends to remind Washington again of the necessity of immediately repealing the Jackson-Vanick amendment. Moscow is convinced that keeping the "anachronistic amendment" will preclude the WTO from fulfilling its basic purpose of ensuring the most advantageous trading regime. The Kremlin has made it known that if Washington removes the objections that are keeping Russia out of the WTO, Moscow will be prepared to make several concessions on the problems that are the biggest thorns in America's side: North Korea and Iran.
Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 23, 2006
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