American congressman Thomas Lantos visits the US embassy in Moscow in 2004.
Photo: Vasily Shaposhnikov
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The Politics of the Whip and the Vanick
// Tom Lantos Will Promise Russia to Repeal Anti-Soviet Amendment
Today is the last day of a visit to Moscow by US Congressman Tom Lantos, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The agenda for the visit of one of America's most uncompromising critics of the Kremlin included meetings in the State Duma and the Foreign Affairs Ministry, as well as contacts with representatives from civil-society organizations and business. Mr. Lantos has said he will make a "historical statement" at his final press conference about relations between Russia and the United States. Kommersant has learned that Mr. Lantos is expected to speak about America's readiness to repeal the notorious Jackson-Vanick Amendment.
Yesterday the Russian media was full of reports about the arrival in Moscow of a "delegation headed by Tom Lantos from the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs." However, Mr. Lantos, a Democrat who has chaired the House committee since the beginning of this year, actually came alone to the Russian capital as a personal guest of the US ambassador. Thus, this trip is not technically a diplomatic visit, although Mr. Lantos did meet with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov and State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev. The US Embassy told Kommersant that Mr. Lantos, who arrived in Moscow on Sunday evening, also intended to meet with representatives from civil-society organizations and business.
Russia, which Mr. Lantos has often strongly criticized, is the first country that he has visited since taking up his new post. In 2003, Mr. Lantos set the tone for the discussions of the Yukos affair in the US, and at that time he was one of the authors of the congressional resolution that called on the US President to bar Russia from the G8. Thus far this year, Mr. Lantos has already at least twice confirmed his reputation as the "bad cop" when it comes to Russia, first by accusing Russia and China of throwing up "constant roadblocks" to the resolution of the Iranian nuclear question, and second by sending a letter to the State Department in which he called on the department to include the sentence "Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are political prisoners" in its annual human rights report. In his letter, Mr. Lantos wrote that the former Yukos executives "are imprisoned not for any crime that they committed but for their political activities, which threatened Putin's totalitarian regime."
Tom Lantos arrived in Moscow soon after President Vladimir Putin's speech in Munich, which was followed by more harsh anti-American rhetoric from the Russian leadership that has caused many to comment on the threat of a return to Cold War-era relations between the two countries. However, his visit has not caused the scandal predicted by many observers. Konstantin Kosachev, who spoke with his American colleague for more than an hour, told Kommersant that his impression of Mr. Lantos during their conversation was entirely positive. According to Mr. Kosachev, "the tone of the questions that we discussed was extremely constructive." In reply to a question from Kommersant about whether they had discussed the Yukos affair, the problems of democracy, or other Russian domestic issues, Mr. Kosachev said that such questions had not come up. "He did not bring up those subjects, and so we didn't either," he explained, adding, "I liked Mr. Lantos' attitude. He had a lot to say about how Russia and the US are on the same side of the barricade, and that the problem is that in many cases they have not yet arrived at mutual understanding when confronting threats and challenges that they both face." Among the foreign policy sticking points between the two sides, Mr. Kosachev listed Iran, the Middle East, Palestine, and Kosovo. When asked what had brought about Mr. Lantos' chance of heart regarding Russia, Mr. Kosachev replied that in his opinion, the American congressman has not stopped being a critic of Russia, but he now "grasps his increased responsibility for the future of Russian-American relations as chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in the US Congress."
With his trip to Moscow, Mr. Lantos appears determined to shed the image of Russia's "chief persecutor." Yesterday he captured the interest of Russian journalists by promising that at his press conference today he will make "an important statement, one that will have historical significance for Russian-American relations." Kommersant has learned that the surprise up his sleeve is thought to be a statement of America's readiness to repeal the infamous Jackson-Vanick Amendment, which has hobbled trade relations between the two countries ever since it was introduced by Congress at the height of the Cold War. Thus, America's "chief persecutor" of Russia may well become Russia's "chief savior."
Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 21, 2007
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