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Anti-Russian Talk
// U.S. and British leaders unite against Russia
The first visit of Great Britain’s new Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the U.S. begins Sunday. Relations with Russia will be one of the key topics in his talks with U.S. President George Bush. Most likely, Washington and London will agree to stand together both on the deployment of U.S. missile defense elements in Europe, and on the Andrei Lugovoi case.
Diplomatic NATO
“Meeting with President Bush, Mr. Brown will give special attention to the relations with Russia and to the deployment of missile defense system in Europe. The latter is the most important issue of the talks,” 10 Downing Street said on Friday. The British prime minister’s press service did not specify which particular aspects of the relations with Russia will be discussed during Gordon Brown’s first visit to the U.S. as prime minister. The press service said the talks are confidential. Meanwhile, Washington refrains from giving any details of the upcoming visit. White House spokesman Tony Snow vaguely said on Thursday that George Bush and Gordon Brown will discuss “what’s going on in Europe, defense in Europe, Kosovo”.
Washington and London have had difficulties in their relations with Moscow recently. British authorities argue with Russia over Andrei Lugovoi’s extradition, and the U.S. cannot persuade Moscow that it is necessary to deploy missile defense in Europe.
Apparently, Bush and Brown are going to use their bilateral summit to unite against Russia on both issues. By the way, Britain’s Defense Secretary Des Browne said ahead of the prime minister’s visit to Washington that London agrees to deploy a U.S. radar on the Royal Air Force base Menvent-Hill near Harrogate in North Yorkshire County. “Great Britain will continue cooperating with the U.S. and NATO allies to develop a collective missile defense system, which might be created on the basis of Washington’s initiatives,” said Browne speaking in the Parliament. Moreover, he added that Britain is ready to also deploy U.S. interceptor missiles on its territory should there be a threat to its national security.
The Bush-Brown summit happened at the time when the U.S. Congress and the British Parliament were animatedly discussing the relations with Russia as well. Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Lantos urged the U.S. and Europe to “replicate the Trans-Atlantic alliance” for counteracting Moscow’s “anti-West and anti-U.S.” policy. Lantos, an influential congressman who often criticizes Russia so sharply as the U.S. administration cannot afford doing, listed the main claims to Moscow: leaving the CFE, obstructing U.S. deployment of missile defense in Eastern Europe, energy arm-twisting of its nearest neighbors. Apparently, the alliance proposed by Lantos will become more visible after the Bush-Brown talks.
Pan-European Missile Defense
Meanwhile, the Russian authorities keep playing their game with Washington. A high-ranking delegation from Moscow is coming to the U.S. at the same time with Gordon Brown. Kommersant learned from the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Defense Ministry of Russia that the delegation will be headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak, and will include Lieutenant General Evgeny Buzhinsky, head of the Defense Ministry’s international negotiations department. “It is the first of the meetings on which President Putin agreed with George Bush at their summit in Kennebunkport. We lay certain hopes on this meeting. Besides, no one canceled yet the talks between foreign affairs and defense chiefs of Russia and the U.S. this autumn,” said Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
The Russian ministries and the U.S. Department of State did not disclose which particular issues will be discussed during the talks. Yet, Moscow seems to keep being determined to promote Vladimir Putin’s ideas, presented by him in Kennebunkport and at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. Putin offered to use the Gabalin radar station in Azerbaijan and a radar under construction near Armavir instead of deploying missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. Anyway, Kislyak visited Azerbaijan last week, where he discussed using the Gabalin radar with President Ilham Aliev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov, and Defense Minister Safar Abiev. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said, ahead of the Russian delegation’s visit to the U.S., that “Russia’s offers are an alternative and not a supplement to the U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in Europe”. He added that Russia’s initiatives make up a “package offer” and cannot be taken separately, while all works for deploying missile defense in Europe should be suspended for the duration of the U.S.-Russia talks. That must be the position which the Russian delegation will express in Washington.
However, Russia’s initiatives have so far had no impact on the U.S. plans. U.S. Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner announced that the Pentagon had already chosen a contractor for building a radar in the Czech Republic and for creating 10 interceptor missiles in Poland. It is Boeing corporation. It will receive $80 million for the first stage of the contract’s implementation, as soon as U.S. defense budget is ratified. Although the House Appropriations Committee voted on Wednesday to cut the White House’s request to finance missile defense by $139 million (it is the sum necessary for creating elements in Poland), the Pentagon’s preparation is in full swing. Poland’s President Lekh Kaczynski, who visited the U.S. last week, promised to sign an agreement with Washington already by September. Moreover, the U.S. Senate proclaimed the deployment of missile defense in Eastern Europe a part of U.S. national policy. It means the base in Poland will be built anyway, sooner or later. So far, Boeing can use only that part of the budget’s $3.5 billion which is necessary for the first stage of the project, -- the transportation of a radar from the Marshall Islands to the Czech Republic.
Certainly, Gordon Brown’s support will help George Bush to transform the bases in the Czech Republic and Poland into the foundation of the collective European security system created under the aegis of NATO and the EU. So, the U.S. administration will acquire motives to support London even more ardently in its confrontation with the Russian authorities. Thus, Moscow is already concerned over the upcoming Bush-Brown talks. “They already have one Trans-Atlantic alliance, and another one will not be friendlier to Russia for sure,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry darkly said on Friday.
Alexander Gabuev
All the Article in Russian as of July 28, 2007
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