U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates (left), U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (center) and Russian President Elect Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow, March 17, 2008
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Interpresidential Meetings
// The American delegation meets one president and talks about its problems with another
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, elected two weeks ago, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, elected four years ago, met yesterday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov thinks that, if meetings with one Russian president had always been hell for the American pair, yesterday they did descended through two circles of it.
Rice and Gates met with Medvedev first. That is the fate of everyone who visits the Kremlin, and it is usually the visitors' request as well. It was the request of the American visitors, in any case. The desire to get to know Dmitry Medvedev better brought them to the Blue Room of the 14th Building of the Kremlin.
Medvedev confessed to Rice and Gates at the very beginning of the meeting that U.S. and Russian positions on the placement of an American missile defense system in Europe remain at variance.
“We want to establish a base for succession in Russian-American relations,” Medvedev explained.
That meant he wanted to appear in the eyes of those around him to be a Russian nationalist – in the positive sense of the phrase. Mentioning succession implies that the variance will remain further.
Rice told Medvedev that she and the defense secretary would meet with Putin to discuss all areas where there are differences. “There is no problem that will be solved in a better way unless the United States and Russia are able to work properly together,” she said, flashing a smile that set off a blinding array of flashbulbs.
That thought was obviously enough to calm any Russian nationalist, in her estimation.
Gates observed that agreement had been reached on issues, and joked that his broken arm, noticeable under his suit jacket, made him an easy negotiator.
“Well, we'll see,” replied Medvedev.
The meeting lasted about an hour. According to information obtained by Kommersant, the Americans told Medvedev much of what they had prepared for their meeting with Putin. It was a complicated mix of proposals that they had made orally the last time they came to Moscow, in October of last year, and later in written form when they were asked to clarify what they had in mind. There were no new proposals. Nor did Rice and Gates comment on Putin's proposal for the joint use of the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan and the radar station being built outside Armavir in Russia, although it would be easy to imagine that they could voice their objects to that proposal more easily to Medvedev, with whom they were discussing it for the first time, than with Putin whose idea it was.
Seventeen American journalists came with Rice and Gates. They looked around the Kremlin with interest, and behaved as thought hey were in the White House, that is, they talked loudly and pushed in the corridors. One was in the late stages of pregnancy and she removed her shoes every time they stopped for even half a minute and paced barefoot with an expression on her face that made you want to call her an ambulance.
When security personnel ushered opened a door for them, she was always somehow first inline, however, and with her shoes on. The only one of them that was let in though was Sergeant Harrison, the defense secretary's personal photographer, who has a Kodak slung around his neck that was not available in the stores yet in Moscow, or in New York. The Kremlin has never seen a more suave journalist than that American soldier.
The meeting with Putin was to take place in the reception hall. Rice and Gates approached the open door. Putin was to emerge through the door opposite it. Rice had her beaming smile on, but Putin didn't appear. After a few minutes, she couldn't keep the smile up. She held it in place with her teeth for a while, then dropped it and turned away from the closed door. The Russian president still did not appear. They waited several more minutes. I suspect the complications in U.S.-Russian relations increased rapidly in that time.
Finally they met in the center of the hall. Putin, like Medvedev, extended his right hand in greeting to Gates, who more gracefully this time received it with his unbroken left hand.
Rice seemed uncomfortable in her shiny brown shoes and walked with the delicate step of a heron in a swamp. It looked difficult. Her unfortunate experience almost two years ago, when she bought a new pair of shoes in Moscow and had to put bandages on her feet midday, apparently had taught her nothing.
Putin stated that, when Rice and Gates had met with him, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov half a year ago, they had had a very productive dialog.”
The Russian president looked at the American carefully. They nodded in confirmation of the productiveness of the dialog, which had had no result at all. Putin added that he received the American president's letter.
“It is a serious document. We have analyzed it carefully and, if we are able to reach an agreement, we can consider the progress serious,” he said.
Gates commented that they had come out of order (that is, to Moscow a second time in a row, in hopes of such progress.
“Protocol is not the main thing here,” Putin returned instantly, “but meaningful conversation and the fact that you have come again shows that you liked it the first time.”
That was a hint that the meeting was being held at the initiative of the Americans.
According to information obtained by Kommersant, the letter from U.S. President George W. Bush contains a discussion of the need for succession in U.S.-Russian relations and real proposals, such as the extension of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 1). That was apparently what Putin had referred to. Rice and Gates stated that compromise was possible on the missile defense system in Europe. The missiles could be not loaded in their shafts and the radar could be turned on only in the event of real danger. (But what good would the radar be at all then?)
It was clear that those agreements could be made only after Bush and Putin meet personally. Kommersant has learned that that meeting was also discussed yesterday. The meeting of the two ardent nationalists, one Russian and one American, could be an effective summation of their political careers, and the effective beginning of the career of a third nationalist.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 18, 2008
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