Bloomberg
May 10 2005

Bush Vows to Help Georgia Join NATO, Solve Conflicts (Update3)

May 10 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush promised the U.S. will
help the former Soviet republic of Georgia gain entry to NATO,
negotiate the withdrawal of Russian troops and resolve a separatist
conflict that threatens the emerging democracy.

In a speech today in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, Bush told thousands
of Georgians their peaceful democratic revolution in 2003 ignited a
“freedom movement” in the region and inspired the spread of
democracy elsewhere in the world.

“As you build a free and democratic Georgia, the American people
will stand with you,” Bush, the first U.S. president to visit the
country, said in Tbilisi’s Freedom Square. “By extending freedom to
those who have not known it, we will advance the cause of freedom and
we will advance the cause of peace.”

Bush was making his final stop on a five-day European trip centered
on helping Russian President Vladimir Putin commemorate the 60th
anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. He also
used the journey — which included stops in Georgia and Latvia, two
republics of the old Soviet empire — to reinforce the pledge he made
at the beginning of the year of uncompromising U.S. support for
democratic movements.

The itinerary illustrated the diplomatic balance Bush faces in the
region in pushing for greater democracy and freedom in the region
while bolstering relations with Putin, who Bush and members of his
administration have chided for taking backward steps on reforms.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent a letter of complaint
regarding the Latvia and Georgia stops when Bush’s schedule was set.

Inspiration

Bush held up Georgia as an example of how freedom inspires people the
world over.

“Now, across the Caucasas, in Central Asia and the broader Middle
East, we see the same desire for liberty burning in the hearts of
young people,” Bush told the crowd in Tbilisi. “They are demanding
their freedom, and they will have it.”

Bush used the same theme at his May 7 stop in Riga, Latvia, where he
also noted that the end of World War II brought the Baltic states a
new form of oppression under the Soviet Union. The speeches follow
Bush’s challenge to Putin at a February summit in Bratislava,
Slovakia, on press freedoms and allowing political opposition.

`In Reverse’

Democratic progress in Russian has “not only slowed down I think its
moving in reverse,” aid Marshall Goldman of the Davis Center for
Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.

Although Bush made no speeches while in Moscow, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said the president raised his concerns about Putin’s
steps to centralize power and restrict opposition during a private
meeting with Putin May 8.

Putin responded to U.S. criticism by giving an interview for the
CBS’s “60 Minutes” program in which he cited the disputed vote
count in Bush’s 2000 election to say the U.S. shouldn’t be lecturing
Russia on the subject.

The stops in Latvia and Georgia helped Bush accomplished some of his
objectives, said Ariel Cohen, a Russia expert at the Heritage
Foundation in Washington.

“The message to Mr. Putin that the geopolitical reality of the
former Soviet empire has changed irreversibly was sent loud and
clear,” said Ariel Cohen, a Russia expert at the Heritage Foundation
in Washington.

Still, there’s no evidence Bush made headway with Putin on Russian
democratic reforms, an issue that has become a central source of
tension between the two.

Words and Deeds

“Bush has raised his concerns, but there is no sign that Putin is
intending to do anything,” said James Goldgeier, a Russia expert at
the Council on Foreign Relations who worked at the State Department
and National Security Council under former President Bill Clinton.

U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, briefing reporters in
Moscow May 8, praised a Putin speech last week in which the Russian
president extolled the virtues of democracy while saying “obviously,
those words have to be translated into deeds.”

Goldgeier said the mutual interest of the United States and Russia
will prevent the relationship between the two nations from devolving
into conflict.

Among other things, America needs Russia’s help with stymieing the
nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea and with nudging Israel and
the Palestinians toward a peace accord. Russia, for its part, is
counting on U.S. assistance in gaining acceptance to the World Trade
Organization.

James Collins, U.S. ambassador to Russia from 1997-2001, said Bush
probably didn’t smooth relations with Putin by making stops in Latvia
and Georgia.

No Confrontation

“I don’t think the environment or the atmosphere was probably
improved by the way it was done, but I also don’t over- dramatize the
effect of that,” Collins said. “Putin has made it pretty clear he’s
not going to engage in a confrontation with the United States.”

Dimitri Simes, a Russian affairs scholar and president of the Nixon
Center, a foreign policy research institution in Washington, said the
trip may end up putting a strain on U.S.- Russian relations.

“The administration is clearly taking the position that they may
have their cake and eat it too, meaning that they would successfully
pursue a strategic partnership with Russia while being fairly
dismissive of Russian concerns,” Simes said.

Bush’s pledge of support for the Baltic states and Georgia comes amid
disputes those countries have with Russia.

Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and Putin have disagreed over
the treatment of Russians in Latvia, where they make up 30 percent of
Latvia’s population. Putin has an ongoing border dispute with Latvia
and Georgia, and in Georgia, Russia still has two military bases in
Georgia comprising about 3,500 troops that Georgia’s President
Mikhail Saakashvili wants removed. Russia also has supported
separatist movements in two regions of Georgia.

Vike-Freiberga attended Monday’s ceremonies in Moscow’s Red Square
marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Lithuanian
President Valdas Adamkus, Ukraine President Viktor Yuschenko and
Saakashvili did not.

Bush told Saakashvili that he brought up the dispute over the Russian
troops with Putin during their meeting.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve had this conversation with President
Putin on this issue,” Bush said at a news conference in Tbilisi with
Saakashvili at his side.

Georgia’s location between the Black Sea, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Turkey gives it “strategic importance far beyond its size”
according the State Department’s Web site. It serves as “a gateway”
from the Black Sea to the Caucasus and the larger Caspian region and
a “buffer” between Russia and Turkey, the State Department said.

Saakashvili’s government is seeking membership in the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization within three years as it moves to build closer
ties to the U.S. and the European Union.