DISCORD AT G8 DIPLOMATS’ MEETING
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer

The Moscow Times, Russia
June 30 2006

For diplomats accustomed to papering over differences, the G8’s foreign
ministers sounded rather undiplomatic at the news conference following
their meeting Thursday.

Minutes before Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters the
meeting had avoided internal politics, U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said the Kremlin’s handling of the media and private
groups had, in fact, been discussed.

It was, perhaps, a prelude to the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, where
U.S. President George W. Bush and other Western leaders may — or
may not — rebuke Russia for abandoning democracy.

Major outstanding questions are when and where that conversation will
come up, and how Westerners, particularly Bush, will balance their
criticism with cajoling Russia into supporting UN sanctions against
Iran and other issues.

Rice said the meeting had included talk about "transition" problems,
such as the Russian state’s attempt to sideline independent news
organizations and strict regulation of nongovernmental organizations.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier backed up Rice. Both
Steinmeier and Rice promised that their governments would be raising
similar concerns in the near future, possibly referring to the
upcoming summit.

Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay added that participants had
"an honest discussion" about Belarus, Moldova and Georgia.

Western leaders have sought to isolate authoritarian Belarussian
President Alexander Lukashenko, whose main beneficiary remains Russia.

And they have had concerns about separatist movements in the breakaway
regions of Transdnestr in Moldova and Abkhazia and South Ossetia
in Georgia.

MacKay, with other Western diplomats, sought to downplay tensions
that might have surfaced during the meeting, saying the discussion
of Russia’s internal politics "was not a provocation."

Also on Thursday’s agenda was violence in the Palestinian territories
and Iran’s uranium-enrichment program.

The foreign ministers called on Israel and the Palestinians to
do everything possible to bring "calm" to the region. The current
flare-up was ignited by the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by a
Palestinian extremist group tied to the Hamas-controlled government.

(See story, page 9.)

"We called on the countries to create conditions for providing security
and returning to the negotiation process on the basis of the road map,"
Lavrov said, referring to the peace process.

Lavrov added that the foreign ministers were united in demanding the
soldier’s release.

Iran, meanwhile, remains a multifaceted problem.

Western leaders have said Iran wants a nuclear arsenal, an aim they
say is unacceptable and must be stopped via the United Nations.

Russia and China oppose sanctions.

European leaders recently made Tehran a deal: In exchange for stopping
uranium enrichment, Iran would receive economic aid and nonmilitary
nuclear reactors.

Iran, which has voiced tentative interest in the proposal, has yet
to give a clear reply.

After Thursday’s meeting, the foreign ministers issued a joint
statement. "We are disappointed by the absence of an official Iranian
response to this positive proposal," the statement said. "We expect
to hear a clear and substantive Iranian response to these proposals"
at the July 5 meeting between the European Union’s foreign minister
and Iran’s nuclear negotiator.

The G8 countries also called on North Korea, which is thought to
have developed some nuclear arms, to return to disarmament talks with
Russia, the United States, China, Japan and South Korea.

And they sounded unanimous support for tracking down and bringing
to justice those who kidnapped and murdered four Russian diplomats
earlier this month in Iraq.

Rice also noted that Western diplomats had questioned Russia’s
reliability as an energy supplier and its use of its vast energy
reserves as a foreign policy tool.

Those concerns stem from Russia’s move in January to turn off gas
supplies to Ukraine after the two countries failed to hammer out an
agreement on gas prices.

Ukrainian leaders have suggested the spat stemmed from Russia’s
ongoing anger with Ukraine’s pro-Western government, which came to
power in the 2004 Orange Revolution.

Lavrov said he fully agreed with Rice that the oil and gas sector
should adhere to market-based rules. But he added that not only
reliable suppliers but also reliable customers were needed.

"We want to be confident that our reputation for being a reliable
energy supplier that has never breached its obligations for a single
cubic gram is appreciated," Lavrov said.

Other issues that came up at the meeting included the dormant conflict
in Nagorno-Karabakh, Afghanistan and the need for better relations
between Serbia and Kosovo.