KREMLIN POWER GRAB TROUBLING, RICE SAYS
By Matthew Lee

Washington Times, DC
Oct 15 2007

MOSCOW (AP) – The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed
so much central authority that the power grab may undermine Moscow’s
commitment to democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
yesterday.

"In any country, if you don’t have countervailing institutions, the
power of any one president is problematic for democratic development,"
Miss Rice told reporters after meeting with human rights activists.

"I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I
have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full
independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about
the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think,
questions about the strength of the Duma," said Miss Rice, referring
to the Russian parliament.

Miss Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates were in Moscow to
discuss the U.S. plan for a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe
with the Russian leaders. On Friday, they received a chilly reception
from Mr. Putin and senior Russian officials on U.S. proposals for
cooperating on the shield that Russia vehemently opposes.

Miss Rice, a competitive figure skater in her teens, visited a group
of young skaters at Moscow’s Central Army Sports Club yesterday,
but refused to get on the ice. She stepped gingerly on a blue rug
laid out on the ice when greeted warmly by the youths, ranging in
age from 7 to 17.

While in Moscow, Miss Rice expressed concern about the state of
U.S.-Turkish relations, appealing to the U.S. ally for restraint
against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and in reaction to an Armenian
genocide resolution in Congress. Two senior U.S. officials in the
Moscow delegation – Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried and Eric
Edelman, defense undersecretary for policy – flew to Ankara for direct
talks with senior Turkish officials.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to seek parliament’s
approval this week for a military incursion into northern Iraq to
fight Kurdish rebels who attack Turkey from there.

Meanwhile, the Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives has moved a
resolution terming mass killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire,
the forbear of the Turkish republic, as genocide.

In Ankara, Mr. Fried told a Turkish television interviewer that the
administration "will do everything we can so that this resolution
will not come to the House floor."

Washington is concerned about the centralization of power and
democratic backsliding ahead of Russia’s legislative and presidential
elections in December and March. Mr. Putin will step down next
year as president. He has said he would lead the ticket of the main
pro-Kremlin party in the parliamentary elections and could take the
prime minister’s job later.

Miss Rice sought opinions and assessments of the situation from eight
prominent rights leaders.

"I talked to people about the coming months and how they see the
coming months. How these two elections are carried out will have an
effect on whether Russia is making the next step on toward democracy,"
Miss Rice said after the private sessions at Spaso House, the residence
of the U.S. ambassador in Moscow.

Miss Rice declined comment on Mr. Putin’s possible political future
and said she did not raise the matter in her official discussions.

Earlier, Miss Rice said she hoped the efforts of rights activists would
promote universal values of "the rights of individuals to liberty and
freedom, the right to worship as you please and the right to assembly,
the right to not have to deal with the arbitrary power of the state."

Vladimir Lukin, the government-appointed human rights ombudsman, was
quoted by Interfax as saying he told Miss Rice that human rights should
be discussed in a dialogue rather lecturing in a "doomsday" style.

The State Department frequently has criticized what Washington
regards as creeping authoritarianism among Mr. Putin and other top
Russian leaders.

Its most recent human rights report on Russia notes continuing
centralization of power in the Kremlin, a compliant legislature,
political pressure on the judiciary, intolerance of ethnic minorities,
corruption and selectivity in enforcement of the law, and media
restrictions and self-censorship.