US FLAGS DEEP INTEREST IN EX-SOVIET COUNTRIES

Peninsula On-line
Sept 4 2008
Qatar

Baku// The United States and Russia squared off over the Caucasus and
Central Asia yesterday as US Vice President Dick Cheney said Washington
had an "abiding" interest in vital regions once dominated by Moscow.

Speaking in the oil-rich former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, Cheney
said: "President Bush has sent me here with the clear and simple
message for the people of Azerbaijan and the entire region. "The
United States has a deep and abiding interest in your well-being
and security."

Cheney said access to energy resources there and in Central Asia was
a top concern for Washington.

"Energy security is essential to us all and the matter is becoming
increasingly urgent," Cheney said after meeting Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev. "We must work with Azerbaijan and other countries in the
Caucasus and Central Asia on additional routes for energy exports,"
he said.

Cheney’s comments came a day after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin sealed a new gas pipeline deal in Uzbekistan.

They were a clear signal that Washington did not intend to allow
Moscow to regain the unchallenged control over the politics and
natural resources of the Caucasus and Central Asian regions.

Cheney was due to travel today to Georgia for a meeting with that
country’s beleaguered, US-backed President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The head of Russia’s powerful presidential Security Council criticized
Cheney’s tour, saying his real goal was to trade US support for
energy supplies in the region, and to make sure these countries had
governments sympathetic to Washington.

"Cheney, during his visits to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine, will
try to instill in them confidence that they will receive support of
the US, and (he) will do it in such a way that the US will continue
to wield influence on them," Nikolai Patrushev said during a visit
to neighbouring Armenia.

The US Embassy in Baku said Cheney yesterday met with local
representatives of British Petroleum and Chevron who briefed him on
their "assessments of the energy situation in Azerbaijan and the
broader Caspian region — especially in light of Russia’s recent
military actions in Georgia."