Moscow Times
Jan 14 2005
Bush Has a Packed Agenda for Putin
By Simon Saradzhyan
Staff Writer
The White House is not conducting an official review of its Russia
policy over the Kremlin’s drive to consolidate power, but President
George W. Bush will voice his concerns over Moscow’s record on
building democracy when he meets with President Vladimir Putin at a
summit next month, a senior U.S. State Department official said
Thursday.
“This is not accurate in a sense of a headline,” said Elizabeth
Jones, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, when
asked to comment on recent reports in the U.S. press that a Russia
policy review is under way in the Bush administration.
Jones — who is leaving her post together with Secretary of State
Colin Powell and a number of other senior officials — also said she
does not foresee any fundamental change in the Russia policy in the
second Bush administration. Bush has nominated national security
adviser Condoleezza Rice as the next secretary of state.
Jones, speaking via a video link that connected her Washington office
with Moscow, Rome and Bratislava, Slovakia, called the news
conference to talk about a trip by Bush to Europe in February that
will include NATO and European Union meetings as well as bilateral
talks with Russian and Belgian leaders.
Official statements from the Kremlin about the summit between Bush
and Putin have so far largely been limited to a statement that the
two will meet in Bratislava on Feb. 24. The Foreign Ministry has yet
to hold a briefing on the summit.
>From Washington’s point of view, the main tracks of U.S.-Russian
cooperation are “very clear,” Jones said. The Bush administration
will continue to count on Russia as an important partner in the
struggle against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction and their technologies, she said. And the presidents will
discuss ways to advance cooperation on these international security
issues as well as Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization.
While determined to advance security and economic cooperation, Bush
also plans to prod Putin over a lack of “progress in the democratic
transformation of Russia,” Jones said. “[There] doesn’t seem to be as
much progress there as it would have been expected when the two
presidents first met in Ljubljana almost four years ago,” she said.
Asked what worries Bush most about the future of democracy in Putin’s
Russia, Jones said, “There is a deep concern on the part of many,
including in Russia, about … the balance between the civil society
and the government, about increased consolidation in the government.
“What happened to the great abundance of media in Russia? What about
that? There are very serious concerns about the plight of NGOs in
terms of increased state control.”
Putin explained to Bush at length his elimination of gubernatorial
elections and plans to scrap independent State Duma races when the
two met in Chile in November, according to a senior U.S. official’s
account of their meeting. At the time, the two agreed to discuss the
issue further.
The Bush administration also has questions about the rule of law in
the Yukos saga. “What is really Russia’s intention there? What is
really under way there in the retroactive use of the tax code?” Jones
said, referring to multibillion-dollar back-tax bills slapped on
Yukos and confirmed by Russian courts.
While concerned about parts of the Kremlin’s domestic policy, the
Bush administration is pleased with bilateral cooperation in the
struggle against terror and arms proliferation. Jones commended
Russia for “working cooperatively in connection with the situation in
Iran.”
Iran’s nuclear program, which Washington insists is designed to
develop nuclear weapons, has been one of the thorniest issues in
U.S.-Russian relations. Russia, which is building a nuclear power
plant in Iran, recently put pressure on Iran to accept more
comprehensive inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog and is now
insisting that Tehran agrees to return all spent nuclear fuel used in
the plant back to Russia.
While appreciative of Moscow’s toughened stance on Iran, the Bush
administration remains worried about Russia’s policy with its
neighbors. In particular, it is concerned about Russia’s failure to
put pressure for peace settlements on the self-proclaimed republics
of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia, Transdnestr in Moldova and
Nagorny Karabakh, Jones said.
She said these four regions would be discussed at the summit. “It is
in Russia’s interest for these areas — whether it is Transdnestr,
Abkhazia, South Ossetia or Nagorny Karabakh — to be stable, for
corruption to end there, for criminal secessionists who rule there to
be removed,” she said.
Washington intends to encourage other former Soviet republics
neighboring Russia to engage in NATO’s Partnership for Peace Program
and the EU’s new Neighborhood Policy, Jones said, singling out
Ukraine as a priority. “We are looking forward to finding ways to
strengthen Ukraine’s integration into Europe and the transatlantic
community,” she said.
The United States and the EU threatened to slap sanctions on Ukraine
if it upheld the results of the Nov. 21 presidential election, which
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other
international observers declared unfair and flawed.
Jones even summoned the Russian ambassador to explain why Putin had
congratulated pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych in the
election. Yanukovych lost a repeat of the election in December.
Jones on Thursday was careful not to mention Russia’s role in the
Ukrainian election or warn it against putting pressure on other
former Soviet republics where elections will be held this year. She
did say, however, that the parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan and
Moldova need to be fair and free.
While presenting a rather lengthy list of the issues that will be
discussed by Bush and Putin, Jones said she was unaware of any plans
for the two to sign any official documents. “This is a summit that is
primarily focused on intellectual discussion. We don’t need to sign
documents to prove that we have a relationship.”
The heaviest security measures in Slovak history are planned for the
summit, Slovak Interior Minister Vladimir Palko said Wednesday. He
said some 5,500 Slovak policemen and 400 firefighters will be on
duty.