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RFE/RL Security Watch
Vol. 2, No. 39, 10 October 2001
Security, Corruption and Foreign Policy in Russia and the Post-Communist Region

THE WAR AGAINST TERROR

KREMLIN ADVISER EXPLAINS PUTIN'S DECISION TO ALLY WITH WEST. Gleb Pavlovskii, a media and political advisor to the Kremlin, said on 4 October that President Vladimir Putin had changed positions on NATO expansion and support for American antiterrorist efforts because of genuine fears of Taliban threats to Russian security, strana.ru reported. Pavlovskii said that "for Russia, it is better to have Americans in Uzbekistan than to have the Taliban in Tatarstan." In other comments, he said that Moscow is keeping track of its contributions to the antiterrorist effort and plans to demand that their cost be subtracted from Russia's foreign debts once the "postwar" settlement takes place.

PRO-KREMLIN INTELLECTUALS PROVIDE A BROADER RATIONALE. Political scientist Sergei Kurganyan said on 29 September that Putin is using this crisis to help Russia over "the barrier of globalization," RosBalt reported. Putin can thus strengthen himself and his country in this way. Meanwhile Globalization Institute director Mikhail Delyagin also endorsed Putin's new course: "Globalization is a problem only for the weak and the stupid; for the smart and the strong, it provides a chance. Consequently, Russia is right to join the second group." Meanwhile, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said that "without Russia, it is impossible to build a united Europe or a new world order."

RUSSIA SUPPORTS U.S., U.K. STRIKES. In a statement televised by the national network channels on 8 October, President Putin welcomed the beginning of the U.S.-led military operation against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. "The terrorists never expected such consolidation of the world community in the face of a common enemy," he said. Putin said that Moscow plans to increase its cooperation with "our European and American partners" in fighting terrorism and providing humanitarian assistance. Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Duma Defense Committee Aleksei Arbatov said that the Taliban must be destroyed as a "nest of terrorism." Russia will give all its political support to the U.S. military operation and direct military assistance to the Northern Alliance, Arbatov told Russian public TV on 7 October.

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