#9
BBC Monitoring
Role of business in shaping future Russian-US relations viewed
Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Moscow, in Russian 9 Apr 03

As many specialists and politicians are recognizing, relations between Russia and the United States are currently going through a serious crisis. And the US intervention in Iraq is not the only or even the most important factor. The problem for Russian-US relations today is that the political processes have moved far ahead of the economic processes.

Politically speaking, both countries have already declared themselves allies and furthermore not just in the fight against international terrorism but also in the building of a future, more stable, world. However, a single vision of the world presumes the existence of developed economic relations and active bilateral cooperation. The strategic partnership between the United States and Britain, for example, is based on the common interests of major British and US financial-industrial groups which assumed a transnational character a long time ago. There are only isolated strategic joint projects in Russian-US economic relations and at the moment they cannot replace the fact that the population keeps its savings in US dollars, for example. But the main thing is that the perception of Russian business within the US economic elite and particularly the political elite is marked by negative stereotypes.

Strictly speaking, there are four major joint projects now: The LUKoil oil company's acquisition of a network of filling stations in the south, possible Russian oil supplies to the US strategic reserve through the Yukos company, and also the joint project for the production of off-road vehicles which is being implemented at the Volga Truck Plant. The acquisition by the Norilsk Nickel company of Stillwater Mining, America's largest palladium producer, occupies a special place on this list. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov recently spoke about the importance of the successful completion of this deal for bilateral relations. The minister's position is clear: The extent to which it is possible to complete this deal in a legal and politically proper way will show not only the level of US readiness to cooperate constructively with Russian business but also how far the Foreign Ministry itself has been able to adapt to the new conditions in which a state's power is defined by how powerful and prosperous its transnational companies are.

The problem is that Russian companies which do not have headquarters in the United States, operate as "outsiders" with all the attendant consequences and are only just making the transition to Western standards of corporate governance, could indeed become victims of media wars and political passions. The most important thing now is to prevent emotions and mutual recriminations from overwhelming the rational arguments and destroying the positive potential. And given that emotions are dominant within the political elite it is specifically the representatives of business - both Russian and US - who must assume a great responsibility for the fate of bilateral relations.

To the credit of the United States it must be noted that, despite the acuteness of the polemic and Washington's great dissatisfaction with Russia's conduct in the Iraq war, when it comes to its attitude towards Russian business the US administration is far more cautious in its behaviour. In any event it has not reached the level of ugly controversy similar to the one in which Sergey Bogdanchikov, leader of Rosneft, was detained at a London airport.

In any event, Russian companies are entitled to expect that, in addition to concern for the humanitarian situation in Iraq, the Russian leadership will also work seriously to help Russian companies operating in the US market survive more easily the inevitable cooling down in relations. In this connection, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has made the encouraging statement that the Russian Federation Foreign Ministry will carefully monitor the approval of the deal between Norilsk Nickel and Stillwater Mining within the US state agencies and will assist Russian businessmen. Hence the conclusion may be drawn that Russian foreign policy understands the essential point of the processes taking place in the world today and is moving towards assisting Russian business. This is the guarantee that no matter what problems occur, Russian-US relations will be able to emerge from today's crisis.

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