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The Times (UK)
January 25, 2002
West offers Putin support as criticism grows in Moscow
MICHAEL BINYON IN MOSCOW
THE West made gestures yesterday to bolster President Putin’s domestically
unpopular pro-Western policies by signalling its determination to improve
relations between Russia and America.
President Havel of the Czech Republic sent a formal invitation to Mr Putin
to attend the Nato summit in Prague in November, where the admission of new
members, including the Baltic republics, will be discussed.
At a press conference in Tashkent, General Tommy Franks, the US
Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan operation, praised Russia’s contribution
to the reconstruction of Afghanistan and spoke of the good liaison between
Russian and American servicemen.
In Strasbourg the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issued a
resolution on Chechnya which noted cautious progress there. It called on
countries to the south — referring to Georgia — to stop aiding Chechen
rebels.
All three signals were intended to quell the rising chorus of condemnation
in Moscow of Western — and especially American — policies that are seen as
humiliating, insulting and an empty response to Mr Putin’s decisive
pro-Western tilt since September 11.
Underlining Moscow’s anger with the Bush Administration, the Foreign
Ministry issued a sharp statement yesterday condemning as an “unfriendly
step” Washington’s recent reception of Ilyas Akhmadov, Chechnya’s
unofficial foreign minister. The reception ran counter to the spirit of
co-operation and partnership between the two countries in the fight against
international terrorism, the statement said.
Despite talk of a new era of co-operation, Russia still strongly opposes
the enlargement of Nato to include the Baltic republics. It believes the
Americans are now “trigger-happy” and are planning to set up permanent
bases in Central Asia with the aim of undercutting Russian influence there.
It sees recent Western criticism of Russian policy in Chechnya as breaking
the post-September 11 understanding for Moscow’s fight against Islamic
terrorism.
Moscow was outraged by the reception in London and Strasbourg of Akhmad
Zakayev, a negotiator for Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen leader. Sir Roderick
Lyne, the British Ambassador, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on
Tuesday and told of the Russians’ anger. Mr Putin’s spokesman condemned Mr
Zakayev’s reception by the Council of Europe.
The call last week by Ruud Lubbers, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees,
for Moscow to negotiate with Mr Maskhadov, who he said was not a terrorist,
was received here with bitter sarcasm. Mr Putin’s critics have seized on
renewed Western criticism of Russian actions in Chechnya as proof that
support for the anti-terrorist coalition has brought Russia nothing.
Claiming evidence of a new triumphalism in Washington and proof that the
Pentagon hawks are in the ascendant, they also point to the US withdrawal
from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the US bases in Central Asia, Nato
enlargement and American sidelining of British and French calls for a more
substantial Russian partnership with Nato.
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