#13 - JRL 7304
International Herald Tribune
August 27, 2003
Pressure Putin on terrorism
An unreliable ally
Lee S. Wolosky And Mark D. Lenzi
Lee Wolosky served on the National Security Council under Presidents Bill
Clinton and George W. Bush. Mark Lenzi is a former Peace Corps volunteer and
Fulbright scholar in Eastern Europe.
On Wednesday a Russian delegation will take a seat at multilateral talks in Beijing intended to convince North Korea to give up its fledgling nuclear weapons program. The Russians deserve credit for helping to bring the North Koreans to the negotiating table, just as they deserve credit for participating in a complex international sting operation this month that helped prevent shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles from finding their way to FBI informants posing as terrorists. But in other areas, Moscow is actually impeding American-led efforts in the campaign against international terrorism.
The first problem area concerns the Kremlin's continuing refusal to hand over Victor Bout. A fugitive from international justice who operates the world's largest private weapons network, Bout has supplied arms and other forms of assistance to insurgency and criminal groups around the world including the Taliban. Bout has been condemned by the United Nations and is wanted for trial in Belgium. But far from being on the run, Bout now leads a comfortable life in Moscow while the Kremlin frustrates international efforts to bring him and his key associates to justice.
The second problem area is Moscow's relationship with its neighbor Belarus, a dangerous country that is one of the world's leading suppliers of arms to states such as Iran, Syria and North Korea. Just before the war in Iraq, the interception of 12 tons of military equipment on its way from Belarus to Iraq provided confirmation that the Belarussian dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, was one of Saddam Hussein's best allies. Belarus remains an international bazaar for weaponry of all sorts, and its leadership has demonstrated its willingness to sell to the highest bidder.
Because Lukashenko has disbanded democratically elected Parliaments, falsified election results and built up by far the worst human rights record of any European government, most of the international community including the United States has chosen to ignore or isolate Belarus. Washington has no direct leverage over Lukashenko, since bilateral trade and diplomatic contacts are negligible.
By contrast, Moscow supplies subsidized energy on which Belarus is heavily dependent, and Belarus is actively seeking political reunification with Russia. Russian support is critical to Lukashenko's survival, and is the only reason why the archaic, Soviet-style Belarussian economy does not collapse.
Despite these levers of political and economic influence, President Vladimir Putin of Russia continues to look the other way while Belarus exports high-quality weaponry to six of the seven countries on the State Department's most recent list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The Kremlin's refusal to address these two areas in the campaign against terrorism is regrettable but understandable. Quite simply, the Russian government has not yet felt pressure to act. While the Bush administration avows taking all necessary steps to put terrorists and their supporters out of business, it has not taken Russia to task over Victor Bout or Belarus.
Even worse, Washington has encouraged Russian intransigence. As The New York Times reported this month, the Bush administration has called off efforts to pressure the Russians to hand over Bout to international authorities.
Whether out of shortsightedness or otherwise, the administration's failure to demand that Moscow hand over Bout and halt Belarussian weapons sales sets a dangerous precedent: Crime pays. This only emboldens Russian organized crime groups and shadowy elements of the Russian leadership to continue to seek closer ties with rogue regimes.
The Bush administration has been willing to overlook the growth of autocracy in Russia in exchange for Moscow's cooperation in the campaign against terror. But Russia could be doing far more and the Bush administration could be doing more to compel greater Russian cooperation. It's time to force Putin's hand.
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