Rice expresses concern about Russian reform
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 02 13 06
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed new concern Sunday
about the progress of democratic reform in Russia, saying some
of the Kremlin's changes were "going in the wrong direction."
Rice said Russia was a far cry from the old Soviet Union but cited
worries over Moscow's moves to tighten controls on civil society
groups and suspicions it was using natural gas exports for political
leverage with its neighbors.
"We are very concerned particularly about some of the elements
of democratization in Russia that seem to be going in the wrong
direction," she said in an interview with CBS television.
"Clearly the law on non-governmental organizations is a problem.
Clearly, the use of energy in the way that it was used concerning
Ukraine is a problem," the secretary said.
But Rice warned against taking action against the government of
President Vladimir Putin such as denying it the right to host
the upcoming summit of Group of Eight industrial powers as some
critics have suggested.
"We can say, 'All right, it's all gone bad in Russia and
therefore we're just going to go back to the old days and isolate
them from these institutions like the Russian Council or the G-8,'"
she said.
"Or we can continue to say to the Russians, 'Yes, we want
you in this institution but we expect behavior that is consistent
with the values of those institutions.'"
Her comments came at a time when Washington appeared to be having
some difficulty striking common positions with its erstwhile Cold
War foe on some key international issues.
Russia had balked at US moves to refer Iran to the UN Security
Council for its suspected nuclear weapons activities, and acquiesced
this month only after striking a compromise to buy more time for
negotiations with Tehran.
Putin also surprised Washington last week when he invited the
Palestinian group Hamas to Moscow for talks while the Americans
were trying to keep the militants isolated until they renounced
armed struggle with Israel.
Rice acknowledged that "obviously we have some differences,"
but insisted that "in general I think we have very good relations
with Russia, probably the best relations that have been there
for quite some time."
She said Washington had enjoyed "good cooperation" on
Iran with Russia, which has volunteered to house Tehran's sensitive
uranium-enrichment work on its own soil as a confidence-building
measure.
Rice said she was also satisfied that Russia's talks with Hamas
would not damage the unified front the United States was trying
to build against the movement which looks set to form the next
Palestinian government.
She said Russia was part of the diplomatic "quartet"
that demanded Hamas renounce violence, recognize Israel's right
to exist and respect all accords with the Jewish state after winning
the Palestinian elections last month.
"The Russians assure us ... that anything that they say to
Hamas will simply be to reinforce that message," Rice said.
AFP
02/13/06
Copyright
© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
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