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US intelligence chief warns of Russian hardening
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 02 28 06
The United States' top intelligence officer said Tuesday that Russia has taken a "back step" in its march to democracy and warned of "rivalry and antagonism" in its relations with Washington.
Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, said the Kremlin has put controls on the populace and the political process "to the point of picking the next leader of Russia" in next year's presidential elections.
"Don't know that that's been done with 100-percent assurity, but, in fact, we are seeing behavior that would take them down that path," he told the Senate Armed Services Commitee.
McConnell, who was officially sworn in last week, said he had studied the intelligence on Russia "and what I've learned so far is the march to democracy has taken a back step."
The intelligence chief said Russian President Vladimir Putin was listening to advisers who "are extremely conservative and very suspicious of the United States."
In a report to the committee, McConnell warned that "Russian assertiveness will continue to inject elements of rivalry and antagonism into US dealings with Moscow, particularly our interactions in the former Soviet Union."
He said this "will dampen our ability to cooperate with Russia on issues ranging from counterterrorism and non-proliferation to energy and democracy promotion in the Middle East."
In some of the bluntest expressions yet of US concerns about Putin, McConnell also said Moscow was flexing muscles built up by its oil and gas reserves and high energy prices.
"A flush economy and perceived policy successes at home and abroad have bolstered Russian confidence, enabled increased defense spending, and emboldened the Kremlin to pursue foreign policy goals that are not always consistent with those of Western institutions," he said.
Tensions between Washington and Moscow have been mounting, with Putin using a security conference in Germany earlier this month to accuse the United States of having "overstepped its borders in all spheres."
His widely reported remarks drew words of caution from Defense Secretary Robert Gates against relaunching the Cold War. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov echoed the sentiments in an opinion column in Sunday's Washington Post.
"At a time when Russia is ready and eager to play a positive role in world affairs and integrate into the global economy, it does far more harm than good to treat Russia as a hostile nation whenever Moscow and Washington disagree," Lavrov wrote.
But McConnell said the Kremlin's position was hardening in the approach to the March 2008 Russian presidential elections when Putin, a former KGB officer, is due to give way to a successor.
"The last year has seen expanded Kremlin efforts to stifle political opposition and widen state control over strategic sectors of the economy," the intelligence chief said.
"Those trends are likely to deepen as the succession draws closer."
Although US President George W. Bush still insists the two countries can work together despite what he calls a "complicated relationship," US officials continue to sound the alarm over Putin's increasingly autocratic ways.
They cite the Kremlin's move to centralize authority, crack down on the Russian media, strong-arm its neighbors with energy supplies, and last year's murder of former secret agent Alexander Litvinenko, a critic of Putin.
"As the Litvinenko murder demonstrates, the steady accumulation of problems and irritants threatens to harm Russia's relations with the West more broadly," McConnell wrote.
His comments were contained in an "annual threat assessment" presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee where he testified Tuesday.
AFP 27 2118 GMT 02 07
Copyright© 1999 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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