Russians Respond Coolly to Rice's Chiding on Democracy
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
April 21, 2005 6:09AM EST
By Sergei Blagov
CNSNews.com Correspondent
April 21, 2005
Moscow (CNSNews.com) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting Moscow on Wednesday, blended criticism of the Kremlin's record on democracy with praise for Russia's cooperation with the U.S. on security issues.
Russia's response to Rice was equally mixed.
Rice's first trip here as America's top diplomat was intended to lay the groundwork for a visit by President Bush on May 9. Bush is attending a bilateral summit and marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Rice said en route to Moscow that while there were concerns about democracy and the rule of law, "this is not a matter to lecture Russia or to criticize ... it's meant in a spirit of friendship and discussion, not in a spirit of criticism."
In a bid to ensure her message was delivered, she gave interviews to NTV television and Ekho Moskvy radio before meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. In the radio interview, she spoke against a "concentration of power" in the presidency and for the need for an independent media.
Nonetheless, official media outlets generally gave Rice's trip limited coverage.
State-owned RTR television did note that difficult issues had come up, including disputes on restrictions on democracy and press freedoms in Russia.
The Gazeta daily opined that the Kremlin had not really taken note of Rice's comments regarding Moscow's commitment to democracy, and said Putin was likely to get the same message from Bush next month.
In an indication of the government's mood, Rice's Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters in Moscow that the U.S. should itself strengthen democracy at home in order to have better relations with Russia.
Russian media expressed concerns about what many see as U.S. attempts to isolate Russia. Suspicions persist here that the U.S. had a hand in a series of revolutions in former Soviet states, with the aim of encircling Russia, the Izvestia daily commented.
Rice dismissed the encirclement issue.
"I don't see any reason and the president doesn't see any reason that we would want to see Russia isolated," she said. "Isolating Russia and threatening to exclude the Russians from various organizations really makes no sense."
She expressed U.S. support for Russia's continued membership of the G8 group of leading industrialized nations and its backing for Russian efforts to join the World Trade Organization, and said that Russia was "not a strategic enemy."
But the TVT television channel voiced skepticism, suggesting that the U.S. perhaps now saw Russia as "a non-strategic enemy."
The channel also ran the results of a viewer poll which indicated that a majority of Russians still view the West with deep mistrust.
Rice told reporters that the state of Russia's electronic media was "a principal concern" at the moment when it came to media freedom issues.
In response, Federation Council (upper parliament) vice-speaker Dmitry Mezentsev called the comment regretful and surprising.
"Russian mass media legislation has no censorship and basically the media outlets face no restrictions," he said, adding that Russian media legislation was among the most democratic worldwide.
There also was cold reaction to Rice's warning against what she called "certain centralizing tendencies" in Russia.
"Before discussing Rice's arguments concerning the perceived over-concentration of power in the Kremlin, we have to take a look at the concentration of power in the White House," retorted Federation Council Deputy Viktor Ozerov.
Rice also used the visit to praise Russia for its cooperation in the campaign against terrorism, and said Moscow was cooperating with the U.S. and other countries in trying to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Some Russian reaction was conciliatory.
Federation Council Deputy Vasily Likhachev called the trip a good one, reflecting an atmosphere of trust between the two nations' leaders.
Despite measured mutual criticism, Russia and the U.S. would remain strategic partners, he predicted.
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