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http://www.islandpacket.com/24hour/world/story/339323p-2813175c.html. Russians wondering why they're helping U.S. Published: Tuesday, April 2nd, 2002 By JUDITH INGRAM, Associated Press -But Russia has instead seen some real setbacks to its foreign policy goals: Bush elected to dump the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which Moscow had vowed to save, and NATO is marching steadily toward further eastern expansion, which Moscow has vehemently opposed. MOSCOW (AP) - Ahead of a Russian-U.S. summit next month, Russians increasingly are asking what rewards they have reaped from joining the U.S.-led anti-terrorist coalition and where President Vladimir Putin's pro-Western policy is leading the nation. Summing up the negative attitude of many politicians, political analysts and journalists, one lawmaker reminded a round-table discussion on Russian-U.S. cooperation that many had warned Putin about trusting America. "The majority, who didn't support the president's plans from the beginning, now are washing their hands of them, saying 'We warned you, you won't get anything from the Americans,'" said lawmaker Alexei Arbatov on Tuesday. The meeting was just one of many recent public discussions that have highlighted the wide gap between Putin and the majority of Russian opinion-makers on foreign policy questions. President Bush will meet Putin during a May 23-26 visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Putin surprised many by enthusiastically joining the anti-terrorist coalition after Sept. 11, offering to share intelligence, open-air corridors for humanitarian flights and aid in search-and-rescue missions. Leonid Ivashov, a former high-ranking Defense Ministry official, likened Russia's moves after Sept. 11 to "an attempt at geostrategic suicide." Putin raised eyebrows further by giving the green light to U.S. troop deployments in formerly Soviet Central Asia, and astounded many Russians when he calmly accepted the imminent arrival of U.S. military instructors in Georgia, on Russia's tense southern flank. The government insists on the need to stand by the international fight against terrorism, which it says threatens Russia as well, pointing to the war with separatists in Chechnya. But even state media "portray all these cooperative moves by him almost as treason," former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev told the American Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. Objecting to what they characterized as a Russian foreign policy retreat, many Russians had hoped the new thaw in relations between Washington and Moscow would bring tangible results in policy, and possibly economic benefits. But Russia has instead seen some real setbacks to its foreign policy goals: Bush elected to dump the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which Moscow had vowed to save, and NATO is marching steadily toward further eastern expansion, which Moscow has vehemently opposed. Washington has not yet delivered the long-sought cancellation of the Soviet-era Jackson-Vanick amendment, which makes trade concessions contingent on Russia's human rights performance, or the declaration of Russia as a market economy - which would lower import tariffs and ease Moscow's way into the World Trade Organization. On the positive side, the United States has initiated a bilateral business forum to discuss cooperation, but the two nations have clashed over new U.S. steel tariffs and Russia's recent suspension of U.S. poultry imports. "What's happened over the past half-year in the economic relations of our countries?" asked Alexander Livshits, a top economic adviser to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and a former envoy to the Group of Eight. "They crushed our steel, along with the steel of other countries, created an American-Russian business dialogue, and we quarreled about chickens." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
