From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Moscow "bewildered" by CIA report on Russia threat http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/article.html?s=asia/headline s/010209/world/afp/Moscow__bewildered__by_CIA_report_on_Russia_threat.html ================ + ================ Friday, February 9 11:34 PM SGT Moscow "bewildered" by CIA report on Russia threat MOSCOW, Feb 9 (AFP) - Moscow expressed "bewilderment" Friday at a US intelligence report branding Russia as one of the prime threats to American security and a menace on the nuclear non-proliferation front. The foreign ministry statement, tinged with sarcasm rarely seen in official dispatches, came in response to a blunt assessment delivered Wednesday by CIA director George Tenet before a US Senate intelligence committee. "The 'dark revelations' of George Tenet about Russia and our relations with the US could help the hawks in the US Congress and help boost the CIA budget, but they in no way correspond to the true state of affairs," the Moscow statement said. "When you consider that the CIA's (status) soared in the Cold War era, it would be difficult to expect a balanced assessment of Russia-US relations from its leadership," said the statement. "But even considering this fact, a series of pronouncements made by George Tenet provoke, to put it mildly, bewilderment," said the foreign ministry. In his report, Tenet expressed concern at Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy views, particularly his efforts to build a closer alliance with China and India -- possibly at Washington's expense. Tenet also accused Putin of clamping down on human rights and trying to restore Moscow's Soviet-era sphere of influence. "There can be little doubt that President Putin wants to restore some aspects of the Soviet past -- status as a great power, strong central authority and a stable and predictable society -- sometimes at the expense of neighboring states or the civil rights of individual Russians," Tenet said. The CIA chief further pointed out that Russia "continues to value arms and technology sales as a major source of funds." Russia exported some four billion dollars in arms last year -- a record for the post-Soviet decade. Until the collapse of Communism in 1991 Moscow sold some 20 billion dollars in arms annually to its allies in Africa, Asia and the Warsaw Pact bloc. Tenet also accused Russia -- along with China and North Korea -- of being guilty of proliferating missile technology. "I cannot underestimate the catalytic role that foreign assistance has played in advancing these missiles and weapons of mass destruction programs, shortening their development times and aiding production," said Tenet. In response, Moscow tersely pointed out that Russia in the past year ratified a raft of nuclear agreements, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- which the US Congress has refused to accept. "If anyone, it is the CIA chief who should know" that Russia has ratified these agreements, the foreign ministry said. "What we need are not empty calls and naked accusations, but painstaking and delicate work to strengthen our bilateral relations ... and (in this sense) the CIA has not always shown itself in the best light," it added. The war of words between Moscow and Washington comes amid a bitter debate over US plans to build a nuclear missile defense shield -- which Russia opposes -- and sensitive diplomatic jockeying for position between the two sides in the Middle East. Moscow has already noted the US President George W. Bush has not made meeting Putin his top priority and the two will only see each other for the first time and the July 20-22 G8 summit in Italy. Putin was also one of the last world leaders to send Bush his congratulations on his inauguration. -- Copyright © 2000 AFP. All rights reserved. Copyright © 1994-2001 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. ================ + ================ Please support http;//www.antiwar.com and http://www.space4peace.org. Deo gratias. + ================ + ================ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
