2002-05-25 05:22 MSK - Russians give mixed reactions to summit
MOSCOW - As
U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Friday in
the gilded splendor of the Kremlin, ordinary Russians expressed a wide range of
reactions to the summit, from warm welcome to wariness to outright indifference.
"I'm happy to hear we're getting closer," said Maria Bondarenko, a 60-year-old
schoolteacher leading a group of rambunctious children on a field trip through
Red Square. "My father fought in World War II. I'm a child of war, and I think
anything that avoids war, and promotes peace, is a good idea," she said, as her
class of nine- and ten-year-olds, wearing brightly colored coats and backpacks,
gathered around to listen. Nearby, at the entrance to the underground shopping
mall at Manezh Square, Yelena Alexanyan stepped outside for a cigarette break.
The 23-year-old store manager, dressed in designer clothes and a chic pair of
sunglasses, scoffed when asked what she thought about the Bush-Putin summit. "I
don't pay attention to politics," she said, blowing smoke in the air. "But I can
say that during the Olympics, a lot of people my age got a very unpleasant
impression of America." Many Russians were outraged at the judging and the drug
tests at the recent Winter Olympic games in Salt Lake City, saying they were
biased in favor of North American athletes. In the run-up to this week's summit,
a number of opinion polls showed Russians are growing increasingly negative
toward the United States in general, and Bush in particular. The VTSiOM public
opinion center released poll data showing that the number of Russians harboring
negative feelings toward the U.S. grew from 20 percent in January to 41 percent
in March. In a separate survey, the Public Opinion Foundation found that 45
percent of Russians didn't care much for Bush, up from 25 percent in the
immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks. Yuri Aliyev, a 42-year-old
vendor from Baku, Azerbaijan, echoed that dim view of U.S., as he tended an
enormous pile of fruit at a sprawling, open-air market in central Moscow. "I
wouldn't say we have friendship yet," he said, as people interrupted him to ask
the price of apples and grapefruit. "Putin has to watch carefully, so Bush
doesn't lie to us." Others said Putin hasn't formulated a clear foreign policy,
and lets the Americans get away with too much on the international stage. "Bush
puts his own national interest first, above all others," said Alexander
Antropov, a 46-year-old zoologist, on his way to work at a scientific museum.
"Putin would do well to follow that kind of example," he said, thoughtfully
scratching his beard. Ahead of their joint press conference Friday, Bush and
Putin signed a joint statement pledging to support new people-to-people contacts
between Russians and Americans, including educational exchanges between cities,
universities, medical institutes, cultural and business
organizations. -AP
