http://themoscownews.com/politics/20110321/188512035.html
Putin condemns Libya `crusade' by Anna Arutunyan at 21/03/2011 20:08 As US and NATO warplanes launched a second round of bombing raids on Libya, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin condemned the attacks and the UN's no-fly zone resolution as a "call for a medieval crusade". But in what suggested a clear rift in policy, President Dmitry Medvedev called the crusade statement "unacceptable" his first direct criticism of a specific remark by the Prime Minister. The air raids, including on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's compound, came after he was reported to have violated a UN-imposed ceasefire with continued attacks on rebel posts. But with conflicting reactions coming from Putin and Medvedev, Russia appeared to be playing a cautious multi-vector strategy that suggested significant differences in foreign policy within the government. With US Defence Secretary Robert Gates in Moscow on Monday and Lavrov in Egypt, there appear to be a multitude of factors both domestic and foreign pushing Moscow towards a stance of trying to making everyone happy. Russia, together with China, abstained on Thursday from either voting for or vetoing UN resolution 1973 which many analysts saw as Moscow effectively giving its blessing for the ensuing attacks. But Putin on Monday condemned both the resolution and the military attacks, likening them to a "medieval crusade". The resolution "allows everyone to do anything, take any action against a sovereign state. It reminds me of a medieval call to a crusade, when someone calls on others to go somewhere and liberate something," RIA Novosti quoted Putin as saying at a meeting with plant workers in Udmurtia on Monday. Prior to that, Lavrov made a point of denouncing Gaddafi's "use of force against the civilian population", saying that was why Russia joined a "global consensus to demand an end to violence against civilians." But Gaddafi's regime did not listen to these demands, and that was why the UN's Security Council passed resolution 1973," Lavrov was quoted by Prime-Tass as saying. Russia's Foreign Ministry also went on to denounce the West's air attacks. Different positions Some analysts saw the Foreign Ministry as staking out the middle ground on an issue that has relevance for Russia's improving relations with the United States a clear priority for a pro-Western political camp associated with Medvedev. But Russia's refusal to back the resolution was seen as a way of siding with more conservative foreign policy strategists around Putin. "This reflects differences in Russia's ruling elite about what position to take on Libya and how to build relations with the United States," Yury Fyodorov, a security analyst with Britain's Chatham House think tank, told The Moscow News. "In my view, President Medvedev's administration was more inclined to support the EU's actions against Libya. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry, which is more oriented towards the Prime Minister, was against this." Indeed, some reports suggest that initially the Foreign Ministry intended to veto resolution 1973. Citing sources close to the presidential administration, Kommersant reported that at some point Medvedev leaned towards backing the resolution, while the Foreign Ministry intended to block it. But the Kremlin insisted its position was perfectly consistent. "We have denounced and continue to denounce what Gaddafi is doing to the civilian population, and there are no differences with the West on this point," Kommersant quoted Medvedev's press secretary Natalya Timakova as saying. A source in the presidential administration was quoted by the paper as saying that while its position on Libya's regime has not changed, "on the other hand we do not approve of resolving the issue through force". Middle East policy The stance, however, may reflect a general condemnation of Gaddafi in the Arab world on the one hand, and a concern about military intervention on the other. Lavrov arrived in Cairo on Monday for meetings with Egyptian officials to discuss Russia's policy in the area and the situation in Libya in particular. "The Middle East does not have a good experience of NATO actions in the area," Iranian MP Mehdi Sanaei, chairman of the Iran-Russia parliamentary group, told The Moscow News. "Middle Eastern countries are not proud of the situation in Libya, and the governments are supporting demonstrators, paying attention to their demands in countries like Bahrain." And while he said the UN no-fly resolution might be supported by Arab governments, Russia and other countries, the West going to war with Gaddafi was a different matter. Praise from Gates Gates, in Moscow this week to meet with Medvedev and Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, praised the fact that Russia did not block resolution 1973, "despite their reservations," Agence France Presse reported. He called it an example of Russia's improving cooperative relations with Washington. Indeed, Moscow had earlier taken a tough position on Gaddafi's regime, with Medvedev approving sanctions against the country during the recent visit by US Vice President Joe Biden. "Russia is not about to risk its improving ties with the West just to block the resolution on Libya," Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the journal Russia in Foreign Affairs, told The Moscow News. "It isn't worth it." ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
