STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Putin: NATO Should Be Replaced Updated: Wed, Jul 18 3:38 PM EDT President Vladimir Putin takes questions during a rare large news conference at the Kremlin in Moscow Wednesday, July 18, 2001. (AP) more photos By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer MOSCOW (AP) - Days before meeting President Bush and other Western leaders, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that NATO should be disbanded and replaced by a new security organization in Europe that would include Russia. Alternatively, he said, Russia could be allowed to join NATO - but he stressed that Moscow was not pushing for that option. "We do not see NATO as an enemy," Putin told reporters at the first full-scale news conference in his 19 months as Russian leader. "We do not see a tragedy in its existence, but we also see no need for it." Russia has vehemently objected to NATO's eastward expansion, which began two years ago with the incorporation of former Warsaw Pact members Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Moscow has pushed for the 54-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe or some other umbrella group to take the lead in providing security in Europe instead of NATO. Putin said NATO, founded as a Cold War entity to oppose the Soviet bloc, doesn't reflect Europe's new realities. "We will never achieve unity in Europe until we create a single security and defense space," he said. "If we fail to do that ... we will continue to mistrust each other." Putin also said that Russia did not plan to formulate a joint response with China to the U.S. plans to construct a missile defense system. Both Moscow and Beijing have objected vigorously to the Bush administration plans, which they contend will throw the world's strategic stability off balance and spark a new arms race. Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin signed a friendship treaty this week that was seen as an attempt to counter what both see as U.S. hegemony. "Russia isn't planning any joint action in this sphere with China or any other nation," Putin said. "Russia has enough means of its own to respond to any change in the field of strategic stability." Putin has previously said that Russia might put multiple warheads on its nuclear missiles if Washington goes ahead with the missile defense shield. Some high-ranking defense officials have warned that U.S. withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty would spark another arms race. But Putin refrained from outlining any military responses to U.S. moves toward a missile defense system. The press conference for 500 reporters was a first for Putin at the Kremlin. Usually he gives more restricted interviews with Russian journalists at which his aides often pre-screen questions, and Wednesday's appearance was a chance to show his growing confidence. Putin was at ease responding to the journalists - even throwing in a joke after a question from Radio Liberty, a U.S.-funded station his government has differed with in the past. But he grew visibly irritated when asked about alleged abuses by Russian soldiers in Chechnya and, with a stony glare, insisted that the military had put an end to lawlessness in the breakaway republic. "Say 'thank you' to us for that at least," he said. "Did you know that the (rebel) fighters have killed 40 district heads and imams - old people? Why don't you ask me about that? Why don't you ask me how we are fighting those criminals?" he said. Putin said he was looking forward to meeting with Bush at this weekend's Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italy. He and Bush developed a good rapport during their first meeting last month in Slovenia, Putin said. "He is a rather warm person, pleasant to talk to, and I would even say, maybe I shouldn't say this, but he seemed to me a little sentimental," Putin said. On domestic policy, Putin voiced respect for the Soviet legacy but said he was intent on ridding Russia of some of the worst Soviet excesses, including "super-centralization" and excessive military budgets. Putin also said he opposed the removal of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's body from its mausoleum in Red Square for burial. Communists and their supporters vehemently object to the possibility, while their opponents say leaving Lenin in a place of honor undercuts Russia's young democracy. "Many people connect their own lives with the name of Lenin," Putin said. "Burying Lenin would mean ... that they had lived in vain." "I'm trying not to do anything to disturb civil peace and the consolidation of society," he said. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
