Zee Beam News

May 10 2006 The Moscow Times - By Anatoly Medetsky - U.S. President George Bush accused Russia of "economic nationalism" while Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the White House ill-informed as the United States and Russia waded deeper into a verbal spat between the two former foes. The jousting, which stems from comments made last week by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, revolves around U.S. concerns over Russia's commitment to democracy and its reliability as an energy supplier. Bush said Friday that he had a "warm" relationship with President Vladimir Putin, but that Russia appeared ambivalent about democracy and open to using oil to achieve political ends. The president's comments were part of an interview Friday with the German newspaper Bild. The comments were not released until Sunday. "Russia is a country that has made some signals that are mixed signals, signals that allow, cause us to question their commitment to whether or not they intend to become a true democracy, where there's a freedom of the press or freedom of religion, all the different freedoms that are inherent in democracy," Bush said in the interview. Bush also voiced concern about Russian energy policy. "One of our concerns is economic nationalism, to a certain extent, where he [Putin] is using his oil companies to achieve what appears to be political objectives." The president's remarks came one day after Cheney, speaking at a conference of East European leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania, raised similar concerns about Russia. It was Cheney's remarks that sparked Lavrov's angry response. Cheney said the Russian government had "unfairly and improperly" suppressed religious and press freedoms while curbing the activities of advocacy groups and political parties. The vice president also accused Russia of intimidating neighboring countries by manipulating the oil supply. In January, Russia briefly ceased shipping oil to Ukraine amid a price dispute. "I thought that a person who holds such a job in the government had all the objective information at his disposal, but apparently his aides or advisors have let him down," Lavrov said, according to the ministry web site. The Kremlin earlier called Cheney's statements "subjective" and "incomprehensible." Defending what the United States regards as Russia's authoritarian slide, Lavrov said Moscow had simply sought to bring stability to a nation that had teetered on the verge of breakup in the wake of the Soviet collapse. Lavrov also called Russia a reliable energy exporter, once again chiding the vice president for being out of touch. "The vice president of the United States probably should have the information that in the last 40 years our country has not once, neither the Soviet Union nor Russia, violated a single contract for the supply of oil and gas abroad," he said. Cheney remained unapologetic Sunday, calling his critique a "very measured, short part of the speech, carefully crafted and thoroughly vetted," Bloomberg reported. In an interview with reporters, Cheney twice referred to a speech that was far more critical than his own, The Associated Press reported. That speech was given by Andrei Illarionov, a former economic adviser to Putin, at the same conference where Cheney spoke. "The story of destruction of freedom in my own country, Russia, is sad," Illarionov said in the speech. Cheney added that the leaders of East European democracies repeatedly brought up in private conversations the "sense that the Russians are trying to use their control of the production and transportation of gas, natural gas in particular, to obtain leverage on a lot of the governments," the AP reported. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday that the ministry had no response to Bush's comments. That could be because of work stoppages during the weekend's holiday period, capped off Tuesday by Victory Day. Despite the friction, Cheney said Friday he expected the Group of Eight summit to take place as scheduled in July. "We'll all benefit from a free, open and honest exchange at that conference," he said, the AP reported. Cheney said Sunday that his criticism of Russia should not affect U.S.-Russian dialogue on Iran's uranium enrichment program, Bloomberg reported. Lavrov appeared to agree, saying Cheney's criticism would not undermine Russian cooperation with the U.S. on global crises. Some analysts say Cheney's comments were intended for conservatives back home upset with the president's reluctance, they say, to criticize Putin. In the latest twist in the U.S.-Russian dispute, Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko was quoted Monday by Reuters as saying that the United States must bury its "Cold War-era ghosts." He called the recent remarks coming out of the White House puzzling, saying they distorted the record. Russia, Khristenko said, had simply embraced the free market and was now looking to charge its neighbors the going rate for oil and gas.