Zee Beam News

23 May 2006 INTERFAX News - Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has left for Paris on a business trip where he will meet with representatives of French political and business circles. Kasyanov has already attended an international conference in Brussels dealing with Russia-EU energy cooperation and visited Berlin during May. Before departure he granted an interview to Interfax in which he assessed Russia's relations with the West.
"There is no cold war between Russia and the West. Instead there is growing mutual misunderstanding caused primarily by errors in Russia's foreign policy and its reluctance to recognize them and to make corresponding conclusions," he said.
"Such a situation is temporary. As soon as we return to the road of building a normal civilized nation, a national guided by European values of democracy and the market economy, the cool spell will end," Kasyanov said.
Asked to comment on criticism of Russia by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney at a conference in Vilnius earlier in May, Kasyanov agreed with the main points and added: "It would have been even more useful if the same words were to have been politely but firmly publicly expressed directly to the leaders of this country in Russia."
Speaking of the present state of Russian-U.S. relations Kasyanov said: "The incumbent American administration has made a mistake by rejecting the existing forms of bilateral economic cooperation."
"Russia and the United States simply must advance their partnership for the sake of global strategic security," he said. In this context he described the current fanning of anti-American feelings in Russia as extremely dangerous "for the first time since the Soviet era."
Asked about the prospects of Russia's accession to WTO, Kasyanov said the main reason for their worsening was "a sharp and unconcealed change in the attitude of Russian politicians and officials to the process."
As for Russia's role in the CIS, Kasyanov said he believes that Georgian and Ukrainian plans to join NATO largely result from Russia's policies. "I have always thought that NATO membership will do these countries no good. It is a different matter that Russian policy in the international arena has significantly strengthened the positions of politicians in countries advocating NATO membership as a safeguard against our unpredictability," he said.
Asked about the prospects for the CIS, Kasyanov said its future depends primarily on the attitude of Russia. "Russia has justifiably always played the leading role in the CIS, thus the future of this and other international associations in the former Soviet Union with our participation depends on the positive agenda that we offer other countries," he said. "A CIS advocating undemocratic isolation and confrontation with the rest of the world has no future," he said.
"CIS evolution should involve the adoption of the democratic standards of EU countries in our daily life and the deepening of economic integration with those countries," Kasyanov said.
He criticized Russia's practice of cutting off natural gas supplies because "as a rule it does not affect those against whom it is directed. The suspension of gas deliveries to Belarus and Ukraine in January 2004 and 2006 left half of Europe, including our own Kaliningrad region, freezing in midwinter and undermined Russia's reputation as a reliable supplier of energy. However, the commercial result was close to nil," Kasyanov said. "These demonstrations of being an energy superpower have cost us and will cost us very dearly," he said.
Speaking of the ban on the import of Moldovan and Georgian wine to Russia, Kasyanov said the state should compensate Russian companies for any losses suffered.