Washington Post - 01.15.2002

 

The Washington Post

U.S.-Russia Ties Suffer A Renewal Of Tension

Sides Trade Barbs On Human Rights, War in Chechnya

By Peter Baker

MOSCOW, Jan. 14 -- The improved ties between the United States and Russia have begun to fray in recent days as the two sides have renewed criticism of each other over such issues as human rights and the war in Chechnya.

U.S. officials recently have spoken out against the crackdown on independent media in Russia, espionage trials against scientists and activists, and the use of force against civilians in the breakaway southern region of Chechnya.

Moscow responded today with bitter complaints that Washington once again is interfering in Russia's internal affairs and holding it to a "double standard."

The terse exchange did not appear to endanger the new alliance forged by Presidents Bush and Vladimir Putin after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to analysts here. But it suggested that tensions are beginning to reemerge.

"In the last several weeks, there has been almost no movement forward in Russian-American relations," said Sergei Rogov, director of the Institute for USA and Canada Studies. "Today it's a slogan without substance."

Without progress, Rogov said, old issues such as human rights and Chechnya can return to the fore. "We need some progress and, in fact, the new Russian-American relations should be fixed in the next several months before President Bush comes here. If we don't have new agreements and arrangements, then the window of opportunity may begin to close."

Last week, the State Department issued its toughest criticism of the Chechnya war in months, calling recent operations "a continuation of human rights violations" and an inappropriate "use of overwhelming force against civilian targets."

Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry filed a diplomatic note of protest because two U.S. diplomats attended a rally in Vladivostok in support of Grigory Pasko, a military journalist who exposed nuclear waste dumping by the Russian navy and was convicted of treason.

The U.S. Embassy confirmed that two officials attended the demonstration on Thursday, but only to watch.

The Foreign Ministry also accused the United States of attempting to pressure courts to reverse a decision liquidating TV-6, the last major independent national television channel in Russia. U.S. statements on the subject are "a manifestation of double standards concerning the freedom of the press in Russia," the ministry said in a statement. "In fact, it is a call to put pressure on the courts, which is inadmissible."

TV-6 faces closure because a minority shareholder, the pension fund of the Russian oil giant Lukoil, won a court ruling attacking the station's finances.

TV-6 management today tried to head off the move by sending a letter to the government asking to turn over its broadcasting license to the journalists who run the station.