Washington Post - 01.26.2004

Washington Post

Read the full text of Powell's Op-Ed article

On Eve of Visit, Powell Criticizes Putin's Shortfalls

By Peter Slevin, Washington Post Staff Writer

MOSCOW -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell criticized Russia's democratic shortfalls and its aggressive relationships with former Soviet republics in unusually direct language Monday as he prepared to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin later in the day.

In a front-page story in Izvestia, one of Moscow's most influential newspapers, Powell said publicly what President Bush has been saying privately to Putin in recent months. He said the U.S.-Russian relationship "will not achieve its potential" unless the two countries share "basic principles."

"Russia's democratic system seems not yet to have found the essential balance among the executive, legislative and judicial functions. Political power is not yet tethered to law," Powell wrote. He added that neither the media nor political parties are yet free to operate as they choose.

Powell criticized Putin's policy toward Chechnya, where Russian troops have fought brutally to suppress Chechnya's bid for independence. He also defended the "sovereign integrity" of former Soviet states that resent what they consider Russian meddling in their affairs.

The decision by Powell to go public with his comments indicates worry within the Bush administration that Putin's consolidation of power -- viewed widely as anti-democratic -- poses a threat to Russia and its international relationships.

Bush's private dealings with Putin have not produced the results sought by the White House, but it remained unclear Monday whether Powell had spoken of concrete consequences for Russia's behavior during nearly two hours with Putin later Monday and three hours with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

A State Department official said before the meeting that no markers would be laid down on issues of democracy and the rule of law. Powell did not elaborate on his Izvestia piece during a news conference with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov or respond with details when asked about the issue during his flight to Europe.

"It wasn't in any way an attempt on my part to interfere in internal dynamics of Russian political life. It was one friend speaking to another," Powell told reporters inside the Kremlin.

Ivanov, without defending Russia's record publicly, said Putin offered a clear explanation that Powell would deliver to Bush. Ivanov said he hoped doubts "will be dispersed as a result."

The United States and Russia are struggling to manage their differences over issues from Iranian nuclear development and Iraqi reconstruction to the role of the two longtime rivals in countries that Russia considers its backyard.

Powell's trip to neighboring Georgia for Sunday's inauguration of U.S.-educated president Mikheil Saakashvili illustrated the tension. Although Powell asserted again Monday that the United States does not want to compete with Russia in Georgia, the Kremlin fears a growing American sphere of influence.

U.S. troops are training troops in Georgia, which has collected nearly $1 billion in U.S. aid in the past dozen years and will received $166 million more during this fiscal year.

Powell pressed Putin to honor his pledge to pull Russian troops from Georgia and close its bases there, a demand long sought by Georgia's government, which objects to what it considers an ugly legacy of Soviet rule. Russia has supported separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, while the United States is backing Saakashvili's quest for a newly united Georgia.

Ivanov told reporters that Russia is prepared to negotiate with the new Georgian government, a statement that drew approval from Powell, standing beside him in an ornate Kremlin chamber.

Powell's article on Izvestia's front page marked a new level of U.S. criticism of Putin's strong-willed governing style. It follows a prominent call from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to get tougher with a Russian leader, whom Bush has courted and praised.

McCain warned of "a creeping coup against the forces of democracy and market capitalism."

"The new authoritarianism in Russia," McCain said, "is more than a test of America's ability to defend universal values that have taken shallow root since the Soviet empire collapsed. It presents a fundamental challenge to American interests across Eurasia."

During a September session at the Camp David presidential retreat, Bush credited Putin with promoting freedom and democracy. The comment troubled many Russia analysts who had watched Putin's government take control of much of the nation's broadcast media, reserve prominent roles for security services and challenge the independence of the business elite.

U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow has spoken of a pernicious "values gap" between the two countries, to the consternation of the Kremlin, which felt it had earned the respect of Bush. Powell, by writing the Izvestia piece, publicly backed his top diplomat and reflected the current White House view, U.S. officials said.

Bush began raising issues of the rule of law more prominently in telephone conversations with Putin late last fall after the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man and the former head of the Yukos oil conglomerate. High-ranking U.S. officials believe the arrest and treatment of the businessman, a potential rival to Putin, was orchestrated by the Kremlin for political reasons.

More recently, the Bush administration endorsed the conclusions of European observers that Dec. 7 Duma elections were a "regression in the democratization process." The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Putin's government unfairly boosted the campaigns of its favorites, who now dominate the Russian parliament.

White House officials have been hoping that worries about Russia's future among foreign investors will help deter Putin, who has turned toward the West in a bid to boost Russia's economy. Uncertain of Putin's ultimate direction, they hope the disciplined former KGB officer will one day carry out his promises to develop liberty and the rule of law.

"Russia has too much to offer the world for us to allow the promise of our partnership to go unfulfilled," Powell wrote in Izvestia. "We hope that Russia's path to mature democracy and prosperity is cleared soon of all obstacles."