Washington Post - 02.11.2007

Putin Hits U.S. Over Unilateral Approach

Rebuke Is Called Unusually Hostile

By Thomas E. Ricks and Craig Whitlock

MUNICH, Feb. 10 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin, in some of his harshest criticism of the United States since he took office seven years ago, said Saturday that Washington's unilateral, militaristic approach had made the world a more dangerous place than at any time during the Cold War.

"The United States has overstepped its national borders in every way," he said in an address at an annual international security conference here. "Nobody feels secure anymore, because nobody can take safety behind the stone wall of international law."

Putin criticized the expansion of NATO, saying the alliance's placement of military forces on Russia's borders reduces "the level of mutual trust." He said the U.S. desire to place antimissile systems in Eastern Europe could further upset the international balance of power and embolden the United States in its foreign policy decisions.

The Russian president defended his country's arms sales to Iran as a way of reaching out to that Middle Eastern power, which is under pressure from the United States and Europe to curtail its nuclear program. Russia has supplied some air defense weapons to Iran because, he said, "we don't want Iran to feel cornered."

Dozens of foreign and defense ministers and other officials, including U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and an American congressional delegation, attended the meeting. An Iranian nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, also was present and is scheduled to address the conference Sunday after Gates speaks.

Several U.S. politicians in attendance sharply criticized Putin's remarks, which Russia specialists said were familiar in their assertiveness but unusual in their hostility toward the United States.

The White House also reacted strongly. "We are surprised and disappointed with President Putin's comments," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement. "His accusations are wrong. We expect to continue cooperation with Russia in areas important to the international community such as counterterrorism and reducing the spread and threat of weapons of mass destruction."

The back-and-forth underscored the recent stark changes in U.S.-Russian relations. The friendship that was struck when President Bush first met Putin and said he had looked into the former KGB colonel's soul in 2001 has soured as the Kremlin suppressed political opposition at home, used its energy resources to pressure its neighbors and split with the White House over Iraq, Iran and other issues.

Bush has grown increasingly disaffected with Putin and occasionally tried to prod him to recommit to democracy and better relations with his neighbors, only to be rebuffed. Bush has been reluctant to force a more direct confrontation out of worry that it would push Putin further from the West and because he needs Russia's help to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear program.

In recent days, top Bush administration officials have met in Washington with Garry Kasparov, the former chess grandmaster who has emerged as a leading figure in Russia's marginalized political opposition. Kasparov has said that he advised the officials that lecturing Russia on democracy can be counterproductive but that they should not pretend Putin is one of them, either. "That's why I say, 'Don't interfere, just don't support Putin,' " Kasparov said.

Putin has said that U.S. criticism of his rollback of democracy stems from a Cold War mentality, and he has long opposed the U.S. operation in Iraq. But his remarks here seemingly were not prompted by any particular provocation.

In a tone that was more a considered lecture than a Khrushchevian dais-thumper, Putin said Russia would pursue an independent foreign policy. "We are not going to change this tradition today."

Putin called on the West to resist pushing Russia to be more democratic and more respectful of human rights. "Russia is constantly being taught democracy, and the people who try to teach it don't want to learn it themselves," he said.

Putin ended his critique of the post-Cold War world by attacking the West's view of international relations. Stability and economic justice, he said, should be "not only for the chosen ones, but for everybody."

During Putin's 32-minute address, several members of the U.S. delegation frowned or looked away. Gates, a professional Sovietologist, stared down at notes he was writing. Asked for comment afterward, Gates smiled and shook his head.

After speaking, Putin took questions from the audience, elaborating on several points but backing down from none of them. Explaining his view that the world is now more dangerous than it was during the Cold War, he said that back then, "it was a fragile peace, a scary peace, but it was fairly reliable, as it turns out. Today it is less reliable."

In his one peace offering, Putin called Bush "my friend." Bush is "criticized for everything he does, but he is a decent man," Putin said.

Putin also alluded to Russia's indirect cutoff of crucial energy supplies to Europe twice in the past two years, insisting that Russia's actions are simply intended to put its energy exports on a transparent, market-based system built around long-term contracts.

Some European diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, saw his attack on the United States as a preemptive measure to deflect criticism of Russia that has been building in European capitals. In addition to an ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy groups and political opponents, Russia has antagonized some in Europe with its use of energy as a tool of foreign policy.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who also attended the meeting, said he was disappointed by Putin's remarks. He said NATO and the United States had been forthright in their communications with Moscow on the eastward expansion of NATO and had made clear that such moves should not be interpreted as a security threat.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) said that much of Putin's address was "Cold War rhetoric" and that his comments about Iran were "outrageous" and "provocative."

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) added, "If you're waiting for Russia to be constructive on Iran, forget it." Putin "did more in a single speech to unite Europe and America than anything we could have done in a decade," Graham said, referring to tensions over the war in Iraq.

Staff writer Peter Baker in Washington contributed to this report.


[Click for full speech by Pres. Putin]

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New York Times - 02.12.2007

Gates Counters Putin’s Words on U.S. Power

By Thom Shanker

MUNICH, Feb. 11 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, disputing a lengthy critique of American power by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Saturday, said Sunday at a European security conference here, “One cold war was quite enough.”

Government leaders, legislators and military officials here continued speculating on Mr. Putin’s motivation for delivering his long list of complaints about American domination of global affairs, but Mr. Gates chose words of velvet, not steel, in offering Washington’s fullest response. As Mr. Putin had, he invoked the cold war more than once. 

“As an old cold warrior, one of yesterday’s speeches almost filled me with nostalgia for a less complex time,” he said. “Almost.”

Mr. Gates, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency called back to government service from academia to become defense secretary, told attendees of the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy that both he and Mr. Putin had spent most of their careers in their governments’ spy agencies.

“And, I guess, old spies have a habit of blunt speaking,” Mr. Gates said. “However, I have been to re-education camp — spending four and half years as a university president and dealing with faculty.” His remark drew laughs and applause.

His sharpest response to Mr. Putin was gently couched. “Russia is a partner in endeavors,” Mr. Gates said. “But we wonder, too, about some Russian policies that seem to work against international stability, such as its arms transfers and its temptation to use energy resources for political coercion.”

Throughout the rebuttal, and in a longer discourse on how America’s European allies must help rebuild Afghanistan and remain engaged in the fight against terrorism, Mr. Gates mentioned Mr. Putin only once by name. That came when he said he had accepted an invitation from Mr. Putin to visit Moscow.

On Saturday, Russia’s defense minister, Sergei B. Ivanov, a Putin confidant, denied that Mr. Putin’s speech had been confrontational. “We are not interested in imposing our opinion on anybody,” Mr. Ivanov said. But he cautioned that his government would not support international actions taken without consultation with Russia, nor those taken without its consent, and certainly none that are “imposed on Russia.” 

The speech by Mr. Gates was delivered under the long shadow of his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, who both charmed and offended European audiences during his tenure as defense secretary, which included several speeches to this conference.

Mr. Gates cast himself as a geopolitical realist and drew a knowing laugh when he focused on Mr. Putin’s assertion that the United States and its allies were dividing Europe.

“All of these characterizations belong in the past,” Mr. Gates said. “The free world versus those behind the Iron Curtain. North versus South. East versus West, and I am told that some have even spoken in terms of ‘Old Europe’ versus ‘new.’ ”

The last was a reference to a characterization Mr. Rumsfeld made in January 2003 to contrast Germany and France, which objected to the United States plan to invade Iraq, with neighboring supporters, not all of which are NATO members. 

Reviewing NATO’s success in standing up to the Soviet threat, “it seems clear that totalitarianism was defeated as much by ideas the West championed then and now as by ICBMs, tanks and warships that the West deployed,” Mr. Gates said. The alliance’s most effective weapon, he said, was a “shared belief in political and economic freedom, religious toleration, human rights, representative government and the rule of law.”

“These values kept our side united, and inspired those on the other side,” he added.

Shifting to current threats and challenges, he called on NATO members to support a comprehensive strategy to stabilize Afghanistan, “combining a muscular military effort with effective support for governance, economic development and counternarcotics.”

He also urged NATO allies to increase their military spending to meet the benchmark of 2 percent of gross domestic product set by the alliance; only 6 of NATO’s 26 members fulfill that standard.

Mr. Gates briefly turned to the war in Iraq, to echo President Bush’s insistence that the United States and its partners there must prevail. If chaos tears Iraq apart, Mr. Gates warned, “every member of this alliance will feel the consequences” of regional turmoil and terrorism.

He acknowledged the damage done to America’s global standing by its conduct in the campaign against terrorism, particularly in holding detainees without due process at the United States naval base in Cuba.

“There is no question in my mind that Guantánamo and some of the abuses that have taken place in Iraq have negatively impacted the reputation of the United States,” Mr. Gates said. “It is also true, though, that there are real terrorists at Guantánamo.”

Repeating comments from a number of American officials, Mr. Gates said most members of the Bush administration would like to close the detention center, and he pledged that tribunals for detainees would be conducted in a legitimate and transparent manner.


[Click for full speech by Sec. Gates]