Associated Press - 05.15.2002

from Johnson's Russia List

Russian, U.S. Relations on a Roll

The Associated Press

By George Gedda

Reykjavik, Iceland - A year ago, U.S.-Russian relations were in the doldrums. To the extent that there were contacts, they were dominated by Russian opposition to American missile defense plans.

Now Russia's relations with the United States and the West in general are on a roll, with an agreement on a new NATO-Russian partnership Tuesday coming in the aftermath of a Moscow-Washington agreement Monday to cut strategic nuclear arsenals sharply over the next decade.

To top it off, Russia joined a U.N. Security Council consensus Tuesday to support a U.S.-proposed plan to tighten up on military-related exports to Iraq and ease civilian exports. Initially, Moscow was in strong opposition.

``A strong basis for a new partnership is being forged,'' Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday night, with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov at his side.

Powell and Ivanov have no trouble getting along these days. Powell greeted Ivanov with a hug as the Russian envoy showed up for NATO's spring meeting Tuesday in chilly, windblown Reykjavik.

State Department officials said they caught Powell and Ivanov winking at one another at a recent meeting.

``The Cold War is finished. Done. Kaput,'' British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said, reflecting the exuberance of many NATO colleagues as Russia was granted what amounts to partial membership in the 19-member alliance.

``The world has changed out of all recognition,'' NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said.

Over the past year Russia has moved in a number of ways closer not only to the United States but to Western security institutions as well.

It has:

Softened its once-unyielding opposition to the unilateral U.S. decision to withdraw from the U.S.-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. Last July, Russia threatened to retaliate by installing multiple warheads on new intercontinental ballistic missiles. It didn't.

Agreed to shut down an intelligence-gathering complex in Cuba that had been a mainstay of Soviet and later Russian spy activity for more than 35 years.

Helped protect Western economies by resisting demands of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to significantly cut  oil exports. It did agree to first-quarter cuts that essentially paralleled a normal seasonal reduction, but how long it will keep those cuts in place is open to question. Russia is not an OPEC member.

Became a partner of the United States in the war on terrorism.

Acquiesced in NATO's proposed new eastward expansion and in growing U.S. military ties with former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus. These countries were once considered to be in Moscow's sphere of influence.

Just why President Vladimir Putin decided to turn the relationship around has not been explained fully. ``It is hard to imagine a leader less impulsive and prone to epiphanies than Vladimir Putin,'' wrote Leon Aron, of the American Enterprise Institute. He said Putin is a man averse to ``abrupt twists and turns.''

The most troublesome remaining issue for Washington and Moscow is the legacy of nuclear and other militarily useful materials amassed mostly by Soviet leaders during the post-World War II era.

The Bush administration says some of this material has filtered to Iran.

According to Powell, the Russians have been asking the United States for more facts about such transfers.

 ``We think we've given them the facts,'' Powell said. ``We'll do as much as we can to make the case that anything which supports Iran's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction is troublesome for us, and it is something we'll have to continue to discuss with the Russians at every level.''

It will be on the agenda next week when Presidents Bush and Putin meet in Moscow. But that disagreement won't stop them from signing  a slew of agreements, perhaps including one on theestablishment of a new strategic relationship.

 On the Net: Founding document from 1997 on NATO-Russian relations: http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/fndact-a.htm State Department's Russia page: http://www.state.gov/p/eur/ci/rs/