Translated material
Gora's Coke
Vladimir Abarinov
Against the backdrop of Pushkin: Republican Cox and the US Vice President argue about how to deal with post-Yeltsin Russia
Against the backdrop of Pushkin: Republican Cox and the US Vice President argue about how to deal with post-Yeltsin Russia
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry at the opening of the monument to Pushkin. Ivanov does not agree with the thesis about the deterioration of relations between Russia and the United States. (Photo: AP )
When Republicans were considering who to entrust with the defeat of the Clinton-Gore administration's Russian policy, the choice fell on Congressman Christopher Cox, the author of the scandalous report on Chinese atomic espionage in US laboratories. Cox has established himself as a passionate denouncer of Democratic policies: the public has been presented with a horrifying picture of a security system leaking like a sieve, which allowed Beijing to acquire the latest nuclear technology.
Let us recall that Republican Bush's rival in the presidential election, Vice President Al Gore, has been involved in Russian affairs in the White House for many years as co-chairman of the US-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation. The best forces of the party were involved in the work on the report on Russian affairs, which began back in March. The authors include the chairmen of six relevant committees and four subcommittees of the Congress. The title of this 209-page work, which was unveiled last week at the Capitol, says it all: "Russia's Path to Corruption: How the Clinton Administration Exported the Idea of a Strong Central Government Instead of Free Enterprise and Failed the Russians."
The main conclusion of the working group, announced by Cox: the United States missed the chance to achieve in Russia the same results that were achieved after World War II in Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. That is, if Japan and Germany were turned from enemies into closest allies with a democratic system, this did not happen with Russia. (However, in Germany and Japan, post-war reforms were carried out under conditions of occupation - but the authors of the report easily neglect this difference.) “In the Russian foreign policy doctrine of 1993,” Cox said at the presentation of the report, “relations with the United States were defined as a strategic partnership and a close alliance "This goal is no longer set for the Russian leadership. And one of the reasons is that Moscow no longer believes in the recommendations of the United States and does not respect their position."
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ben Gilman, who spoke after Cox, was also extremely stern. Accusations rained down like from a cornucopia. “How did it happen that a KGB officer became the president of Russia?” he angrily asked those gathered. “Why did he come to power through manipulation of the timing of presidential elections and the use of a state-controlled press? Why does Russia support dictators in Serbia, Belarus, Iraq and Cuba, sell weapons to China, missiles and nuclear technology to Iran and seeks to undermine American interests wherever it can? Why has Russian espionage in our country reached Cold War levels and reached the point where listening devices are installed not just anywhere, but in the State Department?"
According to the authors of the report, the reason is that back in 1993, that is, immediately after taking office, Bill Clinton completely withdrew from Russian affairs, entrusting their management to a narrow circle of high-ranking officials. This clique, consisting of Vice President Gore, Deputy Secretary and now Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers and Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, is what the members of the writing team call the troika. Ignoring competent but alien opinions and assessments, the troika made all the key decisions related to Russia.
Republican invective at the presentation of the Cox report was accompanied by theatrical effects. Congressman Curt Weldon prominently displayed a huge photograph of protesters in front of the American mission in Moscow. Thousands of people gather at the American embassy in Moscow, stain the building with paint, fire at it, and burn the American flag, he repeated.
The main culprit for the deterioration of affairs in Russia was the United States itself, Republicans believe. In their opinion, the mistake of the current administration was, first of all, that it supported individual politicians, ignoring other forces and pretending that they did not exist. Thus, Vice President Gore made his only bet on his personal relationship with Viktor Chernomyrdin.
“And Russia’s participation in the proliferation of missile and nuclear technologies?” continued the temperamental Weldon. “We knew about it. But we did nothing.” And the congressman told how in December 1995, sitting in the office of the then American ambassador in Moscow, Tom Pickering, he asked him what the Russians responded to his request for the supply of Russian missile guidance systems to Iraq, which the Washington Post wrote about. “I didn’t ask them about it,” the ambassador admitted, according to Weldon. Then the congressman wrote a letter to the president, but he got off with a reply saying that he shared the congressman’s concerns and that the administration would take decisive action if it had evidence. “Evidence?!” Weldon exclaimed, his glasses shining angrily. “Here they are, the evidence!” With these words, he took out two glass-sized metal cylinders that clinked dully from the case and placed them on the table. “Here is a gyroscope!” he pointed his finger at one of the cylinders. “It was obtained by one of our agencies, we will not specify which one. We intercepted this product, certified by Russian institutes, on the way to Iraq. We intercepted it not once, not twice, but three times.” "Three times! We caught the Russians deliberately violating missile technology controls. And this administration did nothing." Weldon put the evidence back in his case and concluded with bitter irony: “But the Russians are not fools. They are very smart people. They look and see a foreign policy that looks like a doormat. They have stopped respecting America. And, frankly, if I Russian, I wouldn’t respect American leaders either.”
The most general response from Democrats to all these accusations is that the report contains no new revelations - arguments made by Cox's group have been made for the past two years. Expressing the opinion of many fellow party members, Democratic Congressman Sam Heiderson calls the Cox report an attempt to deceive the American people, since not only Democrats, but also moderate Republicans were not allowed to participate in its preparation. At the same time, the authors showed “utter naivety.” Everyone understands that the transformation of Russia could not be quick or easy. At the same time, the positive results of the Clinton-Gore policy are obvious: today Russian weapons are no longer aimed at American cities. Russia has 5,000 fewer nuclear warheads and 500 fewer missiles. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan are free of nuclear weapons. Russia dismantled 1,700 nuclear warheads and destroyed 300 launchers, 40 heavy bombers and 15 missile-carrying submarines. Russian troops withdrew from Central Europe and the Baltics. Russian society and economy have irrevocably thrown off the communist stranglehold. Calling the report a "hatchet job," Sam Gayderson ends his philippic by asserting that relations between the two countries have never been so "broad and varied" in history.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who last week came to Washington from New York to attend the unveiling of a monument to Pushkin in the American capital, also disagrees with the Republicans’ conclusion that relations between Russia and the United States have seriously deteriorated under the Democrats. At the same time, Ivanov told reporters that the Foreign Ministry will “carefully study” the report and “will take into account” its positive aspects.
Clinton and Gore found an unexpected supporter in the person of Boris Berezovsky, who convened his press conference in Washington two days before the presentation of the report. Stating that he was well aware of the controversy over the US role in Russia's transformation, the tycoon did not hesitate to speak in favor of the course of the current administration. At the same time, Berezovsky believes that massive investments in Russia will not help, no Marshall Plan will be effective and will even “work exactly the opposite” because it will not teach people to be independent. According to Berezovsky's forecast, Russia will integrate into the Western democratic community no sooner than in half a century.
Washington
Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers (left) and Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott (right), along with Al Gore, formed the trio that has shaped White House Russia policy in recent years. They have seen the evolution of the strategic partnership between Moscow and Washington go from Yeltsin-era embraces to Putin-era whispers. (Photo: AP )