| Moscow, 24 April: The leader of the Russian
liberal party Yabloko, Grigoriy Yavlinsky, expressed his convern
that the foreign policy pursued by President Vladimir Putin has
been under pressure from certain circles in the political and
bureaucratic establishment aimed at revising this policy.
"The systematic, harsh criticism of the Russian president's
foreign policy by the military-political bureaucracy, which has
extensively exploited the Russian media for this purpose, causes
serious concern," Yavlinsky told Interfax on Wednesday [24
April].
"This has become especially notable after the President
said in the address to the Federal Assembly [parliament] that:
'the period of confrontation has ended' and 'we are building normal
constructive relations with all countries, that 'it is particularly
important for our country to be able to find allies and be a reliable
ally itself', that it is necessary 'to take numerous concrete
steps towards integration with Europe', 'to continue active work
with the European Union aimed at creating a unified economic territory',
and that 'we are
maintaining a permanent dialogue with the United States and are
working to change
the quality of our relations with NATO'," added Yavlinsky.
"Provincial isolationists, who had for a long time maintained
their silence
behind the president's back, considering him to be 'their' man,
are now pursuing
a very dangerous policy of splitting the executive authorities
into
irreconcilable political camps, and are preparing political revenge,"
noted
Yavlinsky.
"Our history already saw this in 1964 and 1991 and it is
well known where this
leads”, noted Yabloko’s leader, alluding to the ouster
of Nikita Khrushchev in
October 1964 and the attempt to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from
power in August
1991.
"The Russian democratic party Yabloko categorically opposes
the use of even the
grossest mistakes in domestic and economic policies for reactionary
purposes,
such as any attempt to undermine the political system and destabilize
the
situation in the country," noted Yavlinsky.
See also:
Russia-US
Relations
Russia-EU
Relations
| 