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The leader of the YABLOKO party Grigory Yavlinsky made a speech
to the Carnegie Foundation on Wednesday. His speech was devoted
to Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, the tasks formulated
by his party that wishes to see Russia become an enlightened and
liberal state, recognised as a civilised Western state.
"The course of rapprochement with the West chosen by President
Putin after September 11, said Yavlinsky, can provide the requisite
impulse to the democratic reforms inside the country. The development
of this course should bring a new team to the Kremlin which will
perform democratic transformations inside the country. It is impossible
to publish "The New York Times" with the team that can
only print "Sovetskaya Rossiya" (Ed. "The Soviet
Russia" newspaper), stressed the leader of the YABLOKO party.
"Putin’s decision to choose rapprochement with the West
was not inevitable", continued Yavlinsky, reminding the audience
about the Kremlin’s close ties with Cuba, Northern Korea, Iraq
and Iran. It looked highly unlikely that the West would further
support the democratic reforms in Russia.
The course chosen by Putin on September 11, stressed Yavlinsky,
is in contrast with the views of the majority of the political
establishment of Russia. Yavlinsky was present at the meeting
between President Putin and the 21 leaders of the Duma and the
Federation Council. One of these 21 people advocated Russia's
support of the Taliban, two proposed support for the anti-terror
coalition, while eighteen said that Russia should remain neutral.
"Putin’s choice was not governed only by strategic concerns, added
Yavlinsky. It would be even more accurate to say that he rejected
the proposals by strategists to demand in exchange for cooperation
in the anti-terror coalition that the West make concessions on
investments, loans and the write-off of part of Russia's foreign
debt. Putin would like to place relations with the West on a qualitatively
new level, the level of strategic partnership." This means,
for example, interaction with the West in the oil sector, where
Russia may act as a counter-balance to OPEC, more balanced relations
in the Russia-USA-China triangle; non-dissemination of weapons
of mass destruction and constraints on the pariah states - Iran,
Iraq and Northern Korea; fight with the illegal distribution of
drugs and mutual aid in the defence of borders: on behalf of Russia
- aid in protection of the Russian frontiers from the threats
posed by nuclear, biological and chemical terrorism, and on behalf
of the USA - aid with physical protection of Russia, which has
the longest borders with extremely unstable regions threatening
not only the security of Russia, but also the whole world. Strategic
partnership also implies the recognition of Russia as a fully-fledged
state power in Europe and the world and the accession of Russia
to all the international political, economic and military institutions.
Yavlinsky also named other international problems that, in his
view, cannot be resolved without interaction between Russia and
the West: the Balkans, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the crisis
in Kashmir and potential trans-national ecological catastrophes.
"Such a strategic partnership with the West will be implemented
by Russian politicians interested in liberalisation and the assertion
of the well-known code of ideological values of Russia - freedom
of speech, democracy, pluralism, private property and the rule
of law - which can serve as the basis for long-term cooperation
with the West, that does not depend on the state of the market
and cabinet reshuffles. The world will not disappear, if the strategic
partnership comes to a halt: in this case Russia will merely lose
another opportunity for a democratic transformation." These
were the concluding remarks of the leader of YABLOKO Yavlinsky
before the Carnegie Foundation.
See also:
Acts
of Terror in the USA
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