DATE=11/22/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA AND THE WEST
NUMBER=5-44088
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russia's defiant rejection of foreign
criticism of its military offensive in Chechnya has
sent East-West relations plummeting to their lowest
levels since the Cold War. V-O-A Moscow correspondent
Peter Heinlein reports Russia's leaders are taking an
increasingly confrontational stance toward the West.
TEXT: The world saw an angry Boris Yeltsin at last
week's European Security summit in Istanbul.
/// YELTSIN ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO...///
He says, "You don't have the right to criticize Russia
for Chechnya." Mr. Yeltsin's words echoed similarly
tough statements from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin,
as well as from Russia's Defense and Foreign
Ministers, and a number of senior generals.
The defiant stand has been roundly applauded at home,
where the military offensive in Chechnya enjoys solid
public support.
/// NATALYA ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO...///
"Yeltsin was right to tell them not to interfere.
It's our internal business." This 60-year old
pensioner, who identified herself only as Natalya,
said, "you don't interfere in the affairs of a
neighboring family when the husband and wife are
quarrelling."
A sampling of Moscow public opinion indicates what
experts have been saying for months. Russians
increasingly believe that the West, especially the
United States, has been taking advantage of Russian
weakness since the Soviet Union collapsed.
Political analyst Alan Rousso of the Moscow Carnegie
Center says a Cold War mentality has gradually taken
hold among Russia's political elite since the economic
crash of August of last year.
/// ROUSSO ACT ///
I think since the crash in August there has been
an overall shift in the way many Russians think
about the West and think about the United States
in particular, and since then it has been one
thing after another, including the formal
absorption of three former Warsaw Pact states
into NATO, then suddenly the war in Kosovo, the
war in Yugoslavia, which demonstrated to
Russians that the world had become an
increasingly more dangerous place for them, and
increasingly marginalized them from the issues
at the heart of European security. Then you add
to that the (allegations of a) money laundering
scandal and the war in Chechnya and by all means
the relationship can be said to have reached a
new low.
/// END ACT ///
Moscow political analyst Andrei Piontkowsky says the
current Russian leadership, which was raised to
believe the West was its enemy, is reacting
instinctively to a perceived threat.
/// PIONTKOWSKY ACT ///
/// Opt /// I think the reasons are basically
psychological, this irritation of Russian
political class who are physically the Soviet
political class. /// End opt /// These people
are very much frustrated with the downgrading of
(the) role of Russia from the superpower to the,
let's say, major regional power. Very often the
anti-American posturing is driven not by (a)
real problem or real national interests, but by
those deep psychological complexes.
/// END ACT ///
The result is a sharp increase not only in anti-
western rhetoric, but also in military muscle flexing.
In addition to the Chechen conflict, Russia has
recently conducted three high-profile launches of
nuclear capable missiles. One analyst called the
launches a reminder that Moscow is still a power to be
reckoned with.
A number of prominent international experts have
expressed concern about the potential for a further
downturn in relations. Dmitry Simes of the Nixon
Center in Washington was quoted this week as saying
Americans are increasingly viewing Russia as a country
out of control, where the democratic experiment is
proving to be badly flawed.
Mr. Simes said Russians see the United States as a
rogue superpower, which hypocritically supports
Russian reforms, but in fact wants to undermine
Russia.
Harvard University Professor Richard Pipes told a
recent forum that Prime Minister Putin and the Russian
generals reflect Moscow's mood at the height of the
Cold War. He suggested the West should deal with
Russia by showing both "great sensitivity and great
firmness." (Signed)
NEB/PFH/GE/KL
22-Nov-1999 15:16 PM EDT (22-Nov-1999 2016 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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