DATE=6/5/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON / DUMA / REACT
NUMBER=5-46443
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton's address to Russia's
parliament was met with a less than enthusiastic
response from lawmakers. One nationalist politician
heckled the president, many seats in the Duma chamber
were empty, and there was only polite applause at the
conclusion. But Correspondent Peter Heinlein in
Moscow reports the speech is likely to get a better
reception among other segments of the Russian public.
TEXT: Mr. Clinton's overall message was that he
favors a strong and prosperous Russia. But his 45-
minute speech also contained some blunt messages that
were certain to irritate many members of parliament.
For one, he made clear that the United States thinks
Russia's use of force against civilians in Chechnya is
simply wrong.
/// CLINTON ACT ONE ///
The answer to law without order is not order
without law.
/// END ACT ///
And he admonished Russia for its failure to bring its
trade and tax systems up to the standards needed to
gain entry to the World Trade Organization.
/// CLINTON ACT TWO ///
Russia should not be the only major
industrialized country standing outside this
global trading system.
/// END ACT ///
Before the speech began, nationalists chanted anti-
American slogans outside the parliament building.
/// CHANTING OUTSIDE DUMA - FADE UNDER ///
And, inside, ultra-nationalist leader Vladimir
Zhirinovsky heckled the president. At one point
during the speech, Mr. Zhirinovsky shouted that
President Clinton should remove the embargo against
Iraq and pull NATO troops out of Yugoslavia.
// OPT // Afterward, the flamboyant ultra-nationalist
was shown on the independent N-T-V network complaining
the official estimates that 75 to 80-percent of
lawmakers attended were wildly exaggerated.
/// OPT // ZHIRINOVSKY ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE ///
Mr. Zhirinovsky says only 20-percent of the members
were there. He says that to claim 80-percent attended
is - as he put it - cheating. Mr. Zhirinovsky
complained that people were brought in to applaud,
making it look as if the president was greeted warmly,
while in truth the reception was cool. // END OPT //
But overall, reaction to the speech was generally
positive.
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, often a sharp
critic of the United States, said he found Mr.
Clinton's assessment of Russia too kind.
/// ZYUGANOV ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
Mr. Zyuganov says he was expecting what he called -
Mr. Clinton's estimate - to be more honest. The
Communist leader said his party favors dialogue on the
issue of developing new technologies to defend against
a nuclear missile attack.
Independent analysts agreed that the speech was
generally well-received.
Vyacheslav Nikonov of the Fond Politika research group
says the address to lawmakers was much less strident
than another speech Mr. Clinton made on a previous
visit, when he urged Russians to work harder for
economic reform.
/// NIKONOV ACT ///
Two-years ago, Mr. Clinton was presenting the
speech of a mentor, instructing Russians what
they should do. Now there was no such message.
Clinton presented himself as a friend of Russian
people who wanted them to be more effective in
solving their own problems, which is a much
better tone.
/// END ACT ///
Victor Kremenyuk of Moscow's U-S-A/Canada Institute
says the summit's outcome was much more positive than
expected, even though the two leaders failed to agree
on the main issue.
/// KREMENYUK ACT ///
I think by this summit we have stopped drifting
toward confrontation. I would not say we have
turned toward something like partnership. But
my impression is that the drift toward
confrontation was stopped by both presidents,
and that is already something.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Kremenyuk was among those whose expectations for
the summit were low. And most analysts agree that
little of substance came out of the meetings. But
there was general agreement that the overall
compassionate tone of Mr. Clinton's speech was just
what Russians wanted to hear. (SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/JWH/RAE
05-Jun-2000 11:46 AM EDT (05-Jun-2000 1546 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
