Last Jan. 27 Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Moscow. The self-contradictory aim of his visit was to calm Russian fears by alarming them with America's good intentions. Powell said that the United States was contemplating the establishment of military bases in former Soviet Republics, like Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. He gave assurances that America was not trying to threaten Russia by expanding NATO eastward.
The three Baltic States have sought membership in NATO because, according to Baltic statesmen, "neutrality doesn't work." The meaning of this statement begs further analysis, since it implies that membership in a bloc of non-neutrals (i.e., belligerents) is preferred. NATO member states Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic approve the admission of the Baltic States on condition that Slovakia and Slovenia are also allowed to join NATO. On Russia's southwestern flank, Romania and Bulgaria are also headed for NATO membership, holding out the prospect of ten former communist bloc countries inside the Western alliance.
Secretary of State Powell wanted the Russians to know that the United States was contemplating the establishment of small training facilities and air bases on "former" Soviet territory. These would not threaten Russia, he said. "We are not trying to surround anyone. The Cold War is over. The Iron Curtain is down. We should not see things in old Cold War terms." Powell said nothing about thousands of former Communist Party members who make up the bureaucratic staffs of the communist bloc countries joining NATO. This would seem to be a non-issue.
Powell praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for apparent openness to the idea of withdrawing Russian troops from Georgia. However, the U.S. Secretary of State criticized Putin for undemocratic tendencies and for failing to uphold the rule of law. The United States has expressed concerned about the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a one-time deputy Komsomol chief at the Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology who became Russia's richest man. It was said that Khodorkovsky became involved in political machinations aimed at Vladimir Putin, so Khodorkovsky was demoted to a jail cell.
President Putin assured Secretary of State Powell that Khodorkovsky's case would be handled according to the rule of law. Any trial would be fair. (Khodorkovsky's political influence was at an end. Fair is fair.) Powell went back to Washington and a few days later Putin critic and political rival Ivan Rybkin, a candidate for the Russian presidency, left his home one evening and disappeared. Rybkin's wife reported him missing on Sunday. Rybkin was closely associated with Kremlin oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who fled arrest in Russia and now resides in England. Berezovsky has recently accused Putin of dictatorial ambitions.
A few days after Rybkin vanished, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov threatened to ignore the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). In other words, he was threatening a conventional military buildup against NATO. During a security conference in Munich, Germany, U.S. Senator John McCain shocked listeners with a frank appraisal of the Russian government. "President Putin's rule," he said, "has been characterized by the dismantling of the independent media, a fierce crackdown on the political opposition, the prosecution of a bloody war against Chechnya's civilian population, and a new assertiveness that challenges the democratic and territorial integrity of Russia's sovereign neighbors." McCain accused Russia of flouting treaties by maintaining troops in Moldova and Georgia. He added that Russia's access to the West depended on Moscow's commitment to press freedom, free markets and the rule of law. "These now appear to be false premises," said McCain, who called for sending "a strong signal that undemocratic behavior and threats ... will not profit Russia ... but will exclude her from the company of Western democracies...."
On Tuesday Russia notified the United States that it is going to test launch several intercontinental missiles as part of nuclear war exercises. Deputy Chief of Staff General Yuri Baluyevsky contradicted media reports that the exercises would be the largest since 1982. He said there would be no violations of agreements with the United States. These are yearly exercises, insisted Baluyevsky, whose official position is that NATO expansion poses no threat to Russia.
Baluyevsky further denied that Russian strategic bombers would fly over the Atlantic Ocean. The war games, he said, were defensive, "in order to prevent aggression and military pressure being applied to Russia." He did not say who might be applying military pressure to Russia.
