Russia Gives U.S. Political Crumbs

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 10:08 AM

By: Nicholas Kralev

MOSCOW - It's not easy to craft a new relationship with Russia. Just ask Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.


During a two-day visit to Moscow last week, she went out of her way to improve ties, going beyond even what her friend and Russian-speaker Madeleine K. Albright tried when she held the job from 1997 to 2001.


But while the body language is better, the Russians appear to be pocketing the U.S. moves and giving little in return, diplomats and analysts say.


"So far, the 'reset' of the relationship has been mostly on the U.S. side and that remains the case after [Mrs. Clinton's] meetings," said Angela E. Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.


In particular, the U.S. is looking for help from Russia on Iran. The Russians have said they share the West's goal of preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, but remain reluctant to back diplomacy with the threat of more sanctions.


The Russians are participating in a proposed international plan to enrich uranium for Iran that will be sent back to Iran for peaceful uses only. Talks on implementing the plan took place Monday in Vienna, Austria.


But that is about as far as Russia wants to go with the U.S.


Toby Gati, a Russia specialist on the National Security Council in the Clinton administration, said, "The Russians have made it pretty clear that they do not feel they have to reciprocate" for the Obama administration's early steps, such as not pushing for further NATO expansion and revising President George W. Bush's plans for missile defense in Eastern Europe.


"So far, they see them as Bush mistakes that the [Obama] administration is 'correcting,' and they are very cautious about what to expect over the long term from the U.S.," she said. "They are distrustful of U.S. policy - although not of Obama and his team personally - and whether the direction we are moving in now will continue."


Mrs. Clinton took pains to remove suspicion during her trip, saying repeatedly that the two countries have a lot in common and should significantly increase their cooperation. She also accused members of both the U.S. and Russian governments of continuing to live in the Cold War two decades after its end.


"We have people in our government, and you have people in your government, who are still living in the past," she told a hall packed with hundreds of students at Moscow State University. "They do not believe the United States and Russia can cooperate to this extent. They do not trust each other, and we have to prove them wrong."


In another self-criticism that delighted the Russians, the secretary said that the United States made mistakes that led to the global financial crisis.


"In retrospect, there are steps that could have been and should have been taken in our country and elsewhere around the world that were not," she said. "It's important, as we try to restart the engine of economic growth, to learn from the mistakes of the past. But that doesn't mean we are going to avoid making new mistakes."


Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made an effort to seem cooperative. He saw Mrs. Clinton several times during the visit, which he did not do for her predecessor, Russia specialist Condoleezza Rice. He also appeared to be friendly in Mrs. Clinton's presence.


But when it came to policy, he gave no ground.


Still, Mrs. Clinton expressed optimism. "I believe if [Iran] sanctions become necessary, we will have support from Russia," she said.


Interviewed by ABC's "Nightline" while in Moscow, she added, "I think the other thing to know about the Russians ... they believe diplomacy should always be in private, not in public, that you don't get what you need if you pressure people in public. You work it out behind the scenes."


Such changes probably will take time.


"It's not realistic to expect that Russia will fundamentally move away from the policy line of the last eight years," said Andrew Kuchins, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.


A true change in Russian policies is not likely to happen until President Dmitry Medvedev and other officials of his generation assume real power in the Kremlin, Western diplomats said. That's why the Obama administration has been focusing its outreach on him, they added.


Mr. Medvedev, after meeting with President Obama in New York in September, said that sanctions "are seldom productive, but they are sometimes inevitable," suggesting Russia would back penalties against Iran if no settlement on its nuclear program is reached.


"President Obama is very committed and very sincere about working together with President Medvedev and with Russia," Mrs. Clinton, who met with the Russian president, said in a radio interview in Moscow. "The two presidents have very good personal chemistry. I think they trust each other."


Such words have not been uttered about Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a former and possibly future president who is thought to have the last word on Russian policies. Mr. Putin was in China during Mrs. Clinton's visit. She said she "would have enjoyed meeting" with him "and we certainly had intended to do so, but our schedules didn't work out."


"The symbolism of Putin being in China was pretty powerful, regardless of whether it was coincidental or not," Mr. Kuchins said.

2009 The Washington Times