WASHINGTON, Sept 14: The United States on Tuesday expressed concern about moves by Russian President Vladimir Putin to strengthen his powers. "These steps certainly raise concerns," said US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
The US Secretary of State also said in an interview he was concerned that the sweeping political changes would erode Russia's democratic reforms. "In effect this is pulling back on some of the democratic reforms," Mr Powell said. "We have concerns about it and we want to discuss them with the Russians."
Mr Putin has called for a new system of selecting regional leaders that would give the Kremlin a strong role in the process. He has also toughened security in the North Caucasus and appointed a new government chief of staff after the Beslan school hostage tragedy.
The Kremlin leader also said on Monday he wanted a new election law to limit the number of political parties and to have full control on nominating regional leaders to combat terrorism following the bloody Beslan school siege in southern Russia.
Mr Boucher said the United States would want to discuss the measures with the Russian government. The spokesman emphasized that "we stand in solidarity with Russia in the fight against terrorism. Nothing justifies the sort of horrible terrorist actions that occurred last week in Russia".
But he added that it was important "to strike the right balance between fighting terrorism but also moving forward on democratic reforms and the democratic process.
"That is a fundamental issue that has to be faced, and one that we'll be discussing with the Russians," he said. The United States has joined the European Union in raising concern about the new political measures announced by Mr Putin on Monday.
POWELL: While expressing sympathy for Mr Putin's desire to go after "terrorists" following the Beslan crisis, the bombing of two Russian aircraft and a Moscow subway bombing in the last month, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Russia must balance this with democratic freedom.
"We understand the need to fight against terrorism ... but in an attempt to go after terrorists I think one has to strike a proper balance to make sure that you don't move in a direction that takes you away from the democratic reforms or the democratic process," he said.
Washington has at times been accused of turning a blind eye to widespread concerns the Kremlin was becoming increasingly autocratic, notably by muting its criticism of the imprisonment and trial of the former chairman of the Yukos oil company.
But Mr Powell delivered an unusually blunt message to the Kremlin in January by expressing concern about Russia's democracy and its commitment to the rule of law in an opinion piece published in the newspaper Izvestia.
"It would be not the best course of action to move in a direction which (would) be seen by the international community as moving toward the rear with respect to democratic reforms," Mr Powell said on Tuesday.
Since the Beslan tragedy, in which children made up half of the victims, Washington has played down its long-standing demand Russia seek a political settlement in Chechnya, where a brutal conflict has raged between Moscow and Chechen guerillas for 10 years. -Reuters
