MOSCOW, May 15: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday on a visit aimed at allaying Russian complaints of American interference in both the military and political spheres.
The meeting at a presidential residence outside Moscow came amid an escalation of tensions, with Russian newspapers warning of deep-seated differences in the US-Russian relationship.
Earlier Rice -- who made highly critical comments on the eve of her visit about the state of democracy in Russia -- met civil society leaders but avoided controversy by not meeting with human rights organisations critical of Putin's rule.
Russia has bridled at what it sees as American interference, not only in the area of democracy but also US plans to extend missile defences to central Europe, as well as Washington's backing for a UN plan for Kosovo's independence and possible enlargement of the Nato military alliance.
At a US embassy meeting Rice told the five civil society leaders, who represented business, the media, aid and politics, that Washington had no intention of interfering in Russian politics, said one of those present.
“From what I see, the name of the game is damage limitation. Her message was the United States is here to assist and the United States is not in the business of a new cold war with Russia,” said Andrei Kortunov, from US-funded development group the New Eurasia Foundation.
The absence of human rights activists, who have had the chance to air their views on previous high-level American visits, prompted a dismissive response from Svetlana Gannushkina of the respected rights organisation Memorial.
“We'd like to have support from countries that consider themselves democratic and clear statements on what's happening in Russia, but how could we expect that from (President George W.) Bush?” Russian newspapers were generally downbeat on the state of relations.
The independent Vremya Novostei declared that “Rice doesn't feel the cold” and warned that current tensions did not bode well for Putin's forthcoming encounter with Bush at the Group of Eight summit next month.
But the Gazeta newspaper said there might be room for compromise on the status of the Serbian province of Kosovo, on which the United States is keen to secure a settlement.
Russia has opposed a US-backed UN plan to grant supervised independence to the ethnic-Albanian-majority province, saying that any settlement must be agreeable to Belgrade.
Rice's “visit will be key to the fate of the Serbian province.... It is this question that will be at the centre of negotiators' attention today,” Gazeta predicted.
Rice on Monday forcefully rejected talk of a new cold war with Russia, saying that despite the harder stance by both sides, any suggestion that US-Russian relations could become as bad as they were in the Soviet era “have no basis whatsoever.” The top US diplomat told journalists travelling with her that she would raise US concerns over anti-democratic developments in Russia and “heavy-handed” moves by Moscow against some former Soviet bloc neighbours.
Putin has railed against US policy in recent months and last week made a speech interpreted by some analysts as comparing US foreign policy “diktats” to the actions of the Third Reich in Nazi Germany.
In downplaying such differences, Rice noted that Moscow and Washington were working together through the United Nations on the Iranian and North Korean nuclear threats, on Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, on non-proliferation, and to support Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation.
Moscow has sharply criticised US plans to place 10 anti-missile interceptors in Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic as a threat to its own strategic defences.
In response, Putin announced last month that he was suspending Russian compliance with a key East-West arms pact, the CFE treaty.—AFP
