Russia To Increase Global Clout To Combat U.S. Unilateralism

Maria Danilova,
Associated Press
Published: Saturday, March 17, 2007
Canada.Com

MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister harshly criticized what he called Washington’s unilateral foreign policy on Saturday, and said Moscow intended to counterbalance it with its increasing global clout.

The comments by Sergey Lavrov were the latest expression of irritation by Moscow over U.S. foreign policing, including plans to base parts of its missile defence system in former Soviet satellite states, its handling of the Iranian nuclear problem, the war in Iraq and other issues.

Lavrov said the United States was still uncomfortable with the idea that there could be more than one power in the world.

“I don’t understand why multipolarity must be perceived as a confrontational approach,”he told members of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy — a group of Russian politicians, officials, experts and business leaders who meet regularly to discuss foreign policy matters.

He said he believed that Washington’s “overblown” role in world affairs was decreasing, while Russia’s clout was on the rise.

“Russia does not purport to have some special rights in international relations — it’s just that there are no grounds for Russia to be in the role of a follower,” he said.

Bilateral relations have been increasingly strained in the last several months over issues including the Kremlin’s objections to U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile defence systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, and Washington’s criticism of Russia’s alleged backsliding on democracy.

Lavrov said the U.S. missile defence plans were a “provocation of European and global policy scale,” according to a transcript of the speech posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website.

Washington says the planned missile shields would not be aimed at Russia, and are intended to defend against missile attacks from countries such as Iran. But Moscow has said it does not trust the American claims and has warned that it could take countermeasures.

“We don’t want to cause a rift in transatlantic relations ... but at the same time we don’t want transatlantic relations to be strengthened at Russia’s expense,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov praised the Washington’s flexibility in dealing with North Korea’s nuclear program, but lamented that the U.S. was still “unwilling to normalize bilateral relations with Tehran,” which he said was slowing down efforts to convince Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.

“The same is needed in Iran’s issue ... Why not live and let others live?” he said.

Lavrov also said Russia was willing to take part in helping bring peace and stability to Iraq, describing the U.S.-led military campaign there as a “project launched unilaterally.”

But Russian involvement would require Washington to “radically change its policy in Iraq” by involving all major powers in the region and in the world, including neighbouring Iran, he said.

© Associated Press 2007