Russia 100414 Basic Political Developments

Russia-U.S. Relations and Russia’s Vision for International Affairs

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0413_medvedev.aspx

Event Summary

Like many industrial countries around the world, Russia is coping with the aftermath of the global economic crisis as well as with other domestic challenges. The Russian leadership is also pursuing an active foreign policy agenda. Issues being discussed with the United States include the new START treaty, Iran, Afghanistan and missile defense.

On April 13, the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings (CUSE) hosted President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the Russian Federation’s approach to these critical issues. Prior to his election in 2008, President Medvedev was First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government. Previously, he served as Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and was the Chairman of the Board of Directors at OAO Gazprom. Mr. Medvedev received his Ph.D in law from Leningrad State University where he also holds the title of associate professor.

Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution, introduced President Medvedev. After his remarks, President Medvedev took audience questions.
CNN: Medvedev: Iran 'ignoring questions' on nuclear ambition

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/14/medvedev-iran-ignoring-questions-on-nuclear-ambition/

Iran is ignoring questions from the international community about its nuclear program, using "small phrases" to make "small suggestions," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday.

Medvedev said he does not support crippling sanctions that can hurt the people of Iran "but if nothing happens, we will have use sanctions."

The Russian president made his remarks during a question-and-answer session after a wide-ranging and, at times, humorous speech at the Brookings Institution, a prestigious Washington think tank. The address came at the end of a two-day summit on nuclear security hosted by President Obama.

Sanctions, Medvedev said, should be "smart" and "universal," aimed at one result, and should be discussed with the main countries that will take part in them.
Itar-Tass: Russia's Medvedev calls world nuclear summit very successful

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15021535&PageNum=0

14.04.2010, 01.56

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Itar-Tass) -- Initiative to hold a global nuclear security summit in Washington "was absolutely timely" and the summit itself was "crowned with a complete success," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday in a speech at the Brookings Institute on the results of the summit that had brought together the leaders of 47 countries, the UN, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the European Union.

"The issues of disarmament and nonproliferation concern a big number of countries and today's discussion confirmed it," Medvedev said.

"The world is going through a period of profound transformation these days, running into challenges and seeking new models for development," he said. "Lying at the their root is the mutual interrelation of interests."

"The world will be harmonized if its constituent elements come to mutually complementing one another instead of clashing with each other," Medvedev said. "Democracy, human rights and market economy make up the backbone of national development and, on top of that, international values."

He indicated that the dialogue between Russia and the U.S. is an important part of these values.

"I'm very glad our cooperation is getting stronger and starts bringing tangible results and I'm also satisfied with the fact that changes have occurred in the atmosphere of Russian-U.S. relations within a period of slightly more than a year," Medvedev said.

He also said that Moscow and Washington should refrain from the attempts to teach each other how they should live. Instead of this, it would be worththile building long-term pragmatic relations.

"The history of our bilateral relations is far from simple," Medvedev went on saying. "At times, we begin to cleave to each other in a strangling manner and then an abyss opens up between us."

"We try to find differences between us while in reality we should build long-term pragmatic relations based on the common values of democracy and economic freedom and the common goals of fighting with global challenges," he said.

"Our national histories differ and our people very often perceive current developments in a different manner," Medvedev said. "The U.S. started building a market economy two centuries ago, and we lived through a chain of upheavals and experiments at the same time."

"Russia needs several decades of steady and undisturbed work to build an efficiently working political and economic system, and this is the only prerequisite for making contradictions a thing of the past," he said.

"To make this possible, we should stay away from teaching each other how to live," Medvedev said.

Reuters: Russia says needs time to develop political system

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-47678720100414
Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:44am IST

By Steve Gutterman and Denis Dyomkin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that he and Barack Obama have "changed the atmosphere" in Russian-U.S. ties, but demanded more American support on issues from the economy to Afghan drugs.

Medvedev also set boundaries for Russia's backing on sanctions against Iran and suggested an air base in Kyrgyzstan might not be the best tool for stabilizing Afghanistan.

His remarks, delivered at a Washington think tank after a nuclear security summit he called a "complete success," underlined the achievements and the limitations of Obama's campaign to "reset" Russia ties after years of deepening ran co runder their predecessors, George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin.

He spoke days after Medvedev and Obama signed a landmark nuclear arms-reduction pact, a crucial element of the U.S. president's high-profile push to curtail the global nuclear threat.

"I am truly glad that our cooperation is starting to bring concrete results," Medvedev told an audience at the Brookings Institution. "I will say even more: I am pleased that in a little more than a year we have succeeded in changing the atmosphere of Russian-American relations."

Russia "is ready to give the United States a shoulder to lean on if needed -- and it is needed on a whole series of issues," Medvedev said, hinting at the challenging U.S. war in Afghanistan and its efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions.

SETTING GUIDELINES

But he suggested that support would come at a price, mixing warm words with pointed guidelines for U.S. treatment of Russia.

While he said the two countries share the common values of democracy and economic freedom, he indicated that after a century of chaos and Communism, Russia cannot be held to the same standards as the United States.

"Russia needs several decades of absolutely stable, calm work to create an effective political system and an effective economic system," Medvedev said.

"We must not teach one another how to live," he said.

While the tone was sunnier, many of Medvedev's complaints echoed accusations levelled by Putin, who steered him into the presidency in 2008 and is still seen as the dominant partner in Russia's ruling tandem.

Repeating criticism Putin unleashed at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month, Medvedev said improved ties have not translated into robust economic cooperation and suggested the United States was at fault.

He said barriers to Russian investment should be removed and urged Obama's administration to help Russia secure swift entry into the World Trade Organization, saying the issue was being used as a political tool to influence Kremlin conduct.

"They have made the WTO into a carrot to hang in front of us and say 'If you behave nicely you will get in,'" said Medvedev, whose country is the largest economy outside the global trade-rules body.

IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN

Russia has moved closer to supporting new sanctions against Iran, with Medvedev leading the shift publicly. But he reiterated on Tuesday that Moscow would not back measures it considers misdirected or overly harsh.

Sanctions "certainly must not punish the people," he said.

Medvedev suggested the United States must do a far better job stemming the Afghan opium and heroin trade, which is fuelling a major drug problem in Russia.

"So far we have done little to fight drug trafficking from Afghanistan -- maybe because America suffers less from this drug trafficking," he said.

Amid geopolitical jockeying after the ouster of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev from power last week, Medvedev issued veiled criticism of the U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan that supports operations in nearby Afghanistan.

The U.S. military presence in the ex-Soviet republic has raised hackles in Russia, and the fate of the base has been cast into doubt by members of the Moscow-friendly interim government claiming power in Kyrgyzstan.

"When I met with President Bakiyev, I always told him it is necessary to help our American partners solve problems in Afghanistan -- the question is how to give this help, how effective it is," Medvedev said.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)

Itar-Tass: Russian Pres says no revival of Stalinism in Russian society

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15021925&PageNum=0

14.04.2010, 06.24

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Itar-Tass) - There is no revival of Stalinism in Russian society, President Dmitry Medvedev said here Tuesday as he visited the Washington studios of the Russia Today TV channel.

"One can hear the voices claiming that Stalinism is witnessing renaissance in Russia but I think that's an overexaggeration," he said in an interview with the channel's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonian.

"There's no change in the way society assesses that period of history, and that's why such claims are but overstatements," Medvedev said.

"People of a different type are holding the helm of power in Russia today and the current values and notions about the state differ largely."

Medvedev is certain that Stalin's own and his closest associates' activity will always remain a subject of disputes because "personalities of this type will always cause a variety of reactions."

"To a far bigger degree, this is a question of personal perceptions," Medvedev said. "Signs and notions may change of course but this doesn't mean that what has been black will become white and vice versa."

He mentioned the events in Katyn, among other things.

"If you speak about Stalin and the the closest associates around him, they committed a crime against their own nation and, in a certain sense, against history," Medvedev said.

He also recalled the latest tragic events related to Katyn -- the crash of a jet carrying Poland's President Lech Kaczynski, his spouse Maria, and about 90 other top government officials and members of the Seim, the national parliament, near Russia's western city of Smolensk last summer.

"In a certain sence, it's a trial test for the country and for society, as well as for the entire system of international relations," he said.

Medvedev used this opportunity once again to express his whole-hearted condolences to the whole Polish nation in connection with the tragety that took away 96 human lives.