[casi] Russia playing sanction power-politics?

["ppg" <ppg@DELETETHISnyc.rr.com>]

Three possibly significant news items:

>From RFE/RL today

1.  MOSCOW SAYS NOT SO FAST ON LIFTING SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ
... Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on 17 April that Russia does not
support a U.S. proposal that the UN Security Council quickly lift its
economic sanctions against Iraq, RTR reported.

This issue cannot be solved automatically without passing through the
Security Council, which still must determine whether there are weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq or not, Ivanov said.

He noted that this would likely entail the return of international weapons
inspectors to that country.

Duma Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Rogozin said that Moscow would
probably drop its objections to the lifting of sanctions in exchange for
U.S. concessions on the issue of Iraqi debts to Russia. Speaking on ORT on
17 April, Rogozin said the United States should agree to allow Russian
companies to participate in the reconstruction of the postwar Iraqi economy.

==============

2.  POLITICIANS CONSIDER U.S.-RUSSIAN RELATIONS AFTER THE FALL OF SADDAM
HUSSEIN
During the same ORT broadcast, Rogozin said that the most important thing
for Russia is not relations with Iraq but that the United States accept
responsibility, including moral responsibility, for the situation there.

For Russia, the most important thing is to build relations with the United
States on the foundation of "Russia's own interests" and to strengthen its
military and its economy, Rogozin said.

"If Russia had a lot more missiles and a population of 500 million, the
United States would speak to us in a different language," he said. Former
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aleksandr Shokhin said that
relations with the United States are important to Russia primarily because
of the U.S. role in determining world oil prices, upon which the Russian
economy is heavily dependent.

In comparison with Russia's dependence on oil-export revenues, the issues of
Iraqi debts or the role of Russian companies in postwar Iraqi reconstruction
are insignificant, Shokhin said.

Dmitrii Simes, president of the conservative, Washington-based Nixon Center,
said that no U.S. politician would say publicly that Russia should be
punished for its position on Iraq.

===============================

And re: Former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aleksandr
Shokhin's pointed remark on needing "a population of 500 million"  before
Russia would be taken seriously, this April 17 news item is important to
remember:

3. PUTIN LAUDS PROGRESS ON CREATION OF UNIFIED ECONOMIC ZONE.
President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow on 16 April that he is pleased with
the progress made to date on a draft agreement to create a "unified economic
zone" encompassing Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Russia .

During a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko, who heads the
working group on the unification of trade and tariff legislation, Putin said
that, "despite a number of setbacks," the group's work is moving forward and
the four countries should be able to enter the World Trade Organization as
"a single economic space."

The other members of the working group -- Ukrainian First Deputy Prime
Minister Mykola Azarov, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Karim Maksimov, and
Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Kabyakou -- also attended the
meeting with Putin. Analysts believe that the proposal to combine the four
countries -- with a total population of 219 million people -- is the most
ambitious Kremlin initiative since the collapse of the Soviet Union and
could lead to the creation of a new regional entity.

cheers, pg







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