By Jim Hoagland.
The Washington Post.
Wednesday, December 6, 2000; Page A35
Russia's President Vladimir Putin will travel to Cuba next week on a journey
that underlines the "assertive but positive" attitude he will adopt
with the next president of the United States, according to a senior Russian
official.
The timing of the trip--initially disclosed by U.S. sources--is ruffling
feathers in the outgoing Clinton administration. Putin seems to some to be
taking advantage of the post-election limbo in Washington to poke a thumb in
Washington's eye.
There are also questions about Putin's including the head of Russia's atomic
energy ministry on the trip. The Russian president will fly across U.S. airspace
after visiting Havana to start a visit to Canada on Dec. 15.
The timing of the North American trip is unrelated to U.S. politics, the
visiting official and other Russian sources insist. It was originally set in
September after Putin saw Cuban President Fidel Castro at the United Nations and
postponed when Cuba needed more time to prepare.
Putin's biggest interest in the trip is described not as geopolitics but as
finding ways to get Cuba to pay back its large Soviet-era debt. But Putin's
decision to go ahead with the politically sensitive Cuba trip now as uncertainty
lingers over the presidential election here is an unintended signal of its own.
Russia and other nations are factoring into their policies the effect of the
contested presidential election and a more evenly divided Congress. Inevitably,
they see room to pursue their interests with more assertiveness. Some nations
are openly intensifying their challenge to U.S. power during the limbo.
Iraq has shut off oil exports to back up its campaign against economic
sanctions. Iran has stepped up support for Islamic guerrilla operations against
Israel. Libya has effectively neutralized the international travel ban that
Washington has sought to keep in place.
In his first year, Putin has worked to deepen Russian ties with those three
countries and with other Soviet-era clients. In his quest to collect back debts
and open new markets for the Russian economy, he seems unconcerned about
appearing to President Clinton and others to revive problems of the past rather
than cooperate with the United States on the future in the world's regional
conflicts.
Putin's outlook on future cooperation with Washington is "assertive but
positive," the visiting Russian official countered, insisting that Putin's
active Third World diplomacy is not directed against the United States.
The Russian president used a visit to North Korea "to introduce Kim
Jong Il on the world stage as a different person," he continued. During her
recent visit to Pyongyang, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright pursued
proposals Putin originally made to restrain North Korean missile development. "Some
Western leaders have actually thanked President Putin for what he did."
Moscow and Washington resume talks at the expert level this week on Russia's
conventional arms sales to Iran, even though Russia on Dec. 1 formally canceled
a secret U.S.-Russia understanding that sought to restrain those sales, the
official added.
"Our attitude is not based on a memorandum. We can find ways to
cooperate without that. We continue to talk to Washington about U.S. concerns
and try to understand them. We may not agree on all points, but we want a full
and continuing dialogue with the next administration on this and other points,
including arms control," the official said.
His comments, which were delivered with an unusual authority and precision
for such semi-public utterances, sought to emphasize common points of interest
both in Third World diplomacy and arms control. The official sketched a
rationale for Russian constructive engagement with troublesome states.
"After all, President Clinton seemed at one point in his presidency to
hope to visit Cuba, and maybe North Korea. When he was secretary of state, Jim
Baker discussed how Moscow might help the United States normalize with Cuba. And
Cuba occupies historically a certain relationship with us. This is not intended
as a signal."
But this official acknowledged that the campaign and the Nov. 7 election
results create new questions about Washington-Moscow ties that echo into world
politics at large.
"With dialogue, we can get past" the campaign stereotype "that
this relationship was conducted by a bunch of crooks in the Kremlin and a bunch
of romantics in Washington. We averted more crises than is known, and created a
basis for moving forward with the next administration."
But there is a new risk created by the disputed election and the nearly even
partisan divisions of the Senate and House, he concluded: "Foreign policy
is always an easy target in time of domestic troubles, in any nation."
That is one reason Putin should have considered delaying the Cuba trip
again. It may not be intended as a signal to Washington. But it will be an early
window on a relationship that seems headed for more challenging times.
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