United States National Intelligence Director John Michael McConnell has warned in remarks before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the recent tendency towards a harsher line from the Kremlin will inevitably lead to increasing antagonism between Russia and the United States. His statement is not only one of the most open expressions of Washington's displeasure with new trends visible in Russian politics. It also signifies that, although George Bush has made conciliatory remarks about continuing cooperation with Russia, the White House is not ruling out a reappraisal of its relationship with Moscow.
National Intelligence Director McConnell believes that Russia has recently been sliding backwards in its movement towards democracy. "The march for democracy has taken a step back. And now there are more arrangements to control the process and the populace and the parties and so on, to the point of picking the next leader of Russia," said Mr. McConnell, a retired vice-admiral in the US Navy, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last Tuesday on the topic of current and future threats to US national security. In a document that ran to several dozen pages, Mr. McConnell laid out his thoughts issues that included Russian domestic and foreign policy.
In his opinion, Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly under the influence of the siloviki, or so-called "strong men," in his inner circle. "Those that
is listening to…interpret things through a lens that portrays Russia as the downtrodden or we're trying to hold them back to the advantage of the United States," he said, adding, "My reading of that is they're not interpreting the lens correctly. But they have renewed energy and vigor because of the high price of oil."
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"A flush economy and perceived policy successes at home and abroad have bolstered Russian confidence, enabled increased defense spending, and emboldened the Kremlin to pursue foreign policy goals that are not always consistent with those of Western institutions," said Mr. McConnell. In his estimation, this course will only become more pronounced as the Russian presidential elections in 2008 approach, which will be accompanied by an increasingly autocratic trend in the Kremlin's domestic policies.
On this basis, Mr. McConnell concluded that "Russian assertiveness will continue to inject elements of rivalry and antagonism into US dealings with Moscow, particularly our interactions in the former Soviet Union, and will dampen our ability to cooperate with Russia on issues ranging from counterterrorism and nonproliferation to energy and democracy promotion in the Middle East." In addition, "as the Litvinenko murder demonstrates, the steady accumulation of problems and irritants threatens to harm Russia’s relations with the West more broadly," he asserted.
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http://www.kommersant.com/p746351/USA_Russia/
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