We just concluded a conference call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and, well, he was rather testy. He assured us that it wasn't because he had just left a meeting with Secretary of State Rice. Perhaps it had something to do with being on the receiving end of repeated questions about Russian imperialism, hegemonic intentions and otherwise atrocious conduct in Georgia last month.
Lavrov made points both insightful and inciteful, once clearing past the usual empty rhetoric about acting in Georgia in accordance with international law. He called Russian actions - provoked by Georgian actions that had been, in turn, precipitated by Russian actions - the right to "exercise the human security maxim" - whatever that means. When asked by The New Yorker's David Remnick about a reported quote from President Medvedev that Russia was surrounded by enemies, Lavrov denied the President ever said this. However, he later added the elusive comment that, "We are not enemies with anyone, but the military planners must take this into account." You decide.
When asked about the various "color" revolutions bringing grudging democracy to some former Soviet states - rose in Georgia, orange in Ukraine and tulip in Kyrgyzstan - he oddly claimed that "it was not right, for democracies to make revolution in the name of democracy." He said that Russia's own 1917 Revolution was red and didn't quite work out. Remnick reminded Lavrov that Soviet Leninism was hardly a democratic movement, a point that did not seem to amuse Lavrov as best one could tell on a phone line.
Lavrov said that Russia welcomed a more "practical" Bush Administration, which he perceives to be moving away from holding Russia "hostage" to the raw emotions of Georgia. Yet he tartly added that President Bush needs to produce a list of the areas in which the United States will and will not now cooperate with Russia, suggesting that Moscow never really knows where and when we will choose to play ball with them. He chastised the Bush Administration for offering condolences for loss of life in Georgia without doing similarly over loss of Russian lives, adding the dig that such one-sidedness is "not consistent with Christianity." Ultimately, he urged us to accept, in his words, that the time when "the U.S. is always right is absolutely at a dead end."
The U.S.-Russia relationship is not merely troubled, it is deeply troubled. Foreign Minister Lavrov's comments tonight were tough in both substance and tone. They suggest just how much work a new U.S. President needs to undertake to rebalance this vitally important relationship and, in doing so, to make desperately needed progress on Iran, North Korea and nuclear non-proliferation to name just a few pressing matters.
Lavrov made points both insightful and inciteful, once clearing past the usual empty rhetoric about acting in Georgia in accordance with international law. He called Russian actions - provoked by Georgian actions that had been, in turn, precipitated by Russian actions - the right to "exercise the human security maxim" - whatever that means. When asked by The New Yorker's David Remnick about a reported quote from President Medvedev that Russia was surrounded by enemies, Lavrov denied the President ever said this. However, he later added the elusive comment that, "We are not enemies with anyone, but the military planners must take this into account." You decide.
When asked about the various "color" revolutions bringing grudging democracy to some former Soviet states - rose in Georgia, orange in Ukraine and tulip in Kyrgyzstan - he oddly claimed that "it was not right, for democracies to make revolution in the name of democracy." He said that Russia's own 1917 Revolution was red and didn't quite work out. Remnick reminded Lavrov that Soviet Leninism was hardly a democratic movement, a point that did not seem to amuse Lavrov as best one could tell on a phone line.
Lavrov said that Russia welcomed a more "practical" Bush Administration, which he perceives to be moving away from holding Russia "hostage" to the raw emotions of Georgia. Yet he tartly added that President Bush needs to produce a list of the areas in which the United States will and will not now cooperate with Russia, suggesting that Moscow never really knows where and when we will choose to play ball with them. He chastised the Bush Administration for offering condolences for loss of life in Georgia without doing similarly over loss of Russian lives, adding the dig that such one-sidedness is "not consistent with Christianity." Ultimately, he urged us to accept, in his words, that the time when "the U.S. is always right is absolutely at a dead end."
The U.S.-Russia relationship is not merely troubled, it is deeply troubled. Foreign Minister Lavrov's comments tonight were tough in both substance and tone. They suggest just how much work a new U.S. President needs to undertake to rebalance this vitally important relationship and, in doing so, to make desperately needed progress on Iran, North Korea and nuclear non-proliferation to name just a few pressing matters.