It seems the Russian adventures in Georgia are pissing off the old Soviet. GOOD!
Old allies signal loyalty to Russia has limits
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE56J2VV20090720
By Denis Dyomkin and Oleg Shchedrov - Analysis
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin will find it hard to ignore the absence of half the leaders of the former Soviet Union from an informal summit in Moscow last weekend, at a time when Europe is developing its interests in Russia's "back yard."
This year's Presidential Cup horse race, a traditional cue for an informal gathering of the 11-member Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), drew only five top guests: the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Tajikistan.
The presidents of Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan all failed to show up, citing personal reasons. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko went instead to ride a Harley-Davidson at a local bikers' rally.
"The CIS leaders used the chance ... to show they are unhappy with the state of relations with Russia," said Alexei Mukhin, head of the Center of Political Information think tank.
Medvedev's predecessor Vladimir Putin had managed to stiffen the loyalty of the ex-Soviet states, helped by their economic dependence on Moscow and their fear of popular revolutions. But Russia's war with Georgia last year and a series of bilateral spats have strained this loyalty again.
"A race away from Russia is inevitable," analyst Leonid Radzikhovsky said on an opposition-minded web site, Yezhednyevny Zhurnal. (www.ej.ru)
NEW MOOD
Moscow's war with Georgia last year over the pro-Russian separatist region of South Ossetia marked the first time the Kremlin has deployed troops in anger outside its borders since the fall of the Soviet Union, and this alarmed its neighbors.
None have so far followed Moscow in recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and another Georgian rebel region, Abkhazia -- both of whose leaders did go to Moscow's hippodrome as Medvedev's guests. Georgia anyway quit the CIS after the war.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is preparing for a presidential election on July 23, but the other absent CIS leaders all had bones to pick with Russia.
Ukraine, looking for closer integration with the West since its popular revolution in 2004, is at odds with Moscow over gas transit and the future of a Russian naval base.
Belarus, long Russia's closest ally, has clashed with Moscow over gas prices, ownership of gas networks and dairy exports.
Uzbekistan is angry about Russia's support of border hydropower projects in neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which it sees as a threat to its national water supplies.
And Turkmenistan has stepped up efforts to diversify its gas supplies to China and Iran after an explosion in April on a pipeline linking it with Russia, its traditional partner. It has blamed the explosion on the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This may simply have been to set the stage for more belligerent Russian action toward its neighbors in a seeming defensive response to NATO encroachment, i.e., to further paint the picture that Russia is a victim of Western imperialism. All these states are run by Russian intelligence IMHO....and that includes the Ukraine (and Georgia!).
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan stayed away to give the impression that they were disrespecting Russia? Russia in turn would use that as evidence of Western meddling?
ReplyDeleteI suppose that it a possibility, but it sounds awful whiny. That whiny-ness would disappear, though, if the five non-attending countries stated that they still like Russia. That would be even more effective if one or more of those countries hinted at Western pressure to stay away...