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June 4 2000 RUSSIA
Clinton radio show angers the Kremlin Mark Franchetti and Matthew Campbell Making waves: Putin and Clinton in the Kremlin
yesterday at the beginning of the visit
PRESIDENT Bill Clinton has angered his Russian hosts at his first summit with Vladimir Putin by agreeing to a radio interview today with one of the new Kremlin leader's most vociferous critics. On his last state visit to Russia before leaving office next January, Clinton will answer questions on Echo of Moscow, an independent radio station at loggerheads with President Putin, whom it accuses of curbing press freedoms. Officials have complained to American diplomats that the move risks insulting their leader. The summit, which began last night with a private
Kremlin dinner, could end on a bitter note if the American president takes the
Russian government to task over curbs on freedom of speech denounced by critics
as a setback to reforms begun after the fall of communism.
Echo is part of the Media Most Group, whose offices
were recently raided by masked and armed security service officers in what was
interpreted as an attempt to frighten journalists into silence on atrocities in
war-torn Chechnya and other government abuses.
Clinton's appearance, during which he will take phone
calls from ordinary Russians, was welcomed by Alexei Venediktov, the station's
director. He said it was a clear sign of support for independent media in a
country where press freedoms are still a relative novelty after a history of
totalitarian rule.
"I want to ask Clinton how he deals with the press in
America when they criticise him," Venediktov said. "Does he send in men in masks
with machineguns, like the Kremlin?"
Venediktov is by no means the only journalist
complaining of government pressure. NTV, the country's only independent
television station, last week announced that the Kremlin had told it to scrap a
puppet of Putin on Kukly, a popular satirical programme modelled on Britain's
Spitting Image.
Such issues make this a difficult summit for Clinton,
who is treading a fine line between registering displeasure and irritating a
power from whose leaders he seeks political favours.
Yesterday's dinner was his first meeting with Putin
since the former KGB colonel succeeded Boris Yeltsin.
Despite anxieties about a suspected authoritarian
streak in Putin, Washington's frustration at dealing with an increasingly
incoherent and often drunken Yeltsin gave way to optimism about a new start with
a more effective leader, fuelling hopes of progress on a range of bilateral
issues, most notably talks on nuclear arms reductions.
Yet Clinton's vision of a breakthrough - and a boost
from Russia to his much-
battered domestic legacy - has given way to despair
over Moscow's opposition to a controversial American plan to deploy a missile
defence system, known by its acronym, NMD.
Deployment of the "son of star wars" - a reference to
Ronald Reagan's ambitious, space-based, missile defence plans - would require
Russia's approval of changes to an anti-ballistic missile treaty.
If deployment went ahead without such agreement, the
treaty would effectively be scrapped - a prospect that has raised fears in
Europe of a return to a nuclear arms race.
In an attempt to win over the Russians, Clinton is
billing the system as a protective shield against rogue nations such as North
Korea and Iran.
Before arriving in Moscow yesterday from Germany, where
he met Gerhard
Schröder, the German chancellor, Clinton suggested
America might share the new technology with "civilised countries". It was not
clear if he believed Russia would qualify.
Putin riposted the Kremlin might agree to a joint
Russian-American defence system, which was not what Clinton had envisaged by
"sharing".
Few experts took the Russian proposal seriously and the
talks are likely to prove inconclusive.And, ultimately, his hosts may see more
advantage in bestowing favours on the next occupant of the White House.
Before travelling on to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital,
tomorrow, Clinton will try to assuage Russian fears in a speech to the Duma -
the first by an American president to the lower house of parliament.
There is one opportunity for Clinton today as he faces
Putin: he can uphold America's strength as a moral as well as military might in
the world.
While cynics may scoff at being lectured to by a
politician impeached for lying about an extramarital affair, Clinton is expected
to voice his concern over Russia's campaign against Chechnya, whose aspirations
to independence have been crushed by Moscow's tanks.
On the eve of his visit, the international organisation
Human Rights Watch chronicled a Russian massacre of some 60 civilians in the
Chechen capital, Grozny.
In a separate incident last week, an Amnesty
International investigator was detained in Moscow after returning from Chechnya.
In an event reminiscent of the darkest days of Soviet rule, a report she had
compiled on human rights abuses was confiscated by border guards because of its
"anti-Russian" contents.
"Clinton is aware of these problems," said a western
diplomat. "And one person the Kremlin cannot gag is the president of the United
States."
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> > > > >Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2000 21:09:38 -0700 > > > > > > This site is to follow the first meeting of Vladimir V. Putin >and > > >William J. Clinton, the Presidents. The data has been collected by the > > >"Echo of Moscow" radiostation from its own sources and the sources of >other > > >news agencies. http://www.echo.msk.ru/hot/summit2000/eng/index.html
> > > The visit to our radio with the purpose of the one-hour live > > >interview is on the agenda of President Clinton. > > > It is scheduled for 19:00 msk approximately (16:00 GMT). > > > The text of the interview will be placed on this site in the >course > > >of the program. > > > > > > You are welcome to ask your questions , to the US President. > > > > > > > > >Go to this Site and click on 'ask your questions'. > > >Interview hosts are collecting questions to ask the rapist. |
