US

Rice and Putin seek to ease tensions

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-05-16 08:40

Moscow - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russia's President Vladimir Putin agreed Tuesday to ease their diplomatic rhetoric, but made no progress on resolving security disputes poisoning relations between the two powers.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attend a news conference in Moscow May 15, 2007. [Reuters]

Rice said the United States could not allow Russia to "veto" the defence missile shield that it wants to build in eastern Europe. Russia remains opposed to a UN plan for the Serbian province of Kosovo to attain virtual independence.

"The president backed the American side on the need to rein in rhetoric in public discussions and to concentrate on concrete business, which there is a lot of," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agencies after the Rice-Putin talks just outside Moscow.

"I do not think that Moscow's position towards Washington can be qualified as hostile but rather as an invitation to a more frank dialogue on questions on which we have differences," Lavrov said after a dinner with Rice later Tuesday.

Rice -- who made a blistering attack just before her visit on what she described as Putin's rolling back of democracy -- also urged calming of increasingly stormy East-West ties.

"I've said while I'm here that the rhetoric is not helpful. It is disturbing to Americans who are trying to do our best to maintain an even relationship," she told journalists.

"The real outcome of today's discussions was that we agreed that we need to intensify our consultations, our dialogue, to minimise misunderstandings," Rice said after meeting with Lavrov.

However, Washington and Moscow remained far apart on the key disputes that Rice had been hoping to help resolve during her three-day visit.

There was no softening of Russian opposition to US plans for an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, former Soviet satellite states that are now part of NATO.

"Russia confirmed its position on the anti-missile shield," Lavrov told news agencies.

Rice warned that Washington could not "permit somehow a veto on American security interests."

"The United States needs to be able to move forward, to use technology to defend itself, and we're going to do that," she said.

Nor did Rice appear to have made any breakthrough in curbing Russian opposition to a Western-backed plan for independence in Kosovo, an ethnic Albanian dominated province of Russian ally Serbia.

"Concerning Kosovo, they agreed to push for solutions that would suit everyone, but unfortunately are not yet visible," Lavrov was quoted as saying after the Putin-Rice talks.

At a US embassy meeting with civil society leaders, Rice avoided controversy by not inviting well known human rights activists and Putin critics who have previously been asked to talks with visiting US officials.

Participants in the meeting said her main aim appeared to be to soften her public position on Russian domestic politics.

"From what I see, the name of the game is damage limitation," said Andrei Kortunov, of the US-funded development group the New Eurasia Foundation.

"Her message was the United States is here to assist and the United States is not in the business of a new Cold War with Russia," he added.

Rice told journalists she had "an extensive discussion of internal political issues" with Putin.

She also said that "the absence of a really independent electronic media is a problem" in Russia and she also called for a "real" contest in December parliamentary elections, where pro-Putin parties will likely face little competition.

However, she stressed what she called "the considerable degree of cooperation" with Moscow in sensitive areas such as attempts to resolve international crises in Iran, North Korea, and in the Middle East.

"There were times when something like missile defence will even hit a little nerve, but the relationship needs to be free of exaggerated rhetoric," she said.

"If there are concerns about how the United States has and is continuing to exercise power, absolutely, we can have that discussion."