Moscow: Russian leadership is baffled by
the "harsh criticism" of the Kremlin by US Vice President Joe
Biden at the time when the two countries are trying hard to
improve their ties.
"The Russian leadership is perplexed by the harsh
criticism of Russia by US Vice President Joe Biden at the time
when the two countries are actively "resetting" their
relations," Deputy Chief of Kremlin Staff and President Dmitry
Medvedev`s foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko said.
"The question arises: who sets the foreign policy of the
USA -- the President or the respected members of his team. We
have already gone through this in the past," Prikhodko was
quoted as saying by Interfax.
In an interview to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) at the
end of a four-day trip to Ukraine and Georgia, Biden said
Russia`s economy is "withering," and suggested the trend would
force the country to make accommodations to the West on a wide
range of national-security issues, including loosening its
grip on former Soviet republics and shrinking its vast nuclear
arsenal.
"Now that Russian and US delegations and institutions
have started important practical work to put into practice the
agreements that have been achieved, it is perplexing why the
second-in-command in the US administration, Vice President Joe
Biden, decided to share his interpretation of and his view on
the bilateral relations," Prikhodko said commenting on Biden`s
interview.
Biden said he believes Russia`s economic problems are
part of a series of developments that have contributed to a
significant rethinking by Moscow of its international
self-interest.
The geographical proximity of the emerging nuclear
programmes in Iran and North Korea is also likely to make
Russia more cooperative with the US in blocking their growth,
he said.
"Russia has to make some very difficult, calculated
decisions. They have a shrinking population base, they have a
withering economy, they have a banking sector and structure
that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years,
they`re in a situation where the world is changing before them
and they`re clinging to something in the past that is not
sustainable," Biden told WSJ.
Biden`s remarks are among the US Administration`s most
critical of Russia`s current role in the world, and come just
weeks after President Barack Obama`s Moscow visit when he
insisted that the US seeks a "strong, peaceful and prosperous
Russia".
Bureau Report
