| Information |  | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
| ||
| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
| ||
24Oct14
Putin Accuses U.S. of Backing 'Neo-Fascists' and 'Islamic Radicals'
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday unleashed perhaps his strongest diatribe against the United States yet, using an international meeting of Russia experts to sell Moscow's view that American meddling has sparked most of the world's recent crises, including those in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Instead of supporting democracy and sovereign states, Mr. Putin said during a three-hour appearance at the conference, the United States supports "dubious" groups ranging from "open neo-fascists to Islamic radicals."
"Why do they support such people," he asked the annual gathering known as the Valdai Club, which met this year in the southern resort town of Sochi. "They do this because they decide to use them as instruments along the way in achieving their goals, but then burn their fingers and recoil."
The goal of the United States, he said, was to try to create a unipolar world in which American interests went unchallenged.
Since Russia granted asylum to Edward J. Snowden, the American intelligence contractor, and the crisis in Ukraine, President Obama has increased pressure on the Kremlin, lumping Russia together with Ebola and terrorism as key threats to world stability. Washington has pushed its Western allies for a series of economic sanctions against Russia, resulting in cuts to financing from Western banks and halted oil exploration projects.
"We are at a dangerous point where on both sides, unilateral grievances have thoroughly spilled over into very, very emotional policies toward each other," said Cliff Kupchan, the chairman of the Eurasia Group, a Washington-based risk analysis organization, who was at the meeting.
"I think it is on a new level of acrimony," Mr. Kupchan said of Mr. Putin's speech. "I think this is a genuine message that 'Enough is enough, and I don't like being grouped with Ebola and I don't like these sanctions.' "
Russia is often accused of provoking the crisis in Ukraine by annexing Crimea, and of prolonging the agony in Syria by helping to crush a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow's last major Arab ally. Some analysts have suggested that Mr. Putin seeks to restore the lost power and influence of the Soviet Union, or even the Russian Empire, in a bid to prolong his own rule.
Mr. Putin, however, specifically denied trying to restore the Russian Empire. He argued Russia was compelled to intervene in Ukraine because that country was in the midst of a "civilized dialogue" over its political future when the West staged a coup to oust the president last February, pushing the country into chaos and civil war.
"We did not start this," he said. "Statements that Russia is trying to reinstate some sort of empire, that it is encroaching on the sovereignty of its neighbors, are groundless."
Mr. Putin also disagreed with remarks by a senior Kremlin aide that Russia could not exist without the president, comments that provoked a mocking reaction on social media and elsewhere.
Vyacheslav V. Volodin, a deputy chief of staff, had told the conference that any attack on Mr. Putin was an attack on Russia. "There is Putin, there is Russia," Mr. Volodin was quoted as saying in the Russian news media during a closed session at Sochi. "No Putin, no Russia."
The president himself rejected the formula, saying in response to a question about it, "Russia will, of course, do without the likes of me."
[Source: By Neil MacFarquhar, The New York Times, Moscow, 24Oct14]
 | This document has been published on 29Oct14 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |