Chavez not helping Russia’s tightrope act
Posted: Friday, June 29, 2007 10:53 AM
Filed Under:
Moscow, Russia
By Yonatan Pomrenze, NBC News Producer
One of President Bush’s biggest critics came to Moscow on Thursday, and you would have expected him to be welcomed with open arms.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is here on what has become almost an annual state visit with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Economic ties between the two countries have grown considerably – mostly in the form of billions of dollars of weapons sales from Russian to Venezuela.
With the relationship between the U.S. and Russia considered to be at its lowest point in years – missile defense in Europe, democracy development in Russia, and the status of Kosovo being just a few of the issues where the two are at odds – the occasion seemed ripe for Chavez and his harsh criticisms of Washington.
But even though the timing of Chavez’s visit may be perfect for him, it’s a delicate moment for the Kremlin, since Putin is heading to Kennebunkport, Maine, in two days to meet with Bush in an attempt to smooth over some of those differences.
While bringing most of the mainstream media within Russia under its control or influence, the Kremlin usually has little use for foreign media and foreign opinion, and constantly complains that that both are biased against Russia. But in a rare acknowledgement of the importance of both, it looks like the Kremlin has done all it can to tone down Chavez’s impact here.
Downplaying visit
Chavez opened a Latin-American cultural center in Moscow yesterday with typical blustery remarks castigating the United States, but Putin was nowhere in sight.
Newspapers here reported that the official meeting between the two leaders was purposely scheduled to take place late in the evening over dinner and behind closed doors at Putin’s residence outside of Moscow – late enough to miss some of the evening newscasts.
Putin limited his remarks to diplomatic niceties about the evolving relationship between Russia and Venezuela and avoided the veiled criticism of the U.S. that he has been using over the past few months.
And in a surprising display of self-censorship, the Duma (Russia’s lower house of parliament) voted not to have Chavez address the entire chamber, but had him meet a smaller group of deputies in a conference room. The party leading the vote to cancel Chavez’s speech was United Russia, the ruling party which rubber-stamps decisions made by the Kremlin.
Tightrope walk
Putin and the Kremlin tend to walk a fine line between demanding that Russia be part of the club of leading countries (alternately lumped together as the West, Europe and the U.S., Western-style democracies, G8, etc.) in the world, while also taking an independent line that many in that club would not agree with (like inviting Hamas leaders to official meetings in Moscow after they won Palestinian elections in early 2006).
This tightrope act continues this weekend as Putin heads to Maine, while Chavez continues on to visit Belarus and Iran – two countries who count Russia as their friend while considered "outposts of tyranny" by Condoleezza Rice.
