Vladimir V. Putin
the prime minister of Russia, warned on Wednesday of a growing “cult of violence” around the world and expressed concern that upheavals in the Middle East could spread to his own country.
In an apparent reference to Western governments, Mr. Putin said he was alarmed by what he deemed to be interference in the affairs of sovereign nations, especially Libya and Syria.
“We, of course, condemn all violence, no matter its source,” Mr. Putin said in a meeting with religious leaders in Moscow. “But do not conduct yourself like a bull in a china shop. People need to be allowed to decide their fates independently.”
Unlike some Western leaders, Mr. Putin has viewed the events unfolding across the Middle East warily. His concerns have intensified in recent months because of the emergence of a sizeable protest movement in Russia opposed to his return to the presidency, which he is seeking in the election next month. Mr. Putin has blamed the United States, and in particular Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, for instigating the protests against him.
In his remarks on Wednesday, Mr. Putin referred to the continued disorder in Libya and warned of the “horrible consequences of interference.”
“In the last decade, unfortunately, a cult of violence has come to the fore in international affairs, and this cannot but cause worry,” he said. “We cannot allow anything like this to come to our country.”
Syria is also on Mr. Putin’s mind. His country faces mounting international pressure to end its support of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and back an Arab League plan to halt the increasingly deadly conflict there. Moscow drew strong condemnation from Western and Arab governments for joining China in vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution last weekend.
In the aftermath of the veto, Russia has been trying to broker a peace process of some kind between Mr. Assad’s government and opposition forces. The foreign minister, Sergei V. Lavrov, met with Mr. Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, and announced on Wednesday that Syria’s vice-president would seek to open talks with opposition forces in the country; he called on Western and Arab leaders to support Russia’s efforts.
“We consider this willingness to be an important factor to be taken into consideration, and hope that all who have some kind of influence over the opposition will urge them to begin such dialogue,” Mr. Lavrov said.
Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, discussed the Syrian crisis with Turkey’s prime minister on Wednesday, saying Moscow supported continuing talks to end the conflict, including within the Security Council, as long as no country interfered with Syria’s sovereignty.
According to a Kremlin statement, Mr. Medvedev said the latest draft of the Arab League-backed resolution “would not have allowed for an unbiased evaluation of the situation in Syria or have guaranteed that calls for an end to shooting and bloodshed were addressed to both sides in the conflict.”
“The resolution would not have enabled the search for a peaceful resolution to this crisis,” the Kremlin statement said.
Few believe that Russia has enough clout with either Mr. Assad or the Syrian opposition to broker a deal that could halt the violence. But for Mr. Putin, that may not be as important as standing up to the West.
“There is a sense that today the Western bloc, together with our Arab colleagues, have decided to play the role of empire of evil once ascribed to the Soviet Union by Ronald Regan,” said Yevgeny Y. Satanovsky, president of the Institute for Middle East and Israel Studies. “Someone must try to stop them.”
No comments:
Post a Comment