euro|topics - Putin and Bush defuse the missile dispute

Main focus of Friday, June 8, 2007

Putin and Bush defuse the missile dispute

For months, the dispute between US President George W. Bush and Russia's President Vladimir Putin over the proposed US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe has escalated. Now Putin has put forward a surprise proposal at the G8 summit: he would allow the US to use a Russian military base in Azerbaijan.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland

"Putin's strategy was skilfully planned," comments Eric Gujer in his preliminary assessment of the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. "After weeks of threats during which Putin conjured up images of a Russia under threat from the American system and warned of a new Cold War, Moscow is now suggesting that it's willing to talk. In Europe, and more specifically in Germany, many interpret this as a sign that Russia is backing down and urge Washington to meet Moscow halfway. But for America, Putin's proposal is probably less attractive... The defence technology, which is still in development, is far too advanced for the Americans to be happy about sharing it with Russia. Putin's Azerbaijan alternative not only means joint operations, it would also mean they would take place within Russia's sphere of influence. This would practically give Moscow free access to the system." (08/06/2007)

Financial Times - United Kingdom

The journalist Neil Buckley notes that "while trying to split the US and European Union on the missile defence issue, Mr. Putin may have blundered by uniting them instead. Nicolas Sarkozy, the new French leader, and Germany's Angela Merkel are determined to take a tougher line with Mr Putin than their predecessors. That might make him open to a face-saving compromise short of cancelling missile defence. Moving the planned radar station to an existing base in Azerbaijan, as Mr Putin suggested yesterday, could be one way out. Another answer that has been mooted is to locate the interceptor missiles in the UK rather than Poland, a solution US officials call viable if not ideal and say Russia has hinted it might accept. But it is not clear how much ground the Bush administration is prepared to give on a system on which it is heavily committed, and may be determined to present as a fait accompli to the next US president." (08/06/2007)

La Vanguardia - Spain

"Vladimir Putin surprised us all with a dramatic turn of events at yesterday's G8 summit", explains the daily. "This week the Russian president had shaken up the foreign ministries with his rhetorical threats to bring back the cold war, reacting to the American project to set up an antimissile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. ... For the Russian president, this isn't really so much about eliminating a threat to his country, or preserving Russia's influence over its neighbouring countries, but more about putting Russia back on an equal footing with the United States, Europe and China. What is at stake is therefore not simply the antimissile shield, but also Kosovo's independence and Iran's nuclear programme. Putin wants Russia to bear upon the world's big decisions and is astutely defending his positions." (08/06/2007)

Lidové noviny - Czech Republic

"Yet again, Moscow has surprised us all," writes Petr Pesek on Vladimir Putin's proposal that the US use a military base in Azerbaijan. He points out that this could jeopardise the plans to set up bases in the Czech Republic and Poland: "Czech advocates of the radar station won't lose face even if the station is not built, and opponents can celebrate without relations with the US suffering. However we're still in the 'what if' phase', because based on what Moscow has proposed up to now it hardly looks like the US will receive the Russians' offer with open arms. And it can't be ruled out that Azerbaijan could simply complement the Czech-Polish project. This is why the opponents of the radar station shouldn't start opening the champagne bottles yet... The missile dispute has only just begun for the Czech Republic." (08/06/2007)

die tageszeitung - Germany

Otfried Nassauer, director of the Berlin Information Centre for Transatlantic Security (BITS), puts Putin's actions in a strategic context. "Are key decisions about European security to be made with or without Russia in the future? Will the West keep its promise to expand the NATO-Russia council in such a way that Russia and NATO members can jointly make decisions there? Vladimir Putin has sought this controversy without any risk to himself. He will go down in Russian history books as the president who stopped Russia's political and economic decline and restored the country's dignity. With a debate in which the West must decide whether Europe's security should be coordinated with Russia or directed against it, Putin may be able to achieve the same in foreign and security policy. Meanwhile, he is not putting himself at any risk. The decision about whether there will be a new confrontation will be made by the West or by Putin's successor." (08/06/2007)

» To the complete press review of Friday, June 8, 2007

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