Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov did not manage to publish his article in the leading American journal The Foreign Affairs. The article was designed to be a response to a one of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, that had been published in May -- entitled "Containing Russia." After negotiations with the magazine Sergey V. Lavrov has pulled his article “because of the censorship.”
In the statement issued by the RF Foreign Ministry it is said that the Minister wanted to address directly to the audience of the magazine “in order to explain Russia’s Foreign Policy, its view of today’s international relations and ways to ensure a positive development of US-Russian relations, including interaction in international affairs.”
The Foreign Affairs is an influential American magazine devoted to foreign relations. It is issued every two months by the Council on Foreign Relations and designed to explain and comment the USA international policy.
“The Editors, with reference to their own standards, substantially edited the article, if not censored it. It was cut by 40%, losing a considerable part of its original meaning. Some editing even meant that Sergey Lavrov was to subscribe to certain Foreign Policy positions of the present US Administration, to which Russia objects on grounds of principle.” - it is said in the statement of the Foreign Ministry.
Besides that the editors required to supply the article with a subtitle which read “averting a new Cold War” or “a conflict between Russia and America”, whereas Moscow insists that any return to the Cold War is out of the enquiry.
“As a result of the excruciating and sluggish exchanges with the Editors, the likes of which could only be found in diplomatic history, it was decided to give up trying to place Sergey Lavrov’s article in Foreign Affairs. This tough experience reminded of the worst features of the Soviet censorship past, which it appears some in the US would like to repeat.” - the Ministry reports.
It is a pity, indeed, that in parts of US media there exists a trend of “state protection”, which narrows intellectual resource of America. We are convinced the USA deserves better.
Lavrov’s article was to be published in May, but now it is available in English on the site of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry wanted to answer the article signed by Yulia V. Timoshenko published in the magazine in April. It was entitled “Containing Russia. The Sources Of Russian Conduct”. The title refers to the famous "Long Telegram," penned by an American diplomat George Kennan, who later was named one of the main ideologists of the Cold War. Timoshenko’s article was issued just by the sixtieth anniversary of Kennan’s essay.
Having made a reservation that she does not believe in a new cold war, Timoshenko claims that after the wreck of Communism the West has not still elaborated a realistic policy concerning Russia, which “straddles the world's geopolitical heartland and is heir to a remorseless imperial tradition.”
“Accordingly, instead of drawing Russia into a network of dialogue and cooperation when it was weak -- and thereby helping it form habits that would carry on when Russia regained strength -- the West ignored Russia” - it is said in the article. Properly speaking, the core statement of the former Ukrainian premier is that Russia will never lose its imperial ambitions, no matter how it will develop. “The West must seek to create counterweights to Russia's expansionism and not place all its chips on Russian domestic reform.” Support of the reforms “cannot substitute for a serious effort to counter Russia's long-standing expansionism”, Timoshenko reckons.
“If there is one country toward which Europeans -- and, indeed, the entire West -- should share a common foreign policy, it is Russia.” Timoshenko considers that immediate actions are needed, inasmuch as “dependence on Russian energy supplies will only continue to grow.” She reckons that over the increasing oil and gas income Kremlin acquires an exaggerated idea of its power. The only thing that could sober it up is a coordinated policy of the West in all fields, beginning with problems of democracy, Chechnya and Kosovo and finishing with the Energy Charter Transit Protocol, Iran and relations with neighbor countries. “Indeed, Russian reform will be strengthened if Russia is encouraged to concentrate -- for the first time in its history -- on developing its national territory”, - Timoshenko says.
The article is written in good literary language and it is very American stylistically that allowed observers to suppose that Americans had participated in its writing. In any case it is obvious that Timoshenko is not the only person who shares statements expressed in the article. After the famous Putin’s speech in Munich there are growing harsh statements concerning Russian authorities amid American politicians and experts. The USA president George Bush who had never criticized his “friend Vladimir” before began speaking that Russia backslides on democracy, abuses dependence of the West countries on its energy supplies and all that sort of thing.
There was quite a significant interview of an American Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos given the Reuters Agency not long before Putin’s visit to Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Lantos, famous for his tough statements about Russia, compared Putin with the cartoon character Popeye, saying, “They’re eating the spinach of petroleum revenues, and the billions are flowing into the Kremlin, and with every billion … Putin’s muscles bulge more powerfully.”
Jule 19 the most popular Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published an interview with a famous Americal historian and political scientist Richard Pipes who claimed that relations between Russia and the West are extremely bad and that can result in a new form of a cold war. Moreover, Pipes went even farther and compared Russia not with Popeye the Sailor but with bin Laden. “For Europe, Russia could be even more dangerous than the threat of Islam, more hazardous than bin Laden”, he said. The reason is tha same: Russia strives for becoming a superpower again in order to put pressure upon European and even world economy.
“When I come to Russia I’m always stricken with hostility of the country towards the West. Containment policy with regard to the country is necessary as well as it was with regard to the Soviet Union. That concerns first of all the economy, that is West oil companies are to stop making contracts with Russia, while the banks should cut off investments.” - the scientist argued.
As for the most painful problem, American antimissile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, Pipes said “We need to settle it, otherwise Russia will think that all countries of the former socialistic camp are still within its sphere of influence”.
