- WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration
on Tuesday came under pressure from Congress and rightwing supporters to
punish Russian president Vladimir Putin for what Senator John McCain denounced
as Russia's slide towards "neo-imperialism abroad and authoritarian
control at home".
-
- Mr McCain, the outspoken senator who lost a bitter nomination
battle for the Republican presidential candidacy in 2000, said George W.
Bush should not invite Mr Putin to the next summit of the Group of Eight
industrialised democracies, to be hosted by the US next June. Loan guarantees
should also be halted, he said.
-
- "A creeping coup against the forces of democracy
and market capitalism in Russia is threatening the foundation of the US-
Russia relationship and raising the spectre of a new era of cold peace
between Washington and Moscow," he warned.
-
- His speech was the first public show of force by conservatives
in reaction to the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head of Yukos, the Russian
oil company.
-
- So far, the Bush administration's response has been muted.
A senior State Department official on Tuesday told reporters the US did
not want to "jump to conclusions" over the cases against three
of Russia's leading businessmen, although it did view them as politically
motivated. He said there had been "pointed" high-level conversations
with Russian officials.
-
- Mr McCain spoke of a crackdown on the media, assassinations
of journalists and activists, and deaths of thousands of civilians in Chechnya.
He also said "credible allegations" remained that the Russian
FSB secret services had a hand in the 1999 bombings of Moscow apartment
blocks that were blamed on rebels and led to a renewed military campaign
in Chechnya in 2000.
-
- © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2003.
-
- http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=Story
FT&cid=1066565630866&p=1012571727162
|
