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Putin retaliates for antimissile plan

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Times Staff Writer

President Vladimir V. Putin said Thursday that in protest of U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, Russia would suspend its observance of a treaty limiting the deployment of troops and conventional military equipment in Europe.

The announcement, made in Putin’s annual speech to parliament, further ratcheted up tensions between Russia and the United States over the antimissile system, which Moscow views as a step toward building a much larger system directed at Russia and China.

It was unclear, however, whether Russia’s moratorium on observance of the treaty would have any practical effect because the current version has never been ratified by the NATO countries that signed it. They have demanded that Russia first honor commitments to withdraw Soviet-era military bases from Georgia and Moldova.

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Putin, in his speech, said that if NATO signatories failed to ratify the treaty, Russia would consider withdrawing from it. Moscow has abided by the pact, he said, but the effect has been that Russia faces restrictions on the deployment of its own troops on its own territory.

“It is hard to imagine that, for instance, the United States could restrict itself in transferring its troops in its own territory,” he said. “At the same time, not only has Russia signed and ratified this treaty, but it is also observing all of its provisions.”

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, speaking at a news conference in Oslo, responded sharply to Putin’s declaration, which concerned the Conventional Forces in Europe pact, a treaty that was initially signed in 1990 and revised in 1999.

“That message was met by concern, grave concern, disappointment and regret,” De Hoop Scheffer said, according to wire reports. “The allies are of the opinion that the CFE is one of the cornerstones of European security.”

The United States appears reluctant to publicly acknowledge Putin’s concerns, with Bush administration officials repeatedly saying that the planned installations in Poland and the Czech Republic cannot possibly threaten Russia’s massive nuclear arsenal.

Purely ludicrous

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeated the U.S. position Thursday to reporters in Oslo, according to wire reports.

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“The idea that somehow 10 interceptors and a few radars in Eastern Europe are going to threaten the Soviet strategic deterrent is purely ludicrous and everybody knows it,” she said, making a slip of the tongue in saying “Soviet” rather than “Russian.”

Rice later called on Russia to continue to abide by the terms of the pact.

“These are treaty obligations and everyone is expected to live up to treaty obligations,” she said at a news conference in the Norwegian capital before a meeting of NATO and Russian foreign ministers, Reuters reported.

Alexander Golts, military analyst of the Russian weekly Yezhenedelny Zhurnal, described Putin’s threat to withdraw from the treaty as “empty bluffing.”

“Medium-range missiles are not covered by that treaty, and hence we are talking about the deployment of conventional forces and land troops,” Golts said. “The Kremlin knows quite well that there is no real threat to Russian borders in Europe and that redeploying troops will be a very costly operation and all for nothing.”

In his speech, Putin noted that the CFE treaty originally had been designed as an agreement between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the former Warsaw Pact. The refusal of NATO countries to ratify the amended treaty “gives us every reason to state that our partners are behaving, to put it mildly, incorrectly in this case by seeking unilateral preferences,” Putin said. He proposed that the issue be discussed at meetings of the Russia-NATO Council.

“If progress is not reached in negotiations,” he said, Russia should “consider the possibility of terminating our obligations under the CFE treaty.”

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In his wide-ranging address to parliament, Putin also reaffirmed his intention to step down next year as required by the Russian Constitution, but lashed out at opposition forces he claimed are foreign-financed and have goals in conflict with the country’s interests.

He declined to indicate what his plans might be, or to look back on his own presidency or suggest how the succession might unfold.

“I think it would be inappropriate for us to assess our work and premature to declare my political will,” he said.

Putin said changes in electoral law to provide for members of parliament being chosen purely on a proportional voting basis from party lists, rather than having some members elected from individual districts as in the past, would make December elections more democratic. The president, however, indicated that his concept of democracy did not allow for empty promises designed to appeal to the public -- something many voters in the United States and other countries might think of as being a basic characteristic of democratic systems.

“In accordance with election results, parties get the right to state financing,” Putin said. “And Russian taxpayers have the right to expect that their money will not be spent for empty populist promises or undermining the foundations of the state structure.”

Foreign interference

Putin attacked foreign support for nongovernmental organizations seeking to promote democracy in Russia.

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“There is a growth in the flow of money from abroad for direct interference in our internal affairs,” he said. “There are those who, skillfully using pseudo-democratic rhetoric, would like to return to the recent past -- some to loot the country’s national riches, to rob the people and the state the way they did before; others to strip us of economic and political independence.”

Lev Ponomaryov, head of the Moscow-based For Human Rights organization, said Putin’s comments about foreign financing of political opposition, though not new, could signal a further political tightening in the run-up to December parliamentary elections and presidential balloting in March.

Ponomaryov predicted that two of Russia’s most prominent opposition leaders, former Prime Minister Mikhail M. Kasyanov and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, were among those likely to feel greater pressure from authorities.

“This speech is another indication of this trend,” he said. “I don’t think they will end up in prison, but I am afraid they may be compelled to eventually emigrate.”

david.holley@latimes.com

Times staff writer Sergei L. Loiko contributed to this report.

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