Rice: Kremlin amassing too much power
Pastor Dale Morgan
updated 1:07 p.m. EDT, Sat October 13, 2007
*
Rice: Kremlin amassing too much power*
Rice says Kremlin's consolidated power endangers democracy
* Story Highlights
* Government under Putin's centralized power undermines democracy,
Rice says
* Rice in Moscow: "There is too much concentration of power in the
Kremlin"
* U.S. diplomat encourages activists to build institutions of democracy
* U.S. fears democratic backsliding ahead of Russia's upcoming elections
MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has
amassed so much central authority that the power-grab may undermine
Moscow's commitment to democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
said Saturday.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice listens at a news conference in
Moscow on Friday.
"In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the
power of any one president is problematic for democratic development,"
Rice told reporters after meeting with human-rights activists.
"I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I have
told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence
of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of
the electronic media and there are, I think, questions about the
strength of the Duma," said Rice, referring to the Russian parliament.
Telephone messages left with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov were not
immediately returned Saturday evening.
The top American diplomat encouraged the activists to build institutions
of democracy. These would help combat arbitrary state power amid
increasing pressure from the Kremlin, she said.
The U.S. is concerned about the centralization of power and democratic
backsliding ahead of Russia's legislative and presidential elections in
December and March. Putin will step down next year as president. He has
said he would lead the ticket of the main pro-Kremlin party in the
parliamentary elections and could take the prime minister's job later.
Rice sought opinions and assessments of the situation from eight
prominent rights leaders.
"I talked to people about the coming months and how they see the coming
months. How these two elections are carried out will have an effect on
whether Russia is making the next step on toward democracy," Rice said
after the private sessions at Spaso House, the residence of the U.S.
ambassador in Moscow.
Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday received a chilly
reception from Putin and senior Russian officials on U.S. proposals for
cooperating on a missile defense system in Eastern Europe that Russia
vehemently opposes.
But as she has in the past, Rice declined comment on Putin's possible
political future and said she did not raise the matter in her official
discussions.
Although she would not speculate about Putin's ambitions, Rice said
there were signs that whatever transition occurs could be smooth.
"To the degree that anyone can predict, it looks like it will be fairly
stable," she said. "But, I would just caution that change is change."
Earlier, Rice said she hoped the efforts of rights activists would
promote universal values of "the rights of individuals to liberty and
freedom, the right to worship as you please, and the right to assembly,
the right to not have to deal with the arbitrary power of the state."
In the meeting with business, media and civil society leaders, Rice said
she was "especially interested in talking about how you view (the)
political evolution of Russia, the economic evolution of Russia."
"Russia is a country that's in transition and that transition is not
easy and there are a lot of complications and a lot of challenges," Rice
said. "If Russia is to emerge as a democratic country that can fully
protect the rights of its people, it is going to emerge over years and
you have to be a part of helping the emergence of that Russia."
Participants in the meetings said they outlined their concerns but that
she did not offer any judgments about the state of human rights and
democracy under Putin.
Lyudmila Alexeyeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group told the Interfax news
agency her organization sees "the purposeful construction of an
authoritarian society and an onslaught on the people's rights, elections
are being turned into farce, and human rights and opposition
organizations are experiencing pressure."
Alexander Brod, head of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau, said the
discussions touched on "authoritarianism and the crisis of human
rights." He said he disagreed with "the opinion that we had a
flourishing democracy in the 1990s and that we have a setback now."
"Not all is ideal in America, either. We see protests against the war in
Iraq and violations of human rights on the part of security services and
violations of human rights in countering terrorism," Brod said.
Vladimir Lukin, the government-appointed human rights ombudsman, was
quoted by Interfax as saying he told Rice that human rights should be
discussed in a dialogue rather lecturing in a "doomsday" style.
The State Department frequently has criticized what Washington regards
as creeping authoritarianism among Putin and other top Russian leaders.
Its most recent human-rights report on Russia notes continuing
centralization of power in the Kremlin, a compliant legislature,
political pressure on the judiciary, intolerance of ethnic minorities,
corruption and selectivity in enforcement of the law, and media
restrictions and self-censorship.
Rice and Gates later met with Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov for talks on
trade and economic relations, including negotiations for Russia's
accession to the World Trade Organization.
Moscow and Washington signed a trade agreement last November that
removed the last major obstacle in Moscow's 13-year journey to join the
149-member group. Moscow must still conclude other outstanding bilateral
deals and assuage the European Union's concerns about energy supplies.
The Russian government press service said Zubkov also pressed the
Americans to work to abolish the Jackson-Vanik amendment. The 1974
measure ties Russia's trade status to whether it freely allows Jewish
emigration.