‘Russia is ending its dependency on the global superpower’ – Pushkov

End Of Days News

 

Moscow announced that it has terminated an agreement with Washington to cooperate in law and drug enforcement, continuing the trend of deteriorating diplomatic relations.

“Russia is reforming its relationship with the US. We have terminated the third agreement with the U.S. in the last six months,” Aleksey Pushkov, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Lower House, commented on Twitter.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order to terminate the bilateral deal, the government said in a statement on its official website on Wednesday. The agreement, formalized between Russia and the US on September 25, 2002, was declared “out of touch with today’s realities and has exhausted its potential,” the statement read.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has been instructed to notify Washington of the decision.

As part of the now-defunct bilateral deal, the US agreed to provide financial assistance to relevant Russian entities for anti-crime measures, among other activities. Such philanthropy, however, has raised eyebrows in Russia and prompted questions over the real motive behind Washington’s efforts.

It was largely due to these suspicions that Moscow informed the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in September that its services in Russia were no longer wanted or needed.

In a recent interview with NPR, outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented on Russia’s decision to shut down the USAID office: “We can take our aid money and go elsewhere and help people who welcome us.”
Clinton’s comment goes far towards explaining the rift in Russia-US relations: Russia has largely escaped from the clutches of its post-Soviet depression, and is now has a dynamic economy with a growing middle class and huge natural resources, which no longer needs handouts from Washington.

The Foreign Ministry said that Russian civil society has become fully mature, and did not need any "external direction" from USAID, which was also blamed for attempting to manipulate Russia’s internal political processes.

Is Washington, feeling a bit like a jaded partner in a tumultuous relationship, seeking to break off the honeymoon in dramatic fashion?

Last year, the decision by a group of US legislators to implement the so-called ‘Magnitsky Act’ against specific Russian officials – who the US Senators believe should be held accountable in the death of Sergey Magnitsky, an accountant with Hermitage Capital who died in prison in 2009 amidst a tax evasion investigation – has triggered a diplomatic domino effect between the two countries.

Shortly after the passage of the Magnitsky Act, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Dima Yakovlev bill, which bans American citizens from adopting Russian orphans.

In an interview with US media, Prime Minister Medvedev emphasized that Russia’s decision to introduce the adoption legislation had no connection with US legislation against Russian citizens.

“This law expresses concerns of the Russian parliament, the Russian State Duma and the Federal Council over destiny of our children… Therefore, despite the fact that many saw it as targeting individual American citizens who want to adopt Russian children, that’s certainly not the case,” Medvedev told CNN.

The US also recently said it would end its cooperation in the Russian-American Bilateral Presidential Commission on Civil Society.

This ongoing atmosphere of animosity between the two former Cold War rivals shows that relations between Moscow and Washington have entered a cooling period. It also shows that Russia is less willing to depend on the United States for services that it can afford on its own.

Meanwhile, Russian experts say that relations between Moscow and Washington have entered a dangerous tit-for-tat stage and warned against further escalation.

Honorary chairman of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council, Sergey Karaganov told RIA Novosti news agency that in his view Russia and US have put themselves on a path that is very difficult to step off. At the same time, the analyst noted that the so called ‘reset’ had not created any solid foundation for better relations between the two countries.
Karaganov added that he hoped that the leaders of the two nations would be wise enough not to allow further deterioration in relations.

Viktor Kuvaldin of the Gorbachev Foundation also urged the leaders of Russia and the United States to put an end to the standoff as soon as possible.
“Unfortunately, when a spiral starts unwinding it acquires its own logic. People tend to forget who started what and resort to the ‘eye for an eye tooth for a tooth’ policy, Kuvaldin said.

Russian authorities should stop the process and reach an agreement with their US partners so that they (Washington) would follow suit.

http://rt.com/politics/russia-us-moscow-medvedev-clinton-071/



Moscow, Beijing reconnect as reset with US fizzles

 

 

Russia and China, which share many of the same international concerns, are looking to fortify their strategic partnership.

­At a time when the neighboring countries are beginning to feel the heat of the US military, it seems only natural that Moscow and Beijing are beginning to plant the seeds of a long-term strategic relationship.
Xi Jinping, the secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party, underlined his country’s commitment to a Russian partnership when he noted that he and President Vladimir Putin "came to the unanimous conclusion” that a “comprehensive strategic partnership” between Moscow and Beijing remains the “top priority of their foreign policy."
The comments were made on Tuesday during a visit to Beijing by Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev, who is participating in the eighth round of Russian-Chinese consultations on strategic security.
Xi Jingping, 59, who was sworn as the highest-ranking Communist official in November, echoed the sentiments of the Russian president, who noted at his recent Q&A session with international media that Russo-Chinese relations “have become one of the most important factors in the (realm of) international affairs."
Given the geopolitical realities of the region, it should come as no surprise that Moscow and Beijing are looking to forge a strategic partnership.
Whereas China, traditionally an isolationist country that shuns bilateral alliances, rarely reveals its political hand, Russia made a leap of faith when it attempted to forge a so-called reset in relations with Washington. Today, the reset is in shambles, while many in Moscow accuse Washington of allowing the partnership to deteriorate.
Indeed, much of the blame for the Russia-US fallout is due to Washington’s plans to place a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, just miles from the Russian border. NATO, originally declaring its intention to cooperate with Russia on the project, remains intransigent, while even refusing to provide Moscow with a legal guarantee that the system will never be aimed at Russian territory.
Moscow rightly warned its Western partners that without Russia’s participation in the system the strategic balance would be upset and there would be another arms race. Still, US and NATO officials have been reluctant to bring Russia on board, and this refusal has played havoc with Moscow’s and Washington’s efforts to nurture a reset between the former Cold War enemies.
In fact, given the current stalemate, the reset itself seems to have been merely a ploy to win Russia’s trust at the same time that a threatening military technology was being introduced courtesy of the Obama administration.
Meanwhile, China, which recently celebrated the launch of its first aircraft carrier (the US Navy already has six carriers assigned to the Pacific), is witnessing a growing US naval presence in the Pacific.
The US military brass announced in June that up to 60 per cent of the Navy's fleet will be deployed to the Pacific by 2020.
At the same time, Moscow and Beijing hold similar positions on a variety of other international issues, including the situation in Syria, where militants are attempting to force President Bashar Assad from power. Russian and Chinese diplomats have called for a general ceasefire followed by negotiations, whereas the United States has thrown its weight behind the opposition.
“Moscow and Beijing both hold similar positions on the global hotspots, including in Syria, North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran,” Evgeny Bazhanov, president of the Diplomatic Academy of Russia’s Foreign Ministry, told RT in an earlier interview. “They are also both deeply suspicious of the US missile defense system.”
Finally, the China-Russia relationship is motivated by other factors aside from their increasing wariness of American geopolitical intentions.
For example, considering China’s exploding economy, Beijing requires a reliable flow of oil and gas. Russia, meanwhile, welcomes the opportunity to diversify its ample supply of natural resources.
Interstate consultations on strategic issues between Russia and China were launched in 2005.

http://rt.com/politics/russia-china-patrushev-security-military-616/