EDITORIAL: Bush and Putin, one-on-one (02/27/05)

EDITORIAL

Bush and Putin, one-on-one

It was four years ago in Slovenia that George W. Bush looked into the eyes of Vladimir Putin and claimed that he saw a leader he considered trustworthy. "I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country," Mr. Bush said.

This week, Presidents Bush and Putin met yet again, this time in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Their encounter, which lasted more than an hour, was said to be their longest meeting with only interpreters present. The question is: What did President Bush see when he again gazed into the eyes of his good buddy Vladimir?

Russia, of late, has had serious problems in meeting the basic standards of democracy and in being a good neighbor on the international scene. A partial list of the Putin administration's transgressions includes the questionable arrest of Yukos oil chairman Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the dismantling of his company; stringent control of the mass media; failure to pull Russian troops out of Georgia and Moldova; continued nuclear cooperation with Iran and missiles sales to Syria. Then, of course, there is Mr. Putin's unabashed meddling in Ukraine's presidential election. That may yet turn out to be much more than meedling, if recent allegations that Kremlin insider Gleb Pavlovsky was the person who suggested poisoning Viktor Yushchenko turn out to be true.

Just two days before his tete-a-tete with Mr. Putin, Mr. Bush stated in Brussels: "We recognize that reform will not happen overnight. We must always remind Russia, however, that our alliance stands for a free press, a vital opposition, the sharing of power and the rule of law, and the United States and all European countries should place democratic reform at the heart of their dialogue with Russia."

For his part, Mr. Putin has insisted that Russia has chosen democracy, Russian-style. In Bratislava he said democracy must be adapted to the reality of today's life in Russia, taking into consideration "our traditions and history"; it is "not the right thing to do" to compare which country has more democracy.

Mr. Bush countered with: "Democracies always reflect a country's culture and customs... But they have certain things in common. They have rule of law and protection of minorities, a free press and a viable political opposition."

Addressing Slovaks gathered in a Bratislava square, President Bush cited the progress of democracy, praising the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989 that had put an end to communism in Czechoslovakia. According to the BBC, he went on to state: "In recent times, we have witnessed landmark events in the history of liberty: A Rose Revolution in Georgia, an Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and now a Purple Revolution in Iraq" (a reference to the voters' ink used in Iraq's recent election).

The U.S. president also "seemed to fire a warning shot at Mr. Putin not to intervene in other former republics as he had in Ukraine," wrote Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times. "The democratic revolutions that swept this region over 15 years ago are now reaching Georgia and Ukraine," Mr. Bush said, according to The Times. "In 10 days, Moldova has the opportunity to place its democratic credentials beyond doubt as its people head to the polls. And, inevitably, the people of Belarus will someday proudly belong to the country of democracies."

So, did the U.S. and Russian presidents see eye to eye in Bratislava? Judging by the first reports about their meeting, which both sides described as open - while President Bush used the dubious qualifier "frank" - the answer is: probably not.

So, the next logical question is: Will this meeting result in some needed correctives in U.S. policy toward Mr. Putin's Russia? We certainly hope so. It's time that the grace period expired.

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