Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

VE Day highlights both Russian historical glory and current troubles

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • VE Day highlights both Russian historical glory and current troubles

    VE Day highlights both Russia's historical glory and current troubles

    AP Worldstream
    May 09, 2005

    JIM HEINTZ


    The Russian capital's massive ceremonies commemorating the defeat of
    Nazi Germany shine a spotlight on one of the Soviet Union's great
    successes, but they also illuminate many of the problems now plaguing
    post-Soviet Russia.

    Amid their words of praise for the Red Army's bravery and sacrifice,
    officials have appeared defensive in scrabbling to preserve Russia's
    declining regional influence, deflect criticism of Russia's commitment
    to democracy and protest Western support for pro-democracy uprisings
    in ex-Soviet states.

    Intense security measures for the Moscow ceremonies, which are crowded
    with foreign dignitaries, echoed the capital's fears of terror attacks
    by Chechen separatists, whom the Kremlin has been unable to wipe out
    in a decade of fighting.

    With security so tight that Muscovites had little chance of seeing
    Monday's ceremonies firsthand, officials advised residents to get out
    of town, which some felt demonstrated how Russian authorities had
    little concern for the common man.

    Soviet-era emblems and images of Josef Stalin abounded _ historically
    correct, but unsettling amid fears that President Vladimir Putin wants
    to lead the country back into heavy-handed authoritarian rule.

    As Putin addressed WWII veterans at the Bolshoi Theater, he struck a
    defiant and defensive tone.

    "Double standards with regard to terrorists are as unacceptable as
    attempts to rehabilitate Nazi accomplices," Putin said. The statement
    referred both to the Kremlin's frequent complaint that calls for
    Russia to negotiate with Chechen rebels are tantamount to capitulating
    to terrorism and to Russia's resentment of moves in some ex-Soviet
    Baltic countries and Ukraine to honor partisans who fought against the
    Red Army in WWII.

    Leaders of two Baltic countries _ Estonia and Lithuania _ declined to
    come to Moscow for the celebrations, a demonstration of the widespread
    dismay over the nearly five decades of postwar Soviet occupation.

    Also absent were leaders of two member nations of the Commonwealth of
    Independent States, the loose grouping of ex-Soviet republics other
    than the Baltics.

    Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev declined to come because of the
    presence of Armenian President Robert Kocharian: tensions are high
    between the countries over the unresolved status of the
    Nagorno-Karabakh region.

    The absence of Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili was a direct slap
    at Russia _ he stayed home to protest Russia's resistance to
    withdrawing two military bases that remain in the country as
    Soviet-era hangovers.

    Saakashvili also is preparing for a visit by U.S. President George
    W. Bush, who goes there Monday directly from Moscow. Bush's visit to
    Georgia is being seen as a strong endorsement of pro-democracy
    movements in the former Soviet Union. Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution
    scored a first, dramatic victory that drove out longtime leader Eduard
    Shevardnadze.

    Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who came to power after his
    country's Orange Revolution forced an election in which he defeated a
    Kremlin-backed candidate, came to Moscow for the ceremonies, but used
    the occasion to downplay the CIS, saying there was "little use" for
    the organization that Russia sees as a key element in retaining
    regional influence.

    Russia has sharply criticized the backing that pro-democracy groups in
    Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan received from Western countries, and
    apparently is concerned that those countries' uprisings could be
    repeated in close Russian allies, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan.

    Russian Security Council chief Igor Ivanov, in an interview published
    last week, criticized the uprisings as unconstitutional changes of
    power. That brought a cold rejection from the Ukrainian Foreign
    Ministry, which said Sunday that "the international community has
    highly assessed the degree of conformity of last year's presidential
    elections with democratic standards."

    The protests in post-Soviet countries raised the prospect of similar
    outpourings in Russia, where Putin is under increasing criticism for
    apparent authoritarian leanings. The WWII ceremonies' respect for
    Stalin could be seen as reinforcing that tendency, and Putin himself
    has given mixed signals, claiming Russia is reforming but speaking
    with respect and even nostalgia for the Soviet Union.

    Putin also has been the target of an unprecedented wave of protests
    this year over changes in welfare benefits for veterans and the
    elderly.

    "We hoped that things would be better today," an 80-year-old veteran,
    Vera Minayeva, said Sunday. "This is not what we fought for."

    ___

    Jim Heintz, The Associated Press' news editor in Moscow, has covered
    the post-Soviet region since 1999.
Working...
X