Kurt Nicklas
2008-08-28 23:03:06 UTC
Putin Accuses U.S. Over Georgia
29 August 2008
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the United States of
orchestrating the military conflict in Georgia in order to boost the
chances of a U.S. presidential candidate.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/600/42/370512.htm
In an interview that was to air on CNN late Thursday, Putin said
Washington had encouraged Tbilisi to attack South Ossetia to give one
presidential candidate an edge in the hotly contested U.S. election,
CNN said on its web site.
Republican John McCain, a weathered foreign policy hawk and a staunch
critic of Russia, is in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Barack
Obama for the White House.
Putin did not specify a candidate. Reached by telephone, Putin's
spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say which one he was referring to.
McCain is an ally of outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush. Following
Russia's invasion of Georgia, McCain lashed out at Russia, calling on
the Bush administration to pull out from a joint space exploration
project with Russia and repeating a demand that Russia be kicked out
of the Group of Eight.
The White House press office had no immediate comment on Putin's
statement.
At the onset of the conflict with Georgia earlier this month, Sergei
Markov, a Kremlin-connected spin doctor and United Russia deputy in
the State Duma, described the escalation as a strategy by U.S. neo-
cons to boost McCain's popularity. In televised comments, Markov
accused U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney of masterminding the strategy.
Cheney will visit Georgia next week.
Speaking at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin told CNN that Russia
had to send its troops into South Ossetia to rebuff Georgian forces in
order to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
He also rebuked the U.S. administration for not having done more to
stop Georgia's attack early Aug. 8. Led by U.S.-educated President
Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia is the most enthusiastic U.S. ally among
the former Soviet republics.
"In the interview with CNN, there were lots of tough but truthful
comments," Peskov said. "But in the interview, you also can see a
desire and readiness to cooperate with all countries."
Putin has stepped into U.S. elections before. In June 2004, when Bush
was struggling for re-election amid criticism for going to war with
Iraq without just cause, then-President Vladimir Putin announced that
Russian secret services had obtained information that Iraq had weapons
of mass destruction. Putin's announcement appeared to stun the White
House, and analysts at the time dismissed it as a clumsy attempt by
Putin to help Bush win re-election.
The formal pretext for the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- spelled out by
Bush in 2003 -- was Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction
and its refusal to allow United Nations monitors to inspect them. No
traces of the weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.
Separately Thursday, Putin announced that 19 U.S. poultry companies
would be banned from exporting to Russia after Russian health and
agriculture officials randomly tested their products and discovered
they were full of antibiotics and arsenic, CNN reported.
The ban is unrelated to the Georgia conflict, Putin said.
29 August 2008
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the United States of
orchestrating the military conflict in Georgia in order to boost the
chances of a U.S. presidential candidate.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/600/42/370512.htm
In an interview that was to air on CNN late Thursday, Putin said
Washington had encouraged Tbilisi to attack South Ossetia to give one
presidential candidate an edge in the hotly contested U.S. election,
CNN said on its web site.
Republican John McCain, a weathered foreign policy hawk and a staunch
critic of Russia, is in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Barack
Obama for the White House.
Putin did not specify a candidate. Reached by telephone, Putin's
spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say which one he was referring to.
McCain is an ally of outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush. Following
Russia's invasion of Georgia, McCain lashed out at Russia, calling on
the Bush administration to pull out from a joint space exploration
project with Russia and repeating a demand that Russia be kicked out
of the Group of Eight.
The White House press office had no immediate comment on Putin's
statement.
At the onset of the conflict with Georgia earlier this month, Sergei
Markov, a Kremlin-connected spin doctor and United Russia deputy in
the State Duma, described the escalation as a strategy by U.S. neo-
cons to boost McCain's popularity. In televised comments, Markov
accused U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney of masterminding the strategy.
Cheney will visit Georgia next week.
Speaking at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin told CNN that Russia
had to send its troops into South Ossetia to rebuff Georgian forces in
order to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
He also rebuked the U.S. administration for not having done more to
stop Georgia's attack early Aug. 8. Led by U.S.-educated President
Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia is the most enthusiastic U.S. ally among
the former Soviet republics.
"In the interview with CNN, there were lots of tough but truthful
comments," Peskov said. "But in the interview, you also can see a
desire and readiness to cooperate with all countries."
Putin has stepped into U.S. elections before. In June 2004, when Bush
was struggling for re-election amid criticism for going to war with
Iraq without just cause, then-President Vladimir Putin announced that
Russian secret services had obtained information that Iraq had weapons
of mass destruction. Putin's announcement appeared to stun the White
House, and analysts at the time dismissed it as a clumsy attempt by
Putin to help Bush win re-election.
The formal pretext for the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- spelled out by
Bush in 2003 -- was Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction
and its refusal to allow United Nations monitors to inspect them. No
traces of the weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.
Separately Thursday, Putin announced that 19 U.S. poultry companies
would be banned from exporting to Russia after Russian health and
agriculture officials randomly tested their products and discovered
they were full of antibiotics and arsenic, CNN reported.
The ban is unrelated to the Georgia conflict, Putin said.