 Stepping into a stretch limousine in Athens, Putin heard his phone ring with the news he had been trying to avoid all year: Washington was pulling the plug on the landmark 1972 ABM treaty to build a high-tech missile shield - Pool Photo by Aris Messinis |
Stepping into a stretch limousine in Athens, Putin heard his phone ring with the news he had been trying to avoid all year: Washington was pulling the plug on the landmark 1972 ABM treaty to build a high-tech missile shield.
Putin was not expecting the call. Instead, he was trying to make friends with Europe and America and NATO. His press team appeared at a loss how to react.
So, was it a good year for Russia?
"The ABM was a big blow to Russia's prestige," said Dmitry Trenin, deputy head of the Carnegie Moscow Center.
Throwing in its lot wholeheartedly with the US-led war against terrorism after the September 11 attacks, Russia instantly transformed itself from suspicious rival into firm Western ally.
But hopes of a payback to soothe the growls of hawkish Russian generals smarting at the presence of US military bases in former Soviet Central Asia seemed to have gone nowhere by the end of the year.
The US snub over missile defense after months of negotiations hit a raw nerve in Moscow, also kept on the sidelines of NATO despite a much-touted offer by Britain to give it a place at the table under a "19 plus one" formula.
"Spending so much money is senseless and the missile defense system itself is a myth," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov fumed on a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.
But the Russian president showed a more philosophical attitude.
"All disappointments and frustrations are born of undue expectations," Putin told the Financial Times ahead of a visit last week to London.
Western investors, their eyes fixed more on the buoyant Russian economy, agreed.
"As the country moves into its second decade of transition and its third full year under President Vladimir Putin, the outlook has never looked rosier," the Renaissance Capital said in a note.
"After three years of solid growth, recovery is no longer the result of a cheap rouble or a high oil price. Russia is recovering because consumers are consuming and companies are investing," said the investment bank
Others went even further, praising Putin for his pro-Western policy shift and dismissing the spat over missile defense as ultimately unimportant.
"2001 was another remarkable year for Russia. It will be remembered for the largest improvement in Russia's relations with the western world since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989," the United Financial Group said in a research note.
"There will be no competition in missile defense between the US and anybody else (Russia included) so I don't see any reason for concern about a gap between the US and Russia in this area," said Pavel Podvig, an arms control analyst with Stanford University.
"I would agree that the missile defense system that the US is trying to deploy will not have any impact on strategic balance between the US and Russia in the coming year or so. I don't see any reason for concern between the US and Russia in this area," ," Podvig added.
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London (AFP) Dec 17, 2001