HOME	Where the World's Views of America Come into Focus

Apr. 20, 2005

Moscow Correspondent Irina de Chikoff

Original Article (French)

American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived yesterday in Moscow. She said that it was her clear intention to discuss nuclear safety and the respect of democracy. A bomb scare at the hotel she was to visit forced a change in her schedule.

In Russia, she is called the "Black Panther."  Recently, the Muscovite newspapers discovered that in the United States, Condoleezza Rice is called the "Steel Magnolia" because this variety of tulip symbolizes the Southern States. The press likes to compare the chief of U.S. diplomacy to the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Ioulia Timochenko. In this comparison, Condi, whose astonishing avant-garde clothing is the constant butt of jokes, clearly outdistances the dames of the "Orange Revolution."

Ioulia Timochenko was planning to visit Moscow from April 16 to 17, but she pulled out due to a "schedule conflict." At least that was the officially called-upon pretext. The Russians laughed. They cannot even imagine the American secretary of state exhibiting such "frivolous" behavior. For them [Russians], Condoleezza Rice is a prototype of the professional political woman. All the daily newspapers yesterday devoted a significant place to Condy's first official visit to Russia, recalling that she was a famous Sovietologist and that she speaks Russian perfectly.

Relations between the United States and Russia have never been simple. They worsened over the elections in Ukraine and Iraq, Russia's assistance in developing Iran's nuclear program, and a number of other issues where Moscow and Washington find themselves with opposing points of view. At the meeting between Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush in Bratislava last February, [Bush's] message that the Kremlin had not learned the "lessons of democracy" was received with difficulty. Nevertheless, the visit of Condoleezza Rice is perceived as a sign of relaxation in Moscow. The secretary of state will be more positively predisposed toward Russia than her predecessor Colin Powell, because she knows the country better.

In Moscow, Condy Rice will meet with Vladimir Putin and her counterpart Serguei Lavrov. The talks will relate first of all, to George W. Bush's next visit on May 9, for the 60^th anniversary celebration of the victory over Nazi Germany. For an ordinary secretary of state, preparing for the American president's upcoming visit would have been enough. But Condy is no sherpa. In diplomatic circles one habitually speculates on the subjects that will be discussed. The first item will likely be the problem of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. For the United States, Russian nuclear armament "is not well defended." But how to obtain access for American inspectors to secret Russian installations? In exchange for what?

Essentially, Condy Rice's point of view differs little from Colin Powell. The slowness of democratic reform in Russia is and remains a major concern, because Russia currently appears to the United States as an "obstacle" to the proper evolution of international relations. But the "Black Panther" will be subtler in her approach to the Russian question. She estimates that it is not by scolding Moscow that progress will be made. For her, the answer is not to "isolate Russia from the larger currents which are developing in the world," but "combining assistance to those in Russia who are trying to support democracy" while maintaining "a continuous dialogue with the Russian government."