G-8 Summit Offers Putin the Chance To Bolster Russia’s Image in the West

MOSCOW – While the issue of relieving poverty in Africa is expected to dominate the summit meeting of G-8 leaders starting today, President Putin heads to Scotland with a different mission in mind: shoring up Russia’s deteriorating international reputation as it prepares to take over leadership of the exclusive club.Analysts say that with pressure increasing for Russia to be thrown out of the G-8, Mr. Putin will be looking to reassure President Bush and other Western leaders that his country is fit to remain a member.“The pressure coming from various sources, especially influential U.S. senators, is a real challenge to Russia, especially as it is taking over the presidency of the G-8 next year,” the head of the Heritage Foundation’s Moscow office, Yevgeny Volk, said. Mr. Putin “will be trying to convince his partners that Russia is on the right track, that it respects human rights and personal freedoms, and that it is an equal partner with other G-8 countries.”Russia is due to take over the G-8 presidency from Britain and next year will host the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg – Mr. Putin’s hometown.Russia’s position as a member of the G-8 – which also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and America – has always been problematic. The other seven members are ranked as the world’s leading industrial countries, but Russia has only the 16th-largest economy in the world, and nearly a quarter of its population lives on less than $10 a day.Russia was granted admission under President Yeltsin in the 1990s in recognition of its global importance, but remains excluded from many of the group’s economic discussions.“Russia was admitted not for economic reasons, but for political ones, mainly that it has nuclear weapons and influence over a large part of the world,” Mr. Volk said.Critics say Russia no longer deserves a place amid the world’s top decision-makers. In February, Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona, and Senator Lieberman, a Democrat of Connecticut, introduced legislation urging President Bush to suspend Russia’s membership.The senators cited a range of reasons: the brutal ongoing war in the breakaway region of Chechnya, a clampdown on the press, the abolition of elections for regional governors, and the repression of political opponents such as the former head of oil giant Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was sentenced to nine years in prison last month after what critics called a politically motivated show trial.“In 2003, I warned of a ‘creeping coup’ in Russia against the forces of democracy and market capitalism,” Mr. McCain said as he introduced the legislation. “Since then, Russia has actually moved backward. … The coup is no longer creeping – it’s galloping.”In a briefing with reporters last week, Mr. Putin’s adviser on the G-8, Igor Shuvalov, told reporters that Moscow remained a vital member of the G-8.“The G-7 needs us as much as we need it,” he said. “Everyone understands that global stability is impossible without Russia.” Mr. Shuvalov said that as Europe’s largest exporter of oil and gas, Russia deserves a say among the world’s top economies.“The economic reasons for why we must be in the club are obvious,” he said. “We will be increasing oil exports year by year, we are prepared to guarantee stable energy supplies to our partners to secure their stable development for decades to come.”He acknowledged that the Yukos affair had hurt Russia’s reputation, but insisted that it did not represent a step back from the free market.“We will have to work hard to overcome the Yukos effect,” he said. “We will have to work for a long time, for years, to improve the business climate and show investors that Yukos was a unique case.”Mr. Bush has walked a careful line with the Kremlin, calling Mr. Putin a trustworthy ally while increasingly chastising him for authoritarian moves. But Mr. Volk said he doubts Western leaders would be prepared to take any further steps.“It’s too important for Russia to be a member of the G-8,” he said. “It’s a sign of respect, it shows that Russia is recognized as an equal partner.”

G-8 Summit Offers Putin the Chance To Bolster Russia’s Image in the West

G-8 Summit Offers Putin the Chance To Bolster Russia’s Image in the West

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