Condoleezza Rice arrives in Moscow hoping to conquer Putin's mind for Bush

The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has arrived in Moscow today. Ms. Rice described the current period of US-Russian relations as a “hard time.” It goes without saying that it is the last chance for the US administration to try to improve its relations with Russia, although the same can be said about Putin’s administration too.

Russia and the USA have become turned into “sworn friends” during the recent years. The two superpowers obviously realize their common interests in many fields, in the field of struggle against international terrorism first and foremost. However, the two countries have too many claims to each other. Most likely, all those problems will be handed over to new Russian and US administration. It is not ruled out though, that incumbent presidents will manage to solve some of them.

Washington is concerned with violation of democracy standards in present-day Russia. Many observers say that US official show this criticism against the background of the growing international status of the Russian Federation. The United States is worried about Russia's so-called “energy threat,” which, as Washington believes, could be seen in recent gas scandals with Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia.

The two countries used to have serious discrepancies as far as the nuclear problem of Iran is concerned, but they were later minimized due to Teheran’s persistent intention to defend its right for nuclear power.

Pravda.ru previously reported about USA’s strategic plan on foreign policies, which clearly displayed Bush's intention to put pressure on Russia with the help of political methods. Many observers believe that the two countries are still determined to conduct a positive dialogue. The current visit of Condoleezza Rice to Moscow will show, to which extent this intention is truthful.

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.ru