Large-Scale Celebrations in the Ukraine Mark the 1,020th Anniversary of the Baptism of Russia

Patriarch Aleksei of Moscow and all Russia (1929- ) at the Anniversary Liturgy on Vladimirskoi Hill

Moscow, 28 July 2008 (Interfax):

Today, the Orthodox Church celebrated the feastday of the Grand Prince Equal-to-the-Apostles St Vladimir, the Baptiser of Russia. The main celebrations were held in Kiev as a part of the festivities surrounding the celebration of the 1,020th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia. Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and all Russia, who is in the Ukraine on a pastoral visit, was the main celebrant of a Divine Liturgy served at the Kievo-Pecherskogo Lavra. 

The Orange leadership in the Ukraine cast a pall over the anniversary of the Baptism, for they attempted to create a “purely Ukrainian Church” “independent” of the MP. [Yushchenko] invited [Patriarch Bartholomew], the head of the EP, without hiding his intention of having him bless a church schism [in the Ukraine]. In the course of preparing and carrying out the celebration, the Ukrainian government showed every preference to Bartholomew, and openly demonstrated contempt (even in the smallest details of protocol) to Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and all Russia, even though, strictly speaking, the Ukraine is under his canonical jurisdiction. In the run-up to the festivities, the government forbade advertising agencies from placing posters with the portrait of Patriarch Aleksei on the streets, whilst Kiev was literally flooded with posters bearing the image of Patriarch Bartholomew. Yushchenko personally met Bartholomew at the airport and even drove him to one of the receptions. However, when Patriarch Aleksei arrived, the most high-ranking official to meet him was the Supreme Rada speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk. 

In the opinion of many observers, a kind of “Ukrainian front-line” passed through Kiev. The Orange leadership tried to erect a wall between the Ukraine and Russia, they tried to sunder their present from their past with loud denials of the spiritual links that our fraternal countries share due to a common baptism in the Dnepr font and a millennium of shared history. Nevertheless, despite all the efforts of the Ukrainian government, the current visit of the First Hierarch of the MP to the Ukraine proved to be a celebration of a great victory over those who tried to destroy the unity of these two peoples. No, he was not met at the airport by Viktor Yushchenko. However, thousands of ordinary folks from Kiev enthusiastically greeted Patriarch Aleksei when he arrived at the Kievo-Pecherskogo Lavra. People threw flowers at his feet, waved thousands of Russian flags, chanted “Aleksei is our patriarch!”, and responded with a tremendous ovation when he ascended the steps of a platform set up before the main cathedral of the Lavra. Indeed, the next morning, as he processed to serve the Divine Liturgy with Bartholomew, the crowd shouted, “Aleksei, Aleksei!”. 

The same excited and dynamic atmosphere was seen in the rock-concert held on the Kreshchatyk (the main street of Kiev: Interfax) the day before, where a crowd in the thousands sang together with the rock-band DDT, they shouted out the slogan  of Metropolitan Kirill proclaiming the indivisibility of Holy Russia, and even strangers congratulated each other on the festival. It is remarkable that Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul, in spite of his indefinite statements, did not approve the creation of an “independent Ukrainian Church” and he did not bless the Ukrainian schismatics, but, on the contrary, demanded that their absence from the celebrations. Thus, the political plans for a “second Baptism” of Kievan Russia, nurtured by certain factions in Kiev and subjected to just criticism by the Russian Foreign Ministry, proved to be an utter failure. 

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=dujour&div=12 (in Russian)

Editor’s Note:

At the vantage point of this evening, it appears as though churchly elements have destroyed the hopes of Yushchenko and the schismatics. It is not unimportant that Yushchenko is not a member of the legitimate Orthodox Church; he is a member of a schismatical conventicle. It is why he launched his abortive effort. However, we cannot slacken our vigilance. We are dealing with a foe that is tenacious and without scruple. Do not forget that these are sorts who have murdered clerics who did not agree with them, including a Metropolitan of Kiev (Aleksei Gromadsky).

Indeed, there is not going to be less turmoil in the near future, there may even be more. The intensity and stridency of the attacks on the canonical Church may even increase in the short term. The very depth of the victory of the Church may inspire worse acts than were committed in the past. The Church triumphed even though the powers of this world put every conceivable obstacle in their path. I fear that there are more trials to be passed through before the hydra of nationalism is crushed definitively. Spare a prayer for the clergy and faithful of the canonical Church in the Ukraine tonight. They need your aid. Do not forget them, do not forget their struggle, and, most of all, do not forget to honour their courage in the face of some of the nastiest opposition the Church has ever encountered.

As for me, I bow in respect to the wondrously courageous people who have preserved Christ’s Church intact when it would have been so easy to give up and go into schism. God bless you all.  

World War II Partisan Veteran Kononov Calls 30,000 Euro Compensation “Mockery”

Moscow, 28 July 2008 (RIA-Novosti):

World War II veteran Vasily Kononov said Monday the 30,000 euros (1.102 million roubles. 47,252 USD. 23,687 UK pounds) the Strasbourg court ordered Latvia to pay him as compensation for being held in custody was “a mockery”. Mr Kononov had originally demanded 5 million euros (183.769 million roubles. 7.875 million USD. 3.948 million UK pounds) in compensation for being illegally held in custody by Latvia on charges of war crimes. “The sum to be compensated in moral damages is a mockery. Latvia was able, through its representative and the judge from Latvia, to move to its side the judges from Sweden and Iceland”, Mr Kononov told a press conference in Moscow. He said the sum should be at least several hundred thousand euros.

The European Court of Human Rights made the ruling in favour of Mr Kononov on 19 June, but, it was only announced in full last week. The court rejected Mr Kononov’s other demands, which included moral damages and compensation for the apartment and plot of land he had been forced to sell in order to pay court expenses and for medical treatment. Mr Kononov, who led a group of resistance fighters against Nazi Germany in the Baltic state during World War II, was convicted by Latvian authorities of ordering the killing of nine villagers in 1944, with some reports saying the dead included a pregnant woman. He admitted to the killings, but said the dead were Nazi collaborators who were caught in the crossfire. Latvia was under German occupation at the time of the incident.

A retired police colonel born in Latvia, Mr Kononov was arrested in 1998 and sentenced to six years in prison in 2000 on genocide charges. In 2004, after several years of litigation, his sentence was cut to 20 months and the charges changed to “war crimes”. Mr Kononov filed an appeal with the Strasbourg court the same year. Russia subsequently applied pressure on Latvian and European authorities over the case and, in April 2004, Mr Kononov was granted Russian citizenship by then-President Vladimir Putin.

In 2007, the European court dismissed all charges against Mr Kononov, and ruled he was not guilty. “This is my final victory, one I have been seeking for eight long years”, he said then. While Russia maintains that the Red Army liberated the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia from German invaders, many Latvians and Estonians put the two “occupations” on a par.

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080728/115096044.html (in English)

Editor’s Note:

This is obviously NOT a war crimes case. Mr Kononov was a partisan operating behind enemy lines. The killing of nine people in a single incident is hardly “genocide”. Well, there is a hidden message in all of this, and since Tyotya Vara has the Eastern European decoder ring (do look for the bright orange “Veeties” box with Yelena Isinbayeva pole-vaulting on the front), she will unravel it all for you.

It is obvious to all. Mr Kononov was a former colonel in the MVD and he was born in Latvia. Therefore, he spoke Latvian and Russian perfectly (as His Holiness Aleksei speaks Estonian and Russian perfectly, for he was born in inter-war Estonia). This meant that he was invaluable in tracking down the so-called “Forest Brothers”, who were ex-SS soldiers fighting the Soviets in the immediate post-war years. No doubt, quite a few of these banditos were caught due to his efforts. Their families resolved to get even, and the “war crimes” charges were trumped-up in an effort to “pay him back”.

You have a choice. You can support a man who fought for allied victory in World War II and was an honourable veteran, or you can support disgruntled families of ex-SS men. As General Sherman put it, “War is hell, unrefined”, so, nine collaborators shot in the course of a battle is no “crime”. I do daresay that General Le May killed more in a single “fire-storm” raid on Japan. Be careful when you get on the “moral high horse”, it might take you where you do not wish to go. My view is simple; don’t go to war unless you must, for innocents suffer on all sides at the hands of all combatants. That, I think, is the harsh reality of it all. 

Russia to Field One of the Biggest Olympic Teams in Beijing

The National Olympic Committee approved the lineup of the Russian team that will soon be leaving for the 8 August opening of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The Russian squad will be one of the largest Olympic delegations to be presented at this year’s Games. The nearly 900-strong delegation includes 467 athletes from all across Russia and will compete in all 28 Olympic events and 38 disciplines except football, tae kwon do, baseball, softball, field hockey, and one cycling event.

Team Russia, which hopes to win big in many events, is fielding a star-studded synchronised swimming team which features three time Olympic champs Anastasia Yermakova and Anastasia Davydova. Our track and fielders, swimmers, basketballers, volleyballers, and gymnasts are equally ambitious, to say nothing of our women’s tennis squad which boasts such top-drawer players as Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Yelena Dementyeva.

Sport and Tourism Minister Vitaly Mutko believes this country’s team has everything it takes to make the list of the Games’ top three winners. “We have some of the world’s very best athletes and we do hope that, cheered on by millions of fans back home, they will put up a real good show in Beijing”, Mr Mutko said. The 29th Summer Olympics will be held in Beijing from 8 through 24 August and our national basketball team captain, Andrei Kirilenko, will carry the Russian flag at the Games’ opening ceremony.

28 July 2008

Lada Korotun

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=30208&cid=63&p=28.07.2008 (in English)

Vojislav Koštunica says that the International Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia has not been an Impartial Court for quite some time

Vojislav Koštunica (1944- ), former Prime Minister of Yugoslvia

The international criminal tribunal for former Yugoslavia has long since ceased to be an impartial court; for it takes a consistently anti-Serbian stance, according to Vojislav Koštunica, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia, in an interview with the Belgrade-based newspaper Glas Yavnosti (The Voice of Obviousness). Commenting on the arrest and forthcoming extradition to the Tribunal of the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić, he said, “No one has the right to demand that Belgrade should send Serbs to The Hague, when the Tribunal acquits those who committed crimes against them”. Mr Koštunica stated that last March, the Hague Tribunal acquitted Ramush Haradinaj, the commander of the “Kosovo Liberation Army”, who was accused of launching ethnic cleansing against those living in the Serbian enclaves in Kosovo. At that time, as the head of the Serbian government, Mr Koštunica suggested that the legitimacy of the Hague Tribunal is open to discussion. In principle, Moscow shares the stance of Mr Koštunica.

Here is the opinion of First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov about the arrest and forthcoming extradition of Radovan Karadžić to the Hague Tribunal. “Our position is very obvious. Firstly, it is an internal Serbian affair whether it should or should not extradite persons accused of various criminal acts. Secondly, we proceed from the assumption that any court investigation should not be politicised and should be based on objective evidence proving the guilt or a lack of guilt of a person facing trial. Finally, we believe that it is necessary to dissolve the Hague Tribunal, as it exhausted its mandate long ago. The remaining problems should be resolved by legislation passed in the various states. Recent decisions adopted by The Hague Tribunal call into question its objectivity as a serious judicial forum. What I mean is the fact the Tribunal acquitted persons who, in plain language, ‘are as crooked as dog’s hind leg’”. 

What is noteworthy is that Radovan Karadžić was arrested a fortnight after a new government was formed in Serbia and the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadić and its partners in the Liberal opposition took control of all special services. Therefore, Mr Koštunica said that, today, Serbia has no independent policy. Belgrade is only trying to fulfil the endless demands of Washington and Brussels in its aspiration to become an EU member at any price. The British Financial Times says that in line with this is also Belgrade’s decision to return EU ambassadors who recognised the UDI of the Serbian province of Kosovo. 

28 July 2008

Vyacheslav Solovyov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=78268&cid=19&p=28.07.2008 (in Russian)

Editor’s Note:

The extradition of Radovan Karadžić to the kangaroo court in The Hague is a travesty, and all Orthodox Christians should oppose it and speak out loudly. Of course, our Serbian co-religionists shall not be silent, even though they have NATO’s dagger pointed straight at their throats. I have every confidence that the Greeks shall stand tall, as 97 percent of ordinary Greeks support Serbia and Russia. We Russians are 100 percent behind our Serbian brothers in the faith. However, one cannot be sure of the OCA and AOCANA because of the American phyletism that infests both bodies.

We have an obligation to support our Orthodox compatriots whenever they are attacked. Orthodoxy is not merely a religion, it is a civilisation, a culture, a way of life, and ethos that we must cherish and defend. Any time any one reduces Orthodoxy to a religion, they reduce and diminish Christ. I am not alone in this opinion. If Christ was both human and divine, why is it surprising that His Church, His Body, also has both elements? The Church without the nation is a bodiless ghost; the nation without the Church is a headless and gyrating chicken. There is no other way.  

Patriarch Aleksei Leads Kiev Anniversary Liturgy

Patriarch Aleksei of Moscow and all Russia (1929- )

Police blocked hundreds of Orthodox believers from attending a service led by Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and all Russia at the monument to St Vladimir on the banks of the Dnepr River in Kiev on Sunday. The service was part of the celebrations of the 1,020th anniversary of the conversion of Kievan Rus to Christianity by Grand Prince St Vladimir.

Ukrainian police officials told RIA-Novosti on Sunday that believers were barred from the area to avoid a stampede, but, the news agency reported that there appeared to have been enough free space near the monument. The celebration again stressed growing tensions with the Ukraine, which declared a pro-Western course after the 2004 Orange Revolution. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who has called for the establishment of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, did not come to meet Aleksei as he arrived at Borispol Airport on Saturday.

Yushchenko appealed on Saturday to the leader (sic) of the world’s Orthodox believers, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople (now Istanbul), to allow the creation of a Ukrainian church, a move Bartholomew suggested that he was ready to consider. On Sunday, Patriarch Aleksei warned that the move was an attempt to drive a wedge between Orthodox believers in Russia and the Ukraine. “By raising doubts about what has been undisputable for centuries, we endanger our common future”, he said according to Interfax. He added that the “unity of Russian Orthodox Christianity does not interfere with the full-fledged lives of sovereign states that are the heirs of Kievan Rus”.

An independent “Orthodox” body was formed in the Ukraine after the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule, but, it remains unrecognised by any other Orthodox church. The Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church of the MP is the sole legitimate church in the Ukraine. On Sunday, Patriarch Aleksei said the MP “had created all conditions” necessary for the UAOC (MP) to minister to local believers.

The tension surrounding church divisions unfolded against a backdrop of disputes between Moscow and Kiev over gas prices, the Ukraine’s drive to join NATO, and a move to remove the Russian Black Sea Fleet from Crimea by 2017. Yushchenko has long called a single, independent, and fully-recognised “Ukrainian Orthodox Church” vital to forming the country’s national identity. “I believe any sort of division among Ukrainian believers will be short-lived. I believe we will achieve our dream”, Yushchenko told tens of thousands (??) of clerics, parishioners and officials in the rain outside Kiev’s 11th-century St Sofia Cathedral on Saturday. In his remarks, Bartholomew referred to the historical difficulties of Orthodoxy in the Ukraine, including the “annexation” of both the Ukrainian Church and state by Russia under Peter the Great in the late 17th century.

On Sunday, Russian television showed dozens of people shouting “Aleksei is our patriarch” in Kiev. Patriarch Aleksei only agreed to attend after securing an agreement that the schismatical Kiev-based church would not take part in the ceremonies.

28 July 2008

Moscow Times

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/369226.htm (in English)

Editor’s Note:

What a roller-coaster! Things do get curiouser and curiouser… are Uncle William and the Mad Hatter going to show up with the Rabbit? Bart is trying to please everyone, and he is going to end by pleasing no one. Note well that His Holiness was able to bar schismatics and Uniates from the festivities. That doesn’t sound like a humiliated figure at all. At least, Cardinal Husar has the good-sense to go to ground when he senses that he is in a weak position. As for Yushchenko… he is going to end by spoiling his pet project. He had best keep his mouth shut. Also note that Patriarch Aleksei, not Bart, was the main celebrant of the liturgy. As we are not Vatican I Roman Catholics, this was proper, for His Holiness is the hierarch of jurisdiction.

It’s certainly not boring, is it? Up one minute, down the next. However, Yushchenko is playing with matches near a spreading pool of petrol. He should have the good-sense to know that he is beaten and give up. It looks for all the world that he is a goner politically, and that everyone knows it, save he. Pathetic, in a word. Someone shoot this wounded horse (the Ukrainian “state”) and put it out of its misery. It’s the only humane thing to do. 

Senator McCain Makes another Attempt to “Teach” Russia

US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (1936- ), presumptive Republican nominee for US President

Republican presidential candidate John McCain confirmed his intention to seek the expulsion of Russia from the G-8 group should he win the forthcoming presidential election in November. Senator McCain resembles a bully waving his fists in the face of the man offering him the hand of friendship and cooperation. Regretfully, he might soon find himself in the Oval Office as President of the USA. To a certain extent, the situation is balanced by the fact that the other presidential hopeful, the Democrat Barack Obama, finds it important to cooperate with Russia in addressing global problems. In a speech in Berlin last week, Mr Obama said cooperation with Russia is high on the G-8 agenda. By the way, none of the other G-8 members support Senator McCain’s position on Russia. 

Apparently, Senator McCain ran into fierce criticism at home for his hostile statements towards Russia. It is no secret that he must have drawn conclusions from the experience, as was signalled by the Russian senators who met with Mr McCain’s staff in Washington a few days ago. The Russian MPs had no grounds for such optimism then, for the presidential candidate is playing the role of a battle-hardened soldier of the Cold War ready to force the rest of the world to follow the American line. Any sober-minded government official must understand the destructive nature of that sort of policy, which has long proved its insolvency. Washington’s attempts to teach Moscow and judge its behaviour on the international scene have always looked absurd. They are doomed all the more today, after Russia has acquired economic might, and, unlike the USA, enjoys growing authority and influence worldwide. 

Senator McCain had best remember that Russia will pursue a foreign policy that meets its national interests, not those of a “benevolent” foreign power. For this reason, Russia opposes NATO’s expansion eastwards and US ABM defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, it demands a fair and equal game in international affairs, and that the UN Charter be observed strictly. Moscow’s position won’t change, no matter who becomes the new tenant of the White House. 

28 July 2008

Viktor Yenikeyev

Voice of Russia World Service       

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=78319&cid=19&p=28.07.2008 (in Russian)

A Principled Reply to an Impassioned Interlocutor…

Drinking Tea (Aleksei Naumov, 1896). A good picture of a laywoman having a frank discussion with a priest, don’t you think? It does set the scene.

A Note to My Readers

This is not a general post per se. It is a measured personal response to a rather emotional comment that I deleted because it did no justice to the poster or his ideas, and it made him look worse than he is. There are times when an honourable person protects the reputation of their opponents, for it is only decent and fair. In addition, he identifies himself as a priest, and I have no desire to paint a priest who has done no public sin in a bad light. Christian charity forbids such.

******

I have been accused of ignorance. True, I do not have a background in theology, my background is in history, and I have the good-sense to ask those better-instructed than I am (obviously, anyone from SVS is out of the question, due to their Renovationism and the poor quality of instruction there). One of my main academic concentrations was German rule in Russia from 1941-44. That story is complex, convoluted, tragic, and nasty in the extreme. There were those who willingly collaborated with the Nazis, and the nastiest chapters on collaboration were written in the Baltic states and in the Ukraine. Yushchenko is a khokhol because he is the spiritual descendant of the OUN and UPA. These groups cooperated with the Nazis when they were winning and turned on them when they were losing. Nice people. Even Krasnov, who was a traitor, didn’t stab his German friends in the back. Krasnov didn’t murder churchmen either, as the OUN did, as is clear in the German documentation in the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz. Yushchenko gave the distinction of the “Hero of the Ukraine” to the convicted murderer and OUN terrorist Roman Shukhevich (he was also an officer in the SS). Birds of a feather… need I say more? Do you condemn this enormity as well, Father? One would hope so.

I believe in Vatican I theology? When I reject papal infallibility? When I reject the pretensions of Black Bart to be the “Universal Patriarch?” Father, you know very well that Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev attacked this idea strongly, and I shall note that recently he made a fool of John Erickson (not a hard thing to do, if ever there was a popinjay, it is he) at the recent St Alban’s dixie-fry at SVS. You also infer that I am not educated and lack a background in the subject. As for you, I assume you are reasonably educated (if you went to SVS, you were badly-formed, unfortunately) and not a bad sort. I can separate personal from intellectual disagreement. Again, how can someone who rejects the papacy believe in Vatican I? I know that you disagree strongly with me, but, at least, please, be accurate in your accusations! Do you find me an obscurantist? A closet Old Ritualist? I am neither, but, these accusations make more sense than calling me a Vatican I Catholic! For shame, sir.

If the UAOC (MP) is not an autonomous church, for which I have seen in countless citations in Russian, by the way, what is it? Recently, there was a listing of the autonomous churches under the ompofor of the MP: ROCOR, Japan, China, Estonia, Latvia, Byelorussia, AND THE UKRAINE. Russian sources invariably speak of Metropolitan Vladimir as a FIrst Hierarch. Oh, and I have read the official website of the UAOC (MP), I even have gotten links to wonderful articles from it. For shame that you would trip yourself up on a relatively minor point. I expected better of you. 

I do not assume that you do not know the Russian sources, rather, you are reading them through a nationalist lens. I fear that you do not like that I am interpreting things with a “Greater Rus” point of view. Greater Rus stretches from the foothills of the Carpathians to the Pacific, from Kotlas in the north to Sevastopol in the south. It is one unified Orthodox culture, with local variations, of course. There are national and religious minorities, of course, but, this does not obviate the fact that the general tenor of the civilisation is not only Orthodox, but, Russian Orthodox. Greater Rus was embodied in the Russian Empire. Shall it rise again? Perhaps. A Romanov may sit on the throne again (may God grant such a good thing). Am I wrong in thinking that you are ideologically committed to American-style “democracy”? It certainly seems so. An American “democrat” believes in consensus, a Russian “autocrat” believes in Truth. The distinction is not fine, sir.  

As for the term “katsap”, it doesn’t bother me in the least. Actually, I’ve heard much worse over the years than that from most Galician fanatics. Yushchenko is the perfect embodiment of the khokhol as he attempted to split Christ’s Church. I view that as a serious thing, and all those doing such are my enemies, as they are Christ’s enemies. You should know that, and Metropolitan Vladimir at the last Archpastoral Council called the Ukrainian nationalist schismatics “graceless”. I asked an acquaintance in Moscow if that was an accurate account, and they confirmed it. Yushchenko wished to make a graceless body the vehicle for “church unity”. I am not to be aghast at that? Again, for shame. 85 percent of the Orthodox in the Ukraine are faithful to Christ and His Church, despite all the pressure from Yushchenko to blaspheme Christ. Again, the Church is the embodiment of Christ, and since Yushchenko is attacking it, he attacks Our Lord Christ Himself. No small beer.

The views embodied in “Greater Rus” and “Ukrainian nationalism” are irreconcilable and mutually exclusive. One or the other shall prevail. The two cannot co-exist, for they disagree profoundly on the ontological foundation of the people of Russia. I fear that your anger is due to the fact that there are signs that “Greater Rus” is going to triumph, and that the US lacks the financial, military, and spiritual resources to uphold the Ukie nationalists.

As much as I disagree with you, may God shine on you and your house. May you be spared any pain or suffering. Nevertheless, if you stand for something that I (and many others) find offensive to the very Nature (I am thinking in terms of the German term Urgrund here) of our people and Christ’s Church, I shall stand up. If I did not, I would have to answer for it on the Last Day.  

Bog blagoslovit.

Vara Drezhlo

Monday 28 July 2008

Feastday of Grand Prince Equal-to-the-Apostles St Vladimir of Kiev, Baptiser of Russia, First of All the Saints that Shone Forth in the Russian Land

Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Wants the USA and Russia to Work Closely together to Solve Global Problems

Barack Obama (1961- ), likely Democratic candidate for US president (left), John McCain III (1936- ), likely Republican candidate for US president

America’s presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called for closer cooperation with Russia on nuclear disarmament and other major global problems in a keynote speech in Berlin on Thursday. No one can argue with Mr Obama when he says that these days no country alone can successfully handle things like international terrorism, drug trafficking, organised crime, famine and poverty, and natural disasters. Russia is an increasingly-active partner [in global efforts to resolve] the questions of nuclear non-proliferation, regional conflicts, economic and financial crises, the search for alternative energy solutions, and a host of other problems. 

This truth is not exactly news. Russia and the United States have already worked together on the solution of some of these problems and there has been some success in their joint work. This was especially clear after Russia became the first to proffer a helping hand to the Americans in the fight against the evil of terrorism in the immediate wake of the tragic 9/11 attacks in September 2001. However, it’s no secret to anybody that our strategic cooperation only went so far, as Washington kept inventing reasons for them not to cooperate in earnest. 

With a new President in the White House, we hope that relations between the USA and Russia reach a level that would be commensurate with the role they play in the contemporary world, and in relation to their global interests. In this context, apparently aware of this, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has increasingly distanced himself from the Bush administration and his previous harsh rhetoric on the topic, and is now vowing to work more closely with Russia on nuclear disarmament and other global issues. By the way, this was confirmed by the members of the delegation of the Federation Council of Russia that recently visited the USA and met with representatives from the staffs of both presumptive nominees for the post of president.

Let us emphasise, that on his part, President Dmitri Medvedev has consistently stated his readiness to engage in constructive, mutually-rewarding, and equal dialogue with any American Chief Executive. 

26 July 2008

Viktor Yenikeyev

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=78211&cid=19&p=26.07.2008 (in Russian)