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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Relations with Russia are likely to suffer

U.S., EU worry about increase in military tension

French President Nicholas Sarkozy, left, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrive at a news conference at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday.  (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
By Jonathan S. Landay McClatchy

WASHINGTON – Russia’s invasion of Georgia has plunged relations with the United States to their iciest point since the Cold War, but just how deep the chill will go depends on whether Moscow turns its tanks around or sends them into Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, to oust the country’s pro-Western government, U.S. officials and analysts said Tuesday.

“It is very important now that all parties cease fire,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. “The Georgians have agreed to a cease-fire. The Russians need to stop their military operations as they have apparently said that they will.”

Rice spoke after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to the Russian onslaught launched after Georgia’s now badly mauled army tried last week to take control of the Moscow-backed secessionist province of South Ossetia.

Many experts agreed that the invasion has dealt a serious blow to relations between Moscow – which appears bent on stopping Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili from leading his country into NATO – and the United States and the European Union.

“Everyone is just shocked that Russia invaded another country,” said Michael McFaul of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. “Multimillion-dollar investors are worried about risk (and) people are a little more nervous about cooperative endeavors with Russia.”

There’s also concern that Russia, stoked by its military success in Georgia, could move to re-exert its influence on other parts of its former empire, including Ukraine, where many ethnic Russians seek reunion with their motherland.

“We’re already on a slippery slope,” McFaul said. “They (Russian leaders) are thrilled with what’s happening now. They are demonstrating that when push comes to shove, they can push and shove, and we can’t. They believe they can dominate this region.”

But the extent of the damage won’t be known until Moscow makes clear whether it will cooperate in a European-led peace initiative or continue its offensive.

Moreover, the United States needs Russia’s help on a range of issues, from tightening U.N. sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment work to ensuring that North Korea abides by an agreement to eliminate its nuclear weapons program.

Russia and the United States also work closely on counterterrorism, and Moscow’s influence is also required on a host of other issues, from the Middle East peace process and ending the war in Iraq to halting the proliferation of materials useful in producing biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

“There is no question that the Bush administration will want to … express its disapproval and to downgrade the relationship,” said Charles Kupchan, a former White House adviser on European affairs now with the Council on Foreign Relations. “But at the same time, the United States doesn’t want to shoot itself in the foot.”

To prove that point, the measures the United States and its European allies are considering to drive home their anger over the assault are largely symbolic.

In a first step, the 26-nation NATO alliance Tuesday reiterated its “very strong” support for Georgia, announced that the former Soviet republic remained on track for membership, and denounced Russia’s “excessive, disproportionate use of force.”

Other punitive measures could include cancellation of a decade-old NATO-Russia naval exercise set to begin Friday, Russia’s ouster from the G-8, a group of the world’s wealthiest nations, and a revocation of an invitation to join a prestigious European economic policy organization, U.S. officials said.

The Bush administration and the European Union also are likely to downgrade diplomatic contacts with Moscow.

The measures, however, reflect the lack of Western leverage over Russia, which has become emboldened by its oil and gas wealth – it has the world’s largest natural gas reserves and is the second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia – and control over energy transmission systems and supplies on which Europe depends.

The United States and the European Union are likely to take tougher stands if Russia fails to pull its forces out of Georgia or renew hostilities.

“If the Russians continue to be bloody minded, I think we are in for a very bad time,” said James F. Collins, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia. “We are not going to have another Cold War (but) we are going to have a very tense relationship.”

U.S. officials have not spelled out the consequences of a renewed Russian offensive.

But experts said the United States could pursue punitive economic steps, strengthen the military capabilities of the former Soviet-bloc nations of Eastern Europe that joined NATO, and press harder for admission to NATO of Ukraine, a step that Moscow vigorously opposes.

The United States could also accelerate, over Moscow’s objections, the construction of missile defense facilities planned for Poland and the Czech Republic.

Yet there are significant risks in such steps, experts said, including a sharper competition for global resources and influence, especially in energy-rich Central Asia, which, like Georgia, was part of the Soviet Union.