Russians Question Albright’s Attitude

In the first interview on Russian television with the new American secretary of state, Russia’s most prominent television journalist, Yevgeny Kiselyov, leaned forward and asked the question most pressing to Russian viewers.

“Miss Albright,” he said intently, “Please tell me how the circumstances of your life, your immigrant past, the fact that you had to leave your native Czechoslovakia because the communists had taken power with Moscow’s support, how has all this influenced your attitude to Russia?”

Madeleine Albright, who was filmed in her Washington office on the eve of her first world tour as secretary of state, replied rather tartly that her views of communism were not very different from those of most Russians. “They also suffered,” she said.