The United States expressed concern on Wednesday about Russia’s
arms sales to Iran, Syria and Venezuela and accused Moscow of
bullying its neighbors, Reuters news agency reported March 21.
Speaking in Brussels before talks with EU officials, U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State David Kramer welcomed Russian cooperation
on issues such as counter-terrorism and the nuclear crises with
Iran and North Korea and Middle East tensions.
But he also highlighted what Washington saw as negative aspects
of Russian policy complicating post-Cold War relations.
“We have areas on which we disagree and those issues
include the internal situation in Russia, some aggressive pressure
policies against neighboring states,” he said.
“We have serious concerns about Russian arms sales to
states we feel countries should not be engaging, such as Iran,
such as Syria and Venezuela as well.”
However he said there had been no significant change in the
U.S.-Russia relations since Russian President Vladimir Putin
accused the United States last month of seeking to impose its
will on the world with dangerous policies.
Kramer also said Washington hoped for positive developments
in strained relations between Russia and new EU states like
Poland that were once Soviet satellites.
The official said he could not rule out the possibility of
a Russian veto of a U.N. resolution on the breakaway Serb province
of Kosovo, which the West hopes to see move to statehood.
Concerns about Russia’s internal policies ranged from
concentration of power and pressures on the media, political
opponents and non-governmental organizations.
Tensions between Georgia and Russia had eased since a crisis
last year, Kramer said, but he warned that the region remained
“very unstable and still has the potential to explode.”
“Our hope and goal is that Russia and Georgia work constructively
to lower the tension,” he said, adding that conflicts
in breakaway Georgian regions had the potential to spill over
into the Northern Caucasus region including Chechnya.
Kramer said the United States was not trying to impose its
values on Russia but did seek to encourage democratic progress.
