US and Russian defense chiefs commiserated about “painful” military reforms and signed accords on Wednesday stepping up dialogue, gestures that aimed to show improving ties between the former Cold War foes.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov also discussed thorny issues during their series of talks, including US plans for a missile defense system in Europe and Russia’s ceasefire with Georgia. There were no breakthroughs on those issues.
Five-hour meet
However, the talks were portrayed positively by both men, who were to dine together on Wednesday evening on a US Navy barge in the Potomac River — capping off more than five hours of meetings in a single day, an unusual amount of Gates’ time for any foreign dignitary, aides say.
“I do hope that my visit to the United States will provide a very powerful impetus to the development of relations between our two nations,” Serdyukov told reporters.
Gates said the accords they signed would ensure more frequent meetings between the two defense chiefs — at least one a year — and pave the way for more joint programs, exchanges and exercises between the two nations’ militaries.
Ties between the US and Russia have been slowly recovering since tensions over Russia’s 2008 war with the pro-Western former Soviet republic of Georgia. US President Barack Obama took office last year seeking to “reset” relations.
Proponents say Obama’s efforts helped win Russian support for sanctions on Iran as well as on military supply routes for the Afghan War. It also yielded a new US-Russian arms reduction treaty, which faces an uncertain path to approval in the full US Senate.
A key Senate committee was expected yesterday to approve the treaty, which commits Russia and the US to reduce deployed nuclear warheads by about 30 percent. However, some Republicans are putting up a fight, and a full Senate vote is not expected until after November congressional elections.
A senior US defense official, briefing reporters after the talks, said Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, was awaiting US action before pursuing ratification further.
“They’ve had some preliminary hearings, but decided they’re going to let the Senate go first,” the official said.
Painful
Gates and Serdyukov both used the word “painful” to describe reforms they are pursuing in their militaries, belt-tightening that has defense industry executives and military commanders girding for leaner times, globally.
In the US, Gates has announced controversial plans to shut down an entire military command and ax at least 50 officers and 150 senior civilian executive posts, efforts meant to help save US$100 billion over five years.
Serdyukov, who analysts say is unpopular among much of the military, is pursuing far more dramatic cuts in the number of Russian officers and the size of Russia’s armed forces.
“He and I face similar leadership challenges,” Gates told reporters, with Serdyukov sitting beside him. “We are both working hard to achieve sweeping, sometimes painful, but very necessary reforms in our respective militaries.”
Analysts say the amount of time Gates set aside for his Russian counterpart was a message in itself. Serdyukov is the first Russian defense minister to set foot in the Pentagon in more than five years.
Quality time
“This is a lot of quality time with Secretary Gates,” said Heather Conley at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said he believed calls for deeper ties by Gates and Serdyukov “sends a very strong signal through their respective organizations that they expect greater cooperation down the chain.”
US officials also said they were talking with Moscow about allowing lethal cargo for the Afghan War to travel along Russian rail routes, currently limited to non-lethal cargo.
Still, difficulties remain, including on issues like missile defense and Georgia. A US defense official said Russia did not back away from its concerns over US missile defense efforts in Europe.
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
RSS