Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday appeared to rebuke Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for comparing Western calls for action on Libya with the Crusades, in the sharpest public difference yet between Russia’s ruling “tandem” ahead of next year’s elections.
Putin, broadly regarded as the most powerful man in Russia, told workers at a missile factory that a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi “resembles medieval calls for crusades.”
Shortly afterwards, Medvedev said the use of such terms was unacceptable and could stir up more violence.
Photo: Reuters
Medvedev did not mention Putin by name, but the comments amounted to his sharpest ever public criticism of his mentor and raised concerns of discord between the two leaders ahead of next year’s presidential election.
“I think we all need to be careful in our evaluations. In no way is it acceptable to use expressions that in essence lead to a clash of civilizations, such as crusades and so forth — this is unacceptable,” Medvedev told the Kremlin pool of reporters.
“Otherwise everything may end up far worse,” said Medvedev, dressed in a leather bomber jacket emblazoned with a golden double-headed eagle and the title “Supreme Commander in Chief of the Russian Armed Forces.”
Unless Medvedev made a gaffe by inadvertently criticizing his mentor, such a public rebuke indicates a rift between Russia’s two leaders over Libya on the day US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates began a visit to Russia.
The two leaders differed on much more than tone.
Medvedev defended his order to abstain from the vote on the UN resolution that Putin vehemently criticized. He also steered clear of chiding the US, while Putin lambasted Washington.
“The resolution is defective and flawed. It allows everything,” Putin told workers at a ballistic missile factory in Votkinsk in central Russia. “It resembles medieval calls for crusades.”
Medvedev defended his decision not to use Russia’s veto.
“We did not use it for one simple reason: because I do not consider this resolution wrong. Moreover, on the whole, I believe this resolution reflects our understanding of what is going on in Libya as well, but not in every way,” Medvedev said.
The 45-year-old Kremlin chief’s comments were widely reported on state television. Putin’s crusade comment was quietly dropped from some state television news bulletins after Medvedev’s criticism.
Putin, in some of his harshest criticism of the US since US President Barack Obama began a campaign to improve ties, compared the Libya intervention to the -invasion of Iraq under former US -president George W. Bush and said it showed Russia was right to spend billions to bolster its military.
Medvedev did not mention the US and stressed the international nature of diplomatic efforts over Libya.
“We did not use our veto ... so to be flapping our wings and saying we did not know what we were doing would be wrong. We did this consciously,” he said. “I gave the instructions to the foreign ministry, and they were carried out.”
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