Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 56, April 2001

Russian Anger at Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz Remarks

In a television interview in mid-February, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described Russia as an "active proliferator", provoking an angry response from senior Russian officials (see Disarmament Diplomacy No. 54). On March 18, the Sunday Telegraph published an interview with Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz which once again caused offence in Moscow. The interview, conducted by former British Conservative member of Parliament Winston Churchill, contained the following inflammatory passages:

"Question: 'Which are the countries that bother you most at the present time?'

Rumsfeld: '... The ones that come up on the radar screen are North Korea, Iran, Iraq and Libya... Russia is an active proliferator. It has been providing countries with assistance...in ways that complicate the problem for the United States and Western Europe. It has been doing it over a sustained period, which means that, in the period ahead, we all have to live with the results of that proliferation.' ...

Question: 'Does the administration feel somewhat provoked by President Putin's statement about his intention to resume arms sales to Iran, or did they really never stop them?'

Wolfowitz: 'I think it's been an ongoing activity and a serious problem... These people seem to be willing to sell anything to anyone for money. It recalls Lenin's phrase that the capitalists will sell the very rope from which we will hang them.'

Question: 'But given the help that the US has given Russia in economic terms, has that not been a basis for getting at least some moderation of such sales?'

Wolfowitz: 'It ought to be. But we seem...reluctant to use that leverage, and it's almost as though, at least for a long period of time, Russian weakness gave them leverage on us. My view is that they have to be confronted with a choice. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't expect billions of dollars of business and aid and all that with the United States and its allies, and then turn around and do smaller quantities of obnoxious stuff that threatens our people and our pilots and our sailors.'"

On March 20, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement responding to the "openly confrontationist statements" contained in the interview: "What those false accusations in the spirit of the Cold War were needed for becomes clear when these two prominent military theorists begin to build a fragile 'little bridge' to the need for a national strategic missile defence system for the United States. Ignoring the support which the 1972 ABM Treaty enjoys among most countries of the world (and...among 50% of Americans), they...declare that this cornerstone international agreement is actually dead and that it only remains to legally give it up." The statement continues: "Everything indicates that the new Pentagon leadership... [is facing] a difficult adaptation...to the realities of the post-confrontation period. The top US Defense Department officials. After eight years of absence from the corridors of power, it seems do not understand how much the world has changed... What also makes one cautious is that the dogmatic pronouncements of Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz obviously run counter to the public stand of the new US President, namely: Russia and the United States are not adversaries and do not threaten each other. It's clear that what's needed now is not endless propaganda duels...but an early and substantive Russian-American dialogue with a view to preserving strategic stability and finding a mutually acceptable solution to the pile-up of security problems. The Russian side is ready for such a constructive dialogue, our concrete new proposals are on the table. It is now up to the United States."

Reports: 'Something special is at risk', by Winston Churchill, The Sunday Telegraph, March 18; Russian Foreign Ministry Statement, Document 462-20-03-2001, March 20; Angry Moscow says Rumsfeld in Cold War time warp, Reuters, March 20.