Don’t be scared of the Russians

The big Russian bear just wants to be loved

Con Coughlin

10 November 2007

The Kremlin is full of paranoia, not aggression

Even if Mr Putin does stand down as president after he completes his second term of office next year, it will be business as usual for the small clique of former KGB officers — the siloviki — who effectively run the country and who have made vast personal fortunes out of what is officially described as the nationalisation of Russia’s oil wealth, but in reality has been the transfer of the title deeds from one group of corrupt oligarchs to another.

The vast riches generated by Russia’s seemingly limitless oil and gas reserves have put the swagger back in the bear’s step. With Russia now boasting the world’s third largest currency reserves — some £200 billion — the Kremlin has been able to finance a massive increase in spending on the nation’s defence budget — from 140 billion roubles in 2001 to 870 billion (£16.7 billion) this year. And it is this resurgent militarism, together with the increasingly confrontational approach Mr Putin has recently adopted in his dealings with the West, which has raised fears about the prospect of a new Cold War enveloping the European continent.

In fact, looking at the world through the prism of the Kremlin’s inner sanctum, a very different sort of perspective emerges, one in which the Russians, for all their newfound wealth, remain utterly paranoid about what they regard as the West’s Machiavellian designs to subjugate them to the status of international serfdom.

‘Look,’ said one senior Kremlin official pointing at a huge map of the vast mass of Russia’s hinterland displayed upon his wall. ‘If the Americans put their radar systems in central Europe, as they plan to do, they will be able to monitor everything we do throughout half of our territory. What’s that got to do with protecting the West from attack by rogue states?’

I had raised the vexed issue of Washington’s missile defence system, key parts of which will be located on Russia’s border in Poland and the Czech Republic, because it appeared to me to lie at the heart of the recent escalation in tensions between the Kremlin and the West, but I had been unprepared for the almost hysterical response it generated from my Kremlin host.

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Alex

November 19th, 2007 6:56am Report this comment

I think, that americans place this radar and missiles because they are not interested to see quet and friendly Europe. If EC and Russia help each other. Russia to Europe with energy and Europe to Russia with technologies and transport. Everybody will forget about USA, they will lose their influence. Look! They come to European outsiders and place their military facilities to protect Europe, but nobody in Europe was asking them or even was warried about danger from Iran. The main reason is to politicaly destabilize relations between EC and Russia, in this case USA have their role and keep control!

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