US spy chief casts doubt on Russian democracy

WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) Russia has taken a step backward in its democratic progress and could be heading toward a controlled succession to President Vladimir Putin, the top US intelligence official said.

Retired Navy Admiral Mike McConnell, installed as US director of national intelligence last week, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Putin has become surrounded by ''extremely conservative'' advisers who are suspicious of the United States.

''The march to democracy has taken a back step. And now there are more arrangements to control the process and the populace and the parties and so on, to the point of picking the next leader of Russia,'' McConnell said yesterday at a hearing to discuss world threats to the United States.

''That's my worry: Is the march toward democracy, the way we understood it ... now being controlled in a way that it is less of a democratic process?'' He suggested that aggressive Russian rhetoric toward the United States in recent weeks could reflect the direction of political influence in Russia.

Putin, who has called Washington's plan to put a missile defense system in central Europe a threat to Russian security, accused the United States of wanting to dominate the world during a February 10 speech in Germany.

Nine days later, Gen Nikolai Solovstov, commander of Russia's strategic forces, warned that Russian missiles could target Poland and the Czech Republic if they accepted parts of the US missile system.

''Those that (Putin) is listening to ... interpret things through a lens that portrays Russia as the downtrodden or (shows) we're trying to hold them back to the advantage of the United States,'' McConnell told the Senate panel.

''My reading of that is they're not interpreting the lens correctly. But they have renewed energy and vigor because of the high price of oil.'' US intelligence depicts Russia as a country that sees itself as an energy superpower. But Russian leaders still view a strong military as a necessary element for its return to great-power status.

Army Lt Gen Michael Maples, who heads the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, said Russia spent about 90 billion dollars on defense in 2006, compared with China's 80 billion dollars to 115 billion dollars.

US defense spending for the current year is estimated at about 500 billion dollars, or more than two-thirds of the 738 billion dollars spent in 2006 by all other countries combined.

Reuters SBA VP0740