Rice troubled by Kremlin's concentration of power

Washington, May 11: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking before a visit to Moscow, said today she was troubled by the concentration of power in the Kremlin and said US-Russia relations were in a ''difficult period.'' ''As with any relationship it is complicated, as with any big relationship,'' Rice, who leaves for her trip on Sunday, told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on foreign operations.

The United States is at loggerheads with Russia over a host of issues, including U.S. plans for a European-based missile defense system, which Moscow says is a return to the Cold War period, the future of Kosovo and human rights.

Washington has angered Russia and unsettled some European allies with its plan to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic from 2012 to help shield Europe from possible missile attack by nations such as Iran.

Rice did not mention tensions over the missile shield, which will likely be raised in her meetings with Moscow next week, but she criticized Russia for a backsliding in reforms.

''Everybody around the world, in Europe and the United States, is very concerned about the internal course that Russia has taken in recent years,'' said Rice, referring to an erosion of press and other freedoms.

''The concentration of power in the Kremlin has been troubling,'' she added.

She said Russia also had problems accepting the US relationship with neighbors such as Georgia and Ukraine that were once part of the Soviet Union.

''We have tried to convince the Russians that the emergence of democracies on their borders -- whether it is Georgia or Ukraine -- would not be a problem and that of course we will have good and sound relations with those countries and will continue to,'' Rice told the committee.

Many Russians have voiced suspicion that US efforts to spread democracy in such former communist countries is an attempt to encroach on their traditional spheres of influence.

In recent months, President Vladimir Putin has used increasingly caustic language against the Bush administration and in a Feb. 10 speech in Munich, the Russian leader accused the United States of seeking to impose its will on the world.

Rice said the two superpowers were cooperating well on Iran and North Korea and trying to curb those countries' nuclear programs via joint action at the United Nations, but noted: ''The fact is that on some others (issues aside from Iran and North Korea) it has been a difficult period.''

Reuters>