Putin committed Moscow to the coalition against terrorism yesterday, but made plain that his support carried a price tag: the upgrading of Russia as part of a strategic triple entente alongside the United States and the European Union.

“Some decisions are being taken without us and we are merely informed later,” he told the German parliament. “Is this real partnership?” Speaking in fluent German, the Russian leader suggested that one of the consequences of the terrorist attacks on the US would have to be a rethinking of Russia’s role in the world.

“We talk about shared values, yet we still have not learnt to trust each other,” he said, earning louder applause by adding: “The Cold War is over.” The terrorist attacks, he said, represented a failure by all leading states to modernise the strategic relationship.

“We are all guilty — above all, we politicians in whom ordinary citizens had placed their trust for security. We haven’t yet done enough to acknowledge the changes in the world over the last decade.” Mr Putin outlined Russia’s contribution to the anti-terror coalition. Russian airspace would be open for US aircraft on “humanitarian flights”. Moscow had persuaded the three Central Asian republics — Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — to close their borders to Afghanistan. Technically, at least, the country is now sealed off on all sides, since Pakistan and Iran have also pledged to close their frontiers. The Tajik frontier is being reinforced with Russian troops.

Mr Putin emphasised that his soldiers would not fight in Afghanistan but were ready to take part in unspecified rescue missions. His caution reflected that of his general staff, which is still stung by the memory of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 after a decade of occupation.

The Russian leader told Gerhard Schröder, the Chancellor, that he was not asking for anything in return from the West. There was not even a suggestion that Germany should try to moderate the military plans of the US or start to lobby harder for changes in President Bush’s missile defence programme.

But Mr Putin did not need to wade in heavily. He is already making some easy tactical gains from his relatively low-key, low-risk commitment to the US-led coalition. He can probably achieve a cordon sanitaire in northern Afghanistan, preventing the northward spread of militant Islam.

The drug flow from Afghanistan through Central Asian states to European Russia can be halted. And the West may come quietly to tolerate Russia’s grisly war against Chechen “terrorists”.

All these prizes will fall into Mr Putin’s lap without much ado. The strategic goals, however, are more complex and it is these that are at the hub of his long-planned three-day state visit to Germany. His aim — supported by Germany — is a re-ordering of the world, shifting the focus away from US hegemony and towards a triad of the US, the European Union and Russia.

“Germany is one of our leading partners. And it is the centre of an integrated Europe,” Mr Putin said. “By consolidating German-Russian relations, I want to open up new perspectives for Russia’s place in Europe, even if we are not a member of the European Union.” For Mr Putin, the main message of the American tragedy is that it underlines American vulnerability.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001330017-2001333272,00.html

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001