Putin Praises Power Agencies

Just a few years ago, separatists and power-hungry oligarchs threatened Russia's very existence. But thanks to the security services, law enforcement agencies and military, order has been restored and Russia has been granted a new lease on life.

That was President Vladimir Putin's message Friday at a Kremlin reception for newly promoted officers. In his comments, the president also pledged to lavish future funds on the so-called power agencies.

"All of this demands constant work to improve our country's military organization, including maintaining our nuclear deterrent forces at a high level of combat readiness," Putin said.

Putin repeated what senior officials have already said -- that the government would spend nearly $191 billion building up the military from 2007 to 2015. Putin is scheduled to leave office in 2008.

The United States' plans to deploy parts of a ballistic missile defense system in Eastern Europe are one of many reasons Russia should increase arms spending, Putin said.

Putin recalled that then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had dismissed Russia's nuclear capabilities when arguing against a U.S. missile shield.

"'What are we arguing about?'" Putin said Powell told America's European allies. "'What missile defense? Defense against what?' They -- that is, us -- don't have anything left now. They've got no missiles either now, just a load of rusting metal, that's all."

The White House and Kremlin remain at odds over the U.S. missile shield in Europe. While Washington insists the shield would only target missiles launched by rogue states, Moscow says Europe faces no such threats and has voiced concerns that the system would undermine Russia's nuclear forces -- and its deterrent capacity vis-a-vis the United States.

Putin also outlined major goals for the power agencies before the 2007 parliamentary elections and the 2008 presidential vote.

"A task of particular importance for the FSB this year will be ensuring security during elections to the State Duma and regional legislative assemblies. It is important to make sure the campaigns remain free of nationalist and extremist sloganeering," he said.

The Kremlin has used the threat of ultranationalism and xenophobia to crack down on mostly nonviolent political opposition forces in an effort to sideline them and insure the dominance of pro-Kremlin parties.

"With the armed forces in the state they were at that time, with what was essentially an ongoing civil war being waged, continued bloodshed in the Caucasus and the country's national wealth being robbed on an unprecedented scale as millions of people looked on, the picture appeared to be of a country with no future ahead of it," Putin said in comments posted on the Kremlin web site. "But dramatic change has been achieved over these last years, and this is thanks to your efforts, too."

The audience included generals from the Federal Guard Service, Prosecutor General's Office, Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry, Federal Prison Service, Federal Drug Control Agency and Federal Security Service, or FSB.

But much work remains to be done, the commander in chief said. Major challenges, he said, include extremism, violent xenophobia, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

More lies from comrade Putin!

What Powell really said:

As you are aware, President-elect Bush has made it quite clear that he is committed to deploying an effective missile defense using the best technology at the earliest possible date. We will be developing a plan for the way ahead - including looking at the diplomatic ramifications.
I believe it is important that we look at missile defense within the context of our entire strategic framework.
This framework includes offensive nuclear weapons, our command and control systems, our intelligence systems, arms control including our non-proliferation efforts, and missile defense.
No one thinking soundly, logically, would construct a strategic framework with offense only. Not the New York Giants and not America.
If we can put together a complete framework, one that includes all the strategic dimensions, including defense, we will be that much better off in our relations with both friend and foe.
I still remember the original purpose of such a defense -- that is to start diminishing the value of offensive weapons. That's important if we are serious - and we are in our efforts to make the world a safer place with fewer nuclear weapons and with the ones that remain having less currency.
There is no question that today we still need the offensive component of our strategic architecture because, in my mind, the greatest deterrent right now is the clear fact that we have the capability to destroy any tyrant who could fire a missile at us.
This is another area where studied ambiguity is useless. With respect to our offensive component we still need a president who can stand on a DMZ, gaze into enemy territory, and let it be known without a second's hesitation that should a missile come from that territory there is no question as to what will happen next.
While we design this complete strategic framework and decide these important issues on missile defense, there will be time to consult with our allies and friends to solicit their views and to ensure their understanding of what we are doing and, in some cases, their participation. We will also discuss this issue with the Russians and the Chinese, as we continue to operate on the arms control front as well.
In that context, the ABM Treaty in its current form is no longer relevant to our new strategic framework. We hope to persuade the Russians of the need to move beyond it.
Important in this regard also is to reduce further the number of excess nuclear weapons in the offensive part of the framework. There are still too many in ours and in Russia's stockpiles.
And in Russia there are still thousands of nuclear weapons that may not be secure. This challenge was addressed in 1991 by you, Senator Lugar, and by your fellow Senator then, Senator Nunn of Georgia. Under the resulting program, security at many Russian nuclear facilities has been improved and warheads have been destroyed.
But a great deal of Russian nuclear material cannot be accounted for. We need an accurate inventory of all this material. And we need to increase and reinforce our efforts to dismantle as many of Russia's weapons as possible, as quickly as possible. - Colin L. Powell, January 17, 2001

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