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Gold9472
09-29-2008, 10:25 PM
Bush warns Moscow against 'bullying' neighbors

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Bush_warns_Moscow_against_bullying__09292008.html

9/29/2008

US President George W. Bush told visiting Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus on Monday that Russia's democratic neighbors, like Georgia, should be able to exist "without fear of bullying."

Bush, who was due to meet later with Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko, said he and Adamkus had "talked about Georgia-Russia, and the need for democracies to be able to stand on their own feet without fear of bullying."

Bush also pledged help for Lithuania as the former Soviet republic and NATO member looks to diversify its sources of energy and restated the US obligation under the NATO charter to come to the aid of an alliance member under attack.

"It's important for the people of Lithuania to know that when the United States makes a commitment through, for example, Article 5 of the treaty, we mean it," the US president assured his guest.

With Lithuania seeking greater energy independence, Bush pledged the United States will "try to help you as best as we can."

And the US president expressed "hope" that, by mid-October, Lithuanians would be able to travel to the United States without first seeking a visa.

Adamkus thanked Bush for his support for Lithuania joining NATO, which it did in 2004, saying that would not have happened with US leadership "and the entire security question in the region would be in doubt."

The Lithuanian leader also appealed for a lasting US presence in Europe, implying such a presence might be necessary to dissuade a newly assertive Moscow from any designs on former Soviet republics.

"I hope that United States will be visible ... just to show our neighbors that we're definitely not alone, and we are building the democracy together," said Adamkus.

The White House had said that the situation in Georgia and relations with Russia would be a central focus on the talks, but that the leaders would also discuss NATO matters, as well as energy security.

Moscow has seen relations with former Soviet republics and the West deteriorate sharply since its early August war with Georgia, after years of tensions over access to energy supplies controlled by Russia.

Russia has regularly been accused of using its control of a hefty slice of Europe's market for political ends, allegedly turning off the taps to punish governments in Moscow's communist-era stomping ground that are too critical of the Kremlin.

Lithuania, which broke free from the crumbling Soviet bloc in 1991 and joined the EU and NATO in 2004, has been sparring with Russia since August 2006, when the Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft cut supplies to the country's only refinery.

And supplies to Europe were briefly disrupted in January 2006 as a consequence of a gas price dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia has said it wants to phase out cheap gas supplies for Ukraine under a subsidy scheme dating from Soviet times and bring prices paid by Kiev into line with market rates paid by other countries in Europe.

Adding to the tensions, Lithuania and Ukraine have been ardent supporters of Georgia's accession to NATO -- something Washington also supports despite Russia's vehement opposition.

And, at the UN General Assembly in New York last week, Yushchenko rejected Russian pressure to prevent his country from joining NATO, citing Moscow's "blackmailing and threatening vocabulary."

But political turmoil in Ukraine has raised questions about the fate of the pro-Western coalition there, and prompted talk of possible snap elections that might reverse the country's years of efforts to integrate with the West.

Analysts have said Ukraine could be next in Moscow's sights should it decide to flex more than diplomatic muscles in its former Soviet sphere of influence, amid fears over the maintenance of stable gas supplies to the European Union.