Russia: Chicken legs and Russian economy
Russian news has focused on alleviating country's growing economic hardships and on trying to determine the future course of US-Russia relations.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent a major signal to the new American administration by stating at the Davos Economic Forum that a new chapter in US-Russia relations is only possible if Russia is removed from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment (JV). The Jackson-Vanick Amendment was passed by US Congress in the mid-1970s in order to limit and restrict trade with the USSR because of the way the communist superpower prohibited the emigration of Jews and other minorities. Following the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 and the relaxation of all emigration laws- resulting in the outflow of millions of people to the West, Israel and America - all former Soviet states inherited the Jackson-Vanik Amendment in their bilateral relationship with the United States. Since 1992, Congress voted to remove the JV condition from practically all former Soviet Republics - except Russia. Ukraine was removed from the JV Amendment in 2006, Azerbaijan and other new American allies were removed in 2007 and 2008.
For Russia, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment is a political and personal - not economic - issue. Given the growing trade between the US and Russian Federation since 1992, every American president waived the JV clause every year in order to facilitate bilateral economic cooperation. But the US Congress refuses to graduate Russia from said Amendment, citing new reasons each year, including the need to protect US domestic poultry producers from unfair practices of their Russian competitors. At Davos, Putin spoke in no uncertain terms that the original conditions for this Amendment have long since expired: "Russia does not want an exclusive relationship with the world economic powers. We just want openness in return for openness. USSR no longer exists, and there is no restriction on Russian Jews' immigration overseas."
Putin's personal message to the Davos participants expressed years of frustration with the US Congress, when every year since the early 1990s, the Russian government and various groups and organizations arguing for greater US-Russia economic relationship were frustrated by yet another refusal to remove Russia from the JV Amendment. "When the US Congress yet again refused to remove Russia from the Jackson Vanik Amendment, citing the need to protect the market for the chicken wings, I got a letter from a powerful Israeli politician who told me that he did not spend time in Soviet jails because of poultry (possibly alluding to his time as a political prisoner in Soviet Union for his desire to leave the country), and it's not even clear what they are doing in their Congress," said Putin as the audience reacted in shock at his statement.
To further prop up the Russian economy, Prime Ministers of Russia and Belarus signed joint an anti-crisis plan. "This is a very good plan," said Belorussian Prime Minister Sergey Sidorski. "It will support the economies of our two countries, will not allow them to fall below the 2008 levels and will hopefully even allow for some growth." The plan was the main item of consideration at the meeting of Ministers of the "Unionzied State." Russia and Belarus signed the official charter in 1996 that called for a full union between the two countries, but the actual implementation and the eventual merger of the two states has been a very slow and arduous process, encountering resistance either from Moscow or from Minsk. (An important note - when then-President Putin announced that he would not run for his country's highest office in 2008, many in the international political establishment thought that he would be able to force the final union between the two countries and become the President of said new state).
In further deliberation about the fate of US-Russia relations, Viachelsav Nikonov, President of "Politica" Fund, cautioned against having too many expectations for the improvement in the way Moscow and Washington view each other. "United States remains the world's most powerful state despite the economic downturn. By the time Obama was inaugurated, two major crises resolved themselves - Israeli action in Gaza and Russia-Ukraine gas row. Nothing should have or could have cast a pall on the new President's first days in office." Nikonov cited a possible visit by President Obama to Russia in April of this year, but was not optimistic that there will be major shifts in US-Russia relations. "American foreign policy is geared towards US global domination. There are countries that interfere with that plan - whether they actually desire to do so or not. Obviously, Russia is one such country."
He also noted that the NATO eastward expansion plan that would incorporate Ukraine and Georgia was "hatched " by the administration of then-President Bill Clinton, whose former officials now fill the ranks of Obama's administration, including former first lady and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "That means both Ukraine and Georgia can remain areas of sharp geopolitical competition between America and Russia. Still, the overall competition between our countries may lessen also because Russia is not a priority for Obama's administration - the current economic crisis and the need to stabilize the Middle East are more important for the new American President."
Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev congratulated the winners of the prestigious global off-road auto race "Dakar" - the Russian team of KamAz auto manufacturers. Medvedev expressed his support for holding similar international auto races between Kazan (Russia) and Ashgabad (capital of Turkmenistan in Central Asia), traversing different terrain from forest to steppe to mountains to deserts. He also promised to personally conduct negotiations on this issue with presidents of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
