Plain Speaking From Biden in Moscow Speech

New York Times

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who two years ago introduced the idea of a thaw between the United States and Russia, used a speech at Moscow State University to criticize Russia’s legal and political systems, a move likely to irritate the country’s leaders.

Russians, he said, “want to be able to choose their national and local leaders in competitive elections. They want to be able to assemble freely, and they want the media to be independent of the state. And they want to live in a country that fights corruption.

“That’s democracy,” he said. “I urge all you students here: Don’t compromise on the basic elements of democracy. You need not make that Faustian bargain.”

The speech came in the face of criticism that what Mr. Biden dubbed a “reset” in relations between Russia and the United States has muted the United States’ voice on human rights violations. Mr. Biden cataloged a series of high-profile cases that he said made investors wary of Russia, including the prosecution of the oil tycoon Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky and the death in detention of Sergei L. Magnitsky.

“Some may say, ‘How can you say these things out loud, Mr. Vice President, and expect to have a better relationship,’ ” he said, prompting a small burst of applause. “They’re necessary to have a good relationship. We should not have to make choices. We will continue to object when we see that human rights are violated or democracy and the rule of law is undermined.”

After cooperating on American priorities, including some in Iran and Afghanistan, Russian leaders have been eager to shift to economic ties, like ventures with Western technology companies. Mr. Biden discussed two near-term payoffs in his visit: Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization and the repeal of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, trade restrictions that were imposed on the Soviet Union in 1974.

But neither of those steps is assured. Congressional Republicans may use a vote on Jackson-Vanik to raise questions about rights in Russia. Meanwhile, in order to join the W.T.O., Russia must secure the agreement of Georgia, which as a member, has veto power.

American officials “were very proactive in encouraging” Russia and Georgia to sit down for Swiss-mediated negotiations in Bern, but are playing no role in the talks, according to a senior administration official who spoke on ground rules of anonymity.

On Thursday, a senior Russian official suggested that Russia might lift its 2006 embargo on Georgian wine, but this is unlikely by itself to win Georgia’s vote.

Sergei A. Markov, a deputy with the governing United Russia party, said the assumption in Moscow was that Washington could dictate Georgia’s position.

“Everyone here is convinced that one call from Joe Biden to Mikheil Saakashvili would be enough,” he said. “We consider that Georgia’s position 100 percent depends on the American White House.”

A larger challenge is setting an agenda that will give momentum to the reset, said Sergei A. Karaganov, a dean of the faculty of international relations at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. President Obama’s strategy has quieted the anti-American voices in Russia’s politics, he said, much as Mikhail Gorbachev stripped anti-Russian hawks of their enemy in the 1980s.

But early projects, like negotiation of the New Start treaty, have been largely symbolic, he said, staying clear of looming issues like energy policy and development of the Arctic. Meanwhile, he said, Russian leaders are wary that Mr. Obama may last only one term, and that there could be a sharp change in policy.

Mr. Biden is viewed warily in Moscow, in part dating from a 2009 interview he gave to The Wall Street Journal, in which he said Russia faced such economic and demographic decline that it was weak in negotiations with the West. Russia’s state-controlled television paid scant attention to his visit.

Journalists in Russia had speculated about whether Mr. Biden would weigh in on the country’s central political drama — whether President Dmitri A. Medvedev will serve for a second term or be replaced by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, still widely viewed as the country’s paramount leader.

Mr. Biden took pains to devote equal attention to Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin. But in his speech, he mentioned Mr. Medvedev seven times and repeatedly cited his words.

“Mr. Medvedev said last week — and I quote him — ‘Freedom cannot be postponed,’ ” he said. “Joe Biden didn’t say that. The president of Russia said that. And when Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Kudrin said that ‘only fair elections can give the authorities the mandate of trust we need to help economic reforms’ — that’s a Russian leader, not an American leader.”

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