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Putin Tells West Not to Interfere in Former Soviet States Foreign pressure for reform in former Soviet Union states risks turning them into chaotic “banana republics,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments published on Tuesday. He said Western governments may have been mistaken in backing non-governmental organisations pushing for change during last year’s “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine, Reuters reports. “We are not against any changes in the former Soviet Union,” Putin was quoted as saying by Britain’s Times newspaper at a briefing with Western academics and journalists. “We are afraid only that those changes will be chaotic. Otherwise there will be banana republics where he who shouts loudest wins.” President Bush has been trying to encourage former Soviet states to build the institutions of stable democracies without antagonizing Putin. Putin said it was no surprise that Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s chief of staff quit on Monday to protest what he said was rising corruption among top officials. “We said this before and no one wanted to listen to us,” Putin told the briefing, according to the Guardian newspaper. Some Russian officials have said pro-democracy movements in ex-Soviet states are a Western plot to undermine Moscow’s influence. Putin, however, rejected that view. “I don’t think any Western countries, either European or the United States, are working against the Russian Federation,” he said, according to the Guardian. The Times said he poured scorn on Ukraine’s new government, saying it had caused the collapse of an agreement for a new Russian gas pipeline to Western Europe. Putin said he was not planning to stay in office when his current term expires in 2008. “No, I am not going to run for president in 2008. No, we are not going to amend the constitution,” he said. |
