BBC Monitoring Quotes From Russian Press Wednesday 17 October 07

Oct 16, 08:32 PM

Current Headlines: The following is a selection of quotes from articles published in the 17 October editions of Russian newspapers, as available to the BBC at 2300 gmt on 16 October.

Putin-Ahmadinejad

Gazeta (general daily) - "There were suppositions earlier that, after his recent meetings with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin would take to Tehran some consolidated proposals on the Iran nuclear programme. But the Russian president's first words immediately showed that these suppositions had no grounds whatsoever. Putin has not changed his critical attitude to US missile defence plans...

"Putin's remarks after his meeting with Ahmadinejad confirmed that rumours that Putin had been involved in 'shuttle diplomacy' and had brought to Iran the West's proposals had been groundless."

[from an article by Mikhail Vinogradov and Aleksandr Lapshin entitled "Diplomacy without fear and without result"]

Kommersant-Daily (anti-Kremlin business daily) - "In Iran, the presidents of the Caspian littoral states yesterday agreed that their territories and armed forces would not be used against each other in the event of an armed conflict with a third country. This means, in the opinion of Kommersant's special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov, who was following the summit from Tehran, that in the event of a radical conflict of interests between Iran and the USA, Russia will act in the interests of Iran...

"After the talks the leaders proceeded to a news conference. They passed a few metres away from me and I could see that Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev were at the front engaged in a conversation with each other, and half a metre behind them Doctor Ahmadinejad was following, talking on a mobile phone...

"He must be talking to George Bush, an influential person I was talking to said in a loud voice in Russian.

But the words 'George Bush' sound the same in all languages, even in the Persian language. On hearing them, the Iranian president's eyes darted instantly in our direction, and it was, I have no hesitation in saying, a frightened look...

"We'll meet in Russia next year, under the leadership of esteemed Vladimir Putin, the Iranian president said, and I realized that there was at least one person in the world for whom Mr Putin was not going anywhere."

[from an article by Andrey Kolesnikov entitled "They throw disagreements into the sea"]

Krasnaya Zvezda (Defence Ministry daily) - "For the first time in more than 60 years the leader of our country has paid a visit to Iran. Then, in 1943, at their conference in Tehran, the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain - discussed not just future joint actions against the common enemy but also the post-war world structure. During the visit to Tehran, which took place on Tuesday [16 October], Russian President Vladimir Putin faced no less important tasks."

[from an article by Vladimir Kuzar entitled "Tehran-2007"]

Komsomolskaya Pravda (popular tabloid) - "The Iranian leadership has described as a 'provocation from the West' information about a threat to Putin. As for the Iranian media, without going into an analysis of the talks, it was happy about only one thing: Putin is coming. He is coming! And, hence, he is showing to the USA that its conspiracy against Iran has fallen through...

"The official purpose of Putin's visit to Tehran was participation in the summit of the littoral states of the Caspian Sea. But in a situation when the USA is making horrible grimaces in the direction of Iran, threatening to bomb it from all its silos, Putin's visit is obviously disrupting these aggressive plans. America is annoyed with the visit to such an extent that, contrary to its readiness to express an opinion on any subject, this time it has clenched its teeth."

[from an article by Larisa Kaftan entitled "Putin cancels sleepover in Iran"]

Izvestiya (pro-Kremlin daily) - "Putin did not just arrive at the summit of the Caspian littoral states, but he also did everything to portray his counterpart in the most favourable light...

"Ahmadinejad was even happier to announce that the Caspian littoral states had agreed that under no circumstances would they provide their territory to third states for potential aggression. For Iran, which, like the rest of the world, does not know whether to prepare for war now or whether it still has a chance, this must have been the best thing the summit may have produced. Not to mention, of course, that Putin, despite all the objections, still made it to Tehran."

[from an article by Yekaterina Grigoryeva entitled "Have they staked out a claim on the Caspian?"]

Novyye Izvestiya [daily general-purpose newspaper] www.newizv.ru - "The Iranian president announced that next summer a conference would be held in Russia on setting up an organization of economic cooperation. Mr Ahmadinejad added - it was either a slip of the tongue or he indeed had some information from his own sources - that the conference would be chaired by Vladimir Putin. It seems Iran, as well as Germany, do not yet quite believe that Vladimir Putin will leave his post."

[from an article by Aleksandr Kolesnichenko entitled "They failed to divide the Caspian"]

Caspian Sea summit

Moskovskiy Komsomolets (popular Moscow daily) - "The second Caspian Sea summit was held in Tehran yesterday. At the summit, as five years ago, the leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran tried to divide the Caspian amicably. They failed, yet again. A convention on the status of the Caspian Sea has not yet materialized...

"For the time being it is clearly too early to talk about universal unity."

[from an article by Natalya Galimova entitled "The presidents fail to divide the sea"]

Nezavisimaya Gazeta (centrist daily) - "It took the summit participants - the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran - just one hour to demonstrate to the public all their differences in approaches and understanding as regards the future ways of joint development of the Caspian. Moreover, it turned out that Russia and Kazakhstan have the most disagreements...

"Kazakhstan's position ran directly counter to Russia's position...

"After an exchange of 'pleasantries' at the round table, [Kazakhstan President Nursultan] Nazarbayev approached Putin. The two presidents exchanged a strong handshake. The Kazakhstan president said something encouraging to his Russian counterpart. From a distance it looked as if he had said something along the lines of: 'Well done, lad, you've made it, after all'...

"It is interesting that steps towards an economic transformation of the Caspian 'group of five' were made in Tehran. The Iranian president described the summit declaration as a 'great achievement of our cooperation' and announced the leaders' decision to hold an economic conference, which is to become a prototype of an economic organization of the Caspian littoral states, in Moscow next year and under the leadership of Vladimir Putin...

"It was becoming obvious that the Iranian president was the only one who possessed information about our president's future.

"I would add that the Iranian president abstained from publicly fulminating against the USA and Israel."

[from an article by Natalya Melikova entitled "Non-aggressive Caspian"]

Novyye Izvestiya [daily general-purpose newspaper] www.newizv.ru - "They did not reach any specific agreements at the summit, confining themselves to signing a declaration on continuation of talks...

[from an article by Aleksandr Kolesnichenko entitled "They failed to divide the Caspian"]

Komsomolskaya Pravda (popular tabloid) - "Another problem linked to the Caspian is the Nabucco gas project, which is supported by the West and the USA and which is not to Russia's liking. It provides for gas supplies from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to be transited via Azerbaijan to Georgia and Turkey, and is expected to be launched by 2012. Iran, too, does not like this project at all - gas will bypass the country and hence bypass its treasury. Worthy arguments against Nabucco were found. It will damage the Caspian ecology...

"Iranian President Ahmadinejad was noticeably pleased with the fact that everyone had come to see him. He was calling all the presidents his friends, smiling - in short, he was trying to show to the West that there is no such thing as isolation of Iran."

[from an article by Larisa Kaftan entitled "Putin cancels sleepover in Iran"]

Gazeta (general daily) - "The leaders of the littoral states of the Caspian Sea were saying the usual things: that the talks had allegedly got off the ground and there had been progress. From their speeches only one thing emerged: they were happy with a decision to continue talks. The sides have not moved an inch on the issue of the Caspian Sea status (dividing the shelf, the bed and the surface of the sea) - there were no specifics of any kind in the final declaration."

[from an article by Mikhail Vinogradov and Aleksandr Lapshin entitled "Diplomacy without fear and without result"]

Komsomolskaya Pravda (popular tabloid) - "On the results of the summit, the presidents of the Russian Federation, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan adopted a declaration that stipulates that 'under no circumstances will they allow their territories to be used by other states for aggression against any of them'. It is a clear hint that the USA won't be allowed to bomb Iran from the territory of Azerbaijan or Central Asia."

[from an article by Nikita Krasnikov entitled "America, hands off!"]

Rossiyskaya Gazeta (state-owned daily) - "The legal status of the Caspian Sea is gradually turning into a long-playing tune. All the five states... so far have failed to reach consensus on key issues...

"Vladimir Putin may have to wait for consensus on the Caspian's southern part for a very long time. Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev let it be understood yesterday that his country had been exploring the Caspian for many years and was not going to reduce its area to anyone's benefit. And Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was unhappy about the fact that, in his opinion, Baku has been already using the part of the Caspian which belongs to Turkmenistan, or rather the part to which Ashgabat [Turkmen capital] lays claim since the seabed has still not been divided. This 'territorial' conflict is a big obstacle on the way of the adoption of common rules of the game in the Caspian Sea."

[from an article by Vladimir Kuzmin entitled "Five [states] for the Caspian"]

Izvestiya (pro-Kremlin daily) - "On certain issues Putin and Ahmadinejad found absolute mutual understanding... There is the Trans-Caspian pipeline, which is expected to go along the Caspian seabed. This pipeline is supposed to bypass Russian territory, carrying gas from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan, which makes a tactical union between Putin and Ahmadinejad much easier...

"Ahmadinejad announced that an economic conference 'will be held next summer under the leadership of Vladimir Putin'. After hearing these words, Putin did not bat an eyelid. Probably because it is very difficult to suspect in Ahmadinejad a man who knows more than others about the Russian president's future political career."

[from an article by Yekaterina Grigoryeva entitled "Have they staked out a claim on the Caspian?"]

Gas OPEC

Gazeta (general daily) - "I have already said this, but I will say it again: Vladimir Putin's most important geopolitical achievement is the gas union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, in which Moscow, or rather Gazprom's pipe, is playing the leading role. When the union became a reality insinuations about a gas OPEC stopped being insinuations. Simultaneously, the prospect of Russia turning into an energy superpower stopped being hypothetical...

"If the core of the gas OPEC (this image has been whipped up, but in actual fact it is not a question of creating an open cartel but about agreeing gas policy, including gas prices) has already been created, the next step is to expand the organization. And what could be more suitable for this purpose than a permanent dialogue of major gas producers who also happen to be the Caspian littoral states?!...

"It is precisely for the sake of luring Iran into the gas union that Moscow has turned a blind eye to the Iranian president's extremist speeches, to put it mildly, and is continuing its nuclear cooperation with its southern neighbour, not being stopped by prices or other commercial disagreements, not to mention the damage which is thus being incurred to the political image of Moscow itself...

"Yes, this is just a hypothesis, but it is not a secret to anyone that this is the implementation of the Kremlin's sweetest dream of restoring superpower status to Russia. And if a dream is not materialized, it becomes a myth."

[from an article by NikolayVardul entitled "To embrace a Persian beauty"]

Originally published by Quotes package from BBC Monitoring, in Russian 17 Oct 07.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Newsfile. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.