Russia not to seek alliance with Cold War foes

Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov says the Kremlin has given up the idea of seeking a strategic alliance with its one-time Cold War adversaries.

"Maintenance of good relations with many countries will be the objective of Russia, keeping in view the fact that we are living in a multipolar world,'' Primakov said in an interview while enunciating the major planks of Russian foreign policy.

"Russia is committed to work on all 'azimuths' for securing strong positions for itself," he said, adding it regarded equal partnership with all nations as its major foreign policy objective.

Indicating Russia's total disenchantment with the West, he directly blamed his predecessor Andrie Kozyrev's policy of wooing the West.

He also emphasised his determination to steer Russia away from ideological dogmas for which he said Russia had to pay a heavy price. ''It is enough to analyse the structure of debts to see who and how much one owes Russia,'' Primakov said in the interview.

Referring to the situation in the former Yugoslavia, Primakov said Russia has a stake in the stability in the Balkan region. ''But, if it means to strangle the parties in the conflict, the Serbs, it is against our national interests,'' he said in a clear warning to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to keep its hands off the Bosnian Serbs in general and the Serbs in particular. His warning was also aimed at NATO's bid to arrest some Serb leaders and try them for war crimes at the World Court in the Hague.

In a pointed reference to the economic integration of the states of the former Soviet Union, he said Russia's economic development requires space and markets for the future. Neither Europe nor any other country has such a niche as the former Soviet Union, he said.

He also flayed the forces in Russia which, he said, were trying to reduce defence issues to mere ecological security, an idea that has overwhelmed the Russian intelligentsia and parliamentarians.

Citing the wise politics of Russian czars, he advocated a flexible foreign policy for the country. During the reign of the czars, Russia had one kind of relationship with its immediate neighbour Finland, another kind with other neighbours such as Poland and Caucasus, and with the Bukhara emirate, Russia's foreign policy was altogether different. It paid handsome dividends to Russia, the Russian foreign minister said.

UNI