Putin takes swipe at Cheney over criticisms

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called Vice President Dick Cheney’s criticism of Russia “an unsuccessful hunting shot,” a caustic comment that underlines tensions ahead of the Group of Eight summit this weekend.

Under fire from critics who say his country does not deserve to be in the G-8 because of democratic backsliding during his more than six years in power, a confident Putin said the elite club of wealthy nations needs Russia because of its energy riches and nuclear might.

In three interviews with Western TV networks posted on the Kremlin Web site Wednesday, days before the summit in St. Petersburg, Putin set out what sounded like ground rules for dealing with an increasingly assertive Russia, saying his nation is open for constructive criticism but will not be pushed around.

Because of its economic weakness following the Soviet collapse of 1991, other nations had strong levers of influence on Russia, Putin said an interview with France’s TF-1 television.

“Today these levers have been lost, but some of our partners have retained the desire to influence our foreign and domestic policies,” he said. “They must get rid of this desire as fast as possible and shift to the normal, equal relations of partners.”

Harsh words get personal
Putin reserved his most acerbic words for Cheney, who angered the Kremlin with a May speech in the ex-Soviet republic of Lithuania in which he accused Russia of cracking down on religious and political rights and of using its energy reserves as “tools of intimidation or blackmail.”

“I think the statements of this sort by your vice president are the same as an unsuccessful hunting shot. It’s pretty much the same,” Putin said in an interview with NBC 'Today' show anchor Matt Lauer, referring mischievously to the errant shot by Cheney that wounded a companion on a hunting trip.

(MSNBC.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal News.)

Cheney, in a May speech in the ex-Soviet republic of Lithuania, accused Russia of cracking down on religious and political rights and of using its energy reserves as “tools of intimidation or blackmail.”

In response, Putin said, “I think the statements of your vice president of this sort are the same as an unsuccessful hunting shot. It’s pretty much the same.”

Putin, who is sensitive about growing U.S. influence in former Soviet republics and satellites that have turned westward since the Soviet collapse, said he believed Cheney’s comments were driven by “political considerations, the desire to support certain political forces in Eastern Europe” at Russia’s expense.

“It bothers me that ... this approach is based on a 20th-century foreign policy philosophy under which our partners always acted from the need to hold Russia back, seeing it as a political opponent at a minimum, or as an enemy,” he said. “This is a rudiment of Cold War thinking.”

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