Cheney accuses Putin of restricting rights
Speaking in Vilnius, Lithuania, US Vice President Dick Cheney today caused a stir in neighbouring Russia.
He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of restricting the rights of citizens and said that “no legitimate interest is served” by turning energy resources into implements of blackmail.
“In Russia today, opponents of reform are seeking to reverse the gains of the last decade,” Cheney told a conference of Eastern European leaders.
According to the Interfax news agency, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said: “Cheney’s speech looks like a provocation and interference in Russia’s internal affairs.”
Andrei Kokoshin, the head of the Russian parliament’s committee for relations with other ex-Soviet republics, said he believed Cheney’s remarks were subjective and did not reflect the real situation in the former Soviet republics.
Ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said he thought Cheney was aiming to discredit Russia in the run-up to a G-8 summit scheduled for July in St Petersburg.
