U.S. Vice President Joe Biden rejected the Russian push for a sphere of influence over former Soviet nations, saying as he headed to Georgia Wednesday that no nation could veto another country's choices.
It has been almost a year since a war with Russia turned Georgia, a small nation on the far frontier of Europe, into the epicenter of the simmering conflict between Moscow and the West.
President Barack Obama’s attempt to rebuild relations with Russia has raised concerns among some of Russia’s East European neighbors that the U.S. might abandon their interests.
Biden has been attempting to assuage those concerns on a four-day trip to Ukraine and Georgia.
“As we reset the relationship with Russia, we reaffirm our commitment to an independent Ukraine and we recognize no sphere of influence or no ability of any other nation to veto the choices an independent nation makes,” he said in a speech in Kiev.
He reiterated Washington’s support for Ukraine’s NATO membership, if Ukrainians decide to pursue that goal. Currently, more than half of the country is against it.
He also called on the feuding Ukrainian leaders to seek compromise and concentrate on reforming a devastated economy.
Biden met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Biden now will hold two days of talks with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and opposition leaders to demonstrate support for the loyal U.S. ally. The Russia-Georgia war capped years of increasing tensions between the West and Russia, a country key to U.S. and European efforts to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, battle terrorism and secure Europe’s energy supplies.
Saakashvili’s government was shaken this spring by mass street demonstrations demanding his resignation. The vice president will also meet with leading members of the opposition.
Political foes blame Saakashvili for the August war’s disastrous results and accuse him of riding roughshod over democratic rights.
Saakashvili has said he tried to defend Georgia from Russian aggression, and he announced a series of political reforms Monday meant to address his critics’ complaints that his administration was restricting rights.
After Georgia used military force to try to seize a breakaway region from Moscow-backed separatists in August, Russia sent tanks and warplanes deep into Georgian territory, crushing the country’s army.
The conflict ended hopes in the West that Russia, after recovering from the economic and social turmoil of the post-Soviet era, would become a docile, democratic member of the club of European nations.
Instead, Russia has tried to reclaim its historic role as an assertive regional power with global ambitions.
Shortly after the Georgian war, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared that Moscow has a “zone of privileged interests” among former Soviet and Eastern European satellites.
The U.S. and Europe have rejected sphere-of-influence geopolitics, which give great powers sway over their smaller neighbors. And they show no signs of backing down.
Neither do they seem willing to risk a confrontation with Russia on the issue.
The U.S. has pledged to support NATO membership for Georgia as well as Ukraine. But Germany and other European member states are skeptical.
