Russia Expels Two U.S. Military Attaches From Country

PUkmedia         10:35    2008/05/09
 
Russia ordered two U.S. military attaches to leave the country, the latest in a series of expulsions by both governments since November.
The ousters follow the U.S. expulsion of a Russian diplomat in November and a second on April 22, about a week after the Russian government ejected an American, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters today. The latest Russian move probably won't prompt a U.S. response, he said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he viewed the expulsions as ``just the usual tit-for-tat.''
``These things get into kind of a back and forth,'' Gates said during a news conference at the Pentagon today. ``And at some point everybody decides to stop.''
Russia yesterday began a political transition, with Dmitry Medvedev assuming the presidency and former President Vladimir Putin becoming prime minister. Gates, who was a Soviet analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency earlier in his government career, said he didn't think the Russian expulsions were connected to current political events.
Still, ``There are some intriguing developments in Moscow,'' Gates said.
Russia tomorrow celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with a military parade through Red Square in central Moscow that will be reminiscent of Soviet-era demonstrations of armed might.
Military Parade
``We're going to have the first military parade in 15 years, I guess, tomorrow,'' Gates said. ``And I'm waiting to see if the leadership will be standing atop Lenin's tomb and see if we'll be back to Kremlinology about who's standing in what place and so on.''
During the Cold War, Gates said, ``we devoted enormous effort'' to studying the military hardware on parade and ``looking at who was standing next to whom and who was more heavily bundled up than the next geriatric'' leader atop the Lenin mausoleum in Red Square.
Alexander Rahr, a Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said there may be a connection between the expulsions and the Russian political transition.
``I find it really strange that such a signal comes today, as Medvedev comes into office,'' Rahr said in an interview.
``Either it's an old story that came on the very last day of Putin's era, or maybe it's an attempt by people in Moscow to prevent Medvedev having his own, more positive course versus the U.S. from the beginning,'' Rahr said.
Cold War
``This may be an attempt to keep him in this Cold War way of thinking and Cold War policy, with some hardliners in the Kremlin perhaps thinking that's more appropriate in Russia than a new face of cooperation.''
A Kremlin spokesman said he had no information on the expulsions and referred questions to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The ministry, which previously declined to comment to the state-run news service RIA Novosti, couldn't immediately be reached by Bloomberg News for comment.
In Washington, the press attaché at the Russian Embassy to the U.S., Yevgeniy Khorishko, declined to comment.
``We never give any comment on such kinds of issues,'' he said.
``If the Russian government wants to elaborate any further, I'm sure that they will,'' McCormack said.
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From: Bloomberg