#7
BBC Monitoring
Russian Liberal Democrat leader sees USA as ally
despite ABM dispute
Source: NTV, Moscow, in Russian 0800 gmt 13 Dec 01
[Presenter Denis Soldatikov] Yet another political party is due to be born in Russia today when it is transformed from the LDPR [Liberal Democratic Party of Russia] public and political movement. The LDPR's 13th congress will be held in Moscow today. Our correspondent Aleksandr Kolpakov is hooked up live with the studio.
Aleksandr, how is today's congress expected to go and which documents will it pass?
[Correspondent] Denis, you have mentioned the most important point that the congress is being held to bring the format of this organization into line with the current law on political parties so as to enable the Liberal Democrats to take part in the forthcoming elections. Obviously, the charter and the political manifesto of the party will be reviewed today.
But yesterday [12 December] the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, made a few statements on the party's new foreign policy ideology. He is here with us today.
Vladimir Volfovich, I wanted to ask you about your statements and their possible repercussions. Does the fact that the Americans are withdrawing from the ABM Treaty change your party's and your own personal attitude to the Americans as to allies?
[Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, captioned as State Duma deputy speaker, LDPR faction] No, it does not because they have more than once spoken of it and in compliance with the treaty, they are entitled to do so. You may also remember that it took us some time and trouble to ratify the START-2 Treaty.
There will be further talks on these issues. We should guarantee mutual security. I think that the new relationship that is being built this autumn will last for many years to come and we shall find parameters to guarantee our security.
It is natural that the Americans are scared. They became subject to such assaults for the first time in 200 years. No one had ever bombed their country before. That is why they of course are forced to take some additional steps. But we also have new security systems. We can coordinate or adjust them and - at minimal financial cost - provide for our own security and the security of potential new partners.
[Correspondent] Following your statements of yesterday, do you not fear that the congress may accuse you of political opportunism as your party's draft manifesto is still worded in a rather different spirit: the interests of US industrial and financial circles do not coincide with Russia's national interests.
[Zhirinovskiy] We realize that this still may be the case. Whenever there is talk of an alliance, one should remember that even in a marriage, when a man and a woman agree on one thing, life sometimes turns out different.
It is quite possible that, in terms of economic relations, the interests of certain industrial circles in the USA will not coincide with our interests. To give you an example, the Americans are interested in lower oil prices, whereas we are in favour of higher prices. We have a surplus of wheat and we have nowhere to sell it because all the places in the market have been taken up by the USA.
[Correspondent] I was talking of a different thing: will your party not object to your statements since you made them before the congress?
[Zhirinovskiy] Yes, they may. We have had 12 congresses and they have not objected so far. This is the 13th congress, it is an unlucky number and some objections may be raised. But this is what the congress is for: to discuss all these issues.
This is a new factor. It happened and we live in a new international situation. We should therefore develop a different approach. Previously, we as a party were looking eastward - at relations with China, India and the Arab world; Iraq remains in the focus of our attention, as an economic partner, I mean in that respect. But we now want to be open in a westward direction as well, to get rid of anti-American, anti-Western and anti-NATO attitudes.
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