Moscow’s Pravda Misses Target in Attacking Rice

Moscow’s Pravda Misses Target in Attacking Rice

Phil Brennan
Thursday, Feb. 15, 2001

In a blistering attack on Condoleezza Rice, the Russian publication Pravda.Ru charged President Bush’s national security adviser with labeling Russia as a threat to the West.

In a story reminiscent of its days as a mouthpiece of the Soviet communist leadership, the paper's online service inaccurately claimed that Rice had told El Figaro magazine, "I believe that Russia is a threat to the West in general and to our European allies in particular."

"The new US National Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleeza Rice, has broken the silence which shrouded the first three weeks or so of her tenure of office,” Pravda wrote, citing a story this month based on an interview Rice allegedly had with El Figaro in recent weeks.

But she was never interviewed by El Figaro, a spokeswoman at the National Security Council told NewsMax.com.

The El Figaro story was lifted from an interview Rice gave Politique Internationale, a French publication. Moreover, that interview was conducted a full year ago, and published in February 2000, not after her "first three weeks or so of her tenure of office,” as charged by Pravda.Ru.

Nor did she ever utter those words targeting Russia as a threat to the West. That charge was made in the story, but was not a quote from Rice, nor does it reflect her views, the spokeswoman told NewsMax.com.

"Dr. Rice sees Russia as an important partner and potentially an ally,” she said.

What the president’s national security adviser, a veteran Moscow watcher and recognized expert on Russia, worried about in the now year-old interview and continues to be concerned about is the threat of nuclear proliferation inherent in Russia’s massive sales of advanced missile and other technologies to any and all comers, a concern echoed by CIA Director George Tenet in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

As reported in NewsMax.com Monday, Tenet said Russia "continues to value arms and technology sales as a major source of funds," and added that Moscow’s sale of some $4 billion worth of armaments last year was an example of their deliberate proliferation of advanced missile technology.

"I cannot underestimate the catalytic role that [Russian] foreign assistance has played in advancing these missiles and weapons of mass destruction programs, shortening their development times and aiding production," said Tenet.

If the reaction of the Russian media and the Kremlin is any indication of their feelings, the subject of Russia’s role as arms merchants, especially to "rogue nations,” is a sore one indeed inside the Kremlin.

The Pravda.Ru story was as intemperate as any dating back to the days of the Soviet Union, as was a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry lambasting Tenet.

Writing about the El Figaro story, Pravda.Ru pulled out all the stops: "Not surprisingly, the tone and content of her discourse smacks of ignorance and sensationalism, and unfortunately quite predictably, her approach is exactly what was foreseen in Pravda.Ru's pages many months ago: offensive arrogance, outdated notions of superiority, imperialist fantasies and proof of a total ineptitude for the post in which George Bush has placed her,” the paper declared.

Reiterating their erroneous attribution of the El Figaro story as based on a new interview with that publication, Pravda.Ru went on to say: "The interview which this lady has given to ‘Figaro magazine’ reads like a boring essay from a child who has been given too much responsibility and whose only resources of communication are a stereotyped reiteration of standard catch-phrases belonging to yesteryear.”

As for Tenet, the Russian Foreign Ministry statement stormed: "The 'dark revelations' of George Tenet about Russia and our relations with the U.S. could help the hawks in the U.S. Congress and help boost the CIA budget, but they in no way correspond to the true state of affairs. "When you consider that the CIA's [status] soared in the Cold War era, it would be difficult to expect a balanced assessment of Russia-US relations from its leadership. But even considering this fact, a series of pronouncements made by George Tenet provoke, to put it mildly, bewilderment."