Columnists
Tom Balmforth, Russia Profile
needs all available routes, it has still only been used by one symbolic test flight. The New York Times in November reported that the delays were simply due to a bureaucratic bottleneck in Russia, but on January 13 Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the Federation Council Defense and Security Committee, told Radio Liberty that it is simply not in Russia’s interests to help coalition forces in Afghanistan.According to Ozerov, when troops leave, the Taliban will return to power in Afghanistan and will look to punish Russia for helping the U.S./NATO war effort. “When the Americans go, their continent is far away. But for us, Central Asia is right there. We still have to live with these people in peace,” Ozerov told Radio Liberty.
But Golts played this version down. “This is mostly speculation. Officially the Americans insist that everything is okay. If we understand that the general Russian approach to foreign policy is the ‘realpolitik’
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