Putin's 'love affair' with America turns sour at home Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Times of London - May 23, 2002 Putin's 'love affair' with America turns sour at home From Alice Lagnado in Moscow AS HE sweeps President Bush into the best seats in the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg this weekend, President Putin will seem further away than ever from the millions of Russians who feel increasingly alienated by his policies. While most Russians still have mixed emotions about their former Cold War enemy, the Russian leader is taking a highly risky gamble as he welcomes the American leader with open arms. Two years ago even the hardliners were falling over themselves to praise Mr Putin. Lately however, Gennadi Zyuganov, the Communist Party leader, has wasted no opportunity in attacking the President's policies and his small band of supporters will be out in force to demonstrate against Mr Bush's visit, in Moscow and St Petersburg. Yesterday Mr Zyuganov, echoing the belief of many more than the party he represents, said that he considered the expected signing of an arms treaty between the two countries to be a "betrayal of the nation" and that Mr Putin was trying to turn Russia "into a US satellite." Insiders say that only a handful of advisers and businessmen share Mr Putin's vision of the new Russia, while many senior ministers remain firmly off-message. Even Sergei Ivanov, Russia's Defence Minister, appears to be unable to sing from the same hymn sheet. Mr Putin's plans of modernising the army have not materialised and grumblings about the American presence in Central Asia's former Soviet satellites have not been appeased. Despite Mr Putin's attempts to present this week's planned arms agreement as a fair compromise, General Yuri Baluyevsky, a senior arms negotiator, again complained that the new deal was "unacceptable for Russia." Many in the Duma, Russia's parliament, are also angered at what they see as Russian capitulation to the United States. Typically, Mr Putin made no protest against the arrival of US military advisers in Georgia to train the army in fighting alleged terrorists on the border with Russia, despite a massive row in the Russian parliament. For ordinary Russians, there is little to be pleased about. Water and heat shortages and salaries starting at $15 (£10) a month remain a regular feature of life and further collapse of a poorly tended infrastructure will threaten Mr Putin's high ratings. The Americans are treated with suspicion: a recent poll showed over half of Russians do not see the US as a "friendly state." ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nyteeu-05.23.02-01:11:23-2316