WASHINGTON - Russia must embrace democracy if it is to improve its relations with the United States, Europe and its neighbours, according to a new US national security strategy document released on Thursday.
The White House blueprint called the “National Security Strategy” said that the US will seek to encourage Russia to respect the values of freedom and democracy at home and not to impede the cause of freedom and democracy in the Middle East, South and Central Asia and East Asia.
“Strenghthening our relationship will depend on the policies, foreign and domestic, that Russia adopts,” the document said. ”Recent trends regrettably point toward a diminishing commitment to democratic freedoms and institutions.
“We will work to try and persuade the Russian government to move forward, not backward, along freedom’s path.”
It added that stability and prosperity in countries neighboring Russia would only serve to improve relations with Moscow.
“Conversely, efforts to prevent democratic development at home and abroad will hamper the development of Russia’s relations with the United States, Europe and its neighbours.”
Washington in recent months has expressed mounting concern about Russia’s slide toward what many are calling “totalitarianism” under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin.
Last week, an annual human rights report issued by the US State Department criticized Putin for seeking to centralize power in the executive branch by virtually stripping parliament of power and replacing popularly elected provincial governors with presidential appointees.
“This trend, taken together with continuing media restrictions and self-censorship, a compliant State Duma (lower house of parliament), continuing corruption and selectivity in enforcement of the law, political pressure on the judiciary, and harassment of some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) resulted in an erosion of the accountability of government leaders to the people,” the report said.
The report also expressed concern about Chechnya, where it said federal troops and pro-Moscow Chechen forces engaged in abuses including torture, summary executions and arbitrary detentions.
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