ARTICLE BY RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEY LAVROV PUBLISHED IN KOMMERSANT AND THE WALL STREET JOURNAL NEWSPAPERS, APRIL 1, 2004. "A DIFFERENT RUSSIA: A CHALLENGE OR NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTNERSHIP?"

Unofficial translation from Russian

Article by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Published in Kommersant and The Wall Street Journal Newspapers, April 1, 2004

"A Different Russia: A Challenge or New Opportunities for Partnership?"

It is not the first time in the last decade and a half that the world public opinion is asking the question: whither Russia? But the nature of the discussions on the matter has changed dramatically. Until recently it was a debate about a country weakened by internal crisis and frightening in its unpredictability. Today some may be scared of another, a stronger and more confident Russia which has grown more powerful during the course of several years of political stability and sustained economic growth.

But a legitimate question that needs to be answered is how will Russia use its newfound opportunities in foreign policy?

To answer the question one should look at the reasons why Russia in the last four years has markedly strengthened its reputation of a responsible player in the international arena.

It is not open to doubt that it has been achieved due to a pragmatic policy geared mainly to the interests of internal development and oriented toward expanded dialogue and cooperation with the external world. As part of this policy Russia and the US became the closest allies in the fight against international terror, the relations between Russia and NATO have qualitatively improved and our strategic partnership with the European Union has developed.

Today, especially, there is no reasonable alternative to such a policy. President Vladimir Putin, after being re-elected for a second term, has set a number of new large-scale goals: to double the GDP in the next ten years, to create a competitive market economy and on that basis to provide decent living conditions for the country's population. He has declared that Russia has made "an irreversible choice in favor of freedom " and that it is committed to strengthening the foundations of democracy and the civil society.

Quite obviously, all these goals can only be achieved through further integration of Russia into the world economy and a continuation of a multi-dimensional foreign policy seeking to promote mutually beneficial ties with the CIS neighbors, the European Union, the US, China, India, Japan, the Asian countries, Latin America and other regions. This simply leaves no room for "imperial ambitions" which some try to impute to Russia. We have a real experience of defending the national interests of Russia without sliding towards aggressive methods and confrontation.

For sustained development, our country also needs to ensure security. In the modern world, considering the character of existing threats it can only be assured by combining the efforts of all the civilized countries. Russia, the United States, and the European Union countries have a vast joint agenda based on the common responsibility for security and stability in the world. Life shows that this agenda can only be effectively implemented together by bringing into the partnership other countries, including Muslim countries.

The need to build up such interaction is particularly great at this point in time when on two of the most acute problems of the present day -- the fight against terrorism and settlement of local conflicts -- we are unfortunately on the defensive rather than on the offensive.

The recent tragic events in Madrid were a new reminder that today any country, in fact, any person on the Earth can become a victim of a terrorist attack. They leave no illusions about the growing merger of international and "local" terrorist networks. While the attention and the resources of the world community were focused on the Iraq crisis, the terrorist structures got a breathing space and a possibility to regroup and identify new targets for their attacks.

The situation in Kosovo is another tragic example. Recent ethnic cleansing as a result of the toleration extended to Albanian extremists threatens to erase years of the efforts of the international community to bolster peace in the Balkans. There is a real danger that Kosovo will emerge as a center of organized crime in Europe which will inevitably affect the security of the whole continent.

Recent events demonstrate the price that the whole world community has to pay for unilateral actions unsupported by UN Security Council sanctions. And yet tactical differences on that score are far less important for us than the common strategic interests of Russia and the US.

Russia is ready to cooperate with the US, Europe and the Arab world to settle the situation in Iraq and achieve an early restoration of the sovereignty of that country, with the UN playing the central role. We are also committed to continued joint efforts within the quartet of international mediators in the cause of Palestinian-Israeli settlement on the basis of the "Road Map". Only the liquidation of these dangerous seats of tension can pave the way for genuine modernization of the Middle East region.

Joint struggle against new threats and challenges calls for a fundamentally new quality and level of mutual understanding and trust and for respect of the legitimate interests of each other.

The situation on the territory of the former USSR provides an example. For Russia, it is a sphere of vital interests prompted by its entire history. By "vital interests" we don not mean some kind of right to bring pressure on our neighbors. We are talking about respect of the legitimate concerns of each other about the issues of security, economic development, human rights, compliance with international standards and obligations. Our course for promoting integration processes and cooperation, in different formats, in this region contributes to stability there which is objectively in the interests of the entire world community. It would be an inexplicable anachronism if the space of the CIS were to turn into a zone of rivalry or struggle for "spheres of influence".

The security situation in the European continent is another example. Here it is necessary to create conditions for finally overcoming the structures of the Cold War era. One of these is swift ratification and entry into force of an adapted Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE). One cannot tolerate a legal vacuum in the sphere of European security as that would be tantamount to destabilization of the "reargurard" in our joint struggle against terrorism and other global threats.

We have far too many common things to do to permit ourselves to be mired in arguments over problems that belong to the past. These problems need not hinder us from building a safer and more just world order together.