by Andre Viollaz
MOSCOW, Jan 26 (AFP)
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told President Boris Yeltsin on Tuesday that Moscow and Washington should agree to disagree over mounting foreign policy disputes as mutual relations were much more important.
But Albright�s message failed to hit home as Yeltsin immediately replied by calling US military acts of force in global hotspots �unacceptable� and pressing Washington to consult with foreign powers over future actions in Kosovo and Iraq.
�Any acts of force, particularly those which circumvent the UN Security Council are unacceptable,� Yeltsin was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS after speaking with the visiting US official for 25 minutes on the second day of her three-day trip to Moscow.
Albright is in Moscow to try to soothe Russian fury at being over-ruled by Washington on how to deal with a range of international hot-spots.
�She raised the importance of keeping the relation in a position to resolve problems and not let one or the other disagreement move the relation off its central importance,� said US state department spokesman James Rubin.
�We agreed on the goal of dealing with the danger that (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein poses,� said Rubin, adding that Albright thought the 67-year-old president sounded �strong� on the phone.
Yeltsin has been hospitalized since January 17 with an acute ulcer that has kept him meeting Albright in person.
Russia has bristled at US-led strikes against its close Middle East trading partner Iraq and temporarily pulled out its US envoy from Washington in protest.
It has also further lashed out at Washington�s tough stance against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, looked on as a brother by Russian nationalists.
More recently, Moscow has objected to Washington�s plan to open a high-tech national umbrella that could strike down incoming nuclear warheads.
That nuclear shield appears to violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and Russia has flatly ruled out re-drafting the agreement to fit Washington�s needs.
Albright however assured Yeltsin that she was not yet seeking to rework the cornerstone nuclear agreement.
�We remain committed to the ABM treaty and no deployment decision has been made,� Rubin said.
On the economic front, Albright told Yeltsin that the United States wants to help Russia win desperately-sought financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund.
But she stressed that new aid can only be delievered once Moscow makes some tough and irreversible economic policy decisions.
�Support from the IMF has to be on the basis of sound economic policies,� Rubin said. �We want to help Russia provide the criteria� to win new IMF support.
Albright launched her day by meeting with senior US business leaders in Moscow to gauge Russia�s volatile economic climate.
She then continued her round of meetings with potential successors to Yeltsin by meeting behind closed doors with liberal Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky and former paratrooper general Alexander Lebed.
Those meetings followed what US officials called �blunt� talks on Monday with nationalist Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, also tipped as a leading candidate to succeed Yeltsin as president in 2000.
Lebed said he told Albright that Russia�s economy and political situation was in dire straits.
�We discussed ways of how we can get out of this crisis, battle crime and tighten controls over exports,� Lebed told journalists.
Albright was also due to conduct negotiations over arms treaties and conflicting approaches to a range of foreign policy issues with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.
WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (AFP)
The United States is uneasy with a planned Russian shipment of surface-to-air missiles to Armenia which it believes could hurt regional security, the State Department said Tuesday.
�Stationing of Russian troops and equipment in Armenia is a bilateral issue between those two nations,� spokesman James Foley told reporters, noting that a defense treaty exists between Moscow and Yerevan.
�As far as the United States is concerned however, we see no military need for stationing such equipment in Armenia.
�We believe that if such equipment were to be placed in Armenia it would do nothing to improve the security situation in the region,� Foley said.
Russia has announced plans to deploy S-300 surface-to-air missile systems in Armenia to replace existing defenses, a move that has greatly alarmed neighboring Azerbaijan.
Earlier this month Azerbaijan condemned the planned transfer and warned that it might search for a new military sponsor to offset Moscow�s partnership with Yerevan.
by Jean-Luc Renaudie
JERUSALEM, Jan 26 (AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consolidated the sharp rightward swing of his government on Tuesday by appointing a veteran hawk, Moshe Arens, as defense minister.
Arens came out of retirement to replace the moderate Yitzhak Mordechai, who was fired by Netanyahu on Saturday for planning to join a centrist opposition party and challenge him for the prime ministership in May elections.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Arens, 73, and Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon, another leading Likud hawk, Netanyahu said: �I am proud to present this new team of Arens and Sharon, who will lead Israel towards a real peace based on reciprocity.�
Netanyahu also confirmed that he had pledged in writing to retain Sharon as foreign minister if he wins the May elections. He said no such promise was made to Arens, whom he described as �a top specialist in security matters.�
Sharon was appointed in October as foreign minister, a post held by the moderate David Levy until he quit in protest at Netanyahu�s intransigent stance in the peace process the previous January.
The changes leave virtually no moderates in Netanyahu�s coalition cabinet of right-wing and religious parties.
Palestinian leaders had already reacted with dismay to the arrival of Arens, fearing even tougher positions from an Israeli government which has already frozen implementation of bilateral peace accords.
�This is an internal (Israeli) matter, but we cannot conceal our anxiety at the continuing extremism within Israel,� chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erakat told reporters earlier about Mordechai�s expected replacement by Arens.
Arens, 73, served as a minister from 1983 to 1992, twice holding the defense portfolio in 1983-84 and again from 1990 to 1992.
An American-trained engineer whose soft-spoken style belies his fierce political convictions, Arens is an unabashed hawk who opposed peace treaties with Egypt and the Palestinians and objected to the decision to end the costly 1982-1985 war in Lebanon.
But during Tuesday�s press conference, Arens insisted he would back implementation of the Wye River land-for-security accord which Netanyahu signed with the Palestinians last October but later suspended, accusing the Palestinians of violating the deal.
�I am in favor of implementing the Wye Accord on condition that the Palestinians honor their committments,� Arens said, adding that he was prepared to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
A former mentor to Netanyahu who has been increasingly critical of his ex-protege over the past two years, Arens was appointed a day after losing a bid to replace the premier as leader and prime ministerial candidate of the Likud party for the May elections.
As ambassador to Washington in the early 1980�s, Arens brought Netanyahu into politics, naming the then American immigrant and furniture salesman as a political advisor.
Under Arens� patronage Netanyahu advanced to become Israel�s deputy ambassador to the United Nations and then deputy foreign minister when Arens took the foreign affairs portfolio in 1986.
Arens retired from active political life after Likud lost power in 1992 elections � but not before helping Netanyahu win a rancorous battle to take over the party leadership that year.
Since Netanyahu�s election as prime minister in 1996 however relations between the two men soured, with Arens bristling at the way the younger man elbowed aside Likud stalwarts to place his own team of loyalists in key positions.