G8 rewards Russia for anti-terror role with full G8 membership

AFP ^

[RCW2001]

Russia was rewarded with the promise of full membership of the Group of Eight and the right to host a 2006 summit despite the puny size of its economy, in a move seen as payback for President Vladimir Putin's unprecedented support for the US-led war on terror.

Canada, the host of this year's G8 summit that opened Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain resort of Kananaskis, immediately hailed a "historic decision" to give Russia a permanent place on the top table of world economies.

"In 2006, we have agreed that Russia will assume the presidency and host our annual summit," the Canadian government said in a statement.

"The world is changing. Russia has demonstrated its potential to play a full and meaningful role in addressing the global problems that we all face," the statement added.

A senior Japanese official said that the 2006 summit decision "means Russia will be a full G8 member," though it was unclear exactly when Russia would assume full membership.

Until now, Russia has been allowed into the political discussions of the G8 but excluded from financial meetings of the Group of Seven powers -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

But in a clear sign that G7 leaders were eager to reward President Vladimir Putin's unprecedented pro-Western realignment of Russia's foreign policy, the Kremlin was admitted Wednesday to a G7 session devoted to financial issues.

Canada said the G8's decision reflected what it called the "remarkable and democratic transformation that has occurred in Russia in recent years and in particular under the leadership of President Putin."

The decision to award Russia with full membership of the G8, an elite club of the world's leading industrialised nations, owes more to Moscow's strategic partnership with the West than to any obvious economic credentials.

Russia's economy will have to grow by at least eight percent annually for 15 years even to catch up with Portugal, one of the poorest European Union nations, according to official government figures.

The country registered five percent economic growth last year after a record rise of 8.3 percent in 2000 on the back of high oil prices on world markets, although growth forecasts have been lowered for this year.

However, Putin's top economic adviser Andrei Illarionov said on the eve of the summit that having out-performed recent global growth figures, Russia would be viewed as an equal partner in Kananaskis.

The promise of G8 membership is the latest sign that the West is keen to help Putin face off domestic critics who argue that Moscow capitulated to the US-led coalition without extracting any discernible reward.

The United States announced earlier this month that Russia had successfully completed the transition to a market economy, considering the statement a sign the global financial community was ready to welcome it into the World Trade Organisation.

Putin hailed the US decision as a "very important sign directed towards the international community," and argued that it also showed "the Russian economy is prepared to take part fully in the world economy."

The Russian leader defended his pro-Western stance before a sceptical nation at a marathon news conference in Moscow on the eve of the G8 summit, saying partnership with Washington and Europe would decide Russia's economic fate.

And G7 leaders gave a further signal Wednesday that Russia could expect financial rewards for its policy change in the wake of September 11 by drafting a joint plan to safeguard Russian stocks of excess military plutonium.

The plan could see the United States commit 10 billion dollars to the scheme over 10 years, a figure to be matched by 10 billion dollars from the other six G7 states as part of a concerted effort to fight proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

G8 leaders are expected to make a "significant" announcement on action to cut down the level of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

Dismantling Russia's stocks of military plutonium, which are viewed as particularly susceptible to theft in the corruption-tainted post-Soviet era, has become a main focus of international efforts to halt proliferation.

[L_Von_Mises]

Good news, despite Russia's obvious problems, I see them as more pro-West than at least three of the members from the West.