Putin hits out at ‘dictatorial’ US

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin yesterday accused the US of pursuing a dictatorial foreign policy and said mounting violence could derail progress toward bringing peace and democracy to Iraq.

Mr Putin also criticised the West for setting double-standards on terrorism, pursuing Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan and Iraq while giving refuge to “terrorists” demanding Chechen independence.

The Kremlin leader’s tough remarks came on a visit to India, where he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a joint call for greater co-operation in stabilising and rebuilding Iraq.

Putin told an invited audience that unilateralism increased risks that weapons of mass destruction might fall into the hands of terrorists, and would stoke regional conflicts.

“Even if dictatorship is packaged in beautiful pseudo-democratic phraseology, it will not be able to solve systemic problems,” Mr Putin said. “It may even make them worse.”

Mr Putin did not name the US, but clearly had the administration of President George Bush in mind when he said policies “based on the barrack-room principles of a unipolar world appear to be extremely dangerous.”

Russia was a vocal opponent of the US-led war but has since joined efforts to rebuild Iraq’s war-hit infrastructure.

He also rounded on Britain for giving asylum to Akhmed Zakayev and the United States for giving refuge to Ilyas Akhmadov, spokesmen for Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov.

Both men deny being terrorists. Mr Maskhadov, regarded in the West as a moderate, led Chechnya to brief de facto independence during the 1990s before Mr Putin ordered Russian troops to retake the turbulent province.