Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Issues 2012
Candidates 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Editor's Choice
Our best photos from the last 24 hours. See more
Images of April
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Romney apologizes for bullying incident at school
3:06pm EDT
No survivors found after Russian plane crashes in Indonesia
|
4:01pm EDT
Bernanke: even worthy borrowers can't get mortgages
4:00pm EDT
Crash deals blow to Russian aerospace revival
3:54pm EDT
John Travolta's Attorney Threatens Accuser with Malicious Prosecution
12:50am EDT
Discussed
137
Obesity fight must shift from personal blame: U.S. panel
121
Florida nabs white supremacists planning ”race war”
91
Obama says same-sex couples should be able to marry: ABC
Watched
Russian plane crash in Indonesia
3:33am EDT
World's rarest gorilla makes camera-trap debut
Wed, May 9 2012
Russian plane goes missing in Indonesia
Wed, May 9 2012
Pictures
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
Gay marriage battle
A look at the legal battles and the controversies over gay marriage. Slideshow
Wild weather
Scenes of the awesome and sometimes destructive power of nature. Slideshow
Putin flexes muscle in shunning U.S.-hosted G8 talks
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Russia foils alleged plot on Sochi Olympics
12:10pm EDT
Putin not attending Camp David G8, will send Medvedev
12:41am EDT
Putin promises a strong Russia, opponents jailed
Wed, May 9 2012
Putin and Medvedev complete job swap in Russia
Tue, May 8 2012
Russia's Putin asks parliament to back Medvedev
Tue, May 8 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Christians rejoice and frown at Obama pro-gay marriage stance
How stable is South Asia 14 years after Pokhran II?
Related Topics
World »
Russia »
Italy »
Russian President Vladimir Putin walks after taking part in a wreath laying ceremony near memorials by the Kremlin wall on the eve of the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow May 8, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Dmitry Astakhov/RIA Novosti/Pool
By Steve Gutterman
MOSCOW |
Thu May 10, 2012 4:05pm EDT
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Of all the signals and symbols that shape Russian foreign policy, this one seemed particularly blunt: Vladimir Putin, in one of the first decisions of his new presidency, will shun a Group of Eight summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama.
The May 18-19 visit was to have been Putin's first foreign trip since he returned to the Kremlin on Monday, a chance to begin putting U.S. ties back on track after a growth in tension over missile defense, Syria and Russia's presidential campaign.
Instead, Putin is sending his junior partner, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - and a message that as long as he is in charge, Russia will not bend to Washington's will when its interests are at stake.
"I think the signal he wants to send to America ... is that agreements with America will be built on a balance of the strategic interests of America and Russia," said Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think-tank. "Russia will not make any unilateral concessions."
It is a message Putin has repeated, from an inauguration-day decree on Monday in which he said Russia would demand U.S. respect to a warning on Wednesday against modern-day violations of sovereignty, delivered before tanks and missiles trundled across Red Square to mark the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany.
More starkly, the military chief of staff said last week that Russia could launch pre-emptive strikes against future NATO missile defense facilities in Europe if sufficiently threatened.
MISSILE DEFENCE
The warning indicated Putin will hold out U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield as a big barrier to better relations and, specifically, to Kremlin approval of deeper nuclear arms cuts.
Washington says the shield is meant to counter a potential threat from Iran and poses no risk to Russia. Moscow maintains that it could give the West the capability to intercept Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, upsetting the strategic equilibrium between the former Cold War foes.
Putin has made clear Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, will seek to undercut U.S. global might and oppose what he says is unjustified, destabilizing U.S.-orchestrated interference in the affairs of sovereign states, including Syria and Russia itself.
The public reason for Putin's decision to skip the G8 summit was the need to focus on appointing a new cabinet.
With liberal and conservatives close to the Kremlin wrangling over cabinet posts and policy direction, Putin - by staying home - may be eager to pose for a domestic audiences and show he is not weakened by the biggest protests of his 12 years as Russia's paramount political leader.
"Foreign policy ... will play the role of a servant to Putin's domestic agenda," said Lilia Shevtsova, an author and expert on Putin. "And his main goal domestically is to preserve the status quo and survive."
After the anti-American atmosphere that prevailed during his presidential campaign, in which Putin accused the United States of stirring up protests, it might look strange to his supporters to make Washington his first foreign destination.
Relations have been strained by the treatment of U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, architect of Obama's "reset" of Russian ties, who has been portrayed by Russian media as a troublemaker out to incite revolution.
Instead, Putin's first trip abroad could be to China in early June, symbolizing that he is looking eastward - to the former Soviet states of Central Asia and beyond.
His first meeting with Obama as president is likely to come on neutral territory in Mexico, where the Group of 20 nations gathers in June.
"WHITE CROW"
For reasons both political and personal, Putin will be far more comfortable at the broader G20 than the mostly Western G8, where he feels out of place, like "a white crow", Trenin said.
His big-power friends from his previous presidency from 2000 to 2008 - France's Jacques Chirac, Germany's Gerhard Schroeder and Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian leader who attended his inauguration on Monday - are gone.
Obama and the rest will instead once again meet Medvedev, who presented a warmer face to the West in his 2008-12 presidency and clicked with Obama, from their signing of the 2010 nuclear arms limitation treaty known as New START to chummy talk at a "cheeseburger summit" that same year.
By contrast, Obama's breakfast meeting with Putin at his residence outside Moscow in 2009 featured a monologue in which the then-Russian prime minister listed his complaints about the United States at length.
While it seems like a serious snub, the last-minute substitution of Medvedev for the G8 meeting could have an upside for Obama, whose likely Republican opponent in the November election has said he is nowhere near tough enough on Russia.
The United States has criticized the Kremlin over the detentions and violence against Russians protesting at Putin's return to the presidency, and two prominent opposition leaders will still be in jail when the G8 meets.
Obama "has no need to be photographed with Putin right now - as it is, the Republicans criticize him as a Russian puppet. So in this case it happens to suit everybody," Fyodor Lukyanov, edit of Russia in Global Affairs, said of Putin's decision.
"It is a strange, unusual step (to avoid the G8 summit), however - but Putin is a master of such steps. We'll get used to it."
(Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Mark Heinrich)
World
Russia
Italy
Related Quotes and News
Company
Price
Related News
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.