Powell presses Putin on democracy
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Powell, left, meets Putin for talks Monday.
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U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Russia to address growing divisions.
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MOSCOW, Russia -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has held talks with Vladimir Putin after unusually blunt comments suggesting the U.S. is worried about undemocratic tendencies shown by the Russian leadership.
In a front-page article published Monday in the major Russian daily Izvestia, Powell said Russian politics were not sufficiently subject to the rule of law and made clear there were limits to the U.S.-Russian relationship without shared values.
While couched in diplomatic terms, Powell's comments were unusually direct from a U.S. administration that has worked closely with Moscow in the U.S.-led war on terrorism and has cooperated on regional issues from North Korea to Iran.
Powell also challenged Russia's policy in Chechnya and -- without citing any countries by name -- its recently assertive dealings towards nations like Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia.
CNN's Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty said Powell had made it clear to her during an interview in Georgia that he would press President Putin to abide by a 1999 commitment and close two Russian bases in the former Soviet republic.
Russia has said it will take 11 years to pull out of the bases, but the Georgians want it "much, much faster than that," Dougherty said.
"Certain developments in Russian politics and foreign policy in recent months have given us pause," Powell wrote in Izvestia at the start of his two-day visit to Moscow for talks with Putin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.
But at a meeting with Putin in the Kremlin, Powell took a more diplomatic line.
"Of course, we do have areas of disagreement ... the strength of the relationship allows us to discuss these areas with candor and openness."
Putin made no reference to Powell's article. Receiving the Secretary of State in the Green Room of the Kremlin, where he often meets with foreign dignitaries, Putin congratulated the U.S. on its achievements in the Mars program and said the two countries could cooperate over space programs.
He said Russia and the U.S. agreed that the United Nations should become more involved in Iraq, and said Washington and Moscow had a "solid and strong" relationship in spite of what he called tactical differences.
"I can say that the attitude of the Russian Federation towards the United States will be one of stability and predictability," Putin said.
Powell pointed to the 2002 Moscow Treaty on reducing nuclear arsenals and other positive examples of U.S.-Russian cooperation, which he said had made progress over the past three years.
"We are pleased with the level of cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan. We also are pleased to look forward to continued cooperation in space," Powell said.
In his newspaper remarks Powell had hinted at concerns that the Kremlin is turning more and more authoritarian.
"Russia's democratic system seems not yet to have found the essential balance among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government," Powell added. "Political power is not yet fully tethered to law."
Though he did not mention him by name, Powell's comments may have been an allusion to the October arrest of Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose prosecution is widely seen as politically motivated.
Powell's concerns come as Putin prepares for almost certain election to a second four-year term in March, his opponents either unwilling to challenge him directly or unable to muster enough support to pose any real threat.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
