Word: kozyrev
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Kozyrev: This is an important, even decisive meeting, since we expect the G-7 to become the G-8 ((with Russia's inclusion)). There should be important discussions on world politics -- the situation in Bosnia, Korea, nuclear nonproliferation, other regional issues. But this is just the political aspect. We'll also try to engage our partners in a more substantive discussion of Russian participation in the economic field, since we are becoming a more and more active factor in world markets...
...Kozyrev: Yes, of course. It's a peculiar situation: on the one hand, the need to include Russia is understood ((by the G-7 partners)), because it is in the best interests of both Russia and the West. The alternative would be awful: the isolation of Russia and confrontation with the outside world -- something everybody wants to avoid. Still, we face considerable difficulties when it comes to practical matters. This is quite natural. Russia is a very special case, since it is a major country with equal interests in the East and in the West. Sometimes, I wonder myself...
...Kozyrev: There is internal strife in Russia. There is a party of war, new imperialists, even fascists. Two days ago, I was so outraged by their attacks against me in parliament that I called them all "political bastards." They had called me a traitor for signing the Partnership for Peace ((with NATO)). I felt I had the right to answer them in kind...
...Kozyrev: It's difficult, but I don't think it's a lost cause. Sometimes, though, there is a real lack of sensitivity ((toward Russia)) that strikes me as too much self-assurance, even arrogance. People seem to have forgotten what they learned in cold war textbooks -- that there was once an evil empire. You can't expect angels and paradise to appear overnight. Don't complicate my life and lecture me. This leaves me open to criticism from the red-browns, who say Kozyrev is a stooge of the Americans...
...Kozyrev: Talk with ((Vladimir)) Zhirinovsky and with ((Communist Party leader Gennadi)) Zyuganov. Zyuganov drew a parallel between the Partnership for Peace and Hitler's Barbarossa plan for invading Russia! That is their mentality. The alternative is clear. Their scenario is Yugoslavia: use force to crack down on republics and re-establish the empire or whatever you chose to call...