Russian Views on Regional Issues

Dear editor,

Being a regular reader of the Korea Times I could not miss the ``Embassy Row’’ story of April 9th which involved an interview with Ambassador Marek Calka of Poland.

As at least half of the interview had direct reference to my country, which is rather unusual, I think it would be proper to share with your readers my assessment of some of the remarks by my Polish colleague.

First, I am grateful to Ambassador Calka for his clarification of the reasons for the U.S. plan to install military facilities for its missile defense (MD) in Poland. We in Russia as well as our partners in the European Union were traditionally told that those facilities would protect Europe and the U.S. from a missile attack by ``rogue’’ states like Iran or North Korea.

Now the curtain has been drawn, as Ambassador Calka explains that the real cause for the U.S. missile defense in Poland is ``several thousand Russian missiles’’ which Poland allegedly faces. It is really a very new and utterly fresh presentation of the case. I would be happy to hear the reaction of the U.S. and NATO to Ambassador Calka’s disclosures.

Secondly, I can’t accept the deliberations of my Polish colleague on ``some signals that the Russians may intend to touch upon the issue of nuclear umbrella over South Korea (at the six-party talks), which means they try to suggest that there should be trade off.” It is not important to my mind where Ambassador Calka got those signals from, as he may simply possess the qualities of a clairvoyant. What is essential, I think, is Ambassador Calka’s assertion that any ``trade-off’’ at the six-party talks would be a threat to South Korea.

No international accord can be achieved without a compromise, which is a sort of a ``trade-off.’’ Taking that into account, one can’t escape thinking that statements of the type Ambassador Calka made are especially detrimental as the six parties to the Beijing talks on the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula (Poland is not among them), exert their best efforts to promote and enhance a positive outcome of the February round.

Yours sincerely,

Gleb A. Ivashentsov

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Korea