Meeting U.S. Envoy, Putin Appears to Soften His Tone
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said Wednesday that Moscow and Washington could find avenues of practical cooperation if the partnership were based on “mutual respect and pragmatism.”
It may have seemed a frosty reception for John F. Tefft, the new American ambassador to Russia, who presented his credentials at a ceremony in the gilded St. Alexander Hall in the Kremlin, but given Mr. Putin’s more bellicose statements of late, the president’s remarks seemed almost diplomatic.
“We are ready for practical cooperation with our American partners in all different areas, based on the principles of respect for each other’s interests, equality and nonintervention in domestic affairs,” Mr. Putin said, as he addressed Mr. Tefft and 14 other diplomats who presented their credentials during the ceremony.
“We take the view that Russia and the United States bear special responsibility for maintaining international security and stability and combating global threats and challenges,” he said.
Mr. Tefft, a career diplomat who has served as ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia and Lithuania, has kept a low profile since arriving in Moscow in September, as relations between the United States and Russia have descended to their worst state since the Cold War.
Mr. Putin has blamed the West for setting off the conflict in Ukraine and told political supporters on Monday that the United States sought to “subjugate” Russia.
On Tuesday, at an exhibition of armored personnel carriers, Mr. Putin observed that “you can do a lot more with weapons and politeness than just politeness,” a reference to the “polite” Russian soldiers who appeared in Crimea in early March.
The United States and the European Union have leveled punishing sanctions against Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea and subsequent sponsorship of separatists in a proxy war in southeastern Ukraine. At last week’s meeting of the Group of 20, Mr. Obama claimed the sanctions were working, and foreign leaders vied to get in a good barb against Mr. Putin.
“I guess I’ll shake your hand,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada told Mr. Putin at the summit meeting. “But you need to get out of Ukraine.”
Mr. Tefft’s mission is straightforward, said Matthew Rojansky, a Russia expert at the Wilson Center: Maintain an open line between Moscow and Washington.
“He is sent to do the classic, core job of an ambassador, to be a truly trusted channel of communications between the political leadership, as opposed to being sent as a statement of some kind,” Mr. Rojansky said in a telephone interview.
Mr. Tefft’s predecessor, Michael McFaul, left Moscow in February after a stormy two-year term in which he aimed to engage with ordinary Russians through public events and social media, but he was hounded by the state news media and accused of being sent to foment revolution.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Tefft said it was “a privilege” to attend Wednesday’s ceremony, during which he shared a few words with Mr. Putin and posed quickly for a photo.
“We have serious differences over Russia’s policy in Ukraine,” Mr. Tefft said, adding that he hoped to improve “people-to-people ties.”
“I will do my best to engage Russians from all parts of society,” he said. “I will explain what the United States stands for and promote respect for the dignity of every citizen, democratic values, good governance, and rule of law.”
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