Putin takes swipe at US policy in Central Asia
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-06-16 10:54
Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a swipe early at the US military
presence in Central Asia, while defending a regional security group that some
critics have seen as a rival to NATO.
Referring to Washington's loss of a military base that Uzbekistan ordered
closed last year, Putin likened the US approach in the region to that of a "bull
in a china shop", saying the closure was not at all surprising.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
leaders Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Chinese President Hu
Jintao toast after signing a bank agreement between the two nations after
a meeting in Shanghai. Putin took a swipe at the US military presence in
central Asia, while defending a regional security group that some critics
have seen as a rival to NATO. [AFP] |
"We call on everyone to be very careful and allow each country to develop in
a natural way," the Russian leader told journalists at an informal gathering
after a summit of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
"We need to support them (the Central Asian states)... don't forget where
Uzbekistan is located -- it borders Afghanistan," he said.
Putin said outsiders showed they did not understand Central Asia when they
used "stamps and cliches" to complain about the region, particularly about
Uzbekistan, which has been widely criticised for human rights abuses.
Having only gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the
Central Asian states should not be compared with countries that have had longer
to mature, Putin said.
The Russian president met with journalists for two hours in his hotel suite
in the early hours of Friday, sipping cranberry juice and cracking the
occasional joke.
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