Putin's Progress

PRIOR TO September 11, 2001, few would have predicted that Russia would back the United States so firmly in its response to the terrorist attacks. Now, after a remarkable show of solidarity and even crucial assistance to Washington and its allies, the question remains, why did Russia do it? Were its moves tactical, their effect destined to be short-lived? Or were they evidence of a deeper transformation of the U.S.-Russia relationship? Might they actually mean that the other nuclear superpower is moving toward not just occasional cooperation, but durable partnership with the West, perhaps even someday an alliance? Before attempting to tackle questions so fundamental to U.S. national security policy, let us recall what Russia did after the terrorist attacks:

SEPTEMBER 11. President Vladimir Putin was the first foreign leader to reach President George W. Bush on Air Force One. In addition, in a nationally televised statement to the American people, Putin called the attacks "a brazen challenge to the whole of humanity, at least to civilized humanity." He told Americans, "We are with you, we entirely and fully share and experience your pain. We support you." Further, Russia responded to the heightened state of alert of the U.S. armed forces by standing down its troops and canceling scheduled strategic bomber and missile exercises.

Within hours of the news from America, Russians began to take flowers, icons, burning candles, handwritten notes, and stuffed animals to the U.S. embassy on Novinsky Boulevard in Moscow and to the U.S. consulates in St. Petersburg and Ekaterinburg. This would continue for days.

SEPTEMBER 12. Putin phoned Bush again to discuss cooperation against terrorism. The Central Blood Transfusion Station in Moscow announced a blood drive for the victims in the United States. The station was flooded with volunteer donors, as were the Russian Red Cross and the Ministry for Emergency Situations.

SEPTEMBER 13. By presidential decree, a national minute of silence at noon commemorated "the victims of the tragedy in the United States." Flags flew at half-mast, and television programs were interrupted with images from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

At Russia's instigation, the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council condemned the attacks in the strongest terms and pledged an "intensification" of cooperation "to fight the scourge of terrorism."

SEPTEMBER 22. With Russia's blessing, two C-130 U.S. military cargo planes and 100 U.S. military personnel arrived at an airbase near Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan.

SEPTEMBER 24. In a televised address to his nation, Putin announced that Russia had agreed to overflights by American and allied planes and to their use of former Soviet airbases in the Central Asian nations and had shared intelligence about the "infrastructure, locations, and training facilities of international terrorists."

SEPTEMBER 25. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced that U.S. troops could use military facilities in Tajikistan to launch strikes into Afghanistan.

OCTOBER 3. More than 1,000 troops of the U.S. Army's Tenth Mountain Division landed in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan--the first regular U.S. Army infantry unit to be deployed on a combat mission in the territory of the former Soviet Union.

OCTOBER 3-4. Putin made the first visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels by any Russian or Soviet leader. After meetings with the secretary general, Putin announced Russia's "great readiness to cooperate and interact" with NATO. He also signaled a softening in Russia's opposition to further NATO enlargement, even including the three former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

OCTOBER 16. Putin announced the closing of two foreign military bases and listening posts, at Lourdes, Cuba, and Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam.

The Lourdes complex, established in 1964, was Russia's largest military base and electronic listening post in the Western Hemisphere. It housed up to 1,600 full-time personnel. In addition to gathering and analyzing U.S. communications, Lourdes reportedly guided Russian intelligence agents in North America, provided links to the Russian spy satellite network, sent instructions to Russian ships and submarines, and tracked U.S. naval activities in the Caribbean. Russia decided to abandon Lourdes over the "complete" opposition of the Cuban government, which called the closing "a grave threat to Cuba's security" and a "special gift" to President Bush. In Moscow, Communist and nationalist deputies in the Duma were similarly indignant.

The Soviet Union, then Russia, had maintained the base at Cam Ranh Bay since 1979.

NOVEMBER 14. Putin stated that Russia was "prepared to expand cooperation with NATO and we are prepared to go as far as the Atlantic alliance is prepared to go."