Powell Sees ‘Rose Revolution’ as an Example of U.S.-Russian Cooperation

In an interview with the USA Today editorial board on October 18, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that U.S. policy towards Russia “is to work with them in areas where we cooperate and have mutual interest.”

“And we demonstrated that, I think, very vividly in Georgia last November when [ex-President Eduard] Shevardnadze became in a very difficult position, an untenable position, and it was clear that there was going to be a revolution in Tbilisi unless something was done. And over the course of a weekend, between what we did, in my direct conversations with the [then] Russian Foreign [Minister], Igor Ivanov, and Ivanov going to Tbilisi and I’m talking to Igor as he landed in Tbilisi and talked to him as he went in to see Shevardnadze, and Shevardnadze realized it was best for him to step aside. And then in two months’ time, working with the Russians and the Georgians, we had a free, open, fair election that by January, first week in January, brought into place the new president, Saakashvili, what is now known as the Rose — movement of the Rose Revolution, that was good, solid diplomacy on their part,” Colin Powell said.

Colin Powell also said that the United States has currently got a presence in the regions, where it “would have been unimaginable 15 or 20 years ago.”

“Something that’s seldom written about is that for the last 50 years, the whole southern belt of Eurasia, the Caucasus and Central Asia; that was always the Near Abroad for the old Soviet Union, yet the United States has got a presence in almost every one of those “Stans”, and we’re also working with Armenia and Azerbaijan to do something about Nagorno-Karabakh, and all of those nations now are in some kind of relationship with the United States that would have been unimaginable 15 or 20 years ago, and what is even more interesting is that it is with the understanding, for the most part, and with cooperation and collaboration with the Russian Federation,” the U.S. Secretary of State said.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)