CEEC meets with national security advisors on the eve of Group of Eight summit (07/23/06)

CEEC meets with national security advisors on the eve of Group of Eight summit

Joint Baltic American National Committee

WASHINGTON - Members of the Central and East European Coalition (CEEC) met on July 11 with national security advisors to President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney to discuss their concerns on the eve of the Group of Eight summit being held on July 15-17 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

CEEC members expressed apprehension about Russia's presence in the G-8, which includes the Group of Seven of the world's leading economic powers (U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Japan) and Russia as the eighth member. Russia has shown a marked reversal in its path to democracy, with the current Moscow regime increasingly tightening civil and press freedoms, while ramping up economic pressures on its neighbors, especially regarding energy security.

Issues discussed at the meeting centered on worries about the Russian Federation's internal democratization, economic pressures and energy security; the situation in Belarus; "frozen conflicts" in Georgia and Moldova; and NATO enlargement. The CEEC also keyed in on Vice-President Cheney's May 4 speech in Vilnius, in which Mr. Cheney strongly promoted a "Freedom Agenda" and expressed the Bush Administration's worries about aforementioned issues, along with the corruption still pervasive in much of the region.

The CEEC emphasized that it is not an anti-Russia organization and supports U.S. engagement with the Russian Federation. At the same time, the CEEC emphasized that the Russian regime needs to act responsibly if it wants to be treated as a partner. It should be held to the same standards as the other members. This is also important as Moscow strives for WTO membership. Until November of this year Russia also chairs the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers. In operating according to acceptable standards, Moscow cannot pressure its neighbors and intervene in their internal affairs, CEEC members understand.

At the same time, the CEEC articulated concerns that neighboring countries have the right to be nervous about Russia's behavior. For instance, Moscow hasn't been able to come to honest terms with its Soviet past, including admitting that the Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries was illegal.

Questions to the National Security Council were posed by Frank Koszorus (American Hungarian Federation), Asta Banionis (Lithuanian American Community), Michael Sawkiw Jr. (Ukrainian Congress Committee of America), Ramunas Kondratas (Lithuanian American Council and Joint Baltic American National Committee - JBANC), and Karl Altau of JBANC. Mati Kõiva, of the Estonian American National Council, also participated.

Administration officials at the meeting were Damon Wilson, director of Central, Eastern and Northern European affairs at the National Security Council, and Eugene Fishel, special advisor to the vice-president for national security affairs.

The CEEC is an umbrella organization composed of 19 U.S. national ethnic organizations. It was founded about 15 years ago to bring together those communities in the United States as the Soviet Union and its empire collapsed and the U.S. was developing new relations with the Russian Federation.

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