Wary congratulations for Medvedev victory

PARIS – World leaders congratulated Dmitry Medvedev on his victory in Russia’s presidential elections, but some messages were tempered by doubts over the democratic credentials of his landslide win.

The United States, European Union, Britain, Germany and Italy all offered the president-elect their best wishes Monday after he trounced his few challengers with more than 70 per cent of the vote. The sole Western observer mission insisted the election was “not fair” and had failed to provide a level playing field for all the candidates.US National security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said President George W Bush “looks forward” to working with the new Russian leader, but withheld comment on the conduct of the election.”I’ll leave that to the election observers,” Johndroe said.The White House has found itself at loggerheads with its old Cold War rival in recent months, particularly over plans to site elements of a US anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech republic.A spokesman for Angela Merkel said the German chancellor also looked forward to working with Medvedev, while acknowledging that Sunday’s polls and the campaign that preceded them had left something to be desired.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also sent his congratulations, but his spokesman stressed that London would “judge the new government on its actions and the results of those actions.”Relations between London and Moscow have nosedived since the death by poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.Russia has declined to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, whom British officials have said they want to charge with Litvinenko’s murder.French President Nicolas Sarkozy offered his congratulations in a phone call to Medvedev and invited him to visit “as soon as he wishes,” Sarkozy’s office said in a statement.But French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was less than effusive about the election result which he said carried echoes of the Stalin era.Kouchner said President Vladimir Putin’s successor was elected with “very surprising figures, not quite worthy of Stalin, but 70 per cent is not bad.”Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said he had sent a congratulatory letter to Medvedev, but noted that Russia was a “different democracy from those we are used to in the West.”European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso also sent his congratulations, saying he hoped that, under Medvedev, Moscow and Brussels would “consolidate and develop their strategic partnership.”Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said the election result was “a clear sign of support” for the policies of President Putin, who is expected to keep a controlling hand on Russian affairs by serving as Medvedev’s prime minister.Outside Europe, Japan was quick to voice hopes that Medvedev would work to resolve a festering territorial row that has long soured bilateral relations.Japan and Russia have never signed a peace treaty formally ending World War II due to Tokyo’s claims over four islands off Japan’s northern coast seized by Soviet troops in 1945.Nampa-AFPThe sole Western observer mission insisted the election was “not fair” and had failed to provide a level playing field for all the candidates.US National security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said President George W Bush “looks forward” to working with the new Russian leader, but withheld comment on the conduct of the election.”I’ll leave that to the election observers,” Johndroe said.The White House has found itself at loggerheads with its old Cold War rival in recent months, particularly over plans to site elements of a US anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech republic.A spokesman for Angela Merkel said the German chancellor also looked forward to working with Medvedev, while acknowledging that Sunday’s polls and the campaign that preceded them had left something to be desired.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also sent his congratulations, but his spokesman stressed that London would “judge the new government on its actions and the results of those actions.”Relations between London and Moscow have nosedived since the death by poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.Russia has declined to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, whom British officials have said they want to charge with Litvinenko’s murder.French President Nicolas Sarkozy offered his congratulations in a phone call to Medvedev and invited him to visit “as soon as he wishes,” Sarkozy’s office said in a statement.But French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was less than effusive about the election result which he said carried echoes of the Stalin era.Kouchner said President Vladimir Putin’s successor was elected with “very surprising figures, not quite worthy of Stalin, but 70 per cent is not bad.”Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said he had sent a congratulatory letter to Medvedev, but noted that Russia was a “different democracy from those we are used to in the West.”European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso also sent his congratulations, saying he hoped that, under Medvedev, Moscow and Brussels would “consolidate and develop their strategic partnership.”Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said the election result was “a clear sign of support” for the policies of President Putin, who is expected to keep a controlling hand on Russian affairs by serving as Medvedev’s prime minister.Outside Europe, Japan was quick to voice hopes that Medvedev would work to resolve a festering territorial row that has long soured bilateral relations.Japan and Russia have never signed a peace treaty formally ending World War II due to Tokyo’s claims over four islands off Japan’s northern coast seized by Soviet troops in 1945.Nampa-AFP