Rice calls some Russian rhetoric "reprehensible"

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some recent Russian rhetoric on post-Cold War Europe has been "reprehensible" and Moscow should know it can no longer intimidate its neighbors, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday.

Rice was responding to comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, including a statement on Tuesday that Russia could train its nuclear missiles on Ukraine if that former Soviet republic joined the NATO military alliance.

"The unhelpful and really, I will use a different word, reprehensible rhetoric that is coming out of Moscow is unacceptable, and it's not helpful to a relationship that actually has some positive aspects," Rice told a Senate committee hearing.

She said the United States and Russia had been able to work together on reducing the North Korean nuclear threat, as well as on Iran, the Middle East and terrorism.

But when it came to issues involving the post Cold War structure in Europe, "we get this kind of rhetoric" from Russia, Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar asked why Putin was being invited to attend a NATO summit in Bucharest in April, saying his presence could "intimidate" some members of the alliance, which now includes several former Soviet republics and ex-Soviet satellite states.

RUSSIA HAS "NO VETO"

"NATO will do what it must as an alliance and Russia has no veto," Rice responded. "We are absolutely devoted to the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine and of other states that were once a part of the Soviet Union."

"The Soviet Union had all these parts but that was another point in time and it is gone forever, and I hope that Russia understands that," she added.

Rice said the summit would be an opportunity for the alliance to communicate "that NATO is a strong and unified alliance that is not going to see a return to the Cold War, and that means neither to Russia's ability to intimidate neighbors, nor to the times when we had an implacably hostile relationship with the Soviet Union."

At the April NATO summit in Bucharest, the alliance is considering issuing an invitation to three Balkan countries -- Croatia, Albania and Macedonia -- to join.

Speaking about those three countries, Rice said "should they meet the standard, it is our view that they ought to be invited for membership," but the United States would reserve final judgment until it consulted with allies.

She gave a similar answer on whether Ukraine and Georgia, both former Soviet republics, should be offered a spot in NATO's "Membership Action Plan," a preliminary step toward joining the alliance.

She said states should receive such status "as they become able and capable of carrying out the responsibilities that go with them."

Separately, a senior U.S. official sought to downplay concern in Washington about a Russian bomber mission near a U.S. aircraft carrier last weekend.