From Chinese Press

Russia the invisible presence in Clinton's 5-nation tour

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-06 10:14

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Monday concluded her trip to five eastern European and Caucasus region countries.

Russia, though not part of the current Clinton's visit, was always an invisible presence in her visits to Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as the U.S. diplomat was playing a tricky task of balancing between these countries' interests while having in mind the interests of the non-presenting party, Russia.

U.S.-POLISH DEAL TOO SECURED TO BOTHER MUCH

Clinton visited Poland just days before results for presidential election came out. However, regardless of Poles' choice, which was unknown at the time when Clinton stayed in the antic Polish capital Krakow, everybody was certain that Poland's policy would stay firmly pro-American.

On July 3, Clinton and her Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski signed amendments to the Bush-initiated agreement on anti-missile defense outlining the deployment of the U.S. SM-3 from 2015 to 2018.

Remarkably, Russia this time kept in low profile, though normally Moscow fiercely opposed the plans as a threat to its national security.

"This is because Clinton's visit to Poland is a sort of extra insurance for the U.S. which is interesting to keep Poland as their frontline minuteman," editor-in chief of Kiev's Zavtra daily, Andrei Tomsky, told Xinhua.