Moscow Upset that GUAM Becomes GUUAM

At first glance, these utterances of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs appear unjustifiably abrupt and confrontational. However, they are quite in the spirit of the bellicose and often far-from-reality rhetoric one can hear from Russian officials - and, above all, from Mr. Ivanov himself and his patron Yevgeny Primakov - since the very first days of NATO action against Yugoslavia. The refusal of CIS countries to join Moscow at the Commonwealth summit in its condemnation of the NATO action, the decision of the leaders of almost all former Soviet republics to attend the NATO jubilee celebrations in a situation when Russia boycotted this ceremony (only Minsk supported Moscow in this), and the Ukraine-NATO summit naturally provoked Russia's opposition, for these facts demonstrate how Russia is losing its place in the world and in relations with even its closest neighbors. However, it is common knowledge that this weakening is often associated with its own self-isolation and inability to react adequately to a changed situation. It is an open secret that the tough position of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which excluded Russia from mediating in the Yugoslavia conflict, was one of the reasons why Viktor Chernomyrdin was appointed President Yeltsin's special envoy in Yugoslavia. At the same time as Mr. Chernomyrdin has to meet such people as CIS leaders and the Japanese Premier, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs generously dishes out harsh judgments.