WASHINGTON: The United States may scrap a civil nuclear pact with Moscow and consider sanctions as punishment for its military action in Georgia, the White House said yesterday, raising pressure on Russia to comply with a cease-fire.
But major US exporters urged the Bush administration to move slowly and not act unilaterally, underscoring the limited options the West has in dealing with Russia due to extensive business, economic and energy ties.
“We are in the process of re-evaluating our relationship with Russia,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. “We are doing that in concert with our international partners.”
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said European Union leaders are considering sanctions against Russia ahead of a summit on Monday to discuss the situation in Georgia, which hosts two major energy pipelines and has ports on the Black Sea.
One option Washington is considering is nixing the nuclear deal signed in May that would open up the booming US nuclear market and Russia’s vast uranium fields to firms from both countries by removing Cold War-era restrictions.
“I don’t think there is anything to announce yet, but I know that that is under discussion,” Perino said.
Exporters urged caution. “We’ve been telling them to think very carefully before acting and move very cautiously and whatever you do, make sure that it’s multilateral, not unilateral,” said Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council.
Moscow threatened its own sanctions. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in an interview with CNN that Russia will ban imports from 19 US poultry suppliers on health and safety grounds.
Putin denied there was any link between the ban and political tensions over the conflict in the Caucasus. The Russian prime minister said the ban would be imposed because the firms, which were not named, had failed health and safety tests.
A further 29 firms had been warned they must improve standards or face a similar ban, Putin was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev failed to win crucial support from his Asian allies in Moscow’s confrontation with the West.
Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), who gathered for a summit in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, failed to explicitly back his Caucasus policy.
“The SCO states express grave concern in connection with the recent tensions around the South Ossetian issue and urge the sides to solve existing problems peacefully, through dialogue, and to make efforts facilitating reconciliation and talks,” the summit’s final declaration said.
