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Russia's Medvedev criticizes US over Georgia

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-05 22:02

MOSCOW -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev criticized the United States in his first annual address to the nation on Wednesday, blaming "selfish" US foreign policy for Moscow's war with Georgia.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev makes his annual state of the nation address in the Kremlin in Moscow, November 5, 2008. [Agencies]

Medvedev also proposed extending the presidential term by two years to six years and increasing the term of the lower house of parliament by one year to five years.

Russia's war with Georgia in August over the rebel region of South Ossetia was "among other things, the result of the arrogant course of the US administration which hates criticism and prefers unilateral decisions," he said in his speech, broadcast live on television and radio.

"The conflict in the Caucasus was used as a pretext for sending NATO warships to the Black Sea and then for the forceful foisting on Europe of America's anti-missile systems, which in its turn will entail retaliatory measures by Russia."

Speaking in the Kremlin's ornate white-marbled St George's Hall to about 1,000 parliamentarians, top government officials, religious leaders and journalists, Medvedev linked the war in Georgia to the global financial crisis.

Both began as localised events but took on broader significance.

"We will overcome the consequences of the world economic crisis and will come out of it even stronger than we were," Medvedev said to applause.

But the financial and Caucasus crises also showed the need for fundamental reform of global institutions, he added.

"The lessons of the mistakes and crises of 2008 have proved to all responsible nations that the time has come to act, and it is necessary to radically reform the (international) political and economic system," he said.

Russia's war with Georgia handed Moscow a quick military victory but also a serious defeat with international investors, who dumped Russian assets in a selling spree that made the stock market one of the world's worst performing this year.

"Our people are spiritually and morally rich, we have things we can be proud of, we have things to love and protect and we have things we can aspire to. For these reasons, we will not step back in the Caucasus," he said to applause.

Although Russia's rich businessmen known as oligarchs have been badly hit by the financial crisis, the Kremlin has played down the impact on the wider economy and has said repeatedly that it originated in the United States -- a point the president made again on Wednesday.

KEY VALUES

Medvedev, who trained as a lawyer before his career in public life, underlined what he said were Russia's key values -- freedom, democracy, fairness and the rule of law.

"It's important for the president to speak again about those principles and values to which he is attached," an unidentified senior Kremlin official explained to Russian newswires in a briefing before Medvedev's address.

Medvedev, who took office in May, brought forward the timing of the address from the spring, the season favoured by predecessor Vladimir Putin, how is now prime minister.

Putin listened to his successor from the front row of the audience, flanked by the leaders of both houses of parliament and the Russian Orthodox Church leader, Patriarch Alexiy II.

Analysts said before the speech that Medvedev needed to reassure frightened investors and calm citizens who fear a big rouble devaluation, despite frequent official denials.

Yeltsin introduced the address to the nation in 1994, shortly after he had crushed a rebellion by parliament and held elections to the State Duma, in an attempt to restore his authority as a national leader.