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US Vice President: â€œRussia has to make some very difficult, calculated decisionsâ€

25 July 2009 08:54 (UTC +04:00)

"It is never smart to embarrass an individual or a country when theyâ€™re dealing with significant loss of face. My dad used to put it another way: Never put another man in a corner where the only way out is over you."
He also argued that Russiaâ€™s domestic struggles have made it less able to influence events in its so-called near abroad -- the former Soviet republics that, to varying degrees, are seeking increased independence from Moscow.
Russia maintains thousands of troops in the northern Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and has shut off gas flows into Ukraine twice in the last three years. Despite such shows of power, Mr. Biden said, even a close Russian protectorate such as Belarus has shown signs of bucking Moscow recently.
Biden said Moscowâ€™s efforts to strong-arm former Soviet republics through use of its energy resources have backfired. He noted that Russiaâ€™s running dispute with Ukraine has galvanized European efforts to build a new pipeline through Turkey and southern Europe, known as Nabucco, that would bypass Russia. "Their actions relative to essentially blackmailing a country and a continent on natural gas, what did it produce?" he said. "Youâ€™ve now got an agreement that no one thought they could have."