By POTSDAM, GERMANY
Russian attitudes are locked in the past, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday, adding that the United States is perplexed by the current fracas with Russia over a planned US missile system in Europe.
"We want a 21st Century partnership with Russia, but at times, Russia seems to think and act in the zero-sum terms of another era," Rice said, referring to the suspicions and territorial ambitions of the Cold War.
Rice's remarks referred to a laundry list of US complaints about post-Soviet Russia, including democratic retrenchment under Putin.
"Democratic institutions and an open society are not a source of weakness," Rice said. "Nor is freedom of speech and freedom of the press just a nuisance. In this regard we find Russia's recent missile diplomacy difficult to understand," Rice said.