In his opinion, when the U.S. president arrives in Moscow to attend the celebrations marking the end of WWII, the U.S. side will display its "great desire to achieve mutual understanding on a number of issues." The U.S. expert singles out Russian-U.S. interaction on the post-Soviet territory as a key subject of discussion.
When answering a question as to whether Washington supported the desire of Georgian and Ukrainian presidents to promote "color revolutions" in CIS countries, Simes said he did not believe President Bush had hatched some sort of a plot with the Georgian and Ukrainian leaders. However, he said there were influential forces in the United States that would welcome such a scenario. Simes said there were certain leaders, especially in GUUAM member countries, who would want to sow discord between Russia and the U.S., to cause a clash of their interests, thereby proving their super-loyalty to Washington.
Simes said the White House administration had a certain inclination to encourage democracy in the former Soviet Union. In that respect, the U.S. political scientist said Russian and American views of certain CIS presidents did not coincide. For instance, Saakashvili, "despite all his drawbacks is on the side of angels for the U.S. because he is a proponent of partnership with America. Moscow, on the contrary, considers him a leader who tries to score points through confrontation with Russia." Nevertheless, "there is no reason for us to argue because of these differences," Simes insists.
