VLADIMIR PUTIN, WASHINGTON'S PAL?

摘要

When retired General Fyodor I. Ladygin, a former head of Russian military intelligence, first heard reports that U. S. military cargo planes had landed in the for-mer Soviet republic of Uzbekistan in Central Asia, he fig-ured the Americans had cut a sly deal with the Uzbeks with-rnout consulting the Russians. No way, Ladygin told BusinessWeek on Sept. 24, would Eussian President Vladimir V. Putin give a green light to stationing the U. S. military in Russia's own back-yard. Wrong prediction, general: In a speech that very evening on national television, Putin voiced support for such deployments to assist the U.S. -led cam-paign against international terrorism.