A foreign minister from the former Soviet Union said Wednesday during a talk in Dane Smith Hall that there needs to be an increased collaboration between Russia and the West.
Andrei Kozyrev, who became foreign minister of the Soviet Union in 1990, oversaw the entire spectrum of foreign policy making for the country until the fall of the communist regime and his departure from the position in 1995.
"Dr. Kozyrev's visit presents a rare opportunity for people in New Mexico to hear about the Russian perspective on the West," said Natasha Kolchevska, UNM associate professor of foreign languages and literatures.
Kozyrev, who visited Sandia National Laboratories earlier in the day, complimented the institution's willingness to share its nuclear technology with Russian scientists to discover mutual uses for the nuclear capabilities of both countries.
"Seeing American and Russian scientists working side by side gives me increased hope for better relations between Russia and the West," Kozyrev said. "This progress has come a long way from the tensions that once existed between the two countries."
Since 1995, Kozyrev has acted as a deputy at the Russian State Parliament and wrote The Transfiguration, a book in which he advocates further democratic and market reforms in Eastern Europe.
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The transfiguration is Russia undergoing a political transformation that is changing the nature of civilization in the country and that will reshape the world as we know it, Kozyrev said.
He said that totalitarianism and democracy are inherently opposed to one another, but since both countries now have the same political agenda, no reason exists for them to be enemies.
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union were nuclear beasts, locked in a bitter arms race that nearly left catastrophe as the last option, Kozyrev said.
In the process, he said, both sides greatly increased their nuclear technology. He added that since the countries are now allies, they need to collaborate those technologies to find peaceful, prosperous capabilities.
When asked about Russia's continuing relationship with aid to Iran and North Korea, countries that brandish their nuclear capabilities despite the United State's disapproval, Kozyrev said that the mistake is that president Bush is "politicizing" the action too much.
Disagreements such as this need to be put in terms of objectivity, with both sides discussing the possible threats that exist from certain countries gaining nuclear technologies, rather than blatantly telling each other what they can and cannot do, Kozyrev said.
He added that while arms reduction treaties are well intended, it is unrealistic to expect any country to completely dismantle its nuclear capabilities.
"Those capabilities not only ensure the safety of the world, they are priceless in the number of positive things they can be used for," Kozyrev said.
He noted the Russian initiative of lowering the enrichment uranium intended for nuclear weapons to be used in power plants to generate power across the world as an example of the benefits of retaining nuclear technologies.
Kozyrev also mentioned New Mexico's water shortage as an example of the problems that could be solved if better relationships existed between the two countries.
"Our expertise in preserving water tables and desalinization could possibly be used to ease the shortage, and are only the beginning of the topics that, if collaborated on, could be solved in a more timely manner in both countries," Kozyrev said, mentioning the success that was found between the U.S.S.R. and the United States during WWII in finding and destroying German shipping.
He said that with both countries now desperately fighting terrorism, and with a common goal of protecting the Alaskan Pipeline that stretches from Siberia to the United States, improved relations in military and civilian facets can bring nothing but benefits.
"New technologies discovered and shared by both countries will guarantee the safety of all people for generations to come," Kozyrev said.
