WAR.WIRE
Rice arrives with new volley of criticism for Russia
MOSCOW (AFP) Apr 19, 2005
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with the Kremlin leadership, delivering a new round of criticism of Russia on issues ranging from democracy to nuclear safety and energy policy.

"There's no doubt when we talk about the trends - the trends have not been positive on the democracy side," Rice told reporters en route to Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin and other officials.

The United States has "continuing concerns about the course of democratisation in Russia and issues concerning the rule of law."

There "also concerns about the state of the media."