Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I find both of them have behaved abysmally. I remind the Minister of State that when Gorbachev agreed the deal on German unification, the cornerstone of which was that a united Germany would remain in NATO, US Secretary of State Baker assured him that there would be no extension of NATO's jurisdiction one inch to the east. Gorbachev repeated that any extension of the zone of NATO would be unacceptable and Baker's response was that he agreed. One reason Gorbachev has publicly backed Putin - he would not be a fan of his either - is that he has been completely betrayed. Washington believed Russian leaders would blindly do what was bidden, which Yeltsin usually did, and being drunk while he was at it.

In Chechnya, the US, Britain and Blair gave their blessing to the Russians to go in - "that's different, that's okay". Tens of thousands of people were killed in Chechnya. The Russians raped and absolutely pillaged the place and the US and the EU had no problem with it. Can the Minister of State not see that they play games with this stuff and lives get destroyed? We are taking sides now. Why are we not neutral? I have no time for how Putin or Russia behaves nor do I have time for how the US behaves. We should not take sides with either of them.

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