
© U.S. Transportation CommandMap of NDN routes, including those through Russia
Russia does not intend to block U.S. and NATO military transit routes to Afghanistan, President Vladimir Putin said, in spite of the recent spike in tensions with the West.
The U.S.'s Northern Distribution Network has been the quiet success of U.S.-Russia relations over the past several years; as of last year
100,000 containers of U.S. and NATO had been shipped to and from Afghanistan through Russia (and Central Asia and the Baltic states). The U.S. set up the route so as to not be dependent on its volatile relations with Pakistan, a decision that was
vindicated in 2011 when Pakistan -- shut down its territory to U.S. and NATO military cargo. And even while NATO and Russia have
suspended nearly all cooperation, the NDN
keeps operating.
Putin
spoke last week in Yalta and took questions from members of the Duma. And one was an implicit criticism of the Russian government's decision to continue cooperating with the U.S. and NATO on transit to Afghanistan. Leonid Kalashnikov of the Communist Party,
asked Putin why Russia wasn't responding like Pakistan did: "When the U.S. military accidentally bombed a [Pakistani] checkpoint a few years ago ... they [Pakistan] immediately shut down the transit of U.S. forces and equipment," Kalashnikov said. "We have the same sort of transit with respect to members of NATO, which we entered into on a bilateral basis. Maybe it's time to also suspend this transit, as it doesn't serve our interests. In 2014, when the Americans leave there [Afghanistan], will will get one more flashpoint -- which is their fault -- in the south."
In his answer, Putin defended the agreement with the U.S., but also made a curious defense of his policy of letting NATO set up a transit facility in the city of Ulyanovsk in 2012, a decision that exposed him to some
nationalist criticism. Putin essentially says, 'it wasn't a bad decision because
no one ended up using it.'
Comment: See also: The U.S. has become a worse Police State than Orwell could imagine