WikiLeaks Revelations No Threat to Russia's Ties with Other States, Says Kremlin Aid

Topic: WikiLeaks publishes secret U.S. documents

RIA Novosti. Vladimir Fedorenko

MOSCOW, November 30, 2010 (RIA Novosti)

The cables leaked on Sunday by the Wikileaks website will not affect Moscow's relations with other countries, including the United States, Russian presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said on Tuesday.

"I believe that our ties are strong enough to be jeopardized by such things," he said.

Asked whether he was referring to Russia's ties with the United States, Dvorkovich said he was referring to relations with all of Russian partners.

According to one document leaked from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev "plays Robin" to his strongman Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's "Batman." Another document called Medvedev "pale and hesitant" in comparison to the "alpha-dog" Putin.

The site also released a secret cable from a meeting in Paris in February between U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and then French Foreign Minister Herve Morin. In it Gates describes Russia in blunt terms: "Russian democracy has disappeared and the government is an oligarchy run by the security services."

The WikiLeaks website does not have a central office or any paid staff and its operations are run only by a small dedicated team and some 800 volunteers.

Wikileaks' founder, Australian activist Julian Assange, has no home address but he often pops up in Sweden and Iceland, where Internet anonymity is protected by law. He is being hunted by Pentagon investigators and is suspected of releasing confidential U.S. State Department documents.

Time magazine has said Assange's exploits have cemented him as a candidate for TIME's 2010 Person of the Year.

More than 80,000 readers have already cast their vote for Assange.

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