By Tyler Marshall
MOSCOW -
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's motorcade was diverted shortly after her
arrival in the Russian capital today because of a bomb scare at the hotel at
which she had planned to stay.
Instead of proceeding to the Renaissance Hotel in central
Moscow as planned, Rice, her staff, and a group of journalists traveling with
her were diverted directly to the U.S. embassy, about three miles from the
hotel and just over a mile from the Kremlin.
Both the hotel and the embassy are located on one of Moscow's
main inner-city arterial roads.
Rice later moved to the residence of U.S. Ambassador
Alexander Vershbow, a short distance from the
embassy, where she prepared for a working dinner later this evening with
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
A senior state department official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said the party was notified of the bomb threat as the Rice motorcade
was traveling toward central Moscow from Vnukovo
Airport about 15 miles south of the city.
"There was a bomb threat to the hotel, we're waiting
for the all-clear," the official said. "The Russians are
responding." The official said a separate bomb threat had been made
earlier-apparently before Rice arrived in Russia,
near the hotel.
Rice is in Moscow
to prepare for next month's planned summit between President Bush and Russian
President Vladimir Putin. She told reporters before
she arrived that she planned to engage Russian leaders on a broad range of
issues, including the delicate subject of reversing a dramatic centralization
of political power into Putin's hands that has
occurred during his five and a half years as president.
A Putin-Bush summit two months ago
in Bratislava, Slovakia
ended with a tense, awkward news conference after Bush reportedly tried to
press his Russian counterpart to strengthen the forces of democracy in the
country.
Rice is scheduled on Wednesday to meet Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov and Putin
before flying later in the day to the Lituanian
capital, Vilnius, for a North
Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting.
4/19/05
Source: L.A. Times
7/11 Return to: Condoleezza Rice88