Russia 'plots its own course'

MOSCOW - A senior aide to President Vladimir Putin invoked the rhetoric of Che Guevara yesterday, saying that Russia needed to plot its own course without hindrance from outside.

Vladislav Surkov read from a 1960 Che speech on political sovereignty and economic independence, but avoided passages that referred to the US.

"National sovereignty means the right of a country to have no one interfere, the right of a people to choose whatever form of government and way of life suits it," Surkov, Putin's deputy chief of staff, said, quoting Che.

"But concepts of political [and] national sovereignty are fictitious if there is no economic independence."

But Surkov warned of the mistakes Guevara had made.

"A portrait of Che Guevara could easily decorate this hall," Surkov said, but added he didn't "want our discussion of sovereignty to lead us to a repetition of the sad experience of the Cuban revolution."

- REUTERS