Dhaka shouldn't be a frontier of US-Russia row: Expert

Foreign policy experts said Dhaka should not sit idle and be a new frontier of Washington-Moscow diplomatic row over Bangladesh's internal affairs such as the upcoming national election and human rights issues.

"A message should be sent quietly to both the countries [the US and Russia] that you should not push us around," former foreign secretary Md Touhid Hossain told The Business Standard on Sunday, after Moscow pointed the finger at the US for "unacceptable interference to Bangladesh".

The remark by Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova added a new layer to the ongoing diplomatic arguments between the two global superpowers.

The Russian embassy in Dhaka on Sunday sent the statement by Maria Zakharova in Moscow on 22 December.

In the statement, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said the US ambassador to Dhaka was "persistently trying to influence" the domestic processes in Bangladesh "under the pretext of caring about" the rights of Bangladeshi citizens.

The statement mentioned the 14 December incident when the US ambassador was visiting the family of an enforced disappearance victim in Dhaka's Shaheenbagh and had to shorten the meeting and leave the place after being interrupted by a group of people.

Zakharova termed it as an "expected result".

"As of late, his [the US ambassador] colleagues from the British and German diplomatic missions have been engaged in the same cause and have allowed themselves to openly give recommendations to the local authorities regarding transparency and inclusiveness in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next year," Maria Zakharova said.

After the Shaheenbagh incident, the US ambassador met the foreign minister and expressed concern over the security and maintained that human rights remain at the core of US foreign policy. Subsequently, the US State Department lodged a protest to Bangladesh. 

On 15 December, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu in a discussion with Bangladesh ambassador to Washington Mohammad Imran also expressed concern about the security of the US ambassador to Dhaka.

On 20 December, the Russian embassy in Dhaka issued a statement saying Moscow is "invariably committed" to its principle of not interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries, including that of Bangladesh.

On 21 December, the US Embassy in Dhaka took to Twitter to respond to the Russian embassy's comment, saying Washington is against interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.

"Does this [principle of non-interference] apply to Ukraine?" read the tweet. The development led the Russian embassy in Bangladesh to tweet a meme, accusing the US of interference in other countries. 

Former Bangladeshi diplomat and President of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute M Humayun Kabir said that Bangladesh needs to be more cautious about the head-to-head stance of the two countries.  

"We should stick to the motto of our foreign policy – friendship to all, malice towards none – and not get into their row. Otherwise, the situation could escalate to beyond our reach," he told The Business Standard.

"We should tell them just to leave us alone on our internal affairs."

Dhaka University International Relations Prof Imtiaz Ahmed said Russia wants to send a message to others that the world is no longer unicentric, rather we are moving towards a multipolar power system.

"Their [Russia] call about no foreign interference to internal issues makes it clear," said Prof Imtiaz.    

"We want to have ties with everyone. But if any country thinks that we have to have a relationship only with them… I would say the world is no longer in that time," he commented. 

He urged politicians to be aware of the new world order and polarisation.