A Debate on Russia's Direction and American Policy

Video of this event is now available.

At a recent Kennan Institute seminar, Alex Goldfarb, Executive Director, International Foundation for Civil Liberties; and Edward Lozansky, President, American University in Moscow and President, Kontinent USA Media Group, debated the nature of Russia's political development in the post-Soviet period and how the United States should engage Russia. Goldfarb argued that the U.S. should recognize that under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has become an authoritarian state and cannot be treated as a U.S. ally. Lozansky countered that the United States needs Russia as an ally in the international arena and should avoid involving itself in Russian internal affairs.

According to Goldfarb, Putin represents a strain of Russian nationalism that arises from a feeling of Russia's inferiority to the West. Because they resent and envy the successes of the West, Russian nationalists reject Western ideals such as liberalism and democracy. He argued that Putin has been destroying the foundations of a free society in Russia since he came to office in 1999. Opinion polls indicating that the majority of Russian people support Putin's policies, Goldfarb said, are highly suspect due to extensive state propaganda and the climate of fear and repression that Putin has created.

Under Putin, Russia has become a threat to the United States, Goldfarb argued. Despite its perceived weakness, Russia has vast resources and human potential, which can be used to hurt U.S. interests. As an example, Goldfarb noted recent allegations that Russia has secretly exported military technology to Iran and Iraq. Appeasement is not an effective strategy against an aggressive, authoritarian state such as Russia, he contended. Instead, the U.S. should focus on containing Russia's international influence, providing financial and moral support for pro-democracy groups within Russia, and putting pressure on the Putin regime to respect human rights and democratic norms. Most importantly, Goldfarb said, U.S. leaders should not treat Putin as a friend and a democrat.

Lozansky argued that containment policy and support of domestic opposition groups, which were effective in the Cold War, should not be used today, because the Russian Federation is an entirely different entity from the Soviet Union. Although Russia is not a perfect democracy, Lozansky said that it does hold multi-party elections and observe universal rights such as freedom of assembly, expression, and travel. He noted that when the borders of the USSR were opened, people were eager to flee the country. By contrast, Russia today is an attractive destination for immigrants, and several regions of neighboring states are petitioning for integration into the Russian state.

Russia today is a major world energy producer and an important player in the fight against terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction, according to Lozansky. The U.S. cannot afford to alienate Moscow by publicly criticizing its domestic policies, although he believes that criticism in the context of private, government-to-government conversations would be appropriate. During the 1990s, he argued, ill-conceived U.S. policy toward Russia led to an anti-American backlash, with many ordinary Russians seeing the U.S. as the source of poverty and social turmoil. This position was expressed in the U.S. the Congressional document "Russia's Road to Corruption" prepared by the Members of Speaker's Advisory Group on Russia, he noted. Similarly, American involvement in Ukraine's elections has also led Russia to see the U.S. as a hostile power trying to break the traditional ties between the two states. Rather than antagonize Russians by imposing our values and ideology on them, Lozansky believes that the U.S. should focus on providing assistance to Russia in the areas of medicine, science, and education—where much good work has already been done—and on building a strong partnership based on pragmatic political interests.