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10/07/2004
Trouble in Russia
The other day in my “Week in Review” column I highlighted a
few passages from “An Open Letter to the Heads of State and
Government of the European Union and NATO” addressing the
current situation in Russia. 115 distinguished individuals signed
it, including Vaclav Havel, John McCain and Joe Biden, as well
as some of the world’s leading academics on foreign affairs
Max Boot, Nicholas Eberstadt, Dr. Francis Fukuyama, Dr.
Donald Kagan, Robert Kagan, William Kristol, Dr. Michael
McFaul, Dr. Gary Schmitt and former CIA Director James
Woolsey.
Following is the full text.
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As citizens of the Euro-Atlantic community of democracies, we
wish to express our sympathy and solidarity with the people of
the Russian Federation in their struggle against terrorism. The
mass murderers who seized School No. 1 in Beslan committed a
heinous act of terrorism for which there can be no rationale or
excuse. While other mass murderers have killed children and
unarmed civilians, the calculated targeting of so many innocent
children at school is an unprecedented act of barbarism that
violates the values and norms of our community and which all
civilized nations must condemn.
At the same time, we are deeply concerned that these tragic
events are being used to further undermine democracy in Russia.
Russia’s democratic institutions have always been weak and
fragile. Since becoming President in January 2000, Vladimir
Putin has made them even weaker. He has systematically
undercut the freedom and independence of the press, destroyed
the checks and balances in the Russian federal system, arbitrarily
imprisoned both real and imagined political rivals, removed
legitimate candidates from electoral ballots, harassed and
arrested NGO leaders, and weakened Russia’s political parties.
In the wake of the horrific crime in Beslan, President Putin has
announced plans to further centralize power and to push through
measures that will take Russia a step closer to authoritarian
regime.
We are also worried about the deteriorating conduct of Russia in
its foreign relations. President Putin’s foreign policy is
increasingly marked by a threatening attitude towards Russia’s
neighbors and Europe’s energy security, the return of rhetoric of
militarism and empire, and by a refusal to comply with Russia’s
international treaty obligations. In all aspects of Russian
political life, the instruments of state power appear to be being
rebuilt and the dominance of the security services to grow. We
believe that this conduct cannot be accepted as the foundation of
a true partnership between Russia and the democracies of NATO
and the European Union.
These moves are only the latest evidence that the present Russian
leadership is breaking away from the core democratic values of
the Euro-Atlantic community. All too often in the past, the West
has remained silent and restrained its criticism in the belief that
President Putin’s steps in the wrong direction were temporary
and the hope that Russia would soon return to a democratic and
pro-Western path. Western leaders continue to embrace
President Putin in the face of growing evidence that the country
is moving in the wrong direction and that his strategy for fighting
terrorism is producing less and less freedom. We firmly believe
dictatorship will not and cannot be the answer to Russia’s
problems and the very real threats it faces.
The leaders of the West must recognize that our current strategy
towards Russia is failing. Our policies have failed to contribute
to the democratic Russia we wished for and the people of this
great country deserve after all the suffering they have endured. It
is time for us to rethink how and to what extent we engage with
Putin’s Russia and to put ourselves unambiguously on the side of
democratic forces in Russia. At this critical time in history when
the West is pushing for democratic change around the world,
including in the broader Middle East, it is imperative that we do
not look the other way in assessing Moscow’s behavior or create
a double standard for democracy in the countries which lie to
Europe’s East. We must speak the truth about what is happening
in Russia. We owe it to the victims of Beslan and the tens of
thousands of Russian democrats who are still fighting to preserve
democracy and human freedom in their country.
[Source: The Moscow Times]
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Hott Spotts returns October 14.
Brian Trumbore
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