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Reflections

A NEW AND MODERN FOREIGN POLICY

Dmitry Trenin

THE MOSCOW TIMES

published on Russian News- week’s Web site this week— has created a stir among dip- lomats and journalists. Many saw it as a revelation or a sig- nal of a significant and wel- come policy shift toward the West. But in reality, this is quite an overstatement. Contrary to widespread per- ceptions, the Kremlin took a defensive rather than an offen- sive foreign policy position dur- ing Vladimir Putin’s second presidential term. From the color revolutions to the 2008 Georgia war, it was under con- stant pressure and occasional attack from Washington. With the “reset” in U.S. foreign pol- icy under U.S. President Barack Obama, the pressure is now off, and Moscow can return to “business as usual,” which has much more to do with business than traditional geo- politics. The modernization angle is

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a more recent development. The global crisis has knocked Russia down several notches and significantly diminished the hubris that it had shown in the boom years of high en- ergy prices. It awakened the leadership to the harsh reality that Russia is losing ground in the global pecking order by falling behind in terms of its industrial, technological and scientific capabilities. All the proceeds from Gazprom’s sales notwithstanding, Russia is sore- ly lacking what it takes to be a major global economic and political force in the 21st cen- tury. Relative energy abun- dance and nuclear arsenals are simply not enough. The Krem- lin was forced to come to terms with the fact that Russia can- not modernize on its own and that it needs Western invest- ment and strong business part- nerships with the West. Once this fact was accepted,

the implications were clear. Rus- sia’s foreign policy, as many po- litical analysts had argued all along, should stop covering up the country’s diminishing sta- tus with aggressive rhetoric against the West. Instead, Rus- sia needs to attract external re- sources for modernization. This transformation is now

official. Well done. The next step is to attract the resources to make the transformation

DRAWING BY DMITRY DIVIN

supposedly confiden- tial Foreign Ministry document—an inten- tional leak that was

possible. It is not hard to see that they are mostly found in the countries making up the Organization of Economic Co- operation and Development— that is, North America, West- ern Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Singapore. Although BRIC, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Commonwealth of Indepen- dent States and the Eurasian Economic Community are all important alliances, it is clear that these groups won’t be able to produce the same in- vestments and business part- nerships for Russia as the more established global financial and technology centers. The European Union, of

course, is at the top of the list because of its members’ ad- vanced economies, tech- nological proficiency and physical proximity

to Russia. Russia’s links with Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and several other countries are so close that it is

The Kremlin took a defensive rather than an offensive foreign policy during Putin’s second term.

possible to talk of an emerg- ing pan-European economic community. It is also evident that despite the relatively mod- est trade turnover between the United States and Russia, the United States holds the key to critical technology transfers

that Russia covets. In addition, Japan should be added to the list, particularly to help devel- op Siberia and the Far East. Although the Foreign Min-

istry document looks authen- tic and, on the whole, solid, it has a few glaring gaps—for ex- ample, Britain and Poland were left out for some reason. We may be dealing with an incom- plete draft, but the few rough edges can be easily ironed out later. A more important prob- lem is that the very pragmat- ic, down-to-earth tenor of the paper is not rooted in a grand strategy and avoids the inter- section between foreign and domestic policies. Above all, however, it ap-

pears that both the Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin un- derstand that the kind of eco- nomic in-

tegration that Russia seeks is only possible when the rela- tionship between Russia and the West is fully and securely demilitarized. Competition among countries will remain for a long time—perhaps for- ever—but hostility in the rela- tionship must go. Normaliza- tion in relations has largely been achieved with Western Europeans, an improvement in Russian-Polish relations is hope- fully in the pipeline, while the Baltic States continue to be outliers. Regarding the reset in U.S.-Russian relations, howev- er, there is a lot of work that still needs to be done. Arms control is not enough. What is required is strategic coop- eration and collaboration, from joint efforts to stem prolifera- tion of nuclear weapons to joint missile defense projects. Closer to home, making sure

that the outside world views Russia as a democratic state with a social market economy and independent foreign pol- icy will require a lot of heavy lifting, not simply window dressing. Modernization couched in strictly economic and technological terms is too narrow to succeed. Democra- cy will surely take many years— if not decades—to mature and develop in Russia, but strength- ening the country’s political and economic institutions should be the leadership’s im- mediate priority. More than anything else, this factor will determine whether leading na- tions accept Russia as a viable and dependable partner. President Dmitry Medvedev

and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov deserve praise for mak- ing an important step forward. The next steps should include the completion of accession to the World Trade Organization, turning the E.U.-Russian “part- nership for modernization” into the centerpiece of E.U.- Russian relations, consolidat- ing and expanding partnership with the United States and turning Japan into a “Germa- ny in the East.” At the same time, focusing

on the developed world should not come at the expense of Rus- sia’s important relations with China, India and Brazil or with Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Isn’t this what all other aspiring coun- tries are doing? Russia, welcome to the club.

Dmitry Trenin is director of the Carnegie Moscow Cen- ter.

Originally published in

The Moscow Times

EXPAT FILES

A TENACITY TO REMEMBER

Peter

Cheremushkin

SPECIAL TO RN

quote that caught my eye: “On our way to the restaurant, we passed the Stalingrad metro station. Why is there a metro in Paris named after a com- munist city in Russia? I asked. ‘The battle,’ he said, looking at me like maybe I was speak- ing Russian. ‘When Stalin de- feated Hitler on the Eastern Front.’ Duh. It was only the moment that turned the tide of the entire Second World War, saving France from per- manent occupation and hu- miliation by Nazi Germany. There was no metro named D-Day.” It struck me that an Ameri-

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can in Paris could not imagine a more important battle than D-Day. In the United States, World

War II began with an attack on Pearl Harbor, but on that day in December 1941, Soviet troops were already engaged in a fierce battle in the snowy outskirts of Moscow. The te- nacity of the Russian people and their role in stopping the march of Hitler’s army is not well known in the West. The Battle of Moscow, where Generals Zhukov, Rokossovs- kiy, Vlasov and so many aver- age soldiers mysteriously stopped the Nazis in the neigh- borhoods of the Russian capi- tal, was a breakthrough that many historians are still unable to explain. It was a miracle that some have chalked up to the frosty Russian weather, or even to the difference between Rus-

n a popular book on French cuisine (“Lunch in Paris, A Love Story, with recipes by Elizabeth Bard”), I found a

sian valenki (felt boots) and German leather boots. In Tom Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation,” he tells the story of American heroes and heroines who came of age during the Great Depression. Brokaw’s book, which was re- cently translated into Russian, has only one mention of Rus- sia—describing the greatest generation standing “fast against the totalitarianism of their former allies, the Rus- sians,” in their post-war lives. Certainly the Cold War and

Stalin’s atrocities have erased from the public mind the scale of loss and the heroism that Russians demonstrated in the war years. Today, it is more popular to speak about how Russian soldiers raped German and Polish women, or imposed the Soviet regime on the Bal- tic States. No doubt it was true. But can we also recall the words of Joseph Beyrle, the only American who escaped from the German prison camp and found himself in the midst of the Red Army, a man I had the honor to meet in 2004, a year before his death: “I hear a lot about the atrocities that Soviets committed on their way towards Berlin in Germa- ny. I don’t remember that. I only remember their determi- nation to reach Berlin and to see the victory.” This Memorial Day week-

end, when we are serving up our hot dogs and hamburgers from the grill, we might also remember the simple Russian soldiers—the lowly first lieuten- ants who went through the battles near Moscow, Stalin- grad, Kursk, Kiev, Warsaw, who opened the gates of Auschwitz, and, after all entered Berlin first. They carried the burden of their war experiences throughout their lives.

VERY SUPERSTITIOUS

Jennifer Eremeeva

SPECIAL TO RN

M

WHAT DOES FRIENDSHIP MEAN TO A RUSSIAN?

Svetlana Babaeva

SPECIAL TO RUSSIA NOW

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ussians seem aggres- sive at first glance, as if they are prepared for an attack, which strikes

an American as hostile. The American is used to smiling, friendly citizens, while Russians smile only to those they know very well. Since visitors in pub- lic places are not friends, there is no need to show attention to them or care. That surpris- es the American until he learns about Russians better. “I never could grasp how Russians might be so different. They are so sincere and open- hearted at a table or with friends and so aggressive and rude in public service offices,” said a U.S. diplomat who has been working for years in Russia, de- scribing the typical Russian na- tional feature. Russians who live in the Unit-

ed States for decades and have an opportunity to compare na- tional qualities say that most Americans understand the con- cept of friendship differently. “It is wise not to rely on your friends to help you to move and carry your furniture, while for Russians [it] is still quite nat-

ural to help this way,” said a former Soviet who has been liv- ing in the United States for three decades. He added that it is also a bad sign among Americans to present elegant and expensive gifts. Also, when an American says, “Let's get to- gether,” he or she may or may not mean it; Russians only offer to meet when they are seri- ous.

For an American, friendship primarily means having a nice time. It is not commonplace to complain to each other about how severe life is, as Russians do, or to rely on friends to help solve a person’s problems. Friendship, especially in the

Soviet times, was partly a sub- stitute for dysfunctional institu- tions. In order to get qualified medical service, a person should have acquaintances in a good hospital; in order to get fresh fruits on a holiday table, one needs a friend in food distribu- tion. If parents want to enroll children in a well-regarded school, they should be familiar with the director. Social net- working was a crucial compo- nent for survival in the Soviet period. Doing and returning fa- vors was one of the touchstones of the Soviet society suffering from a deficit of goods and ser-

vices, even of fruit or meat. Finding inside connections is

still a vital way of dealing with life’s problems in Russia, because of the lack of both governmen- tal efficiency and the lack of public services for all citizens. Individual Russians, and even companies, still overcome day- to-day headaches—speeding up a surgery date for a relative or paying a fine to police—with a little help from friends. A com-

Russians often... choose to pay rather than try to solve a problem they face.

pany may get better business conditions by having friends in the government agencies, while a worker may get a higher po- sition if somebody asks on his behalf. This has little in com- mon with the American system of writing reference letters, and reflects more the lack of func- tioning laws in Russian society as well as the disparity between wealthy and low-income social groups. The Russian way does not fit well with the American credo,

“The difficult we do at once; the impossible takes a little lon- ger.” Russians often prefer tac- tics of circumventing the prob- lem; they choose to pay rather than try to solve a problem they face.

Inability to solve problems

makes people nervous and angry, and the level of mutual trust in the Russian society is extremely low. Yet according to surveys, Russians count on

Once a person has recognized another as a friend, he becomes reliable and candid for ages.

relatives, friends, the president and neighbors, which means that they do not rely on official institutions. At the same time, Russians

are used to forgiving mistakes and weakness of either friends or public institutions, and this quality reflects, ironically, a quite opposite feature of the Russian character, warmth and cordial- ity. Once a person has recog- nized another as a friend, he becomes reliable and candid for ages. They can exchange

their deepest feelings and dis- cuss all facets of their lives. From time to time, Americans share with Russians who live in the United States their fears and concerns, not worrying about being judged as losers or wimps. Russians are used to relying on each other and see little prob- lem if somebody shows weak- ness. Presumably, this stems in part from the fact that for much of its history, most of the Rus- sian population had nothing at all, and no chance of appreci- ating any wealth. American historians give one

more explanation of such dif- ferent understandings of friend- ship. In their short history, Americans have moved a lot and had little chance to estab- lish long-lasting relationships with friends, colleagues or neighbors. They got by with having friends for fun or col- leagues for work. Finally, Russians love to talk

and linger over meaningful, passionate conversation. Amer- icans try to come across as if they are always busy, especial- ly in East Coast cities. They spend 50 minutes at lunch and run back to their routine. Rus- sians can spend hours having dinner if they run into an inter- esting conversation or compa- ny. No waiter will bring a check until he is asked. Cafes and res- taurants in Russia are not only about eating; they are about having a cordial talk. Presumably, our ability to lin-

ger over conversation compen- sates for a shortage of practical achievements.

y daughter, Velvet, no longer needs a Nanny, but back in the day, I did every-

thing I could to keep mine happy. Once I had to dig deep into my dwindling reserves of cross-cultural tolerance to put an incident behind us: the day I found Velvet cowering in the kitchen, clutching her stuffed dog and sobbing as Nanny and the housekeeper, Lydia Stepanovna, tried to calm her down. “Mommy, Nadezhda Rotis-

lavovna is a witch!” Velvet cried when she saw me. Our neigh- bor certainly resembled the Rus- sian folklore witch Baba Yaga, and there were those who felt she occasionally got into the vodka earlier in the day than she should have, but she was a good neighbor as far as these things go in Moscow. “What in the world makes

you say a thing like that?” I asked, baffled. “She never comes through

the door of our flat, and Nanny and Lydia Stepanovna say they stuck a needle in the doorjamb and witches can’t come through the door when there is a nee- dle…” Velvet swung around desperately for confirmation. Lydia Stepanovna crossed her arms defensively. “We stuck it there about a

year ago,” said Nanny, “just to be on the safe side.” “The doorway…” said Lydia Stepanovna, flinging her arms wide as if this explained every- thing, “and a young child in the house…you can’t be too careful with the evil spirits,” she spat over her left shoulder three times. I was flabbergasted, as I con-

fessed to HRH (my Handsome Russian Husband) after I’d final- ly got Velvet to sleep and we were preparing dinner, “these grown women—well-educated, brought up in the best anti-re- ligious/Marxist/Leninist tradi- tions—really believe in witches and needles…and tell all this to a child of four!” “Well,” he said, “I remember my Babushka telling me I al-

ways had to look out for the doorway when I was about Vel- vet’s age.” “Whatever for?” I asked. “I

know you can’t shake hands across the doorway…” “That’s right, because that is

where the Domovoy lives,” said HRH as calmly as if he had just double-checked the address off his BlackBerry. “You don’t actually believe in

the ‘Domovoy,’” I asked. “That’s like believing in the tooth fairy.”

“Best to be on the safe side,”

said HRH rapping his knuckles three times on the kitchen chair. The Domovoy, I knew from

my pre-Christian Rus lectures and picture books, is a tetchy house spirit, like Dobby the House Elf from Harry Potter, but far more powerful. He lives in the threshold, and so greeting someone or shaking hands across the threshold is forbid- den, because it would offend the Domovoy. It was then I realized all

the things I’d started to do in Moscow without thinking: I go crazy trying to get HRH and Vel- vet out the door when we go on a trip, but I insist we all sit down quietly for a moment, which apparently fools the evil spirits into thinking that noth- ing is going to happen, so they get bored and wander off and don’t accompany us to the air- port. I never use my own hands or body to describe an injury or disfigurement. I don’t let Vel- vet sit on the corner of the table, lest she never marry. “I’ve become a total pagan believer!” I shouted to HRH and, in my haste, dropped the spoon I was using to toss the salad. “That’ll be Mama,” said HRH knowingly: dropping a spoon indicates a female visitor, where- as a knife signals the imminent arrival of a male guest. “I’ll go downstairs and meet her.” “I’ll get the needle out of the doorjamb,” I said sotto voce.

Jennifer Eremeeva is a long- time resident of Moscow, about which she blogs at www.rbth.ru/blogs/ and www.dividingmytime. typepad.com. She is currently working on her first book.

The Bibliophile column will return next month.

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