November 10, 2006  The policies pursued by the Bush administration have failed to prevent Russia’s shift away from democracy, argued a prominent Russian journalist at the Watson Institute last month. Evgeni Kiselev, a popular television host on Russia’s independent network “NTV,” outlined the history of US relations with Moscow since the end of the Cold War and suggested that the Bush administration has turned a blind eye to the curtailment of democratic freedoms by Vladimir Putin’s government.

The history of Russian-American relations since the end of the Cold War has gone through several stages, Kiselev explained. During the 1990s, the Bush Sr. and Clinton administrations played a key role in Russia's transition to democracy. The Clinton administration, in particular, put a strong emphasis on the relationship between Washington and Moscow. Democratic reforms were aggressively encouraged and Russia's political transformation became one of Clinton's most important strategic priorities. While working to shape domestic politics, Clinton also went to great lengths to shape Russian foreign policy. In particular, he pushed Boris Yeltsin’s government to respect the sovereignty of its newly-independent neighbors and to accept American policy in the Balkans. Clinton's diplomacy with Russia, Kiselev said, had a profound impact in encouraging democratic reforms.

The successes of the Clinton administration, however, have eroded significantly over the last six years. The Bush administration, argued Kiselev, has "greatly damaged Russia's road to real democracy." Involvement with Moscow, he said, has "changed from a top strategic priority" during the 1990's to a "middle-rank issue." Rather than continuing his predecessor's policy of constructive engagement, Bush's approach towards the government of Putin has been conciliatory and hands-off.

Initially, during Bush's first term, relations between Washington and Moscow were surprisingly friendly. The first meeting between Bush and Putin in July of 2001 showed great promise, with Bush declaring that he felt his Russian counterpart to be an "honest, straightforward" man and Putin inviting the American president to visit not only Moscow, but his own home. Following the events of September 11, Putin was the first foreign leader to contact Bush to express his condolences. The Russian president soon became a prominent ally in the newly-declared "War on Terror" and offered intelligence and even military bases for the use of US forces.

In return for his support, the Bush administration ignored Putin's increasingly undemocratic policies. In particular, the Russian government had passed a series of laws that rolled back media freedoms, restricted NGO's, suppressed political opponents and gave more power to the executive. "American leadership," Kiselev pointed out, was “closing their eyes on many [of these] controversial issues" because of Russia’s assistance in the war against terrorism.

However, in a gradual shift of policy, the Bush administration has recently begun to take a harder line toward Moscow. Bush, in meetings with Putin, has urged the Russian president to uphold democratic values and Cheney has repeatedly lashed out at Moscow’s retreat from democracy.

But it may be too little, too late. Kiselev suggested that there may only exist a small "window of opportunity" for the Bush administration to prevent a Russian backslide away from democracy. Despite his pessimism, he urged the Bush administration to take a more aggressive stance towards Moscow to protect civil liberties and uphold democratic values.

By Watson Student Rapporteur Jebediah Koogler '10