Ever since Barack Obama’s first relatively friendly state visit to Moscow, Washington and the Kremlin have engaged in a showdown of gestures over the elephant in the room:  the legitimacy of Russia’s claim to a privileged sphere of influences.  Directly after meeting with Obama, Prime Minister Putin did some male bonding with a large motorcycle gang, before sending them off toward Crimea, Ukraine under the RF flag.  Medvedev proceeded directly from the G8 in Italy to visit South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but not before threatening to place Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad.  As for Washington, today VP Joseph Biden landed in Kiev, Ukraine, and will travel onward to visit some friends in Georgia.  These gestures on behalf of both sides say just as much as any summit speech. 

On a related note, yesterday the Washington Post ran an editorial responding to the open letter signed by more than a dozen former democratic leaders of the post-Soviet East, warning the West on the vital importantance of democracy promotion in the East and the destabilizing threat of current Russian policy.

Since the signatories are staunch allies of the United States and of
democracy — ranging from Vaclav Havel and Alexandr Vondra of the Czech
Republic to Lech Walesa and Alexander Kwasniewski of Poland to Vaira
Vike-Freiberga of Latvia and Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania — they merit
a hearing.

The global recession has given room to “nationalism, extremism,
populism, and anti-Semitism” in some of their countries, the former
leaders acknowledge. At the same time, they say, “NATO today seems
weaker than when we joined” while “Russia is back as a revisionist
power pursuing a 19th-century agenda with 21st-century tactics and
methods. . . . The danger is that Russia’s creeping intimidation and
influence-peddling in the region could over time lead to a de facto
neutralization of the region.”

In response, they say, the Obama administration should recommit to
NATO as a defense alliance, not just an expeditionary force with duties
in Afghanistan and beyond. It should support pipelines that will
diminish the region’s dependence on Russian oil and gas. It should take
care, as it evaluates planned missile-defense installations in Poland
and the Czech Republic that Russia opposes, to consult closely with the
governments that have the most at stake. It should invest in
relationships with younger generations that do not remember communism
or the struggle against it.

Last 5 posts by Robert Amsterdam

• Energy Blast - Nov 26, 2009 - November 26th, 2009
• Today in Russian Business - Nov 26, 2009 - November 26th, 2009
• RA's Daily Russian News Blast - Nov 26, 2009 - November 26th, 2009
• How to Earn Putin Points and Survive in Russian Business - November 25th, 2009
• Putin's Eye of the Tiger - November 25th, 2009