#6
Boston Globe
November 28, 2001
West musn't let Russia off the hook
By Cathy Young
Cathy Young is a contributing editor at Reason magazine. Her column runs
regularly in the Globe.
WINSTON CHURCHILL once famously characterized Russia, then a communist leviathan led by the ruthless Joseph Stalin, as ''a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.'' More than 60 years have passed since then, and communism has been relegated to the proverbial dustbin of history; but perhaps the description remains apt.
Less than a year ago, it seemed that Russian-American relations were headed if not, perhaps, toward a new Cold War, then at least toward a Big Chill.
Warning signs of resurgent authoritarianism in Vladimir Putin's Russia abounded: There were reports of recalcitrant media outlets being brought to heel, of moves to reclaim certain aspects of the Soviet legacy (not socialism but a strong imperial state), of newly fashionable anti-Western and particularly anti-American attitudes.
Today, Russia seems to be our new best friend. It has staunchly supported our war against terrorism, in word and in deed; in the Russian press, as a matter of fact, there is far less anti-Americanism to be found than in the Western European media. Longstanding differences on missile defense appear closer to a resolution. Putin and George W. Bush are acting like old chums.
To some extent, of course, this remarkable turn of events is a result of the new, post-Sept. 11 world in which we now live.
At the moment of truth, Putin's Russia cast its lot with modern liberal civilization and not with its enemies.
And that's good for Russia, as well as for the West. A pro-Western, pro-American Russia is much less likely to return to repression than one mired in anti-Western nationalism.
But are we, in the excitement over our new friendship, willing to overlook the fact that many of the danger signs are still there?
Take the attacks on freedom of the press. Last spring there was much concern when NTV, an independent television station frequently critical of the government, was hit with charges of financial impropriety and eventually taken over by a government-controlled large corporation.
Today, history seems to be repeating itself: The Russian authorities are going after the country's only surviving major privately owned TV station, TV-6 - which has provided a home for many NTV exiles, and has been enjoying higher ratings lately than government-run TV.
On Monday, a Moscow court ruled that the company should be liquidated because it was financially unsound and too deeply in debt; this decision stemmed from a suit by a minority shareholder, a petroleum company with strong ties to the government.
It doesn't take a great detective to figure the political motives here.
This does not mean that Putin wants to restore communist-style dictatorship. In some respects, Russia under his presidency has made much greater advances than it ever did under Boris Yeltsin toward a civil society and the rule of law.
Just a few days ago, the Russian parliament passed legislation introducing much-needed reforms in the criminal justice system, including jury trials, plea bargaining, and limits on pretrial detention and prosecutorial powers.
But for every step forward, there seems to be a step back. At the same time, the parliament is considering a law that would impose a sentence of up to one year in prison for ''desecrating'' the Russian national anthem (for instance, by playing it as accompaniment for a striptease or singing it with the lyrics altered in an obscene way).
There is also the war in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, which Putin wants the world to regard as a part of the struggle against international terrorism.
It is true that radical Islamic terrorist groups abroad have been helping the Chechen separatist movement and that, conversely, some Chechens traveled abroad to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
However, it is no less clear that Russia is capitalizing on the battle against terrorism to justify a brutal war in which Russian troops have committed horrific atrocities against civilians.
Russia's newly reinvigorated desire for integration into the Western community of nations is an encouraging sign. But the West must not be afraid to use its clout to help preserve the hard-won gains post-communist Russia has made in the area of civil liberties.
Russia's integration into the West will be a cynical farce if, instead of promoting freedom, it ends up legitimizing authoritarianism.
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