Vladimir Putin’s Russia
Published: February 27, 2008
The eight years of Vladimir Putin’s presidency have faithfully reflected his formative years in the Soviet secret police. Mr. Putin’s term ends this spring, but he is nearly certain to become prime minister. That means, we fear, that little will change. The next American president will have to deal with a Russia that is not only nuclear-armed but increasingly wealthy and increasingly authoritarian.
Mr. Putin has not tried to reimpose the bankrupt Communist economic system or reopen Stalin’s Gulag Archipelago. He has used the Kremlin’s full powers to quash all serious political opposition, recreating a virtual one-party state. That was the depressing message reported this week by our colleague Clifford J. Levy in an account of December’s parliamentary election contest in Nizhny Novgorod, a city once synonymous with Russia’s brightest hopes for democratic renewal....Mr. Putin’s allies have used threats of physical harm and other tactics — chillingly reminiscent of Soviet days — to crush rivals. A foreman warned workers that they risked punishment if they did not vote for Mr. Putin’s party. Children were told by their teachers that their grades could suffer unless they encouraged their parents to vote correctly.
Mr. Putin’s party would have triumphed without these tactics. The goal was to create a climate of permanent political intimidation. How like the credo Mr. Putin learned in his old K.G.B. days.
President Bush, and soon his successor, will have to come to terms with the authoritarian Russia that is — not the democratic Russia that recent American administrations had hoped would take root after Communism. They will have to deal pragmatically with the realities of Russian power, as the Nixon and George H.W. Bush administrations once did, seeking cooperation when possible over issues like Iran, Kosovo and arms control.
And, as in the Carter and Reagan administrations, America will need to champion Russia’s persecuted democrats, journalists and other embattled minorities: amplifying their voices and calling international attention to the very real dangers they face. Descending back into cold war rhetoric and reflexes will not help anyone. But neither will pretending that Mr. Putin and his allies are people of good will and democratic intentions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/opinion/27wed2.html?hp