Don't demonize Putin
For better or worse, we are partners in the Arctic
CHRISTOPHER WESTDAL
Former Canadian ambassador to Russia (2003-2006)
August 21, 2007
Russia's recent theatrics on the northern polar seabed should remind us that geography is forever and that, for better or worse, we are inseparable partners with Russians in the stewardship of a good chunk of the planet, including most of the vast Arctic.
That fact alone lends great consequence to our relations. And yet Canadian media coverage of Russia is almost always faithful to the party line that President Vladimir Putin is leading Russia back to fearful oppression at home, and aggressive confrontation with our interests abroad.
The problem - serious because perceptions matter, because fearful prophecy can be self-fulfilling and because the stakes are high - is that the entrenched party line is not true. It collides head on with the hard facts.
In the Arctic, for a start, Mr. Putin is playing by the same Law of the Sea rules we endorse. The truth is that if we could have, we would have, long ago done much the same thing the Russians have just done. We were not amused, but Russia's gambit was an entirely legitimate use of an impressive technology that we wish we had to highlight a claim.
More generally, Mr. Putin has in seven years led Russia from alarming disorder, despair and derision to stability, progress and a new respect, however grudging. His public approval ratings - more than 70 per cent for quite some time - are peerless in the G8 and beyond. Incontestably, whatever the depth of his democratic convictions, whatever his (or our) assessment of the depth and dependability of Russia's democratic institutions, Mr. Putin governs with the consent of the great majority of the Russian people.
Indeed, I find it striking how little heed Western democrats pay the opinions and manifest will of the Russian demos. I always wonder just what they know that Russians don't. Regardless, the express consent of the governed is surely welcome bedrock for the building of Russian democracy.
What's more, Mr. Putin's legacy looks likely to include a constitutional transfer of power next year to a successor chosen not quite democratically, but with painstaking attention to the polled, real opinions of the Russian people after prolonged exposure to candidates (like first deputy prime ministers Sergei Ivanov and Dmitri Medvedev) dealing with public responsibilities, all in evolving Russian political rites with elements reminiscent of Western republican primaries.
Indeed, Mr. Putin is to be judged, as major leaders are, by his contributions to the security and well-being of his people at home and in the world.
Make no mistake, Russians feel far more secure than they felt when Mr. Putin first came to power. Slavic stamina will be tested long-term in Russia's vast Far East and in the Caucasus, but for now, the enormous federation is territorially intact, effectively unchallenged. That's a huge change from the 1990s, when the place looked and felt, terrifyingly, like it was falling apart.
Also, despite the country's many daunting problems, tens of millions of Russians are achieving and enjoying historically unprecedented standards of prosperity and freedom. That's another huge change from the 1990s, when freedom was another name for nothing left to lose, when those same tens of millions were impoverished, devastated by a decade of relentless free-market reform.
As for Russia's progress toward (or "backsliding" from) democracy under Mr. Putin, it must be recognized that the "democratic" institutions we applauded in the 1990s were, in fact, far from being so. A sycophantic "free" press and a bought Duma should not have been mistaken for the institutions of a functional democracy. Crucially, they were not serving Russia's needs for peace, order and (better, if not even) good government.
Finally, Mr. Putin's Russia has not joined the list of countries ruined by oil wealth. Macroeconomic management has been good. Although its execution has often been murky, the Kremlin's economic strategy has been transparent (it was elaborated in Mr. Putin's doctoral thesis). Using very rough, very popular justice, the state has tamed defiant oligarchs and regained control of key natural resources, the birthright of the Russian people.
Mr. Putin is, by objective standards of achievement, an accomplished leader, the best Russia has had in a very long time.
Moreover, in our relations (the largest bilateral relationship, geographically, in the world), these are times full of steady progress and rich potential. Together, we command three-quarters of the northern latitudes of the Earth. We must use all the responsibility that vast territory entails and all the freedom we never had before to build a distinct, rewarding partnership with Russia.
БФГ - "зитцпредседатель", использованный "некто", чтобы оттяпать лакомый кусок. АБ и ВМ - отнюдь не нищие студиозиусы, а нехилые держатели акций.