#14
Izvestia
No. 97
June 2002
[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]
RUSSIA MUST NOT BEND TO FIT THE EVER-CHANGING WORLD
By Sergei MIRONOV, chairman of the Federation Council

The world keeps changing and each new generation of Russian politicians has to search for its own version of foreign policy that would be adequate to modern reality. The current generation is taking too long. More than ten years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union but Russia still has not found its place in the new world.

We are hindered by two myths that dominate the mind of most politicians and many diplomats.

One of them is trying to turn Russian policy back to imperial ways and put it up against the rest of the world. But the new Russia is not strong enough for another cold war. The unjustified dreams of regaining the status of superpower are engendering the disease of isolationism, which is fraught with turning Russia into another North Korea.

The other myth is born of the wish to bury the first myth. Its advocates are inspired by a desire to integrate Russia in the family of civilised nations, meaning Europe. And they see pro-Western policy as the shortest route to this goal. This strategy was applied in the first half of the 1990s, with catastrophic consequences.

In both cases the current policy is being based on yesteryear realities. But the trouble is that there are facts that can be explained in different ways but cannot be ignored.

Russia has no way other than the European one. We exhausted the potential of our "special way" when we collapsed as a great power. At the same time, the non-Western world clearly sees Russia as a Western country. The Middle East and the Far East see no fundamental difference between Russians, West Europeans and Americans.

Our road to Europe is not strewn with roses. The Western countries have reached a much higher material level than Russia did in the 20th century and, pragmatically speaking, are not interested in enlarging their club. Besides, the West, just like Russia, is suffering from a crisis of foreign policy concepts. Too much has changed at the turn of the millennium for politicians to clearly understand the new challenges and find precise answers to them.

Consequently, the priority task of Russia's modern foreign policy should be the development of partner relations with the West. But we must remember that the partnership of modern states presupposes not only cooperation but also competition.

We must know that the leaders and citizens of Europe and the USA need truly weighty reasons for changing their attitude to Russia and accepting it as an equal partner and member of their narrow club. To attain this goal, Russia should pursue not a pro-Western or an anti-Western policy. It should pursue an egoistic policy oriented at cooperation but harsh in upholding national interests, above all economic ones.

However, while walking the Western way Russia must not show its back to Asia for too long. Russia has and will have interests (and prospects) in Asia.

Of course, modern policy cannot be purely pragmatic and devoid of any ideals. This became particularly clear after September 11, 2001. Regrettably, neither Russia nor the West have fully evaluated the significance of that tragedy and its consequences. Many prominent politicians in this country and abroad still say that nothing has changed and that problems and contradictions are the same as before.

I think they are wrong. The civilised world is now facing a threat that is potentially as dangerous as fascism. Russia, the USA, Europe and Israel are objectively on the same side in the battle against the main modern threat. And unless they truly join forces, we may eventually slide to a new global conflict.

Those Western politicians who are flirting with Chechen "freedom fighters" and those Russians who are playing with Palestinian terrorists are actually betraying their civilisation. We can see that terrorists are united; they are perfectly well aware of their common interests in the Caucasus, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Russia can play the crucial role in bringing all counter- terrorist forces together. Largely because its situation is much more difficult than that of the Western countries and hence it is easier for it to be realistic and sober-minded. And it must not miss this chance.

These two provisions - national egoism and consolidation - may look conflicting, if not mutually exclusive. But this is a false impression. They are organically combined in the foreign policy strategy of President Putin, a strategy of regular contacts and broader cooperation with the USA and Europe (without forgetting Russia's Eurasian identity) and a harsh stand on economic and defence matters.

Regrettably, "the Putin doctrine" is not always adequately reflected in the work of those who are duty bound to implement it.

Russia cannot and must not drag its feet in the wake of global developments. We must not live by yesterday's standards and yet hope for an invitation to the world of tomorrow. We must work today in the interests of tomorrow.

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