Blogger News Network

July 18, 2006

In a commentary posted on Voice of Russia web site, Russian commentator Valentin Zorin declares that the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg was a triumph of President Putin's long-term vision of U.S.-Russian relations and a defeat of American propagandists, whom he accused of trying to prevent Russia from hosting the meeting of the world's top leaders.

Zorin suggests that when attempts to cancel the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg had failed, the same anti-Russian propaganda experts in Washington took steps to disrupt the meeting, again without success. He described these efforts as "an abortive provocation." and and part of "a markedly well-organized and well-orchestrated propaganda campaign in the style of the notoriously memorable Cold War."

Quoting from a recent comment by President Putin, Zorin asserted that numerous U.S. media outlets and politicians fell into the trap of such an "unprecedented propaganda hysteria" because "they view Russia from stereotypes of the past and fear a threat from a strong and reviving country." According to Western analysts, much of the recent economic progress in Russia and the Kremlin's renewed activism in domestic and foreign policy can be attributed to vastly increased revenues from high oil and natural gas prices -- commodities which Russia exports for hard currency. As a result of President Putin's moves against the pro-Western energy sector oligarchs, much of these revenues are now controlled directly by the government and Putin's political allies. Zorin does not mention this point in his commentary.

According to the Russian commentator, "the masterminds of the anti-Russian propaganda campaign" long for the days of President Yeltsin when, he claims, Yeltsin was looking for handouts in the West and the Americans tried to present the corrupt Russian oligarchs as guardians of democracy. During Yeltsin's rule, according to Zorin, American advisors told the Russian government what to do and a Russian foreign minister obediently followed instructions from Washington.

Zorin insists that anti-Russian politicians in the U.S., whom he accuses of trying to turn back the clock to the Cold War period, see "Russia as an enemy rather than a needed long-term partner." He described these attitudes as opportunistically short-sighted and contrary to America's strategic long-term need for close bilateral cooperation with Russia in such areas as the war on terror, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, increasing demand for fuel, climate change, drug trade, infectious diseases, and human trafficking.

Zorin ends his commentary, however, on a hopeful note that the meeting between President Putin and President Bush in St. Petersburg will turn out to be an important step toward building and strengthening U.S.-Russian strategic cooperation. But his comments reflect the Kremlin's desire to contrast U.S. support for building a civil society in Russia with what President Putin describes as "sovereign democracy." Under this definition, Russia has the right to re-interpret the Western meaning of democracy.

President Putin's attempts to limit Western influence in Russia included in recent months the imposition of new restrictions on Western-supported Russian NGOs and successful attempts to intimidate Russian radio and television stations using programming supplied by U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA). Media experts in the Kremlin see these stations as tools of American propaganda and want to prevent independent broadcasters and journalists in Russia from using their programs. Officially, however, Russian government spokesmen claim that they have nothing against VOA and RFE/RL and are simply enforcing the media law.

Contrary to Zorin's dire warnings of the American propaganda machine in Washington bent on disrupting the G-8 summit and U.S.-Russian relations, the Bush Administration decided earlier this year to eliminate all Voice of America Russian-language radio programs. The decision was announced by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a bipartisan body in charge of all U.S. civilian international broadcasting, and justified as a move to save money for funding the expansion of U.S. broadcasts to the Muslim world. And while the setbacks of democracy in Russia were on the agenda of the bilateral meetings in St. Petersburg, the American side did not emphasized them in public statements.

Even with the U.S. government curtailing its own ability to communicate with the Russian audience through radio, Kremlin's regulators forced more than 60 stations to stop rebroadcasting RFE/RL and VOA programs, leaving less than ten stations in Russia still using programming from these two American-funded international broadcasters. Russian officials have also advanced an argument that Russian government-funded broadcasters are legally prevented from obtaining broadcast licenses in the United States. This argument is substantially false, however, since the U.S. taxpayer-funded broadcasters are not seeking exclusive licenses to broadcast in Russia but want to cooperate with Russian broadcasters without harassment. Russian media outlets are free to seek similar arrangements with American broadcasters and have successfully entered into rebroadcasting arrangements with U.S. stations and cable operators. Radio and television programs from Russia have been rebroadcast in the United States for many years without any interference by the U.S. government regulators.

Another Russian analyst, Igor Dzhadan, argued recently that the level of support Western governments currently offer the opponents of the incumbent Russian government is having the effect of discrediting them in the eyes of many Russians but is not sufficient to allow them to prevail. Dzhadan offered a cynical explanation that the West wants to weaken the Putin government but does not really want democratic reforms in Russia to fully succeed. According to Dzhadan's conspiratorial theory, somewhat typical among many Russian commentators and among average Russians, the Western governments know that the full success of democracy would make Russia much stronger in the long run and therefore are unwilling to provide sufficient support to the Russian opposition that would allow these reforms to succeed. But, according to this Russian analyst, by extending only limited support to the opposition, they are still able to weaken the Putin government. Igor Dzhadan's and Valentin Zorin's comments are typical of what many Russians, including President Putin, think about American criticism of Moscow's record on democracy, human rights, and media freedom.

While accusing U.S. experts and politicians of thinking about Russia in the Cold War terms, Zorin may himself be engaging in some Cold War-type polemics. During the Cold War, Soviet analysts regularly dismissed any kind of criticism of the regime's violations of human rights of Soviet citizens as products of anti-Soviet hysteria and propaganda. Zorin's comments also reflect typical views among many Russians whose national pride has been wounded by the collapse of the Soviet empire and the economic downturn which followed.

It may be true, however, that Western radio stations broadcasting to Russia have not been paying sufficient attention to Russian sensitivities on such issues. These stations have offered only a few interactive programs that would allow pro-Kremlin Russian commentators and average citizens to engage in a vigorous dialogue with Russian-speaking Western journalists and experts. More recently, however, their ability to increase interactive programming has been severely limited by the Russian government's harassment of stations using programs such as VOA's "Talk to America" one-hour radio call-in show which is broadcast Monday through Friday. An Ekho Moskvy affiliate station in Perm has recently cancelled a joint monthly call-in program with VOA. Even though the regular topic of the programs was the prevention and treatment of AIDS, the station's journalists informed VOA that they had to stop these exchanges against their wishes because of pressures from the Russian authorities which threatened the station's ability to keep its broadcasting license.

In a fashion typical of the Cold War, in his commentary on Voice of Russia Valentin Zorin does not make a clear distinction between the U.S. establishment and the criticism of the Russian government originating such nongovernmental and international groups as Reporters Without Borders and other NGOs. These groups have been warning that President Putin is not only moving against organizations receiving Western support and funding but also against independent Russian media as well as independently-minded journalists who work for media outlets controlled by the government. The 2006 Reporters Without Borders Annual Report on Russia points to the lack of broadcasting diversity in Russia. It describes the closing down of several independent newspapers under the pressure of government-imposed fines and government advertising blackmail designed to silence independent media voices on such topics as the war in Chechnya. The Reporters Without Borders report also notes that TV stations in Russia are "now all controlled by the Kremlin or government associates, [and] "are also subject to very strict censorship."

• Valentin Zorin "A View from Moscow". Voice of Russia, July 17,2006
• The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors "Broadcasting Budget Targets War on Terror". BBG Web Site, February 6, 2006
• FreeMediaOnline.org "Reaction from Russia to Proposed Elimination of VOA Russian Radio Programs Calls Attention to U.S. Neglect of Free Media in Eurasia". FreeMediaOnline.org Web Site, July 13, 2006
• Peter Finn "Russia's Signal to Stations Is Clear: Cut U.S. Radio". The Washington Post, July 7, 2006
• Paul Goble "Western Support for Russian Opposition Said Just Enough to Discredit It, Weaken Moscow". Window on Eurasia on FreeMediaOnline.org Web Site, July 14, 2006
• Reporters Without Borders "Russia - 2006 Annual Report". Reporters Without Borders Web Site, 2006