As with his recent Cairo speech, President Barack Obama should use his forthcoming visit to Moscow to send a message that re-setting relations does not entail abandoning democratic values, writes Lilia Shevtsova.
The trip could provide important hints about whether his administration’s approach to foreign policy will reflect 20th century realpolitik or blends pragmatism and values in what Francis Fukuyama, a board member of the National Endowment for Democracy, calls “realistic Wilsonianism.”
But Obama should be wary of a Kremlin “trap”, warns Shevtsova, a senior associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center. While Russian society longs for “openness, social welfare and the supremacy of the rule of law“, the Russian elite is trying to isolate Russia from the West and consolidate its rule through anti-U.S. rhetoric:
So Moscow might turn into a trap for Obama. The White House has little chance of being able to cooperate with the Kremlin without making some concessions to the Russian elite. However, such cooperation promises to promote the current Russian system, which functions with the “besieged fortress” mentality in which Russia is surrounded by enemies. If Obama takes a value-based approach, his opportunities on security will be limited.
Obama should make a point of meeting genuine human rights leaders and opposition figures rather than Kremlin-appointed GONGOs, and not pull any punches in highlighting democratic values.
“If Obama mentions key issues like modernization, freedom, contentiousness and respect for neighboring countries’ sovereignty, his words will have an impact” beyond the ranks of pro-Western Russians, she says.
[...] 2006 Council on Foreign Relations report prepared by Steve Sestanovich and Francis Fukuyama’s realistic Wilsonianism, while also cautiously reflecting Robert Kagan’s imperative to resist the new authoritarian [...]