On December 15th, the World Affairs Council-Washington, DC hosted a Foreign Policy Series Event on the crisis in Russia. The Honorable William Courtney, an executive with Computer Sciences Corporation and a retired American diplomat, moderated the discussion and asked insightful, probative questions to Russian affairs experts Dr. Nadia Diuk ( Vice President of Programs for Europe and Eurasia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean at the National Endowment for Democracy), Vladimir Kara-Murza, Jr. ( a member of the Federal Council of Solidarity, Russia’s democratic opposition movement); and Mr. Robert Nurick ( Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council).
Ambassador Courtney introduced the speakers and opened the discussion by referring to the recent protests in Russia in response to the alleged fraud and voter intimidation by the government regarding of the recently held parliamentary elections. He then asked Mr. Kara-Murza how he would define the political crisis in Russia. Mr. Kara-Murza answered the question by emphasizing the fact that there is an inaccurate stereotype maintained by the American public that the protests by Russian people were about economic issues. Not so. He strongly argued that what the mass public wants in Russia is dignity and self-respect. They realized that it is time to rise up, expressing “enough is enough”. He also said that these protests will trigger the necessary political changes in Russia, and mark the turning point in its political history.
Dr. Diuk discussed Russian influence on “near abroad” countries and the effect of current turmoil to them. She pointed out that the “near abroad” countries, mostly former Soviet republics, feel pressure and are paying close attention to the protests and the outcomes. Even though no one can predict the result of the Russian presidential election in March, Dr. Diuk said, if Vladimir Putin ends up being the next president, he will have to be a totally different person as the Russian public has strongly expressed their demands and overwhelming discontent through the protests.
Mr. Nurick commented on the potential impact to the US-Russia relations. To the question of what it would mean for U.S. diplomacy if Putin is re-elected, he answered that he would suspect more contentious and problematic relations between the two countries. Putin’s rhetoric and propagandizing would make it more difficult to tackle the issues that the two countries have at the moment. He also expressed his concerns regarding the spread of terrorism and insurgency in Russia with 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics ahead. He said there is possibility that the protesters can become violent and tension continue.
Mr. Kara-Murza was hesitant to admit that the Arab spring motivated Russian protesters. He said that the nature of the protest is different from most of the protests in Arab countries, even though in the case of Egypt the protests were triggered by the election fraud. He said currently the protests in Moscow are very peaceful, and the mentality of the people protesting is quite different from those of Arab countries.
The event was taped and will be produced into an episode that will air on “World Affairs TODAY”, to be broadcasted on MHz Worldview at a later date.