Can United States and Russia be friends? Presentation by Ilya Ponomarev, MP, at Tufts University

1. Can
United States and
Russia be friends?
Ilya Ponomarev,
Russian State Duma
Free Russia Foundation
Tufts University, April 2015

2. Russians about democracy
• 49% say Russia is democracy
• Many problems recognized:
• Just 15% say they are protected by law (plus 25% -
“somehow protected”)
• Just 24% feel secure from the state
• Why problems with democracy?
• 37% - such thing do not exist
• 30% - people are not ready
• 25% - authoritarian leadership
• 17% - democracy is bad for Russia
• 11% - weak opposition
• 71% value “order” over democracy
• Only 4% worried by limitation of civil rights
• For Russians most important human right is
the right for decent life
• And most important value is social justice
• Just 14% link democracy with elections
• 19% - with rule of law

3. Russians about United States
• Only 43% think US is democracy
• Strong anti-imperialist feelings
• Most pro-American sentiment always was
within Putin and United Russia supporters
• Despite anti-Americanism in the media people
think our relationship is better than is seems

4. Russians
about their government
• 80% think government acts in its own interests
• 52% hate politics
• 40% feel government in Russia is strong
• 64% are against street protests
• For whose benefit Putin is working for:
• 46% Security forces
• 38% large corporations and oligarchs
• 33% state bureaucracy
• …
• 12% common people
• Putin’s main achievements:
• 51% restore national dignity
• 27% stop Russia from collapse
• 25% increase wages
• 25% stop war in Chechnya
• Putin’s main failures:
• 35% ensure social justice, support common people
• 24% stop economic degradation
• 24% enforce rule of law

5. What country is Russia not
• Russia is not Asia
• Religion is Western
• Family values are Western
• Lifestyle is Western
• Language and alphabet is Western
• Ethnicity is Western
• Russia is also not Europe
• No developed civil society
• Lower appreciation of human life
• Strategic (societal) values placed
above individual comfort, safety and
prosperity
• Way more dynamic and
entrepreneurial society

6. What country is Russia
• Russia is a lot like America
• Melting pot
• Individualistic
• Entrepreneurial
• People hate and distrust the state
• Orthodox religion labor ethics is
closer to protestant than to catholic
• Global, mission-oriented
• But:
• Way more urban – way more
fragmented and people alienated
• Capitalism and political theories of
200 years past
• More liberated lifestyle
• Uncommitted elites compensating
themselves for Soviet era fears

7. Result:
Russians about
Ukrainian conflict
• Crimea was always Russian, so it is fair to
return it
• If Putin would not return Crimea, it would
have been war like in Donbass
• NATO could have been in Sevastopol already
• We are not at war with Ukraine, we are at war
with America in Ukraine
• It is continuation on WWII – Gorbachev betrayed
what our grandfathers did; Putin is cleaning up the
damage
• Ukrainians are zombified by American
propaganda, so they need to be liberated
• There is no visible intention to “conquer” Ukraine
• Help Ukrainians, not Russians in Ukraine
• Most likely there are Russian troops in
Ukraine, but we should not admit it, because
our intentions are good
• Malaysian airplane was shot down by Ukraine; or it
was Western provocation, simply because we are good
and cannot kill innocent people
• We are the peacemakers, and West had always
been the warmonger, and everybody knows it

8. Why after twenty
post-Soviet years
Russia is back
to authoritarianism
• Elites did not change from Soviet times
• No lustration happened in 1991
• Some generational changes (Communist party -> Komsomol)
• KGB officers at command since Putin’s return
• No “genetic authoritarianism” in Russians
• Individualism and skepticism over government
• Nation’s mission – liberating our neighbors
• USSR was a melting pot, destroying Russian ethnicity
• Medvedev – proof of parliamentary concept
• Democratic values are compromised in the eyes of
common people
• Privatization seen as unfair and private property is not
legitimized
• Entrepreneurs are appreciated, “businessmen” are not
• Media wars highlighted private interest behind every single
public development project
• Best example is Skolkovo initiative
• Western living standards have wide appeal, but political
practices are compromised and seen unfair to Russian
• Immediate concerns always prevailed over the long-
term benefits
• One example – presidential elections in 1996

9. What did go wrong
between us?
• The West decided against “Marshall plan”
after collapse of the Soviet Union
• The West consciously closed eyes on
undemocratic developments of 1993 and
1996
• The West excluded Russia from organizations
like NATO and limited political cooperation
with European Union
• Old time ideas of “spheres of influence” are
publicly condemned but actually honored
• Western companies in Russia are in front
lines of praising our leadership in every
wrongdoing happens to support their
businesses
• Current sanctions are well justified, but
wrongly implemented and counter-productive
• Both Russian elites and Russian people
feel that the West is selfish and exploits
Russian weaknesses in its favor

10. What can be done
• Abandon attempts to influence the
situation within Russia
• Recognition of a long-term mutual
interest
• Civilizational alliance of Northern Hemisphere
• Old Russian dream of Third Rome
• Maximum transparency at people’s level –
free travel
• Creation of conditions to incubate new
elites for Russia
• Work with diaspora
• Visa relaxations
• Political activists travels
• Pressure on existing corrupt Russian elites
• Honor your own legislation!
• Let’s be consistent, honest and
strategic