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Russia's domestic and foreign policy have again become a matter of
concern. Concerning domestic developments, the question has arisen
whether rather than Russia integrating into Western institutions and
developing in accordance with Western norms, there is a widening
"values gap" (Ambassador Vershbow). The manifestations of such a
development that are being referred to increasingly by both US and
European policy makers include the rise of narrow nationalist
tendencies; establishment of a "managed" or controlled democracy;
absence of effective opposition to the presidential administration;
manipulation of the legislature and the judiciary by the presidential
apparatus; increase in the power and influence of the security
services; reassertion of central control over the regions; limitation
of the freedom of the media; intimidation of journalists and academic
researchers; termination of military reforms; and the continuation of
repression in Chechnya.
In foreign policy, the concerns are connected
mainly with the tendencies to extend the reassertion of domestic
controls to the post-Soviet geopolitical space. The perceived
manifestations in this area are Russia's support for the Lukashenko
regime in Belarus; continued attacks on Latvian and Estonian minority
policies; interference in the internal affairs of the two countries and
Lithuania with its security services; opposition to the extension of
the PCA to the new EU members; economic penetration of Ukraine;
continued presence of Russian troops and bases in Georgia and
Transnistria; in Georgia: support for separatist regimes in Abkhazia,
South Ossetia, Yavakhetia, and Adzharia; attempts to create regional
groupings in competition with the EU and NATO such as a Common Economic
Space and the Organization of the (Tashkent) Collective Security
Treaty; non-ratification of the CFE treaty, the Kyoto protocol, and the
EU energy charter.
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