That's funny. I didn't think Sachs spoke much Russian--certainly not enough to write speeches.
What looks like "a lot of influence" in Moscow looks like "next to no power" in Washington. Your only half-credible threat is to cut off your aid--and following through on that threat is unlikely to do anything but produce chaos, hence your threat is unlikely to be believed. And as examples like Diem and the Shah illustrate, attempts by the U.S. to trigger a change-of-government are unlikely to make things better.
Nevertheless, a lot of people I talk to are surprisingly hopeful about Russia. I know I was very impressed by Andrei Ilarionov when I met him. Andrei Shleifer says that Ilarionov is really good--smart, thoughtful, patriotic, personally frugal, dedicated to making Russia's economy function rather than applying some Procrustean ideological straightjacket...
Brad DeLong