At the latest CIS summit Vladimir Putin's CIS counterparts were nearly unanimous in recognizing the Commonwealth of Independent States as an outdated institution and placing all responsibility for its ineffectiveness on Russia. They asked Moscow to come up with a new concept of CIS integration or, failing that, take responsibility for the liquidation of the Commonwealth. Moreover, Moscow's recognition of the right of its allies to ensure their military security as they saw fit was, in effect, its consent to American and NATO presence in the post-Soviet space. At the latest CIS summit Vladimir Putin's CIS counterparts were nearly unanimous in recognizing the Commonwealth of Independent States as an outdated institution and placing all responsibility for its ineffectiveness on Russia. They asked Moscow to come up with a new concept of CIS integration or, failing that, take responsibility for the liquidation of the Commonwealth. Moreover, Moscow's recognition of the right of its allies to ensure their military security as they saw fit was, in effect, its consent to American and NATO presence in the post-Soviet space. Russia could use unconventional diplomatic resources to influence the situation in post-Soviet republics without resorting to the threat of military force. If they could be used intelligently, Russia might preserve its status as a great power and allow the Americans to die in Afghanistan and chase bin Laden if that is what they want. One resource is the economic contacts between Russian and foreign enterprises that have proved much stronger than expected. It is a fact that several economic sectors of CIS countries simply cannot function without cooperating with Russian enterprises. And that concerns not only oil and gas but also hi-tech businesses. Hence the need for the establishment of transnational industrial and financial groups, each of which would be capable of integrating the post-Soviet space in a much more effective way than scores of interstate treaties. For example, Armenia has invited Russian capital to participate in the privatization of enterprises, and this alone has helped the revival of the national economy. However, Armenian products are not yet competitive because of the high price of Russian gas supplies - Armenia pays world prices for them. As long as Armenian enterprises are, in effect, Russian enterprises supplying them with fuel as if they were foreign importers is an absurd situation. Therefore, the following scheme would be in order: privatization with Russian participation, the establishment of transnational financial groups, lower tariffs on energy supplies, lower prices of end products and joint accession to the world market. This process may well be slower in other CIS countries, but as long as most of them are indebted to Russia (above all for energy supplies) Russia is in a position to compel its partners to emulate the Armenian example. The question is whether Russian leaders have the will and skill to bring Russia's debtors to account and do business with its allies in any rational way. Apart from economic levers Russia has "immaterial" levers of influence. One of them is the cultural environment that Russia has been creating over the centuries, the environment that has raised the entire political and business elite of the newly independent states. If people speak Russian (and in some cases think in Russian) they cannot but identify themselves with Russia even if to a slight degree. That in itself is a political resource of sorts. The problem, though, is that the cultural environment may disappear much sooner than economic and technological ties. Today children in CIS countries study Russian as a foreign language, and important Russian classics are no longer in the curriculum. At the same time English, Arabic and Turkish are exercising an ever-growing influence. Past experience shows that people in CIS countries will buy up any number of newspapers and magazines supplied by Russia. All Russia needs to do is meet that demand. Russian television and radio broadcasts are far more popular with the population of former Soviet republics than local outlets because of the sheer quality of those broadcasts. Obviously, tact and self-restraint will have to be exercised in programs beamed to Russia's southern and eastern neighbors who are unlikely to welcome an excess of nudes on the screen or films where people of "Caucasian nationality" are invariably the villains. Incidentally, a whole range of information resources represents the West in Russia, but only President Putin represents Russia in the West, and then only during his visits there. But if we spend a lot of money to make sure that foreign programs are aired in Russia, is it not time for the Russian government to spend as much to promote Russian broadcasts in European countries? Countries win the sympathies of their neighbors by offering them something useful on a daily basis. Therefore, all Russian products enjoying demand abroad - be it Sukhoi aircraft, the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky Theater, to say nothing of oil and gas - represent Russia's main political resource.
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