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The Eurasian Politician - Issue 4 (August 2001)

Putin treads Russia’s latest path to Europe

"To Moscow, to Moscow, to Moscow, this autumn we will definitely go to Moscow," were the words repeated by the heroines of Anton Chekhov’s "Three Sisters."

"To Europe, to Europe, to Europe," comes the cry from an educated Russian society, now and then, after having listened to and written its fill of tales about Russia’s special way, its Eurasian essence, and, the latest trendy version, the unique, icy cold of its endless spaces.

First came the recent congress of the Eurasians, at which an adviser to the State Duma speaker, Gennady Seleznyov, enamored of SS mysticism, held forth about the centuries-old fight with the trans-Atlantic idea.

On the stage behind him hung a huge banner proclaiming that, "Russia is a Eurasian country," a quote from President Vladimir Putin. And no sooner was this congress over than another group of enthusiasts took the same stage, but raised another slogan – "Russia is a European country," also Putin’s words.

This second group, all well-known politicians and political analysts, founded the Russia-Europe Committee. Among the most enthusiastic initiators is Sergei Karaganov, who hadn’t even had time to wear out his shoes as he respectfully lugged around his hopes to become foreign minister behind Yevgeny Primakov, creator of the multipolar world and strategic Moscow-Delhi-Beijing triangle myths.

The committee’s long-term policy aim is for full Russian integration in the EU. Given the current state of the Russian economy, this is a highly ambitious desire, but it has a certain logic. Russia can only hope to return to the super-league of world politics in the 21st century – the cherished dream of its political class – as part of the great European Dream Team.

Karaganov proclaimed the intentions of his colleagues to the world at large in an article called "Building Bridges with Brussels," published in The Financial Times (May 18). The article makes many justified points with which it would be hard not to agree. But two passages call for closer attention. One is a completely unnecessary ode to Putin as a great European (not that there’s anything anyone can do about this). The other is far more cunning and subtle.

To quote this second passage in full: "There are other problems too. The Soviet experiment left the country lagging 50-100 years behind more fortunate parts of Europe in terms of political culture. In many ways, Russia must still focus on nation-rebuilding to boost internal cohesion. Most Europeans tend to forget they had to do the same – and more or less by the same methods – not so long ago."

Translated from Karaganov’s cunning-assed newspeak, what this means is roughly as follows: "Let us, the Russian political elite, into your well-fed and prosperous Europe. We’re European to the very core, our children study at the Sorbonne and Cambridge. We don’t just savor croissants and coffee on the Champs Elysees, we’ve bought real estate on the French Riviera. Buy our gas, write off our debts and invest in our economy, but don’t come poking round in our enigmatic Russian soul with your stupid Council of Europe. Don’t try stopping us from bombing our own towns and killing thousands of our own people before every election. Don’t stop us from having managed democracy, an administrative phallic ‘vertical of power’ or from keeping the vast majority of our population in poverty."

There’s nothing new in this epistle to the Corinthians. The Russian "elite" has been taking it around Amsterdam, Paris and Karlsbaden for the last 300 years. Peter the Great had much admiration for Holland’s clean streets, precise maritime order, modern ports and polite sellers of chocolate. He liked it so much he immediately wanted to bring it all back to Russia. But at the same time, he wanted to keep beheading the Streltsy guards personally, drink coffee at society gatherings and then spend a while in the dungeons torturing his son for having unauthorized contacts with Europeans.

Catherine the Great loved exchanging correspondence with the likes of Voltaire, but preferred to keep her own enlightened intellectuals of the likes of Novikov and Radishchev locked away in prison cells.

Every Russian ruler has found his own path to the European idea. Our beloved Putin, for example, came to it through German beer. The amber nectar was something of a shock for the already not-so-young KGB officer. In his confessional collection of interviews about his life, the most moving pages are devoted to the spiritual impact of his Dresden period, where we learn how many kilos he put on and what he used to carry the precious strategic liquid into the Dresden KGB residency.

But like his predecessors Peter and Catherine, Putin pays his respects to the achievements of European civilization without stooping to cosmopolitan bootlicking. In the depths of his heart, he remains a quintessentially Russian ruler, determined to continue building the country according to the traditional spirit of patriotic unity, spirituality and state security.

It’s good to have decent German beer for everyone. So long as it comes with managed democracy, enlightened authoritarianism, information security and an administrative vertical with the ruler’s people at every level – the aristocratic offspring of either the repressive, or at worst, economic organizations of St. Petersburg.

To Europe, to Europe, to Europe. This century, we’ll definitely join the European Union.

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