Warum Russland und Europa einander brauchen

Russlands ‚passiver Isolationismus‘ ist ein gefährlicher Teil der sozialen Mentalität des Landes – und birgt ernsthafte Gefahren für Europa. Dies schreiben Grigory Yavlinsky, Vorsitzender der Partei Yabloko, und Victor Kogan-Yasny, der Politikberater der Partei, in einem Artikel für Europe’s World im Juli 2007.

After the disappearance of Soviet Communism, western Europeans and Americans were eager to switch their strategic Cold-War perspective to one more oriented towards trade and commerce, the authors claim. In the post-Soviet era, Western leaders „lacked the nerve“ to do two important things: 

• First, to engage with the Russian people, along with the Ukrainians, in a spirit of full co-operation, and; 

• second, openly condemn the anti-democratic, bureaucratic, and in some cases imperialist tendencies of the new Russian state. 

Until recently, mass violence, clear injustices and flagrant fraud in the system were overlooked by the West, Yavlinsky and Kogan-Yasny claim, adding that an authoritarian style of leadership was acceptable to Western eyes so long as Russia’s problems were not exported. 

The authors accuse Western leaders of exploiting the „ambiguous ideology“ of a multi-polar world to „justify“ the war in Chechnya, authoritarianism and violation of human rights and freedoms. Even now, political discussions in Europe focus on the degree of state involvement in the Russian economy and the private sector, and the nationalisation of industry. 

Yavlinsky and Kogan-Yasny believe that Europeans expect a humanitarian civilisation to emerge in Russia out of the implementation of free-market ideas alone. They disagree, claiming this is „inconceivable,“ as humanitarian values have not been a part of post-World War II society in Russia as they have in Europe. 

The authors believe that EU-Russia relations today are „pragmatic“, based on realpolitik and trade, eclipsing the strategic perspective. Europeans no longer feel menaced by Russia, merely inconvenienced. Meanwhile, the Russian people feel ignored by the West, which communicates only with the Kremlin and not with ordinary Russians. 

Thus Russians are becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of Europe, and EU citizens are losing interest in Russians – trade is not the way to build bridges. „Passive isolationism“ – the concept that everything outside Russia seems abstract – is an integral part of the Russian social mindset, they claim. Such thinking is dangerous for both Russia and the West, the authors add. 

The article concludes that there is still hope that the political future of Europe will not be one of „risky multi-polarity,“ but instead will be a wide community of cooperation based on the shared values of human rights, democracy, freedom and justice. There is no way of avoiding the serious language that must be used in such dialogue.