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Russia keeps flame of Cold War burning

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By MEGAN K. STACK

Los Angeles Times

Published: July 6, 2009

MOSCOW - When President Barack Obama visits Russia this week, he will face the task of trying to reset relations with a government that has built its power base and defined itself by its anti-American, neo-Cold War stance.

It's an opportune moment for America to warm a frosty relationship. Russia is in a position to help on some of the United States' most intransigent foreign policy troubles, including Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea. But in Russia, there is scant evidence of a desire for a fresh start.

Despite a reshuffle of power that installed Russian leader Vladimir Putin as prime minister and his career underling, Dmitry Medvedev, in the presidency, the Kremlin's policies remain unchanged.

Shortly after it warmly welcomed Obama to the White House, the Kremlin lavished a $2 billion loan on the government of Kyrgyzstan, which, in turn, evicted the U.S. military from a base considered strategically important to the war in Afghanistan.

Anti-Americanism, some say, has deep roots in Russia's view of itself, of its insecurities and its aspirations to become a superpower once more.

"Domestic politics is very much grounded on opposition to the West," said Denis Volkov, a researcher at Moscow's Levada Center, who has conducted polls on Russian attitudes toward America. "It's very often used as an excuse, as a pillar of the popularity of Russian leaders and as the proof of the rebirth of Russian power."

"There's no future in Russia for pro-American policy," said Nikolai Zlobin, director of the Russia and Asia program at the Institute of World Security in Washington. "You can build your whole career based on anti-American policy. But if you promote the idea of friendship with America, you'll be denounced immediately."

The Cold War is a faded relic in American memory. Now there are Iran and North Korea to worry about. And so it is perhaps easy to forget that in Russia the Cold War remains a poignant and powerful idea.

If there is no hostility with the United States, the thinking runs, it can only mean that Russia is no longer important enough to merit it. And that's unpalatable to Russia's political elite.

Sergei Markov, a ruling party lawmaker and political analyst known as one of the Kremlin's most prominent spin doctors, argues that Russia is not fundamentally anti-American. On the contrary, he says Russian politicians simply are responding to hostile policies. At the same time, he agreed that no Russian politician would dare to promote closer cooperation with the United States.

"It would be like somebody in the United States saying, 'Osama is great,' or somebody in Israel saying, 'Hamas is great.'"

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