20 February 2007

GPPi fellow discusses the Russian-American relationship on Deutsche Welle TV and Radio

On 16 February 2007, GPPi Fellow Sergey Lagodinsky was again invited as a studio guest to Quadriga, a political talk show on Deutsche Welle TV which brings together experts to discuss current affairs. In view of the recent speech by President Putin at the Munich security conference, the discussion focused on the future of Russia’s relationship with the West, particularly with the United States of America.

In Sergey Lagodinsky’s analysis the speech should be viewed in light of the election politics in Russia. He stressed that the speech marked Putin’s support to former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov’s presidential ambitions. The message that Putin sent to the domestic public was that in the new militarily threatening environment, a former Defense Minister might be a good candidate to run the country. At the same time, by positioning himself as a radical critic of the West, Putin relativized Ivanov’s speech which came a day later and let him appear to the Western public rather moderate.

Aside from this domestic dimension, Lagodinsky interpreted the speech as a sign of the end of Russia’s "Foreign Policy Perestroika". In his opinion, Russia is trying to regain its long lost self-esteem and it does so by stressing the traditions from the Russian Empire, over the Soviet Union, to the modern Russia. This continuity results in Russia’s reluctance to listen to its Western partners regarding issues it deems to be internal affairs, like human rights abuses. This is why one of the important parts of Putin’s speech, from Lagodinsky’s point of view, was the President’s aggressive criticism of the OSCE for its overemphasis on the human rights dimension.

Sergey Lagodinsky expressed similar views on the radio program "Discussion Club" on 15 January 2007 for the Russian-language service of Deutsche Welle.

The two TV programs (a German and an English version) were aired on 16 January 2007 and are also available as a video on demand.

The German-language version is available here

The English-language version is available here

For more information on this week’s guests on Quadriga, please click here.

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