Russia: ‘Cold, Dark, Drowning in Vodka, and Ruled by the KGB’
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 12.12.05 | 6:37 AM ET
The land of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky has an image problem. In brief, it is this: When people in the West think about Russia, rarely do Tolstoy or Tchaikovsky come to mind. According to a terrific article by Julian Evans in Foreign Policy, a poll commissioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government revealed just how deep the problem goes.
The survey asked Americans to name the top 10 things they associated with Russia. The top four were communism, the KGB, snow, and the mafia. The sole positive association—Russian art and culture—came in dead last. A poll conducted in August on foreigners’ awareness of Russian brands did even worse. The only “brands” foreigners could think of were Kalashnikov rifles and Molotov cocktails.
The Kremlin is convinced the culprits responsible for this distorted view of their country are people like me—foreign correspondents based in Moscow. Putin aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky said in 2001 that “Russia’s outward image is ... gloomier and uniformly darker compared with reality. To a great extent, Russia’s image in the world is created by foreign journalists who work in our country.” Michael McFaul, a Russia scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says: “There’s an incredible hostility to Moscow-based journalists [among Kremlin advisors and senior bureaucrats]. They believe Moscow correspondents have become captive to the Moscow liberal intelligentsia.”
In this narrative, the Western media are excessively influenced by anti-Kremlin oligarchs, such as Vladimir Gusinsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars hiring Western public relations and lobbying firms. When former Kremlin Chief of Staff Aleksandr Voloshin was told of the Western media’s negative reaction to Khodorkovsky’s arrest, he is reported to have said “When Yukos’ money dries up, so will these reports.”
Whether the Western media bias is real or not, the Russian government certainly thinks it is, and it has launched a PR campaign to improve its image in the eyes of the world. Why does this response come now, at a time when Russia needs the West less than at any time in the past 20 years? One can only assume that the campaign is in preparation for the G-8 summit in Russia next year, when, in McFaul’s words, “7,000 foreign journalists will descend on St. Petersburg looking for something to write about.” Although oil-rich Russia may not need the West’s financial assistance anymore, Putin and his team still have an overriding desire to see Russia accepted at the top table of global affairs.
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
W. Shedd 12.13.05 | 11:38 PM ET
First, I should say that I have travelled to Russia, speak some Russian, and consider myself a Russophile. It is an interesting country, if nothing else. There are many aspects of Russian culture that I admire. Their government and the Russian people’s response (and incredible lack thereof) to it are not among them.
Americans images of Russia ARE somewhat mistaken, but mostly because they just don’t visit there and don’t have easy access. It has nothing to do with journalism. The language is intimidating and the visa and registration process is just complicated enough to keep away travellers who can pursue less bureaucratic destinations. My top 10 list of thoughts regarding Russia probably would not coincide with the average Americans. However, I can promise you, the Kremlin still would not consider my 10 items very flattering.
So rather than change the reality of Russia, which is difficult ... the Russian government has decided to launch a propa .. err .. marketing campaign! Brilliant! Certainly much more cost effective. And it is sure to counter you nasty ole journalists reporting any item of truth regarding life in Russia. Yes, all news and all potential political activities (read: NGOs) should be under Mother Russia’s enormous, round, plump ... thumb. And as a result, the next time Russia sells billions of dollars worth of military hardware to Iran, I am CERTAIN the western public will be MUCH more sympathetic and understanding.
Perhaps I should be more careful. Comments like these might make it more difficult for me to get a visa to Russia next time. Obviously, I am some subversive agent of the US government. ;-)