Memories of Russia

 

Memories of Russia

 I visited Russia, and the three Baltic states, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, in September of 2017.

 When I take one of these trips overseas, I research the countries that I will visit, take daily recorded and written notes, and later formalize a writeup and a Power Point presentation of the trip, both personal experiences, and research.  This allows me not only to make Power Point presentations to various groups, it also allows me to go back and refresh my memories.

 On the trip to The Baltics and Russia, I attended lectures by academicians and notable news people concerning the society and politics in each country.  I also met and socialized with normal, everyday people, and got a citizen’s view of life in the country.

 Without going into a lot of detail, a common theme in the three Baltic countries in 2017 was fear that Russia would act to re-absorb them back into something like the old Soviet Union.  All three of these countries are members of NATO, but this was at a time that President Trump was shaking NATO up (particularly Germany), to contribute their promised 2% of GDP to NATO defense.  Trump, in fact was questioning the efficacy of the U.S. continuing in NATO.  This was not pleasant news to hear in Vilnius, Riga or Tallinn.

 People in Russia were pleasant and helpful.  St Petersburg and Moscow in Western Russia were very European in nature, and except for the difference in alphabets, I could have as well been in Berlin or Paris or Rome.  I was particularly impressed with St Petersburg, Peter the Great’s “Venice of the North”.

 A family of three generations in St Petersburg hosted us for “an impromptu snack” on a Sunday afternoon.  This was actually a feast, with beet borscht, piroshky, a samovar, and rivers of vodka.  Talk was of their work, family, sports (primarily European football), and then talk drifted to them wishing to visit the U.S. or Western Europe, but being prevented by the sanctions that the U.S. had imposed against Russia at that time because of Russia’s invasion and absorption of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.  Even in 2017, Western sanctions were impacting average Russians.

 Later in the week in St Petersburg I heard a lecture by Sergei Akapov, PhD, a full professor at the Department of political science, St.-Petersburg Campus of Russian Research University “Higher School of Economics” (HSE SPb).  https://www.hse.ru/en/org/persons/73196268

 Dr. Akapov’s topic was Russia’s domestic and international orientation in the modern world.  Some of his main points were as follows:

 

1.)   Russia consists of 85 states, 145 million people and is diverse and multi-national.

 

2.)   Russia currently is a “semi presidential federation”, which means a president is popularly elected and exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature. It differs from a parliamentary republic in that it has a popularly elected head of state, who is more than a purely ceremonial figurehead. Modern France is another example of a semi presidential system. Vladimir Putin is the directly elected President or Chief of State of Russia since 2012. He is a member of the United Russia party, which he and Medvedev started.  United Russia got 63.6% of the vote in the last election.  Dmitry Medvedev is Prime Minister or head of government, elected with a Duma vote of 299 to 144.

 

3.)   Putin has over an 80% approval rating.  He is regarded as a Russian hero who is re-establishing Russia as a world power. (sic)

 

4.)   Putin is regarded by the Russian public as a mediating influence in the Ukraine, Syria and other Russian foreign adventures, and not as an aggressor.  Most consider Eastern Ukraine as part of Mother Russia. (sic)

 

5.)   There is dissatisfaction with the oligarchs from Yeltsin’s time, some of whom are perpetuated by Putin.

 

6.)   Russia is a victim of globalization and cannot compete with western countries like the U.S., U.K., Germany, et al.

 

7.)   Recent sanctions have exacerbated the economic issues for Russia.

 

8.)   Russia is very statist and has many rules and regulations.

 

9.)   There is a brain drain because particularly technical education is of a high caliber and local salaries are lower than abroad.  Many graduates emigrate to other European countries where salaries are higher and living is easier.

 

10.)                    I specifically asked Dr. Akapov about Russian meddling in the U.S. election process, off the record, and not only the party line.  He smiled and basically reiterated the Trump administration’s position here, that “hackers may have accessed some unsecure servers, but Russian operatives did not affect the outcome of the U.S. election”.

 

11.)                    I also asked him what was the Russian opinion of our president Trump?  He again smiled and said “we have no greater problems with him than other American presidents”.

 

 

Later in our trip, I got turned around on a Moscow street from the Metropole Hotel where I was staying.  I asked directions from a chic, well-appointed young Russian woman.  She pulled out her smart phone and showed me the way back to the hotel, in English.

 

Ray Gruszecki

March 17, 2022