What Putin's ‘America Guru' Taught Me About His Country — and Mine

Politico

6 days ago

According to my notes from April 2013, for example, he already sounded very much like other Russian (and Soviet) bureaucrats: The 'new' Ushakov tended to blame the United States for every problem in the world, resisting criticism of Russia's own policies, both foreign and at home, in the Middle East, Afghanistan and increasingly by then, western interference in Ukraine.
A few months later, in 2014, I was surprised when Ushakov asked me why Americans hated Russians — a question he didn't and wouldn't have asked me in Washington a few years earlier. This is what I replied (I think in Russian): 'I don't hate Russians. I love the language. I sing Russian folksongs. I read Russian literature… I liked some of what Yeltsin tried to do and pressed my government to take Russian concerns seriously. I didn't lose my hope for a more tolerant, more open Russia.' And then I added, 'Frankly, I couldn't believe when in 2005 President Putin referred to the collapse of the Soviet Union as a 'catastrophe' — you know far better than I how much suffering the Russian people endured under that regime.' Ushakov defended his boss, and our conversation on that subject ended.
Still, despite the growing tensions between the U.S. and Russia particularly over Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea, Ushakov saw me again the next year, when one of our main themes was the upcoming 2016 U.S. presidential election. Ushakov was curious about all the Republican candidates, but what I remember most was his favorable comments about Donald Trump — especially as compared to Hillary Clinton. He is 'refreshing,' Ushakov said. The U.S. needs a 'new approach' to the world.
Ushakov's attitude toward me was still cordial, but trade issues were no longer high on the agenda. We continued to see each other until 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It was then that almost all bilateral contacts with Russia — business, scholarly and Congressional exchanges and tourism — ceased.
I have been asked over the years, again and again, and especially now, before the Alaska summit: 'Do the Russians understand us?' Hard to say. But what we must keep in mind is that there is a difference between what they 'know' and what they say, even in one-on-one conversations. But I know this: They feel the U.S. is the enemy; their hope had been that making money would always be more important to us than anything else. That hope was misplaced. As the Russians see it, the U.S. is now driven by hegemonic aspirations.
Are we better at understanding Russia than we used to be? I think our academic scholarship is very good on Soviet history, including the vicissitudes of Russian politics. I'm much less sure about our politicians. With due respect to the exceptions, American foreign policy is all too often intended to satisfy limited and at times unrelated political concerns, including isolationist impulses and Congress's penchant for micromanaging issues like sanctions. Perhaps naively, I wish we could act and not just say we act according to our national interests, including on moral and human rights considerations.
Another question I hear is: What do Putin and his team think of President Trump? As early as 2015, Ushakov spoke positively of Trump because he saw him — in his words — as a 'disrupter.' My best guess is that they are now having second thoughts. It's not only that Trump changes his mind so often about whether Russia or Ukraine is the aggressor. The issue is that they don't know for sure what Trump might do or say on any given day. (Many in America don't either.) He is neither the enemy they need nor the friend they can trust.