Hillary Clinton departed Moscow yesterday afternoon, after a two-day visit in which she and Obama adviser Michael McFaul met with officials and private citizens -- and they leave behind an array of questions about the “reset” in the U.S.-Russia relations.
Their approach to democracy and human rights left something to be desired. McFaul inadvertently made it seem as if U.S. officials werebacking off their advocacy of these issues in Russia,and his remarks were picked up (and misinterpreted) by a Russiannewspaper Kommersant. Afterward, as Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty reported, a Moscow radio station called Ekho Moskvy asked listeners during a call-in program to respond to the question of whether the United States was “right to drop criticism of Russian democracy and human rights.” More than 70 percent of the callers said that they believed it was wrong. Clearly, many Russians were concerned about the possibility. In other ways, too, the U.S. officials’ visit to Russia was troubling for many Russians, since, as human-right advocates have pointed out, Clinton appeared at a Moscow ceremony for the unveiling of a statue of Walt Whitman alongside a local official, Mayor YuryLuzhkov, who has made inflammatory statements about gays (he opposed gay march prides in Moscow, saying they “can be described as no other way than as satanic”).
On Wednesday, Clinton gave a speech in the Russian city ofKazan and tried to reinforce the U.S. commitment to democracy andhuman rights, adding, “That's why attacks on journalists and humanrights defenders here in Russia is such a great concern: because it isa threat to progress,” according to The Moscow Times. Clinton and McFaul were focused on the issue of Iran while they were in Russia this week, attempting to navigate diplomatic terrain during the reset of relations, but the issue of human rights and democracy presented unexpected, and perhaps unnecessary, problems.
--TaraMcKelvey
