-- You are known to have been among the organizers of similar acts in the past. Could you talk in some detail about how it was done, who took part in them, and also of course who funded those undertakings?
-- Oh sure, we used to do these things – in a big way. In the not so distant Soviet times we did make use of major international gatherings on state level to organize parallel events where the communist regime was mercilessly lambasted. Mostly this happened during various sessions on monitoring the Helsinki agreements implementation where the agenda included human rights, freedom of movement, freedom of conscience, and so on. Usually, my fellow organizer of those conferences was writer Vladimir Maximov, then editor of the Kontinent magazine. The events were held in Madrid , Vienna , Berne , Paris , Washington , and many other cities. I must say that the media tended to show a lot more interest in our doings than in the official function. Which is only natural, for who would want to hear what Mr. Gromyko had to say about human rights in the Soviet Union ? We, meanwhile, had such prominent personalities speaking as singer Yves Montand, playwright Eugene Ionesco, writer James Baldwin, philosopher Bernard-Henri L Ê vy, Nobel Prize winners, virtually all the dissidents banished from the Soviet Union, such as Alexander Ginsburg, Vladimir Bukovsky, Eduard Kuznetsov, Alexander Zinovyev, Georgy Vladimov, and others. We managed the whole thing on a shoestring budget as most of the participants came at their own expense, but I’ll admit that we did indeed receive small grants from the USIA, a government agency that is now part of the State Department. Agency director Charles Wick used to joke that, in dollar terms, investment in our actions was more cost-effective than any other, for any American PR company would charge a hundred times more for an event with that kind of celebrity exposure and that kind of media hype. Small wonder, too, for we were motivated not by profit but by ideas.
-- This is most interesting. Let us move on to the present day, though. How would you comment on the planned protest actions in connection with the G8 summit? Are you thinking of taking part in them?
-- To begin with, the very fact of both the G8 summit and the protest actions taking place points to the considerable headway the Russian state has made, and to the advanced stage in the development of its nascent democracy. The summit is an acknowledgement of Russia returning if not to the superpower league then at least to the club of major players on the geopolitical arena. As for protest actions, they are certainly a nuisance for the authorities, but such things are part and parcel of a democratic society’s existence, and since Russia has embarked on that road, this can’t be cured and must be endured. As far as my own involvement with these matters is concerned, you’ll have to count me out, and anyway I am not likely to get an invitation. At the moment my views are virtually the opposite of those of my former dissident friends and colleagues, or most of them anyway. To me the Cold War ended in 1988, when it became clear that the Gorbachev reforms had become irreversible and communism was doomed. In the same year I was for the first time allowed to come back to Moscow , and I could see for myself that this was indeed the case. From then on my strategic goal has been to further Russia-US cooperation in as many areas as possible – economy, security, business, science, education, culture, you name it. I am convinced that this kind of cooperation is the best way of promoting democratic institutions in Russia . Only a short while ago we held the 25th World Russian Forum at US Congress in Washington , where new ideas and specific projects of cooperation between the two countries were discussed. Much to my regret, many of my American and Russian comrades-in-arms in ideology battles against communism fail to see that things have changed, so they continue to «blow up trains» like the Soviet guerrillas of the hoary joke from the post-World War II era, still unaware – or else reluctant to admit – that the war has long been over.
-- Some Russian-language media in the United States accuse you of having set up a sort of pro-Russian fifth column in America , and of trying to create a «Russian lobby» in Washington . What could you say to that?
-- As for the «fifth column» rubbish, let it be on the conscience of the yellow press; at least I have not yet received any visits from FBI agents on the subject. Incidentally, it is only a small section of the ÊmigrÊ community that has got its hackles up; the gullible American Congress, on the other hand, appears totally unconcerned and makes its halls available to our organization that makes no secret of its «subversive» aims whenever it wishes to discuss the said «seditious» ideas. Moreover, this year we have been offered a hall not only in the Senate, but in the Capitol itself, and many of the congressmen did not hesitate to come and voice their support of our activity. Naturally, there is always the possibility of my having recruited them, but then I should be someone of the James Bond caliber, and it is about time the Kremlin considered promoting me to the rank of Marshal or some such.
The «Russian lobby» bit, though, is perfectly true. I have been shouting this from the rooftops for fifteen years, but I have next to nothing to show for my labors, alas. Unfortunately, Moscow has not been taking any serious steps in this direction. Meanwhile, dozens of other countries that have ethnic communities in the US engage in this kind of activity, much to their advantage. For instance, Ukraine has achieved quite a lot in this area, and this is precisely the case of Russia having to learn from – oops, I almost said its younger brothers.
-- What advice would you like to give the authorities and the opposition in the run-up to the summit?
-- First and foremost, as a US citizen, I would advise my own government to focus on making the summit a success and on discussing the most important issues of cooperation among the G8 countries in full accordance with the approved agenda. I am a little worried by the rumors that some high-ranking US officials, such as Daniel Fried of the State Department, intend to speak at the forum to be held by the opposition. If so, the White House appears to be making a bad mistake. Even back in Soviet times, when the United Stated and the USSR were sworn enemies, American government officials did not appear at such parallel conferences, leaving that to private individuals. Whereas now that Russia and America are certainly friends and partners if not exactly allies, this kind of involvement by the State Department or any other government agency is unethical to say the least, and speaking for oneself, it is totally inadmissible.
As for the Russian government, I do not feel, as a foreign national, that I have the right to dispense advice of any kind there; however, I cannot help prompting it that the worst possible thing it can do is interfere with the opposition’s activities – unless they become violently destructive, as anti-globalists are wont to get. Any measures on the authorities’ part to hinder the actions by the «parallel crew» would be a proper godsend to the latter.
Just to complete the picture, here are a couple of recommendations to the opposition – which it will certainly ignore, more’s the pity.
To avoid unwelcome tongue wagging, they’d do well to make public a complete list of their sponsors with the exact amounts of money named and copies of payment vouchers attached. They should also steer clear of any foreign state grants, in particular from the National Endowment for Democracy, as it is funded by the US government. Even a neutral observer would think it odd of the White House declaring itself fully in support of the summit while at the same time paying those who call for boycotting the event.
Next they should secure participation by prominent public figures, writers, scholars, musicians, etc., and strike off the list any members of state agencies, particularly foreign ones. If they do all that, the opposition actions will carry more weight.
