The United States has started making active preparations for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia. The US State Department has released a report entitled "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The US Record 2006," which devotes substantial attention to Russia and the CIS. The United States spent $1.2 billion on supporting democracy worldwide last year. The 262-page report permits us to draw the conclusion that a substantial part of that money went into democratization in Russia and the CIS.

The report's attitude to the democracy situation in Russia is made clear from the very first page of its "Europe and Eurasia" section. The cover photo is from an Anna Politkovskaya memorial rally in central Moscow, with the brief caption: "Russian rights activists commemorate victims of political repression." The first page features a single quote, on a blood-red background: "How could I live with myself if I didn't write the truth?" And the signature: "Anna Politkovskaya, murdered Russian journalist."

This whole section is almost entirely devoted to former Soviet countries (Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine). There are only a few paragraphs about the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo), and a brief mention of Turkey.

The report starts by listing the main achievements of democracy in these countries during 2006 (primarily the March 2006 election in Ukraine). Then there's a list of democracy's main defeats - and the greatest of these, in the US State Department's view, are the "erosion of civil society in Russia and Belarus," and "a new and restrictive NGO law," and "physical attacks on journalists." The report goes on to describe how the United States is working to counter this. It emphasizes the "administration of fairly-contested elections," as these are "a barometer of a country's democratic health."

According to the report, the United States actively facilitated democratic processes in the former Soviet Union last year. It mentions "supporting political parties in Belarus" and "monitoring elections in Ukraine."

But the US State Department doesn't confine itself to listing last year's achievements on the battlefront for democracy; it also sets some goals for the future. The most important of these are as follows: "support of free and fair elections in Russia for the Duma in December 2007 and for president in March 2008," and transparent elections in Armenia. The US State Department regards the OSCE and the European Union as its key partners in this.

The report notes that active efforts in this area were underway throughout 2006. In Russia, the United States organized "training for political parties and training for mass media representatives on covering political issues," as well as voter awareness measures. What's more, Washington's preparations for the Russian elections clearly aren't restricted to working with opposition parties. Last
year, the United States provided grants to "civil society groups, NGO resource centers, advocacy and watchdog groups, policy think tanks, business associations, and labor unions."

In addition to providing financial aid, Washington also involved its diplomatic representatives in Russia. As the report notes, senior US officials are meeting with Russian opposition movements and NGOs. The report maintains that the major achievement in this area was the meeting between US Administration officials and leaders of the Other Russia movement in July 2006.

The US State Department's latest report is an extension of the report it released in March: "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006." That report also allocated one of the central places to Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union.

Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Federation Council's international affairs committee, says it's hardly surpising that the United States is showing increased interest in Russian democracy issues. Margelov told us: "As the American elections approach, the Republicans are trying to prove to the Democrats that although the Bush Administration has expanded cooperation with President Putin, it hasn't forgotten about the problems in Russia. Both the Republicans and the Democrats share a messianic idea: everyone must be democratized. Thus, the only point they can agree on is criticism of Russia."

All the same, the latest report doesn't confine itself to criticizing Russia and the CIS. In the March report, the US State Department was mostly concerned with analyzing and evaluating the democracy situation in Russia. The new report essentially outlines the key directions of US efforts to democratize the former Soviet Union. The emphasis is on preparations for democratic elections -
especially in Russia and those CIS countries which are Moscow's closest allies.

Kommersant