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A new Russian engagement

Tired of being viewed through the “biased prism” of the Western media, Russia has decided to join the battle for the mind. Slowly but systematically, the “teenaged” Russian Federation is putting in place mechanisms to package itself as a nation that has dealt with the attendant problems of adolescence and is now poised to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with older open societies.

“Our government is planning to set up a special structure to present a positive image of Russia and attract investment because both are related. This mechanism will be placed within the Department of Commerce and Foreign Trade,” Alexander Gorbenko, director-general of Rossiiskaya Gazeta, told a group of visiting Indian journalists.

Functioning out of the monolithic structure that once housed Pravda — the Soviet time state-owned newspaper — Rossiiskaya Gazeta, as the name suggests is the official newspaper of the Russian Federation. “Our democratic system is very young; we haven’t learnt how to package our image the way the Americans do.”

Referring to the strain in Russia’s relations with many a Western power, Mr. Gorbenko — a close confidant of President Vladimir Putin — insists it is not the beginning of yet another Cold War as is being made out in some quarters but the result of a one-sided information flow. “The Russian view seldom gets reflected in international media. Our President will not allow another Iron Curtain to come up. Neither will business interests allow a new wall to come up. The stakes are far too high. Far too many profitable linkages have been established and it will be difficult for anyone — even someone like Putin — to break them.”

Part of the antagonism towards Russia is because of its growing economy. It is a country with huge resources and a solid base in science and technology that has survived the political upheaval following the collapse of the Soviet Union. So, it is logical for the developed world to be wary of Russia, explains Vladimir V. Grigoriev, Executive Counsellor at the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communication.

Also, since civil society and an opposition have been slow to emerge in Russia, and given the strength of its Army’s institutionalised perseverance, there is the lurking fear in many a Western mind that Russia could well lapse into its old ways. Add to this the fact that traditionally, Russians have known only a single font of power and “the liberal culture does not come as easily to us like the rest of Europe,” chips in Mr. Gorbenko.

“We are being villainised, but you forget that it wasn’t Russia which used the atom bomb first. Forget the past, even now Russian troops are not present in any part of the world… So, a lot of the accusations are baseless,” insist the media managers of the Russian Federation.

It is to break this image of Russia that Rossiiskaya Gazeta has entered into tie-ups with leading dailies across the globe such as The Daily Telegraph in Britain and The Washington Post in the United States. On a monthly basis, these publications bring out an eight-page supplement put together by Rossiiskaya Gazeta. For much of the world, the insight into Russia is provided by Western media houses. This, according to Russian media watchers, is why Russia has not been able to break through the biases. Part of the much-talked-about chill in India-Russia links is also attributed to this; a fact acknowledged by officials of the Indian mission in Moscow.

According to Mr. Grigoryev, “partly the problem lies in the fact that the West had hoped to make Russia dance to its tune after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We even did for a while during the humiliating 1990s. Putin changed that and made the Russian State more assertive in international fora. You had 60 years to reform, we have had less than 20. Till now, we were busy putting our house in order; putting in place institutional mechanisms.”

So preoccupied was the Russian state in restructuring that even the window offered by literature into Soviet life closed with the disappearance of Progress Publishers and its off-shoot Raduga for want of funds.

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