"Spinning Russia"

CEIP's in-house organ, "Foreign Policy" magazine, has a rather interesting article on their website about the Russian government's efforts to deal with the country's "image problem." One of the major elements of the image restoration strategy is the launch of an English-language TV channel, "Russia Today."

The channel’s chief editor is 25-year-old former Kremlin pool reporter Margarita Simonian. She says she has the strength to stand up to any Kremlin pressure, but when I asked her to name Putin’s greatest flaw, she paused for a long time, and said, “It’s a huge country.” When I asked her what she meant, the pause was so long and awkward that I felt sorry for her and changed the subject.

Loyal "Scraps of Moscow" readers will remember Ms. Simonian from her appearance here last spring as the recipient of an award from Minister of Defense Sergei Ivanov. She was rewarded then for "strengthening fellowship in battle"; the task now before her, buffing Russia's image with foreign TV viewers, will definitely require all of the "courage and fortitude" with which Ivanov credited her. Turns out, according to a different article about "Russia Today" by the same author as the "Spinning Russia" piece, Simonian was also the fortunate recipient of flowers from President Putin himself on the relatively recent occasion of her 25th birthday.

Because Simonian apparently enjoys such favor from Putin and his inner circle, and because it looks like the launch of "Russia Today" is going to be, among other things, an opportunity for certain principals involved to make their careers or get rich by diverting some of the $30m which the government has earmarked for the project, I was tempted to take a cynical approach and headline this post something like "Oh, to be young and a sellout patriot!"

However, in an effort to be "fair and balanced," I have to admit that I'm glad to see the Russian government at least trying to improve its image. One would hope they would focus also on some of the substantive issues which have caused their "image problem," but at least realizing there is a problem is a good first step.

And I have to say that I absolutely understand Simonian's response to the reporter's question above. She wasn't hired to comment on Putin's flaws, and her response about Russia being a "huge country" is an excuse that a lot of people make for why it's so poorly governed. Furthermore, while in general the Russian government might be able to teach even the Bush Administration a thing or two about cronyism, in this case the Kremlin has shown that it realizes the importance of the job by going with a professional (albeit a young, apparently loyal, and presumably easily controlled one) in selecting Russia Today's chief editor. That's more than the Bushies can say about their "public diplomacy" efforts, of which the signal event of late has been the disastrous Middle East tour by long-time Bush friend Karen Hughes.

The eXile had a piece this past summer (one that was actually reminiscent of the high standards of that newspaper's commentary 5+ years ago, a rarity nowadays) about the "Russia Today" project, comparing it at length to similar American propaganda efforts past and present.