PONARS Policy Memo 296 - Up for Grabs Russia's Political Trajectory and Stalin's Legacy

November 7, 2003

Russia’s post-Soviet political trajectory has long been understood as a U.S. national security concern. Recent survey data suggest this trajectory is still very much up for grabs. Republicans and Democrats should be devoting more attention to the internal politics of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and spending more funds in Russia in support of democracy. Instead, the opposite is happening. Ignoring this unfinished business of Russian democracy for too much longer could have especially nasty and long-term consequences.