In the past decade, American commentary on Russia has been sharply divided between “idealists,” who deplore the rise of neo-authoritarianism under Vladimir Putin and urge a tough stance toward the Kremlin, and “realists,” who argue that U.S. policy should emphasize practical cooperation rather than democratic ideals which ignore the specifics of Russian culture. This debate has acquired new urgency as the Obama administration seeks to craft its Russia policy and prepares for Barack Obama’s trip to Moscow July 5. The realist approach is advocated in two reports presented as expert recommendations to Obama, from the Century Foundation and from the Commission on U.S. Policy Toward Russia (co-chaired by former senators Gary Hart and Chuck Hagel). Recently, these reports have sparked heated polemics that illustrate the pitfalls of realism–including some of its proponents’ tendency to effectively side with repressive regimes against dissenters.

On June 9, the Washington Post published a critique of the two reports by Russian policy analysts Lev Gudkov, Igor Klyamkin, Georgy Satarov, and Lilia Shevtsova. While crediting the experts with some constructive ideas, Shevtsova and her co-authors chided them for confusing the interests of Russia’s leadership with those of the people and serving as de facto enablers of Russia’s “authoritarian traditionalism.”