Sharon Tennison says Putin was at odds with the Peace Corps for good reasons; some of them were going well beyond their scope
Q&A: Russian business tackles corruption
UPI - Monday, June 21, 2004
Date: Monday, June 21, 2004 4:33:20 AM EST By PETER LAVELLE
MOSCOW, June 21 (UPI) -- UPI's Moscow-based analyst Peter Lavelle interviews Sharon Tennison, head of the Center for Citizen Initiatives in Moscow, on how Russian entrepreneurs are fighting corruption.
UPI: What is CCI and how is it helping Russians confront probably the country's greatest social problem -- corruption?
Tennison: CCI is an NGO (non-governmental organization) working in Russia for 21 years. CCI's most recent initiative is the training of over 5,000 Russian regional entrepreneurs in American companies. It's enormously effective for the Russians, and continues to create good will between Americans and Russians when governmental policies aren't faring so well.
Q.: During the CCI conference held here in Moscow, June 11-13, Russian entrepreneurs were quite spirited about fighting corruption. It is fair to say that many Russians remain cynical about combating corruption. What is CCI's secret? What empowers these entrepreneurs?
A.: The Russians at the Moscow conference had a very specific training program in Washington, D.C. in March of this year. They all participated in 55 meetings to train them in the "world's experience" focused on corruption reduction. Numerous embassies whose countries had some of the best records in corruption reduction shared their "best practices" and gave evidence of the results when a nation decides to fight corruption. The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the World Bank, the IMF (International Monetary Fund), Transparency International, and hordes of U.S. agencies and international specialists shared technologies with these Russian entrepreneurs. The latter came away realizing that Russia is not unique with regard to corruption, and that if other nations riddled with corruption can change their courses, so can Russia. These Russians are like islands of conviction; islands of confidence that Russia can choose to reduce corruption using best world practices.
Yes, it is fair to say that 99 percent of Russians remain extremely skeptical. I have met with scores of entrepreneurs in Siberia in the last two days, none of which has any hope of change, and further they can't even think of solutions. It is fascinating to see brilliant entrepreneurs who have built good businesses, solved many huge problems, and survived all the obstacles of the last decade and then to ask them what steps could be taken to address the problems of administrative barriers. Their minds freeze -- they are unable to go there. I forced one bright Russian lawyer to go there with me last year. It was like birthing a baby, it was painful labor to think through step at a time, he was actually in a sweat by the time we finished. But I had answers and they were rational, practical and sound. But I had to exhaust each of us to get his mind to go there. With hundreds of others, I've forced them to go part of the way with me. Nothing was as successful as taking 100 of them out of the country, exposing them to technologies used by other nations and seeing their responses. The experience was transformational.
Q.: Is it fair to say that CCI's approach to fighting corruption is a grassroots effort?
A.: Absolutely, it is grassroots. No official would ever think of such a thing. This is a battle that only the entrepreneurs can wage. No one will do it for them. They are the only ones with the "goods" on the officials and bureaucrats. They are the only ones with the strength and initiative to take it on. However, they need expressions of political will from the office of Putin himself. Which thankfully Putin began in November 2003 and still talks about this regularly. As one entrepreneur said, "We can feel the wind from the top now. This encourages us to be bold."
Q.: During Vladimir Putin's address to the nation at the start of May, he strongly indicated that the Kremlin was not pleased with the activities of some NGOs in Russia. Do his comments concern CCI?
A.: I know some of the groups Putin is displeased with. He was at odds with the Peace Corps for good reasons; some of them were going well beyond their scope of activity. Putin is undoubtedly not happy with money being sent in from (exiled and Kremlin opponent) Boris Berezovsky and other offshore accounts. He couldn't be pleased with some of the U.S.-funded institutes that spend their time courting a new retinue of Russian "dissidents," local Muscovites who rail against everything Putin does and think Russia should be America today or yesterday.
I have no concern about CCI's future. We are known only for doing work that is supportive of Russia's future; its economy, its development of mechanisms for a healthy civil society. Our record is clear. I also have no concerns about other organizations such as British or German programs for business development and training of entrepreneurs.
Q.: Why do you think Vladimir Putin is making what some call "uncivil society" comments?
A.: My opinion is Russia's transition to democracy is still on shaky ground. Putin has chosen an enormous task ahead in these next four years. He aspires to bring Russia out of the corrupt, oligarchic 1990s when a few super-rich ruled the Kremlin, and into the 21st century as a market democracy run by law, albeit it currently is now a managed democracy in the making.
Putin is gambling that he can ride herd over this unbelievably difficult and painful task and put Russia on a safe economic and social footing before leaving office. He has a short window of opportunity while world oil prices are high, oligarchs are running scared, and America is facing uncertainty, while he has healthy alliances with Europe, while the GDP is holding strong and high, while he has 80% popularity at the polls.
I believe he will have to sacrifice a lot of his current support at the polls and with the West and walk an extremely narrow corridor in order to survive and win his gamble. This will be a huge balancing act. This is high stakes stuff. If my diagnosis and prognosis should be right, I admire him fiercely for taking it on. There is no one else in the country who would take this on or could manage such a delicate gamble.
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Copyright 2004 by United Press International.
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