May 12, 2011
On May 9, an event hosted by Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank headquatered in Washington, brought together a group of prominent experts and human rights activists to discuss U.S.-Russia relations.
According to the experts, one of the major obstacles that impede relations between the two countries, as well as the democratic and modernization developments, is the lack rule of law in Russia. Lev Ponomarev, President for Human Rights (Moscow), Ariel Cohen, Senior Fellow for the Heritage Foundation, Pavel Ivlev, Executive Director of Institute of Modern Russia and William Pommerantz, Deputy Director of Kennan Institute all contributed into discussion, making critical remarks on the current political situation in Russia.
In his keynote speech Lev Ponomarev pointed out that the duplicity of Russia’s leaders, perpetuates Russia’s human rights issues, despite wide coverage and discussion of these issues within the country. He explained that the first key to the improvement of legal conditions within Russia is a repair of the country’s broken judiciary, which delivers guilty verdicts at an astoundingly higher rate than the world average. Trial by jury, he said, could be the locomotive of change within this system. Additionally, Ponomarev singled out Russia’s corrupted law enforcement organizations and overlooked prison system.
Ariel Cohen diagnosed Russia’s problems enforcing the basic rule of law, an issue often subjugated to the realm of defense issues. He elucidated the confusing and often farcical situation by explaining the phenomenon of retroactive criminalization by which corrupt Russian officials target businesses, such as casinos, for legal action, often with the help of law enforcement agencies. It is the “symbiosis of law enforcement and legal activity,” Mr. Cohen explained, “that undermines the very notion of the rule of law.”
Pavel Ivlev followed Mr. Cohen and explained the connection between Russia’s legal void and U.S.-Russian relations. Russia’s lack of a basic rule of law endangers U.S. travellers in Russia. Ivlev explained that Russian economic woes affect U.S. interests, primarily U.S. investment in Russia. Ivlev aphoristically summarized the negative influences projected by Russia; Russia’s three exports, he said, are oil, gas, and corruption. After addressing the problems within Russia, Ivlev shifted to addressing the U.S.’s role in helping to provide a solution. Increasing the legal education of the Russian people would be impossible due to Putin’s presence, and sanctions have been mired in international legal controversy. Ultimately, Ivlev recommended that primary role of the U.S. should be, simply, anti-Putin.
In the final speech of the panel, William Pomerantz acutely detailed the foundational problems afflicting Russian law. He mentioned many elements which could promote the growth of the rule of law in Russia, the first of which would be an improvement of Russia’s constitutional jurisprudence. Pomerantz assessed that improvements in Russian civil law are fair outweighed by the complete sundering of Russian criminal law at the hands of the corrupt, particularly the organized government raiders of corporations. This diagnosis of complete corporate invasion strongly summarized the panel’s opinion.
Please, follow the link to listen to the full audio record of the discussion >>>
