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Conflicting Agendas

grams." The report concluded that "intelli-

Another fallacy is expecting that any

gence and other operations are performed by

group--even a group of talented, visionary

such organizations, including the Peace

reformers--will ignore its own agenda, espe-

Corps, which has nothing to do with the goals

proclaimed by these organizations."68

cially when it is designated the sole beneficiary

of so much aid. For example, in apparent pur-

Thus, while professing simply to support

suit of their own agenda, key St. Petersburg

reform, U.S. policies afforded one group a

players have been known to actually obstruct

comparative advantage and allowed much aid

reform when reform initiatives have originat-

to be used as the tool of that group. That feels

ed outside the group. When a U.S. AID­fund-

familiar to Russians raised in the communist

ed organization run by St. Petersburg players

practice of political control over economic

did not receive the additional funds it had

decisions--the quintessence of the discredited

expected from U.S. AID, those players inter-

communist system. Ironically, far from help-

fered with legal reform initiatives in title regis-

ing to separate the political and economic

tration and mortgages that had been launched

spheres, U.S. economic aid has instead served

by other U.S. AID­funded contractors and

to reinforce the interdependency of those

their local partners.

spheres.

How Russians

Whereas in the West consistent support for

perceive the effi-

The IMF Bailout: Making a Bad Situation

the same policy group might signal effective-

Worse

ness, many Russians regarded the clan as a

cacy of aid pro-

communist-style group that created and

The latest IMF bailout of Russia represents

grams and the

shared profits. The fact that the chosen St.

not only a continuation but an escalation of

motives of donors

Petersburg "reformers" were visibly involved in

that policy. The $22.6 billion aid package

politics and creating opportunities for them-

crafted by the IMF in July 1998 was supposed

should be a

selves reinforced such suspicion. By siding

to put an end to Russia's financial crisis. Yet

source of concern,

with a particular group in a highly politicized

certain political-economic players--and by no

especially because

environment, U.S. assistance undermined the

means the population at large (such as the

importance of its own ostensible objectives

"employed" masses who have gone without

many Russians

and may have inadvertently encouraged

wages for months)--stand to reap any benefits.

have questioned

skepticism about capitalism, reform, privatiza-

Sokolov and his auditors investigated the des-

tion, and the West. How Russians perceive the

tination of some previous monies from inter-

American inten-

efficacy of aid programs and the motives of

national lending institutions and aid organi-

tions.

donors should be a source of concern, espe-

zations. In a visit to Washington in May­June

cially because many Russians have questioned

1998, before the IMF's July bailout, Sokolov

spoke against further loans.69 He reported that

American intentions. According to one public

opinion survey carried out by Igor Kliamkin in

"[a]ll loans made to Russia go to speculative

the spring of 1995, two-thirds of the Russian

financial markets and have no effect whatso-

people believed that the United States had a

ever on the national economy."70 Yet those

calculated anti-Russian foreign policy.67  As

loans are the obligation of the Russian people

to repay. Sokolov's appearances were summed

long as suspicion of Western motives remains

up by Anne Williamson, a journalist specializ-

pervasive, anti-Western, anti-reform politi-

ing in Russian and Soviet affairs who inter-

cians can manipulate the Russian self-image

viewed him, as follows:

of a wounded superpower and proclaim that

Russia is, as always, being exploited by the

Russia's fiscal watchdog blew the

West. Members of the Duma, after an investi-

whistle on how Western loans are

gation, issued a report decrying the "dozens if

squandered on speculation and

not hundreds of American organizations

siphoned off by American profiteers,

operating in Russia within the framework of

how Russia's cash-flush "oligarchical"

various assistance and cooperation pro-

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