As part of its two-decade tradition of organizing fact-finding missions to Russia, the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) sponsored a December 15-19 visit of senior American statesmen led by four former Under Secretaries of State: Paula Dobriansky, Robert Joseph, Richard McCormack and William Schneider.  Also joining the trip was former Assistant Secretary of Defense Mary Beth Long, as well as AFPC President  Herman Pirchner, Vice President Ilan Berman, and Senior Associate Wayne Merry.
    The formal discussions engaged a dozen distinguished Russian figures, including members of the national legislature and directors of important policy institutes.  The meetings were held in private to facilitate candor and openness.                     In addition, the AFPC delegation held separate meetings with the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly (upper house of the national legislature) Alexander Torshin; with Russia’s
most distinguished physicist and Kurchatov Institute, Evgeniy Velikhov; with the President of the Russian International University and former Moscow Mayor, Gavriil Popov; and other distinguished Russian figures.  Of special interest was a luncheon/briefing for the delegation by the United States Ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, and members of his staff.
While in Moscow, the delegation also met with former Kremlin Chief of  Staff Sergei Filatov.  
    During the meetings, the delegation discussed areas of successful cooperation (e.g., nonproliferation efforts, war on terrorism, space, etc.) but also talked about differences between the two countries.  A prominent theme in the discussions was the need for the U.S. and Russia correctly to understand the other side’s fundamental values and interests, on which policies are based.  Several of the Russians emphasized the distance between Russian and U.S. values, some stating that the gap has widened from the reform period of Boris Yeltsin. The Russians viewed their country as rooted in Russian Orthodox civilization and as serving as a cultural bridge between East and West.  This perspective was not seen as likely to coincide with American values or U.S.-style democracy.   
      In general, the American side saw the values of the two countries as less in conflict than did the Russians, some of whom portrayed their own society as permanently engaged in a struggle to “protect global civilization” (not defined) while being surrounded by external adversaries.
    These discussions demonstrated the considerable gaps that still exists between Russian perceptions of themselves and of the United States.  Many of the Russian statements presupposed rough global parity between the two countries, despite acknowledgment of Russia’s lagging economic development and inability to deal with corruption and other pervasive problems.  While the purpose of the meetings was to foster greater mutual understanding, what may be most lacking in the relationship is greater self awareness on the Russian side, a society still reacting to its loss of empire and superpower status,  while dreaming of world reform This is a topic AFPC will be explorimg more in the future.