From July 2-9, 2007, former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich led an American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC)-sponsored delegation to Russia. The Moscow meetings took place immediately following the Bush-Putin summit in Maine, which attempted to improve what has become a very difficult and contentious relationship.
In Moscow, the delegation met with senior members of the Russian State Duma (national legislature), the Chairman of the Public Chamber and with other senior Russian leaders in political, scientific and intellectual life.
The atmosphere of the AFPC meetings demonstrated that there is certainly no “new Cold War” between America and Russia. The openness and candor of the discussions were entirely unlike similar events during the real Cold War and, for the most part, reflected a willingness to find areas of mutual understanding and cooperation. These currently include the sharing of intelligence on terrorism, as well as cooperation in the fields of nuclear activity and non-proliferation.
Still, there is no doubt that the overall tenor of bilateral relations has soured significantly in recent years, due in part to specific political and security issues where Russia feels its interests and views have neither been heard, nor adequately taken into account by the U.S. This has strengthened those factions in Russia who view the US as a competitor, if not an enemy. The practical results include the sharp Russian/American differences on missile defense in Europe, the war in Iraq and more nuanced differences on Iran.
While in Moscow, the delegation also had the opportunity to meet with U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns and attend his July 4 reception along with hundreds of members of the Moscow elite. The group then traveled to St. Petersburg where they met with local leaders and toured the historic city during its annual “White Nights” period. Delegation members also toured one of the mass graves containing the bodies of some of the 650,000 to one million Russians (mostly civilians) who died during the World War II siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg’s name during the Soviet Era). These deaths were primarily from starvation and disease, and by design of the Nazis operating under an order that “saw no point to prepare for the subsistence of the population...In the existential war, there is no point in maintaining these people.”
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