February 28,
2002
John M. Evans, Director,
Office of Analysis for Russia and Eurasia, Bureau of
Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State
Our distinguished speaker,
John Evans offered
an update on what is happening in Russia today. John
Evans is one of the very few high ranking State
Department officials who met President Putin
personally when he was Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg,
and our speaker was Consul General in that City. He is
following Putin’s carrier closely and was in a
position to offer a unique perspective of a man who
once used to be the head of the KGB successor agency,
the Federal Security Service to our ELF members. In
his opinion, Putin is a true Russian patriot, he is
extremely popular in Russia. He won the Presidential
election in his own right. He is successful in
fighting the oligarches and bringing order to Russia.
He openly states that: Russia needs dictatorship of
law. He introduced flat tax, and last year Russia’s
economic rate reached 8.3%. He subordinates Russian
Foreign Policy to economic goal. For that reason he is
tilting more to the West than to the East, especially
after 9-11. Director Evans closed his remarked by
saying that there are still some outstanding issues
between the United States and Russia but the major
change in the relation is that Russia is no longer an
enemy.
