MOSCOW—Russian authorities ripped into Washington’s new ambassador to Moscow on Wednesday for meeting with opposition figures on his second day of work at the U.S. Embassy.
The harsh criticism highlights worsening relations between the U.S. and Russia as the Kremlin copes with political unrest ahead of March presidential elections. Moscow is bracing for street protests in coming months, and has blamed a swell of outrage over alleged vote fraud in December parliamentary polls on Western-funded stooges.
The new ambassador, Michael McFaul, is a longtime expert on U.S.-Russia relations, and seen as architect of the Obama administration’s efforts to “reset” relations with Moscow. But hard-line circles in the government view Mr. McFaul suspiciously, saying his past work has helped sow political chaos in Russia through democracy promotion.
Russia’s main state-run television channel aired a program Tuesday night suggesting Mr. McFaul’s real agenda is to support opposition leaders and foment revolution. The channel questioned Mr. McFaul’s previous work in Russia with the U.S.-funded nonprofit National Democratic Institute—”known for its proximity to the U.S. intelligence services”—and his connections to “the so-called democratic movement” of the 1990s “whom he financed, instructed and waved into office.”
“The fact is that McFaul is not an expert on Russia,” said Channel One analyst Mikhail Leontiev. “He is a specialist in a very specific kind of democracy promotion.”
Aleksey Pushkov, head of the parliamentary committee on international affairs and member of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party said Mr. McFaul had undermined his mission to Moscow “by his own actions taken during the first hours of his presence on Russian soil,” adding that “it is one thing when such a meeting with representative of the opposition is held in a calm atmosphere, and quite another when it happens as the political situation escalates in Russia in the run-up to the presidential election.”
In his personal blog, Mr. McFaul called Tuesday’s meetings with opposition figures a routine matter of “dual-track engagement” that were arranged for this week’s visit by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.
Mr. McFaul wrote that on Monday, he accompanied Mr. Burns to meetings with high officials from the Kremlin, Russian White House and Foreign Ministry. “All senior U.S. officials visiting Russia make a point of meeting with both government officials and civil society leaders,” he wrote. “We learned a lot from listening to these leaders.”
In response to the state television report late Tuesday, Mr. McFaul wrote on Twitter that the commentary included “no word about the 3 years of reset.”
“Yesterday my mtgs with WH/Kremlin officials could not have been warmer. pluralism!” he wrote.
Russia analysts have noted that Mr. McFaul is the first non-career diplomat to be appointed as ambassador in almost 20 years, and his past work and academic writings could be used as fodder in Russia to allege lack of objectivity.
Mr. McFaul headed the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Moscow office and taught political science at Stanford University. For the past three years he has served as special assistant to the White House for Russia and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council, and in 2008 coauthored an article in Foreign Policy magazine arguing that Russia has sacrificed political stability under Vladimir Putin by building a top-down government structure.
The Russian state television program on Tuesday alleged that Mr. McFaul wrote “hundreds” of articles critical of Mr. Putin. Noting the title of Mr. McFaul’s 2001 book was “An Unfinished Revolution in Russia. The political change from Gorbachev to Putin,” Mr. Leontiev asked, “Has Mr. McFaul arrived in Russia to work in the specialty? That is, finish the revolution?”
State-run television aired footage of opposition figures as they arrived at the U.S. Embassy for their meetings with Mr. McFaul on Tuesday. In the footage, video producers and pro-Kremlin youth groups shouted to them and asked why they had come to see the ambassador.
As some left after the meeting, a caption on television read: “An hour later instructions have been received.”
