Anna Politkovskaya's murder: how should the West react to Russia?

In a project syndicate article, political scientist Nina Khrushcheva calls on the West not to remain passive while President Vladimir Putin "drags Russia back into the shadows." "The murder of Anna Politkovskaya, one of Russia's bravest and best journalists, a woman who dared to expose the brutal murders committed by Russian troops in Chechnya, is final proof that Putin has delivered nothing more than a run-of-the-mill dictatorship with the usual contempt for law. This recognition is a timely one for the world to make, particularly Europe. Germany's Foreign Ministry is preparing a policy on Russian/German relations that will enshrine indifference to Putin's lawlessness as being in the national interest of the most powerful member of the European Union. But indifference becomes appeasement when it encourages Putin to pursue his lawless ways in the international arena, as in his current campaign to strangle Georgia's economy."

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