Russia Pumps Tens of Millions Into Burnishing Image Abroad

Each year, RIA Novosti hosts 30 to 40 Russia experts and prominent journalists, mostly from the United States and Western Europe, who are wined and dined in the company of Russian policymakers and political analysts.

Some figures from the Russian opposition, such as former independent member of parliament Vladimir Ryzhkov, are invited to the event, called the Valdai Discussion Club. Ryzhkov, who rarely gets access to state-controlled television, has compared his role in such gatherings to export-quality vodka -- fit for foreign consumption but not a domestic audience.

The club's gathering culminates each year with a marathon question-and-answer session with Putin. That has become the subject of debate among Russia experts in Washington, with some suggesting that a few participants become too smitten with their hosts.

"I have been invited to every Valdai meeting but did not come," Leon Aron, a Russia scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in an e-mail. "As over the years there were fewer and fewer opportunities for Russians to learn the truth about their own state and government and to voice (and act on) dissent, being a privileged foreigner admitted to the court of the new tsar and surrounded by 'official Russians' . . . was more of an effort for me than I was willing to undertake."

"Official Russians" is a Soviet-era moniker for people allowed to talk to foreigners without fear of reprisal.

McFaul, however, said he was happy to engage with Russians on the issues and described the sessions with Putin as "really smart PR" because the Russian president is such an impressive interlocutor.

"It's an interesting window into how the ruling group is presenting itself to the world. And for those in the business of trying to understand the mind-set of Russia's leaders, it's a great opportunity," said Sestanovich, of the Council on Foreign Relations. But from a distance, the last meeting appeared like a gathering of the "president and his admiring international commentators," he said, adding, "That's unfortunate."

McFaul, who has been sharply critical of the Kremlin, said he is now banned from the gathering and believes his views are the reason.

Sestanovich was director of a Council on Foreign Relations report titled "Russia's Wrong Direction: What the United States Can and Should Do." He has heard he's off the list, too, but said that might be because he had turned down previous invitations because of prior engagements.