ABSTRACT
More than three years have elapsed since I left Russia in my formal capacity. I have returned several times. To the outside observer that I have now become, it seems that the country is going through a painful adjustment to the post-communist phase. The positive changes introduced over recent years have reawakened hope, but democracy is a new notion in the annals of the Russian state and will need time to strike roots into its soil. Those who have inherited or taken over political power are building the infrastructure to maintain it in their hands. It is difficult to predict the nature of the regime that will lead Russia into the twenty-first century.
