It’s a time honored tradition among Russian officials, especially in times of crisis or challenging moments, to speak about the country in terms of what we call “the victim narrative” – a presentation of all events occurring within the country as a response to some foreign imposition, pressure, or attack.  Nothing is ever Russia’s fault, no mistakes are ever made, but rather only a long series of experiences of being victimized at the hands of the West.  It’s quite a spin.

Today’s interview in the Wall Street Journal with Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin is no exception, and although the story amazingly doesn’t broach the sensitive topic of the Mikhail Khodorkovsky trial or how Sechin’s company directly benefited from the theft of Yukos – we are treated to some of the most artful expressions of the victim narrative we have heard in quite a while.  According to Sechin, Russia doesn’t want to join OPEC because it can’t control production of private companies (nevermind that he himself is Chairman of Rosneft), Russia has no plans of nationalizing any companies (a statement that is hard to swallow for obvious reasons), and that there’s no difference between hard-line siloviki and the few remaining Kremlin liberals.  It would be nice to see Sechin take the stand in the Khodorkovsky trial to put some confidence behind his words.

Excerpts from interview: