To the US Presidential candidates Senator Obama and Senator McCain

In a few months, one of you will become the new President of the United States. It is therefore the time to re-think US policies in many areas, including your relations with Moscow.

The present regime in Russia is not just authoritarian, it is also increasingly aggressive. It has been bad enough to witness massive human rights abuses, torture, political repressions and political assassinations in Russia, as well as ongoing genocide in the North Caucasus. More was to follow: like in the times of the Cold War, the Kremlin once again poses a grave threat to international security. Bullying its neighbors, interfering into their domestic affairs, using energy exports as a tool of political blackmail, providing aid and comfort to every enemy of the free world, unleashing massive hate-mongering propaganda campaign at home against the West, duplicitous position regarding Iran’s nuclear program, supplying Israel’s neighbours with arms- this behaviour leaves no doubt about the real face of the regime.

Furthermore, the Kremlin was caught in an act of a direct aggression against a NATO country by murdering a British citizen on British soil in a radioactive terrorist attack. This regime has shown itself to be an open enemy not only to Russian citizens, but to the Western democracies as well.

In this situation, Moscow's continuing membership in the G8 is simply absurd. The G7 (as we believe it should be) is supposed to be a club of democracies. By any standards, Russia under the present regime is anything but a democracy. Moreover, this regime claims some credibility on the grounds that it makes Russia feared and respected in the world, and their G8 membership serves as the most visible illustration of that. Thus, this membership only helps the Kremlin propaganda, discourages any potential reform, and hampers the development of a democratic opposition.

Therefore, we urge you to call and work for expulsion of Russian Federation from the G7, thus sending out a clear signal that no aggressive or anti-democratic regime is feared or respected in the United States.

Time will come when Russia becomes a democracy and takes its rightful place among the free nations.

Alas, this is still in the distant future. For now, we must at least stop honouring Russia's tyrants as legitimately elected democratic leaders.

Elena Bonner
Vladimir Bukovsky