Template:Verification - Trust but Verify

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Trust, but verify (Доверяй, но проверяй). —US President Ronald Reagan (after an old Russian proverb) Can Russians be trusted to honor commitments? The prudent response to this question—and to many other questions about Russia—is “Yes, but. …” According to Zbigniew Brzezinski, US Former National Security Advisor, Anglo-Saxons and Russians have different concepts of trust: The Anglo-Saxons approach...issues like negotiated, legal agreements. It might be called a litigational approach. To the Russians, a commitment is binding as long as it is historically valid, so to speak. And its historical validity depends on the degree to which that commitment is either self-enforcing or still mutually advantageous. If it ceases to be self-enforcing or mutually advantageous, it obviously has lapsed.179 Related to verification are accountability and reporting, particularly where the expenditure of funds is involved. Russians can be notoriously lax about accounting for expended funds and using them effectively, a problem recognized by Mikhail Gorbachev. One of perestroika’s best-known slogans was khozraschot, usually translated as “cost accounting.” The intent, however, was cost effectiveness, particularly in determining the real costs of producing goods and services. After 60 years of a command economy in which production costs were subsidized by the state, Russians have little experience in determining profit or loss. Under khozraschot, the objective was to make Russian enterprises self-sufficient by basing the prices of produced goods on true costs. A related problem is accountability of funds. American donors to Russian cultural and philanthropic institutions have reported difficulties in obtaining prompt and detailed reporting on how their funds are being expended. Some new Russian foundations have scoffed at the standard regulatory and accounting procedures required by American donors. As one Russian foundation official put it, “We are all fine Christian men, and our [Russian] donors don’t question what we do with their money.”180 Such a response should not be seen as an intent to deceive but rather as an intercultural difference. Americans understand the need for accountability, annual financial reports, and audits by certified public accountants. But requesting such procedures from Russians may be seen as questioning their good faith and honesty. When encountering indignation over reporting requirements, Americans may wish to emulate Ronald Reagan by responding, “Trust, but verify.”