The Long Telegram of the 1990s: “Whose Russia Is It Anyway? Toward a Policy of Benign Respect” | National Security Archive
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Washington, D.C., December 18, 2024 – A now-legendary but long-secret 70-paragraph telegram written by the top political analyst at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in March 1994, E. Wayne Merry, criticizing the American policy focus on radical economic reform in Russia, was published in full today for the first time by the National Security Archive.

Worth reading both his cover note and the original memo, now declassified, in full.

The most interesting aspect of this whole affair was the crucial role played by the Treasury. They were running the American effort in Russia, and would not listen to career foreign service officers’ critique of their policy. When Merry wrote a critical memo, it was squashed by the Treasury: “it would give Larry Summers a heart attack.”