A Washington Post reporter kicked off First Amendment Week with a discussion on Russian politics and government.

Americans need to pay attention to what other countries feel about democracy, said Peter Baker, reporter for the Washington Post. Baker spoke on Monday about Russia in a speech called Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin and the Russian Counter-Revolution.

“It is not for me to say what America should do. I think the thing for me is that America understands,” Baker said. “We talk a lot about bringing democracy to the world. These are not easy transitions that countries go through.”

Baker served as the Washington Post Moscow bureau chief from 2001 through 2004 and coauthored a book called Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the End of the Revolution.

“America had a wildly unrealistic view [on Russian democracy],” said Eric Abbott, professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. “What we thought was they didn’t want to be what they were and they wanted what we have. The idea that they would suddenly turn and become what we are is unrealistic.”

Baker said what America believed about Russian democracy was not accurate, however, Russia today defies easy characterization.

Many Russians are experiencing freedom and economic prosperity, but the Kremlin government has completed a seven-year project to reconsolidate power, Baker said. The Kremlin has gone after those who protest and those who try and use influence.

“The direction of Russia has changed. It is more stable, yes, but it is also a less open society as well,” he said.

Baker said that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has given Russia power and prosperity in places.

In some places people live in conditions that are the same as they have been for years. There is a middle class beginning to form, but “this wealth hasn’t trickled down to everyone.”

Now Russians are experiencing a renewed nationalism, Baker said. The old days of the Soviet Republic are being romanticized and the next generation that America thought was going to urge democracy and freedom are starting to agree with Vladimir Lenin.

Sixty-one percent of Russians regret the fall of the Soviet Union, Baker said, and “one poll in Russia today shows 24 percent of Russians would vote Stalin for president today.”

Russians want Putin’s strong leadership and do not really know an alternative. Baker said that stability, economic growth and a manageable life are their values and even the growing middle class does not want to get into politics.

“[His point of view] was very close,” said Tatyana Abbott, Ames resident and former Russian citizen. “What I like about his lecture is he didn’t judge and he didn’t say ‘this is my advice.'”