Check out the video.  It has some amazing footage and pictures.

In any event, even though the news story asserts that Russia has decided not to rely so heavily on Western consulting firms, sources in Russia are also at pains to compliment the work of Ketchum, the PR firm that has been handling all of Russia’s international communications for the last 3 years.  So, while Ketchum may have failed to make the world think better of Russia, they have been very successful in making their client, Russia, think well of them.

But maybe there are deeper issues at play.  In a very intriguing epilogue, the news story describes what really might be going on.

[W]henever a government Russian or otherwise begins talking about the need to promote its image and counter criticism, such comments typically indicate that there is a debate behind the scenes between those who insist that current policies are right but only misunderstood and those who suggest that the policies themselves are to blame.

Consequently, what may appear to many as little more than bureaucratic housecleaning could have a dramatic set of outcomes not only for Moscow’s public relations effort but also for its future elaboration of policy and hence for behind-the-scenes politics at the highest levels in the Russian capital.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if a major shift in Russia’s foreign policy was first revealed in a scrap over its PR strategy?