Representatives Christopher Cox (R.-Calif.) and Tom Lantos (D.-Calif.) introduced legislation urging the suspension of Russia's membership in the Group of 8 nations until that country adheres to international standards of democracy. "Russia has failed to complete a successful transition from communism to free enterprise, and from a Soviet police state to a stable, securely democratic society. Vladimir Putin needs to show that his nation belongs in the same league with the other G-7 members," Cox said. Cox recently wrote to Putin in response to the Russian president's comment that the collapse of the Soviet Union was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century." Cox replied: "The great catastrophe of the last century in Russia was the Soviet Union itself."
