We also need to polish our soft power. Both the regime in the Kremlin, and ordinary Russians, are now deeply sceptical about any talk of Western values. They regard it as hypocritical hogwash. The West is somewhere where you can buy anything for money - just as long as you don't admit it. That is painfully true in some respects. But we can do something about that. In truth, the West still has plenty to boast about. The astonishing electoral feast of America's primary and presidential contests is a startling contrast to Russia's carefully manipulated parliamentary and presidential elections. Nowhere on the planet do governments look after their citizens' health and welfare better than in the EU. In Russia, public services and infrastructure, even after the oil and gas bonanza of the past decade, are still pitiful.

Even the financial crisis sheds a positive light on our system. It may be throwing up some wrong answers and even scapegoating the wrong people. But it is calling the powerful to account in a way that would be unimaginable in Russia. When things go wrong here, governments fall. When things go wrong there, it is editors who are sacked for reporting them. The great aim should be that when the Putin regime finally hits the buffers, Russians turn again westwards, rather than seeking something still more toxic and dangerous.