"Those who call themselves Russia experts usually don't understand the first thing about it," writes Dahlgren.

Mr. Talbott, the President's Russia expert, told senators: "Our support will follow their reform; it cannot be the other way around."

"You know what a Russia expert is?"

The investigations have confounded even the most seasoned Russia experts.

"You can't be sure," said Stephen Sestanovich, a Russia expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Russia experts think the investigations were organized by a small group of Kremlin officials.

Now of course, as you know, Mike is not only a Russia expert; he's also one of our nation's leading thinkers and writers on democracy.

The 48-year old former Stanford professor, a Russia expert, is the member of the team most likely to anticipate Mr. Bush's response to a problem.

Doing the trans-siberian doesn't make you a Russia expert.

The offense, Russia experts say, is that Mr. Khodorkovsky used his considerable fortune to bankroll an opposition party during an election year.