First-six percent of U.S. and Eastern European elites feel Russia is becoming less democratic, while 44 percent of Western Europeans agree, said the survey, which was released Monday. The 900 sample respondents, or elites, consisted of various government officials, the media, influencers such as think tanks and non-governmental organizations, and investors, from the United States, Western and Eastern Europe. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percent.

"There is relatively high agreement that things are going in the wrong direction for Russia," said Michael McFaul of The Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

The survey was launched in the wake of moves by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which many have viewed as authoritarian.

The government seizure of the largest private company, Yukos, and the subsequent imprisonment of its executives -- former Chief Executive Officer Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partner Platon Lebedev, both sentenced to nine years in prison-- under charges of tax evasion caused concern Russia was prosecuting its political enemies. Khodorkovsky supported opposition parties.

The majority of those polled (more than 52 percent in each region) said they felt Khodorkovsky's prosecution was primarily political, and not actual criminal.

Other recent events have evoked concern that Russia is sliding from democracy. The recent purchase of more than 50 percent of the shares of Izvestia, one of Russia's oldest newspapers, by the state-controlled Gazprom Media also roused fears the Kremlin is consolidating privately owned media under its control. After the September school siege in Beslan that claimed more than 300 lives, Putin announced regional governors would no longer be elected but appointed by central government. The March 2004 elections, which saw Putin win in a landslide, were objected to by the Council of Europe, with allegations ballot boxes were stuffed with false votes for Putin.

Investors have taken more than $12 billion in capital out of Russia because of concerns over political instability, and the NGO Freedom House has classified Russia as "not free" for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

According to the survey, 73 percent of Americans, 69 percent of Western Europeans and 75 percent of Eastern Europeans said they felt the status of democracy and the rule of law in Russia were very important for Western interests. Sixty-eight percent in the United States, 53 percent and 58 percent in Western and Eastern Europe respectively, agree a Russia that reverts to authoritarianism is more likely to pursue policies hostile to Western interests.

More than 61 percent of all polled agreed Russia posed a problem for the West, and that the West should use its influence to pressure Moscow to respect democratic values and the rule of law.

But the survey also concluded that though the majority saw Russia as sliding away from democracy and said an authoritarian government would be a threat to Western interests, there was no prescriptive policy consensus amongst the elite on the action that should be taken.

When asked if Russia should be denied membership into the World Trade Organization if it fails to adhere to the democratic process and the rule of law, 49 percent of the U.S. elite agreed, while only 43 percent and 31 percent of W. and E. Europeans respectively agreed. The results were even less assertive when those polled responded to the question of whether Russia should be excluded from the upcoming Group of Eight meeting of democratic countries until it restores democratic institutions: 27 percent agreed in the United States, 26 percent in Western Europe, and 22 percent in Eastern Europe.

"When it comes to doing something, there is no real support for doing anything punitive.," McFaul said. "Yes there's concern about the growing autocracy in Russia, but willingness in either Europe or America to bring democracy to the fore of national security is just not there."

Anders Aslund of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said change could be fostered in Russia simply by supporting democracy.

"The Russian regime is weak and unstable. If someone was to support democracy and an active engagement in Russia, then that would suffice," he said. "There does not need to be a punitive measure taken, because I don't think the regime is stable."

But, he conceded: "There are two thoughts on the issue, and if you think that the regime is stable, then punitive measures are the necessary step."

His comments come after the recent revolutions throughout Central Asia that have seen the coming of democracies in former autocratic states. The Georgian revolution, the Ukrainian revolution and the recent revolution in Kyrgyzstan were all peaceful, and McFaul says there is a possibility Russia may undergo a similar change.

"We always tend to overstate the status quo and the power of the autocrats until the day after, and then it seems inevitable that they were weak," he said. "I think Russia is creeping toward that. I think we tend to overemphasize Putin's control and overemphasize the stability of the status quo."

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