'Putin's Playbook' author Rebekah Koffler discusses why some U.S. citizens are seeking the American Dream in Russia on 'The Bottom Line.'

Now that we’ve celebrated Independence Day and the fireworks, barbecues and other festivities are over, I’m pondering about what independence really is. While the holiday commemorates the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, as an immigrant, the word independence has a special meaning for me. It encompasses a much broader concept than the separation of the United States from the kings and queens of the Old World.

I was born and raised in Soviet Russia. My parents disagreed with the communist system, but they didn’t actively rebel against it – there was no point. The state apparatus that controlled the people was so strong that it was impossible to shake it up. Instead, my mother inculcated in me the idea that one day, I would be free and independent because I would go to America. As a child, I didn’t know what America was and why I was to flee to this unknown land, abandoning my family and friends in Russia. But I didn’t question my mother. I knew she wanted the best for me.

In preparation for my new life, which was years away, I started learning English in the third grade, worked extra hard to get all As throughout high school, never missed a class with an English language tutor who my mother hired for me, and eventually graduated from a top university in Moscow with a master’s degree in English and French.

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Flags of the old Soviet Union and United States of America........

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