July 22, 1997   

This Date's Issues:   1070  •1071•1073  

11:52 AM 2/15/01Johnson's Russia List
#1073
22 July 1997
djohnson@cdi.org

[Note from David Johnson:
1. RIA Novosti: RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT NOT GOING TO REACT TO RUMOURS 
PUBLISHED BY SCANDINAVIAN MASS MEDIA ABOUT FRIENDLY RELATIONS 
BETWEEN ANATOLY CHUBAIS AND SOME DANISH BUSINESSMAN OF BAD REPUTATION.
2. Los Angeles Times: Carol Williams, Success Stories Mark Slow 
March to Change in Russia. Reforms: Political and economic benefits are 
spreading beyond capital. But many still feel deprived, insecure. 
3. http://www.samara.ru
4. Irish Times: Plan for Red Square brings explosive reaction. 
A referendum may be held on the future of the embalmed remains of 
the founder of the USSR, writes John Murray.
5. Washington Post: Daniel Williams, For Some Russians, 
Another Blow to National Pride. First It Was Alcoholism, 
Collapsing Buildings and Mafia Hits; Now It's Mir's Mishaps.
6. Ogonek: Vera Nikitina (the All-Russia Center for the 
Study of Public Opinion [VTsIOM]), "Are We Being Scared? 
The Fear of Revolt Is Stronger Than the Desire To Participate 
in It."
7. Floriana Fossato (RFE/RL): Yeltsin Misses Deadline Under 
Pressure Over Religion Law.
8. RIA Novosti: IGOR SHABDURASSULOV PERPLEXED BY "FREE 
INTERPRETATION" OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE ON ARMY REFORM IN 
SEGODNYA PAPER.
9. RIA Novosti: BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION IS GOVERNMENT'S TOP 
PRIORITY, SAYS VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN.
10. RIA Novosti: DEFENSE MINISTRY AND SECURITY COUNCIL HAVE 
NO CONTRADICTIONS ON ARMY REFORM.
11. Reuter: Bulgaria's Zhivkov belatedly says Marxism is bunk.]

*******

#1
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT NOT GOING TO REACT TO RUMOURS PUBLISHED
BY SCANDINAVIAN MASS MEDIA ABOUT FRIENDLY RELATIONS BETWEEN
ANATOLY CHUBAIS AND SOME DANISH BUSINESSMAN OF BAD REPUTATION
MOSCOW, JULY 22, RIA NOVOSTI'S ALEXANDRA AKAYEVA - Russia's
government is unable to react to every rumour about cabinet
members published by foreign mass media, head of the department
for information and culture under the government Igor
Shabdurassulov said when asked to comment on yesterday's
publication in Novaya Gazeta.
The article, titled "Lunch Court", deals with the scandal
in Scandinavian press caused by appearance of Russia's First
Vice Premier Anatoly Chubais in the company of Danish
businessman Jan Bonde-Nielsen. According to the newspaper, this
man has a bad reputation and was even charged with grave felony.
According to the official representative of the government, "it
seems to be rather difficult to rely on information coming from
overseas mass media". Shabdurassulov stated that "we would like
to be categorical to say whether such statements are true or
not".
Shabdurassulov made it clear that he sees no need for the
government to react to these publications since none of them
blamed Anatoly Chubais "for committing any illegal actions which
are at odds with his status". From his part, Anatoly Chubais can
bring a legal action to defend his honour and dignity,
Shabdurassulov noted. 

*******

#2
Los Angeles Times
22 July 1997
[for personal use only]
Success Stories Mark Slow March to Change in Russia 
Reforms: Political and economic benefits are spreading beyond capital. But
many still feel deprived, insecure. 
By CAROL J. WILLIAMS, Times Staff Writer
 
SAMARA, Russia--The woe-is-me countenance of Yuri Skomorokhov could
be said to be the face of capitalist Russia. 
     A successful business, a supportive family and a home in this verdant
Volga River boomtown have yet to disabuse the 35-year-old entrepreneur of
his conviction that Russia's turn of history forced him to sell his soul. 
     Skomorokhov was near the end of his graduate studies in engineering
technology and looking forward to an ivory tower existence as a college
professor when he was caught in the crosscurrents of his country's economic
revolution early in this decade. 
     "I realized you couldn't feed a wife and two children on a teacher's
salary in these conditions," he says of his shattering epiphany four years
ago. 
     So he pooled his modest savings with three friends to build a
furniture factory that has grown to employ 110 workers. It pays him $1,000
a month--a princely sum, at least by provincial standards. 
     "I realize I am better off than most, materially," says Skomorokhov,
who takes little pride in having successfully survived an economic
transition that others have failed at. "But I feel neither successful nor
secure. Today, I have a good life, but tomorrow could be a completely
different story." 

     Bumpy Ride to Reforms 
     That even those who have found a profitable niche in the new order
tend to see their fortune as a bargain with the devil speaks to an enduring
self-image among Russians as a society of victims and martyrs. Despite
abundant evidence that personal freedoms and market economics have spread
far beyond Moscow, Russians in the provinces often still feel deprived of
personal benefit from their country's embrace of capitalism and democracy. 
     Russia's provinces have had a bumpy ride on the way to a market
economy. Most still trail far behind the capital, where sleek shops and
upward mobility are as taken for granted by its residents as newfound
freedoms to travel, decide their own futures and speak their minds. 
     But as scattered success stories, like Skomorokhov's, instill a sense
of financial security in the middle class slowly taking root across Russia,
there are expectations that the transition's survivors will begin
recognizing their gains. 
     "Look at what people are doing, not what they are saying," advises
Grigory Rivlin, economic analyst for the local Volga Commune newspaper.
"It's traditional for us to lament life's injustices as we sit down with
family and friends for a feast." 
     Indeed, the face turned to the outside world by most of Russia's 148
million people is often one of suffering amid the freer, more varied
and--many admit--more fun society that has supplanted the state
choreography of life of the old days. 
     In Samara, the neon and noise of capitalism are a little softer than
in Moscow, but so are the blows to the city's unfortunate more cushioned
and the tales of crime and corruption more tame. 
     The riverfront scene at rush hour shatters any lingering image of the
dull Eastern Bloc. Young women in business suits gather after work to drink
and gossip in umbrella-shaded beer gardens, while teenagers bobbing under
headphones skate past the flow of businessmen talking on cellular phones as
they stroll home. 
     Local officials boast that 93% of property in Samara is now in private
hands--among the largest shares in any area of Russia even six years after
the collapse of communism and dissolution of the Soviet Union. 
     Chemists and engineers who once worked at rocket factories in this
city of 1.2 million are now producing pharmaceuticals, processed foods and
accessories for the passenger cars that roll off auto assembly lines in the
nearby city of Togliatti. 
     "We estimate there are about 200,000 working in small- and
medium-sized enterprises on the private market," says Alexei Syzgantsev,
deputy director of the Department for Support to Entrepreneurship and Small
Business. "That may be a small percentage of the population, but it is the
fastest-growing sphere of the economy and the most important for the long
term." 
     The agency works with would-be businesspeople to find credits and
partnerships in the absence of a functioning, internal lending network in
cash-only Russia. Its staff also lobbies for reasonable tax, licensing and
customs regulations at the federal level. 
     Because of the byzantine and capricious practices of federal customs
authorities, much of the foreign food, clothing and gadgetry on sale at
private shops here is brought in, a few suitcases at a time, by "shuttle
traders." They are Russia's army of small-scale importers who travel to
cut-rate bazaars in Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and China to keep fellow
Russians supplied, despite the slump in the nation's domestic production. 
     Entrepreneurship is also alive along Samara's broad, tree-lined
riverfront, where cafes and kiosks are open around the clock to offer beer,
soft drinks and snacks. While the pay for salesclerks and short-order cooks
is paltry, the miniature convenience stores are creating part-time jobs for
housewives and students eager to work odd hours. 

     Ingenuity and Elbow Grease 
     That Samara has healed with so few social scars after decades of
dependence on troubled defense industries is presented as evidence by its
leaders that any region can be successful with the right formula of
ingenuity and elbow grease. 
     "What we have that works for us is a good technical base--a lot of
trained engineers and specialists who were engaged in the race for space
and military supremacy [in the Soviet era] and now are putting their skills
to use in light manufacturing, computer science and services," says
Vladimir Mamigonov, a vice governor of the region. "We also have a good mix
of nationalities and a long history of that being an asset instead of a
problem." 
     Samara borders resurgent Islamic areas of Tatarstan and is close to
Kazakhstan and Russia's roiling southern republics. Because of its
location, Samara has long been a haven for those repressed by nationalism
elsewhere. 
     The region also has managed to create one of Russia's stronger social
welfare nets, which Mamigonov attributes to the local administration's
responsible use of tax revenues. He points to the $137-million, 570-bed
cancer hospital under construction as an example. The facility will be
equipped to care for terminal patients from throughout the Volga region. 
     Unlike in Moscow, where top bureaucrats zip around in imported
Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, Samara's public servants travel in Volga sedans
bought from another successful city upriver, Nizhny Novgorod. Public
salaries and pensions are modest but paid on time, in contrast with the
three- and four-month delays that have commonly plagued other provinces. 
     One of only six "donor regions" among Russia's 89 constituent cities,
counties and republics, Samara pays more in federal taxes than it receives
back in benefits. 
     In a desire to invest in an important resource--youth--Samara
officials have bankrolled an experimental program that teaches students on
a single campus from first grade through college. The 15-year program at
the Samara Municipal University was the brainchild of educator Marina
Nayanova, who has teamed the school she opened in 1989 with correspondent
programs at George Washington University, the Sorbonne in Paris and
engineering and technical schools in Western Europe. 
     "We realized we had to prepare young people for an entirely different
future from the one we were expecting," says Nayanova. "Our goal is to
develop the individualism of the students while equipping them with the
skills bound to be in demand, like computer abilities and foreign language." 
     All 1,200 pupils study English, French and German from elementary
level and spend two years abroad after their university education. 
     "There is a boom underway in Samara, and this is due to our having
managed to open the city," says Oleg Sysuyev, who was mayor of Samara until
April, when he was called to Moscow to take up the federal post of deputy
prime minister. "It used to be a source of pride that we were closed off,
that in every family there was someone with a secret clearance." 
     Samara, called Kuibyshev during the Soviet era, was closed to
foreigners because of its high concentration of military-industrial plants. 
     While Samara is touted as one of the most reformed of Russia's
regions, there are still some important industries mired in despondency and
debt. At the Progress Rocket enterprise, portly officials in ill-fitting
suits assemble in a conference room under the stern gaze of Soviet founder
V. I. Lenin to bemoan the age of democracy and disarmament that has all but
made them obsolete. 
     "We have no money. We don't get paid by Moscow. What is there to talk
about of 'defense conversion' or 'foreign investment?' " director Dmitri
Kozlov asks with bitter sarcasm. 

     Resentment and Resignation 
     The enterprise stalwarts disdain even the few projects that have come
their way in the market era. A contract to produce potato-processing
equipment for a Western European food venture is a "humiliation" of the
technological skills of defense scientists, insists Kozlov. 
     Likewise, the mood at the Tupolev aircraft factory is one of
resentment and resignation, made worse by Russian airlines' recent orders
for new Boeings and Airbuses. 
     But heavy industry has not entirely fallen on hard times, as the fate
of the Samara Ball-Bearing Plant testifies. The company has slimmed down
from its Soviet-era height of 10,500 employees to about 7,000. But sales
are brisk for the range of its products, from microscopic components to
15-foot-wide bearings in demand at the dams and power plants along the Volga. 
     "We have no debts, we're doubling salaries this year and we will
probably need to take on more staff in the coming months to handle the
growth," says director Igor Shvidak, who attributes his plant's successful
conversion to the distribution of shares to employees that gave them an
interest in efficiency. 
     Under the Communist system, which dealt with sloth by assigning two
laborers to do the job of one, a manager had no power to threaten drunk
workers or petty thieves with termination. "Now that they know they can be
fired, it's amazing how much more serious and industrious workers can be,"
says Shvidak. "It wasn't unusual in the old days to have to send 150 people
home for showing up drunk. Now it's a rare instance to have even one or two." 
     Across town, at the Rossiya candy factory, employees have mostly sold
the stock that they were given after privatization to the Swiss chocolate
giant Nestle, but report a similarly satisfactory transition in terms of
job security, working conditions and wages that average about $345 a
month--three times the national average. Once a $60-million upgrade is
completed, the plant producing about 10% of Russia's chocolate hopes to
give market leader Mars Corp. a run for its money, says director Alexei
Khomyakov. 

     Agriculture in Transition 
     Food production and processing is only a fraction of the Samara
economy, as agriculture is in crisis across the breadth of Russia. Still,
farmers and manufacturers see this as a potential growth industry because
of the rich soil and abundant farmland along the Volga. 
     Yevgeny Tisonov and 60 former comrades from the disbanded Zhiguli
State Farm have rented nearly 1,000 acres and planted wheat, sunflowers and
herbs. Their success hinges on the fickle weather. But the streamlined
collective expects to earn enough from its first-year produce to pay its
members a subsistence wage. 
     Throughout the Russian federation, production of meat, milk, eggs,
vegetables, fruits, grains and other foodstuffs has all but ceased with the
end of state subsidies to huge, inefficient and poorly managed state farms.
As collectives have broken up, parceling out land to former members, even
those who want to continue farming find themselves without the equipment or
credit needed to get crops in the ground. 
     As elsewhere in the fertile regions of Russia, many who work in the
shops and factories of Samara grow their own food in private plots attached
to their country cottages. 
     Olga and Anatoly Yerin abandon their city apartment as soon as the
snow clears each April to take up residence at their humble dacha and its
redolent gardens. A bus stop across the street allows them to commute to
their jobs at a construction-materials plant 20 minutes away in the city.
On less than a sixth of an acre, they produce enough vegetables, fruit,
herbs and poultry to feed themselves and their two grown daughters
throughout the year. 
     They proudly show off last summer's expansion projects--a sauna and a
greenhouse that bursts with tomatoes, peppers and flowers. "It's so much
nicer out here than in the city," effuses Olga. "We stay here until the
frost comes back, in about November." 
     Her spell of contentment is broken, though, when asked if she lived as
well in the Communist era. "It was much better then. Now we are all slowly
dying," insists the plump 48-year-old, suddenly thrown into a nostalgic
reverie. "I know these terrible times are here for good though. All we can
do is survive from day to day." 
     The contrast of her posture of suffering with the natural serenity
that surrounds her prompts her husband to suggest she might be tending
toward the melodramatic. 
     "Come on, Olya, life's not really that bad, is it?" he prods with a
gentle elbow to the ribs. "I think you have to admit, things might be
getting better." 

*******

#3
Russia Today's Site of the day... 
http://www.samara.ru
This mostly Russian-language site provides historical and general
information about the Samara region, the area on the Volga River
where President Boris Yeltsin is currently spending part of his
summer holiday. Join the Samara Internet pub and find out what's
happening in the region. 

*******

#4
Irish Times
22 July 1997
[for personal use only]
Plan for Red Square brings explosive reaction 
A referendum may be held on the future of the embalmed remains of the 
founder of the USSR, writes John Murray 

Yet again Boris Yeltsin has stirred up a hornet's nest with his proposal 
for a referendum on whether to remove Vladimir Lenin from his mausoleum 
on Red Square and bury him in St Petersburg.
On Sunday, July 6th, a previously unknown group calling itself the 
Revolutionary Military Council laid packets of explosive at the base of 
another Moscow landmark, the huge memorial to Tsar Peter the Great, in 
an attempt to blow it up in protest at the plan to rebury Lenin. Several 
people are facing charges over the incident.
Yeltsin's desire to bury, physically and metaphorically, the founder of 
the Soviet state is supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, whose 
spokesman called Lenin's embalmed body an "antirelic and a symbol of 
evil".
The President's legal adviser has said that displaying Lenin's body next 
to the Kremlin violates constitutional guarantees against imposing a 
"state ideology" in Russia. He added: "If a pagan sect wants to worship 
a mummy, it should be allowed to, but in another place."
The powerful mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, also wants rid of Lenin, 
offering to inter him "with all the appropriate honours". The most 
original suggestion has come from Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who has said he 
is willing to purchase Lenin's body and take it on a Russia-wide tour.
Yeltsin's suggestion to hold a referendum has been fiercely denounced by 
a majority in the communist and nationalist-dominated Duma (parliament), 
the Communist Party central committee and the president of the Academy 
of Medical Sciences, who said that burying Lenin would be "stupid" since 
it would "ruin a unique experiment in preserving human tissue".
A Duma resolution passed on June 23rd called on the Russian people to 
"prevent an act of political revenge against Vladimir Lenin and to 
preserve the historical architecture of Red Square".
On April 2nd the Duma passed a similar resolution denouncing an earlier 
proposal to remove Lenin from the mausoleum as "vandalism". In that same 
week, a previously unknown organisation called the Red Army of Workers 
and Peasants claimed responsibility for having blown up the only Russian 
monument to Nicholas II, in Moscow.
The group released a statement saying the attack on the statue was a 
reprisal against those who wanted to "profane a national shrine" by 
removing Lenin's body from the mausoleum.
The religious language of the Communist Party statement of June 21st - 
which denounced Yeltsin's proposal as "immoral and sacriligious" - 
indicates the degree of reverence in which Lenin is still held by many 
in Russia. The history of the Soviet cult of Lenin explains in some way 
why this is so.
The cult is generally believed to have started in 1918 after the failed 
attempt on Lenin's life. Then, in the words of Lenin's Russian 
biographer, Dmitry Volkogonov, "The inveterate Russian commitment to the 
idea of the `good tsar' found expression".
The natural sympathy of ordinary people, pumped up by propaganda, laid 
the foundations for the subsequent deification of Lenin following his 
death in 1924. In a clear invocation of Orthodox burial traditions, 
Stalin insisted that Lenin's remains not be "desecrated". By this he 
meant they should not be cremated - the preferred revolutionary method 
to achieve the "democratisation of death".
At the very moment when atheist communist agitators were trying to turn 
the people away from Orthodoxy by showing them that the "incorruptible 
cadavers" of saintly figures were nothing more than wax effigies, the 
party leadership decided to embalm Lenin's body for all time and put it 
on display in front of the Kremlin.
The designer of the sarcophagus, the architect Shchusev, called it "a 
sleeping chamber for a sleeping prince".
The tomb became a shrine for pilgrims. The party subsequently launched a 
campaign which idealised, heroised and romanticised Lenin beyond belief. 
The language of the campaign treated Lenin as a saint, a Christ or an 
anointed tsar.
The embalming was opposed by Lenin's wife and family, by Bonch-Bruevich, 
his secretary and a specialist in religious studies, and by Trotsky, 
Kamenev and Bukharin in accordance with Lenin's own wishes for a simple 
burial or cremation.
The growing cult of Lenin was drastically curtailed by Stalin in the 
1930s when, for at least 20 years, the god Lenin was demoted by the god 
Stalin.
After Stalin's death in 1953, the embalmed body of the dictator joined 
Lenin in the mausoleum where it remained until 1961. Then, following 
Khrushchev's second de-Stalinisation speech at the 22nd Party Congress, 
it was removed for burial by the Kremlin wall.
With Stalin discredited, Khrushchev and his successor, Leonid Brezhnev, 
set about restoring the god-like image of Lenin.
One expression of this was the toponymic cult of Lenin, which began in 
earnest two days after his death on April 23rd, 1924, with Petrograd 
becoming Leningrad. It continued apace after Stalin's death.
By the early 1990s, there were 277 cities, large towns, villages and 
regions named after Lenin.
It was not until three years into the Gorbachev era that Lenin fell 
under the basilisk stare of the newly-liberated liberal intelligentsia. 
The culmination of their efforts to decanonise him came in September 
1991 with Leningrad becoming Saint Petersburg again.

********

#5
Washington Post
July 21, 1997
[for personal use only]
For Some Russians, Another Blow to National Pride
First It Was Alcoholism, Collapsing Buildings and Mafia Hits; Now It's
Mir's Mishaps
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service

MOSCOW, July 20—Russia has been the home of so many man-made disasters in
recent years -- collapsing buildings, bombs on trains, massive pollution,
rampant alcoholism, mafia murders -- that the problems on the Mir
spacecraft at first seemed barely to make an impression on the Russian
consciousness.
Last week, however, for the first time, there were inklings that
Russians have begun to regard the recurrent mishaps on the space station as
a national shame.
A high government official spoke out on the issue, equating Mir's woes
with Russia's woes. A popular evening news broadcast compared Russia's
space program unfavorably with that of the United States, commenting that
the problems reflect a loss of national purpose. The Russian in the street
seemed also to take note of the Mir mishaps in pitying terms, although
perhaps with insufficient angst to generate clamor for big spending on a
space program that has seen sharp budget cuts in recent years.
The reactions revived the question of what the space program means for
the national identity, a subject that periodically has surfaced in Russia
since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They also have revived a sense of
the utopian mission that communist ideology attributed to the country.
Yuri Baturin, secretary of the government's defense council, created a
stir by equating Mir's woes with contemporary Russia's. "It is a reflection
of what is happening with the country and nothing else," he said.
"If we have mastered high technologies, [and] could make technical
systems that are in the forefront of world knowledge, we should keep them
going in a proper way. If we drop space, we shall lag behind in this field
forever."
His comments set off a flurry of press commentary that Mir was damaging
Russia's prestige. Russia's most popular evening news show, NTV's
"Sebodnya," broadcast a feature on the lamentable state of Russia's space
program compared with that of the United States. The story asserted that
the United States has maintained its national pride in space, while Russia
is having trouble even supplying its army with boots. Photos from the
American Pathfinder mission to Mars were contrasted with Russian soldiers
feeding chickens.
The negative tone of stories about Mir prompted Vladimir Solovyev, the
director of Mission Control, to claim the opposite: that the staunch
efforts to save Mir are in fact adding to Russia's prestige by contributing
to the knowledge of space flight.
Debate was probably kept from reaching a crescendo by the success
Russian technicians and cosmonauts had last week in resolving Mir's latest
problem -- a power loss caused by someone on the space station pulling a
plug to a computer that kept the craft's electricity-generating solar
panels aimed at the sun.
Still, as the Mir drama has dragged on -- it has been almost a month
since it collided with a cargo vehicle, an accident that caused a string of
breakdowns -- Russians have been forced to contemplate the decline of a
space effort that was once the country's pride.
"It's pitiful," said Olga Mayer, who runs an orphanage here. "Frankly,
my first interest in life is to get my wages. But we once were proud of our
achievements in space as a nation. Now, there is less to be proud of."
Mayer was waiting in line at the "Trip Into Space" ride at Moscow's
Gorky Park. The ride is inside a full-size test model of the Buran, which
was to have been Russia's space shuttle. To some Russians, the Buran's
conversion last year into an amusement park attraction highlighted the
shrinking horizons of their space program.
Mayer remembers fondly the spontaneous street celebrations that took
place in Moscow when Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, was launched
into orbit in 1961. She was a university student then. "It was a thrill,"
she said.
Younger Russians know of such events only through schoolbooks and seem
to have less emotional attachment to space. "The Mir is a little
embarrassing," said Alexei Podmogya, 22, a truck driver from Nizhny
Novgorod. "It may not be right what's happening to our space program, but
we're more interested in making ends meet now."
He showed no interest in a return to the heavy spending on space. "There
was enough money for such things. Times have changed, and I don't think we
need to focus on questions of pride," he said.
Alexander Charyev, 27, a border guard-in-training, remarked, "We, after
all, were pioneers in this field. It would be pathetic to drop out. As long
as we continue in space we can continue to be proud. There are worse things
to spend money on."
The harshest comments came from Vladimir Krichevsky, a consultant on
Gorky Park's shuttle ride who retired from the Russian space program after
40 years as a video technician. Krichevsky preferred the Soviet days when
resources were poured into the program. He blamed the current problems on
the "sorry state into which the politicians took Russia."
"There was a time when scientists could focus on their work and then ask
about how much it costs. Now, the main issue is money and the work is
secondary," he said. "We will decline in space, and this decline will be
irreversible."
The shuttle attraction mixes education and entertainment to keep the
space passion alive in Russians, Krichevsky explained. "I find teenagers
have little real interest in space," said Krichevsky, who lectures student
groups when they come to visit. "We are losing a generation."
He strongly associated the space program with Russia's identity, saying
that without such achievements, "There can be no feeling of patriotism, and
no strong state."

*********

#6
Ogonek No. 29 Jul 97 (Signed to press 16 Jul 97) pp 16-17
Report by Vera Nikitina, the All-Russia Center for the Study of
Public Opinion [VTsIOM]: "Are We Being Scared? The Fear of Revolt
Is Stronger Than the Desire To Participate in It"

The second miners revolution, the necessity of which has been
upheld by Bolsheviks of every tint, has not materialized. "It
did not happen in March, in Moscow -- we shall make in
Kuzbass," Kemerovo trade union bosses threatened. "We shall
topple Yeltsin together with his anti-people's government. 
This is not Maritime Kray for you." It was not by accident
that they chose the date, 11 July, the anniversary of the
miners' first strike.
Yet neither a full-scale propaganda campaign nor official quotas
handed down by [enterprise] directors for participation in protest
action could force the miners to take to the street. It is not only
about changing a governor or about more billions in subsidies "to put
out fires." The Devil Is Not So Black.... [subhead] It might seem
strange to some but the result of the latest polls by the VTsIOM show
that some changes have occurred in the mood of the Russian people,
which give government supporters cause for optimism. The polls show
that the number of people who, on one hand, forecast (allow the
possibility of) mass protest actions and, on the other, are ready to
take part in such actions personally has declined. Thus, on the eve
of the protest action by the Federation of Independent Trade Unions
of Russia, 27 March this year, 45 percent of respondents thought that
mass protests in their city or rural district "are quite possible"
while almost every third (31 percent) was going to take part in them.
In late May the picture somewhat changed: 40 percent thought that
protest actions are possible while every fourth (25 percent) was
going to take part in them. Thus, the intention to protest, as well
as the expectation of protest, has somewhat declined in the past two
months. At first glance this appears quite a logical consequence of
the fact that attempts are being made (or seem to be made) to remove
or at least alleviate the most obvious causes of discontent of the
Russian people. The most important among them are arrears on wages,
pensions, and welfare benefits. The government is demonstrating
decisive intentions to "straighten things out" and even setting
specific deadlines, which always produces a mesmerizing effect on our
credulous electorate. Especially given that this is not simply about
intentions, but also some action. (The results of the latest poll
naturally do not take into account such an important fact as the
elimination of the government's arrears on pensions 30 June). Thus,
according to another VTsIOM poll conducted in early June, every fifth
respondent believes that in his town or district "the situation with
the payment of wages, pensions, and welfare benefits is getting
better." Every fifth is not much. Especially considering that there
are one and a half times more of those (35 percent) who believe that
"the situation is getting worse." Forty percent did not notice any
changes while another 6 percent were not sure one way or the other. 
Even so, only recently -- late last year -- the situation was far
worse (as assessed by respondents). Only 5 percent thought that
things were getting better while 68 percent thought that they were
getting worse with 24 percent seeing no changes and 5 percent not
sure. Figures speak for themselves, but we should still like to
single out two most conspicuous ones: 3 percent and 20 percent. This
is how the number of Russians believing that "life has gotten better"
has changed in the past six months. In fact, however, all is not so
simple. In Summer, It Is Better To Be in the Garden [subhead] To
start with, thus far nothing unusual has happened in the public mood.
The charts [not reproduced] show that last summer the situation was
far more stable than now. Surveys over the past three years show
that, first, in summer passions always calm down and, second, the
past summer was the most calm. Seasonal calm is probably due to the
vacation period and dacha-and-vegetable-garden concerns. In the
summer of 1996 presidential elections were held: They partially
distracted people from their daily material concerns and partially
restored the hope that everything would work out yet as long as the
right choice was made. At the same time it is perfectly clear that
there is no reason to say that the "protest activism" of Russians has
waned. Quite the contrary, its indices grew since the fall of 1996. 
There has been a marked growth in figures of mass protest forecasts
while the readiness to take part in protest action has grown less. We
should like to elaborate on this difference. Expectations are not
matched by intentions to participate. There is no paradox here: 
Everything is logical. The fact is that among those who forecast
protest actions not a few are afraid of them. Such people apparently
include chiefs of enterprises and organizations, specialists, well
educated residents of large cities, and students. The majority of
them talk about the possibility of mass protests, but are not at all
going to take part in them. The main vehicles of "protest activism"
are unemployed and [manual] workers over 40. A Revolutionary
Situation... in Reverse [subhead] What matters is not even the social
status but the fact that the carriers of a protest mood are most
often people who are weakly involved (or not at all involved) in the
reform processes that are currently occurring in the country. This
peculiarity, according to Yuriy Levada, points to "a basic difference
between the 'lower strata-ruling circles' confrontation in classic
concepts and in present-day Russian reality. In social conjectures
of the past century the underprivileged groups were seen not simply
as destroyers but also as exponents of social progress, a new social
order, and so forth. Today the most underprivileged sections are
inclined to protest (rather, are subject to a "protest" mood), but
their hopes are directed not to the future but, rather, to the past
-- to universal dependence on the state." This provides an
opportunity to manipulate "public indignation." Moreover, manipulate
it in a dual way. The opposition may scare the government and
reformers with the threat of upheaval. The government and reformers
may hope that their separate actions (eleventh-hour payments [of
wages and allowances], and changes in the government and the
gubernatorial corps) can pacify or distract the population. Even so,
the level of "protest activism" in the whole of Russia remains fairly
high, though this activism itself tends to stay within a peaceful
framework. Thus, according to the VTsIOM March poll, a greater part
of Russians is inclined to peaceful means (should mass protests
occur). To be sure, slogans about the need to change the government
and the president are being pronounced -- and quite vociferously,
too. But this is, rather, the wish to enforce the implementation of
certain demands than the wish to have another government or
president. Thus far the people are appealing to the authorities, not
seeking to topple them. Thus far. Yet, after the summer will come
fall and winter -- a good time for Russian revolutions?

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#7
Russia: Yeltsin Misses Deadline Under Pressure Over Religion Law
By Floriana Fossato

Moscow, July 22 1997 (RFE/RL) -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin yesterday
failed to sign a controversial bill imposing restrictions on minority
religions, passed by parliament earlier this month. 
Any decision the Russian president makes will fail displease either the
supporters or the opponents of the bill. They have exchanged a fierce war
of words during the last few days, aiming at influencing Yeltsin's decision. 
Both houses of the Russian parliament approved the measure earlier this
month. The Russian Constitution gives Yeltsin two weeks either to sign it
into law or veto it. 
A presidential veto could be overruled by a two-thirds majority in each
house of parliament. This probably could be achieved, since the bill had
the strong approval from communists and nationalist dominating the Russian
parliament. But this could prove unnecessary. The Constitutional Court has
ruled that if the president does not act on a law within 14 days of when it
is approved by parliament, he has no choice but to approve it. 
The bill declares Orthodox Christianity "an inalienable part of
all-Russian history" while Islam, Judaism and Buddhism -- that have
long-established roots among Russia's ethnic minorities -- are recognized
as "traditional religions" to be accorded state recognition. All other
religions will have to prove that they have been established in Russia for
at least 15 years, if they want to be registered. Foreign religious
activists will only be able to work in Russia if invited by one of the
registered religious bodies. 
The authors of the bill have said that it was prompted by the need to
defend the traditional confessions, undermined by decades of atheistic
communist rule, against aggressive sects operating from abroad. 
A statement by the leadership of the Orthodox Church has asked Yeltsin
to approve the bill, saying that Yeltsin's rejection would "lead to further
spiritual de stabilization in Russia." 
Giving the issue a political proportion, Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II
said at the week-end that he views the recent growth of foreign cults in
Russia as Western invasion. He was quoted by NTV commercial television as
saying that this is "a form of expansion, comparable to NATO expansion to
the East." 
The Patriarch's view seem to coincide with the words of a prominent
communist leader, Duma legislator Viktor Ilyukhin, who put it this way:
"The West is using religion as a mean to influence the minds of Russian
people, in fact as a mean to control the people." 
The Catholic Church has denounced the bill. Pope John Paul II, leader
of the Roman Catholic Church, has said that, if approved into law, it would
"constitute a real threat to the pastoral activities of the Catholic Church
in Russia and to its very survival." 
Vatican Ambassador to Moscow, John Bukowski, said Catholicism should be
viewed as a traditional religion, since it has existed in Russia for the
last 300 years. 
Russian human right and minority cult groups say the bill violates the
Russian Constitution by curbing human rights and introducing double
standards. They have said they are ready to challenge it in the
Constitutional Court. 
The U.S. Senate last week voted overwhelmingly to cut about $200 million
in U.S. aid if the bill becomes law. 
Russian officials have defended the bill and have criticized strongly
the Senate's decision to link U.S. aid. The chairman of the Duma's Foreign
Affairs Committee, Vladimir Lukin, said that the United States is
interfering in Russia's internal processes." 
Russia's Foreign Ministry also rebuked the Senate, expressing surprised
at the conditions set by the Senate's vote. 
Yeltsin's representative at the Constitutional Court, Sergei Shakhrai,
indicated yesterday that Western objections may play in the hands of the
bill's supporters. Interfax quoted Shakhrai as saying that the best way to
convince Yeltsin to sign a bill is to put outside pressure on him,
particularly from abroad, and to threaten sanctions. 
However, Government spokesman Igor Shabdurasulov seemed to be less sure
Yeltsin would sign. He told a news briefing in Moscow today that the issue
concerns an extremely difficult and delicate issue. And he said Yeltsin
will have to make a decision taking into account all internal, foreign,
economic and social factors involved. 

********

#8
IGOR SHABDURASSULOV PERPLEXED BY "FREE INTERPRETATION" OF
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE ON ARMY REFORM IN SEGODNYA PAPER
MOSCOW, JULY 22, RIA NOVOSTI'S ALEXANDRA AKAYEVA - The
Russian government is perplexed by a "free interpretation" of
the presidential decree "On Top Priority Measures Needed to
Reform the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and Develop
Their Structure" published in yesterday's article of Segodnya
under the title "General Manilov Reorganizers Army", head of the
department for information and culture under the government Igor
Shabdurassulov told a briefing today.
He called "unreasonable and untrue" suppositions of the
article author Pavel Phelgelgauzer that the decree had been
drafted by one of the groups of highly-placed military from the
Defence ministry headed by the First Deputy Head of the General
Staff Colonel-General Valery Manilov to lobby their narrow
interests. In particular, the author stated that the merger of
Military Space Force and Strategic Missile Force and addition to
them of the Rocket and Space Defence Force is being done "to be
able to re-channel big money, rather than bring any real
advantages to Russia". According to Shabdurassulov, "the motives
which made the author to interpret the preparations for the
decree and the document itself are not clear at all". 

********

#9
BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION IS GOVERNMENT'S TOP PRIORITY, SAYS
VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN
By RIA Novosti correspondent Natalia Salnikova
MOSCOW, JULY 22, RIA NOVOSTI - Budget implementation is the
government's top priority, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
said today. 
He was speaking at the opening of a session of the
Emergency Tax Commission (VChK). The Prime Minister emphasised
his desire "to make things so that everyone pays taxes".
"There will be no retreats or indulgences," he warned,
stressing that this is a problem to be understood by everyone,
from enterprise directors to the government. 
Chernomyrdin also said that "we do not need committees like
the VChK", pointing out that all must live by law, then
everybody will be paying taxes, and the government will have its
hands free to make, rather than extort, money.
This correspondent was told at the State Tax Service that
today's session of the Emergency Commission deals with four
major non-payers to the federal budget, with materials on them
prepared by an inter-departmental balance commission. 
These are the Moscow oil refinery, the Ulyanovsk and Ural
motor plants, and the shareholding company Mechell. 
By this time the State Tax Service has completed files on 
such oil majors as LUKOIL and YUKOS. The VChK also has questions
to put to the Ryazan oil refinery, the Likhachev works and the
Moskvich car factory.
The list of leading non-payers still contains a number of
iron-making and engineering plants, including Severstal plant
and the West Siberian iron and steel works. 

********

#10
DEFENSE MINISTRY AND SECURITY COUNCIL HAVE NO
CONTRADICTIONS ON ARMY REFORM
ZVYOZDNY GORODOK, JULY 22 (RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT SERGEI
RYABIKIN). There are no contradictions between the Defense
Ministry and Security Council on the military reform in Russia.
Russia`s Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and Security Council
Secretary Yury Baturin expressed this common point of view while
visiting the Cosmonauts Training Center in Zvyozdny Goronok (not
far from Moscow).
Baturin acknowledged that there still exist different
points of view on several issues, however they are being
discussed and the parties listen to the arguments of each other.
"We act together and in coordination with each other," he
emphasized.
For his part, Sergeyev said that one cannot do without
contradictions after the decision on the military reform was
adopted. The may thing is that they should not be principal, he
said. Now "we are entering a period when contradictions are
useful as a counterbalance for adopting optimal decisions." Due
to this, he said, the command of the Armed Forces conducts
conferences with the central apparatus, with commanders-in-chief
because it is necessary to take into consideration all points of
view in implementing the military reform. 

********

#11
Bulgaria's Zhivkov belatedly says Marxism is bunk
By Galina Sabeva 
July 21, 1997
SOFIA, Bulgaria (Reuter) - Former Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov said
Monday he had decided the Marxist theories under which he governed Bulgaria
for 35 years were bunk. 
``In my memoirs I am smashing the whole of Marxist theory. Marxism is mere
nonsense and I am the first one to say that it is completely wrong,'' Zhivkov
told reporters at his granddaughter's villa in Sofia's wealthy Boyana suburb.
In a news conference coinciding with publication of the memoirs, he
condemned
the reformist policies of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and accused
his Socialist heirs of bankrupting the country, blaming uncontrolled
capitalism and overzealous reform for Bulgaria's present economic plight. 
``I have consistently fought against Gorbachev's perestroika in Bulgaria and
for saving Socialism and the Warsaw Pact,'' he said. 
Zhivkov ruled Bulgaria from 1954, a year after the death of Josef Stalin,
until he was ousted in a bloodless coup by fellow party members in 1989.
Leading Communists re-emerged in the Bulgarian Socialist Party, whose
government was ousted in February by mass demonstrations against economic
hardship. 
Zhivkov declined to name names but laid the blame on unchecked capital
flight
permitted by his Socialist successors. 
``They have robbed Bulgaria, they have stolen billions of levs through
banks...this is a pillaging capitalism,'' he said. 
In January, the Supreme Court overturned a 1992 conviction against Zhivkov
for embezzlement of $24 million in public funds, spent on luxury apartments
and Western cars for his family and favored aides. 
He still needs permission to leave his granddaughter's villa as he is under
house arrest on charges connected with his assimilation policy against ethnic
Turks in the 1980s. 
Zhivkov, 85, looking tired but in good spirits, joked with reporters who
were
served drinks and caviar. His granddaughter is a successful fashion designer.
Bulgarian newspapers generally treat him as something of an eccentric old
grandfather and their photographs usually show him smiling. 
Zhivkov has adapted to the principles of the market economy sufficiently to
demand high fees for interviews with foreign journalists. His book, entitled
simply ``Memoirs,'' sells for $5.30. 
He told reporters the ruling Union of Democratic Forces and their Socialist
opponents should agree to ease economic restrictions as the people were
starving. 
``They are both for democracy, they are both for 'shock therapy' in the
economy but they should stop this as the people are starving,'' he said. 
Many Bulgarians struggling to make ends meet are nostalgic for the Communist
era when the state ensured cheap bread at the price of freedom of speech and
movement. 
The Socialists avoid comment on Zhivkov's political legacy and the small
Communist Party treats him as a traitor to the true Communist ideal. 

*********