October 15, 1997 
This Date's Issues: 1284 •1285 1286


Johnson's Russia List
#1286
15 October 1997
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. Fred Weir in Moscow on postponement of no-confidence vote.
2. AP: Yeltsin Stocks No-Confidence Vote.
3. RIA Novosti: VOTE ON NO-CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENT POSTPONED 
FOR NEXT WEEK.
4. Patrick Armstrong: CONFUSED IN OTTAWA.
5. RFE/RL NEWSLINE: OFFICIAL THREATENS KREMLIN COULD CHANGE 
ELECTORAL LAW.
6. Interfax: Russia Does Not Aim To Create Military Bases In Asia
- Official.
7. Paul Goble (RFE/RL): How The CIS May End.
8. The Independent (UK): Phil Reeves, The night religious 
persecution returned to Russia.
9. Rossiiskaya Gazeta: RUSSIA'S SHRINKING FOREIGN-TRADE 
TURNOVER.
10. MSNBC: Michael Moran, The dangers of denial in Russia.
Amnesia, not nukes, is real threat in Russia.
11. Jamestown Foundation Monitor: RUSSIAN ABORTION RATE FALLS
and RUSSIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS WORKERS PREPARE STRIKE and
SECOND THOUGHTS ON LANDMINE BAN. 
12. RIA Novosti: US CONGRESS SATISFIED WITH RUSSIA`S 
POSITION ON NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION.
13. Remarks by Bill Gates of Microsoft in Moscow.
14. Rossiyskiye Vesti: Strong Kremlin Team Runs Country 
Despite Leaders' Absence.
15. RIA Novosti: RUSSIAN AGRICULTURAL WORKERS SHARPLY CRITICIZED 
GOVERNMENT AT TODAY`S PROTEST ACTION.]

*******

#1
From: fweir.ncade@rex.iasnet.ru
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 20:25:42 (MSK)
For Hindustan Times
From: Fred Weir in Moscow

Hi, find below news analysis on postponement of the no-
confidence vote against Boris Yeltsin's government, which was
finally decided late Wednesday evening. Regards, FW.

MOSCOW (HT Oct 16) -- Russia's opposition-led State Duma has
stepped back from confrontation with President Boris Yeltsin and
delayed for one week a no-confidence vote that could lead to
constitutional crisis and the dissolution of parliament.
The deferment came after a last-minute appeal from Mr.
Yeltsin was read to deputies late Wednesday, offering a new round
of talks over the controversial draft 1998 state budget.
The Duma, Russia's 450-seat lower house of parliament, had
been in the midst of debating a Communist-backed motion to
declare Mr. Yeltsin's government "totally bankrupt" and
"incapable of pulling the country out of its deep social,
economic and financial crisis."
Using unusually conciliatory language, Mr. Yeltsin called on
the deputies to think again, and invited all party leaders to
join him in consultations to resolve Russia's perennial budgetary
crisis, which often leaves millions of state workers without
wages for months at a time.
But while holding out a fresh carrot, Mr. Yeltsin also
reminded deputies of the stick -- his constitutional power to
dissolve parliament and rule by decree until new polls are held.
"I don't want confrontation, which would lead to early
elections," parliamentary speaker Gennady Seleznyov quoted Mr.
Yeltsin as telling him by telephone during the debate. "Please
don't put me in a difficult position."
The Duma quickly endorsed a suggestion by Communist Party
leader Gennady Zyuganov to put-off the no-confidence vote until
next Wednesday.
Mr. Zyuganov's retreat was probably dictated by a desire to
reconsider tactics after it became apparent the Communist-
sponsored measure was unlikely to succeed. 
On Wednesday the liberal Yabloko group, which commands a
crucial margin of 46 Duma votes, suddenly withdrew its support
and tabled a separate no-confidence resolution.
Grigory Yavlinsky, Yaboloko's leader, explained that he
could not back the Communist motion because it reflected outdated
socialist thinking.
"The Communists oppose the government for carrying out
reforms," Mr. Yavlinsky said. "We oppose the government for being
slow and incompetent in carrying out reforms."
Communist leaders attempted to put the best face on the
outcome.
"I personally regret the delay, because many of us believe a
no-confidence vote in the government is an urgent necessity,"
Vladimir Kalyagin, a top Communist deputy, told the Hindustan
Times.
"But we are a constructive opposition, and we owe the
president a chance to prove he is ready for real compromise.
Russia is in a very deep economic crisis, and we are willing to
work, even with this government, to find solutions."
Tensions between the Duma and the Kremlin have been
escalating for weeks over budgetary plans that would slash social
spending, eliminate popular housing subsidies and sharply reduce
state support for industry and agriculture.
The government has used hardball tactics to compel the Duma
to accept the need for austerity, including repeated threats by
Mr. Yeltsin to dissolve parliament.
Prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who has maintained
generally friendly relations with the Duma, also raised the
temperature by warning he would resign if parliament voted
against his government.
"It's not Chernomyrdin that we want to vote against, but the
policies pursued by (deputy prime minister Anatoly) Chubais,"
said Mr. Kalyagin.
The collapse of Wednesday's no-confidence motion makes clear
that Mr. Yeltsin has won this round.
But Mr. Kalyagin said that while the Communists are prepared
for dialogue with the Kremlin, and to compromise on the budget,
they are not ready to capitulate.
"If Yeltsin's appeal to turns out to be a trick, there will
be a full no-confidence vote next Wednesday," he said. 
"In the end there will either be a substantial change of the
country's economic course, or there will be a battle."

*******

#2
Yeltsin Stocks No-Confidence Vote 
By Greg Myre 
Associated Press Writer 
October 15, 1997

MOSCOW (AP) -- President Boris Yeltsin defused a proposed no-confidence
vote against his government today, persuading the communist-led parliament
to avoid a showdown it seemed likely to lose. 
Facing the prospect their proposal would fail, hard-line lawmakers
backed down after Yeltsin promised to cooperate in talks on revising an
austere 1998 budget plan that has caused weeks of wrangling. 
After discussing the no-confidence issue for more than two hours, the
State Duma, or lower house, voted 228-137 to postpone a no-confidence vote
until next Wednesday. 
Yeltsin waited until the debate was under way before offering the
communist-led opposition a face-saving way out. 
``I don't want confrontation, early elections,'' he was quoted as saying
by Duma speaker Gennady Seleznyov. ``Don't put me in a difficult
position'' -- a clear reference to his right to end any standoff by
dismissing parliament. 
The postponement meant communist leader Gennady Zyuganov was unable to
muster enough support to vote no-confidence in the government and brake
Yeltsin's proposed economic reforms. 
``Respected members of the Communist Party faction, how are you going to
look into the eyes of the people who collected (so many) signatures for the
government's resignation?'' liberal lawmaker Yelena Mizulina said after
Zyuganov agreed to the one-week delay. 

****** 

#3 
VOTE ON NO-CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENT POSTPONED FOR NEXT WEEK
MOSCOW, OCTOBER 15 (RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT). Russia`s
Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has left the State Duma in a
good mood. Chernomyrdin, as well as several members of the
government, participated today in the discussion on
no-confidence in the Cabinet of Ministers in the State Duma.
However, there was no vote on this issue despite the
seemingly inflexible desire of leader of the communist faction
Gennady Zyuganov to bring the case "to the victory." The
deputies passed a decision to postpone the vote on no-confidence
in the government for the next week, on October 22. As many as
228 deputies voted for, 137 against and one abstained.
There was a turning point in the mood of the deputies after
speaker of the chamber Gennady Seleznyov voiced Russian
President Boris Yeltsin`s address with whom he had a telephone
talk. Seleznyov pointed out that Yeltsin asked the deputies not
to force him adopt decisions on appointment of new elections adn
said that he does not want any confrontation with the State
Duma. At the same time he reported that he is ready to work in
the "group of four," the head of state, prime minister and
chairmen of two chambers of the Federal Assembly. He also
guaranteed that the government will make appropriate conclusions
minding the current situation.
It is strange enough, but leader of the communist party
faction himself was the initiator of the postponement. Not later
than today in the afternoon he called on the deputies to vote
for non-confidence in the Cabinet of Ministers. According to
Zyuganov, postponement of the vote is linked only with the fact
that the left-wing parliamentary opposition must hold
consultations with its allies at the plenum of Russia`s
National-Patriotic Union scheduled for this Saturday. Thus, the
marathon will be continued next week.
Chernomyrdin intends to hold a serious dialogue with the
deputies and called them not to yield to emotions. He said that
members of the conciliatory commission from the government will
continue the work over the draft budget irrespective of results
of today`s discussion. And it is the right of the State Duma to
postpone the issue on no-confidence in the government,
Chernomyrdin said. 

******

#4
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 12:47:54 -0400
From: Patrick Armstrong <ab966@issc.debbs.ndhq.dnd.ca>
Subject: CONFUSED IN OTTAWA

I'm confused -- now it is almost obligatory to
call Boris Berezovskiy one of the wealthiest men
on earth. But only a few years ago we were told
that Viktor Chernomyrdin was one of the wealthiest
people -- perhaps even the wealthiest.

What happened to all of Viktor Stepanovich's
money? Did mice eat it?

*********

#5
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 1, No. 139, Part I, 15 October 1997

OFFICIAL THREATENS KREMLIN COULD CHANGE ELECTORAL LAW. An
unnamed government official told ITAR-TASS on 15 October that if
the Duma is dissolved and new parliamentary elections called, the
procedures for conducting those elections are likely to be changed.
The official said Yeltsin could issue a decree eliminating the current
system of proportional representation whereby half of the 450 Duma
deputies are elected. Kremlin strategists believe that proportional
representation benefits opposition parties and that pro-government
candidates have better prospects if they campaign in single-member
districts. Neither Yeltsin nor the government has the right to change
the law on parliamentary elections, adopted in 1995, without
parliamentary approval. Article 90 of the constitution stipulates that
the president cannot issue decrees that contradict federal laws.

********

#6
Russia Does Not Aim To Create Military Bases In Asia - Official

MOSCOW, Oct 15 (Interfax) - Russia does not aim at setting up military
bases and alliances in Asia, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister *Grigory
Karasin* said in an interview published by the Nezavisimaya Gazeta
(Independent) newspaper Wednesday. 
Russia "is actively developing relations based on a concept of a
multi-polar world. It does not want to establish bilateral, trilateral or
four-sided alliances. The time of building self-sufficient axes and blocks
is over," Karasin said. 
Karasin strongly denied "a currently popular version" that Moscow is
stepping up its activity in Asia "to counterbalance NATO expansion in
Europe." 
Karasin said he was satisfied with "succeeding in taking relations with
Japan out of a territorial deadlock." "The atmosphere and the quality of
the ties has changed," he said. 
In the territorial issue "the main thing is to avoid emotions, and the
Japanese came to understand this. Resolution of the problem must not be
hurried, the methods of a horsemen attack must not be applied as they will
render counterproductive results," he said. "Japan made such an attempt in
the eighties and nineties which triggered a sharp rise in tension," he said. 
"Now that the emotions have calmed down, the issue is discussed in a
serious, state-like manner," he said. 
Commenting on the upcoming unofficial meeting between Russian President
Boris Yeltsin and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, Karasin said
"is will be a significant discussion of bilateral ties and of the two
countries' role in the world." 
"The discussion will focus on economic cooperation, i.e. large projects
which we want to implement with Japanese assistance in particular," he
said. "First and foremost, the energy sphere, including Sakhalin-1 and
Sakhalin-2 projects" will be dealt with at the meeting, he said. 
Karasin did not rule out "the first meeting will be followed by other
unofficial contacts which will help push many issues further." 

*********

#7
Russia: Analysis from Washington -- How The CIS May End
By Paul Goble

Washington, 15 October 1997 (RFE/RL) -- The continued existence of the
Commonwealth of Independent States is now threatened both by the leaders of
its member countries who think that it is doing too much and by the leaders
of those who think it is not doing enough. 
Indeed, the only thing these two sides seem to agree on is that Moscow
is to blame, either because the Russian government has used the CIS as a
cover for its own national agenda or because it has neglected to push the
organization forward. 
Both views were very much on public display this week as leaders of the
12 former Soviet republics are preparing for a CIS summit in the Moldovan
capital of Chisinau next week. 
On Monday, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said in his weekly
radio address that Tbilisi may soon look for other partners if Moscow keeps
ignoring Georgia's interests and prerogatives as an independent country. 
He said Georgians were increasingly angry by what he said were Moscow's
crude Soviet-style approach to Georgia and the other members of the CIS. 
And he indicated that unless the Russian government changed its approach
to Georgia, he would look for other partners in the West, all of whom have
shown greater respect for his country and its interests. 
Then on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma took an opposite
tack, blaming the organization's failure squarely on Moscow. Kuchma said
that Russia had done little or nothing to promote the CIS as an institution. 
The Ukrainian president's remarks during his visit to Kazakhstan, whose
leader President Nursultan Nazarbayev has regularly urged that the CIS be
strengthened and possibly transformed into what he calls a Eurasian Union. 
At one level, of course, this debate is nothing more than a continuation
of one that has gone on throughout the almost six year history of the CIS.
Indeed, the problems now on view reflect the divisions inherent in the
organization from the beginning. 
Since the creation of the CIS in December 1991, some of its members have
viewed the organization as a kind of divorce court, an institution that
would allow them to negotiate the division of spoils from the former Soviet
Union. 
Other countries, in contrast, have hoped that it could serve as the
basis either for continued cooperation among the former Soviet republics or
even for their reintegration into a single political system. 
Neither side has been happy with what has happened, but the reasons for
their unhappiness vary widely and often in unexpected ways. 
Some of the biggest advocates of the CIS, such as Kazakhstan's
Nazarbayev, have wanted a tighter organization not so much in order to go
back under Russian domination but rather to escape that possibility by
establishing rules Moscow would have to follow. 
And some of the biggest opponents of improving the CIS operation,
including many in the Russian capital, have opposed developing the CIS in
that direction lest it restrict Moscow's freedom of action in dealing with
its neighbors. 
Thus, while many Russian officials have claimed that the CIS is a
regional security organization, they have not been willing to respect fully
the rights of non-Russian countries, including Georgia, with respect to the
basing of troops and other matters. 
But at another level, the arguments now being advanced by Shevardnadze
and Kuchma as well as other leaders of CIS member states may have more
profound consequences. 
On the one hand, they could lead to a new agreement among the current
states, one covering fewer issues but covering those in more detail. 
And on the other, they could lead to the demise of the institution with
one or more of the current members deciding, as Shevardnadze has suggested,
that other countries, outside the borders of the former Soviet Union, are
far more reliable partners. 
Either of these steps would spell the end of the CIS as it has existed
up to now. 
The first would do so by formalizing something that has been true but
largely unrecognized: these 12 countries are increasingly independent and
are not interested in a single plan for reintegration sponsored by Moscow. 
The second would do so by breaking up an institution many in Moscow and
elsewhere have found useful for dealing with the daunting diversity of the
region. 
At the upcoming meeting in Chisinau, the first of these is by far the
more likely outcome. But the second is also possible, and Russian policy
may even be promoting it. 
In addition to the Russian actions that both Shevardnadze and Kuchma
have complained of, Moscow is currently subverting the CIS by forming a
variety of bilateral and multilateral relations with CIS member states,
thus calling into question the utility of the CIS as such. 
As a result, the days of the Commonwealth of Independent States now
appear to be numbered. The only question still open is whether it ends with
a bang or a whimper. 

********

#8
The Independent (UK)
15 October 1997
[for personal use only]
The night religious persecution returned to Russia
Russian police have begun to implement the country's new law restricting
freedom of movement. Last week, they stormed a Ukrainian Orthodox church
near Moscow. Things are turning ugly. By Phil Reeves 

It was a night the parishioners will certainly not forget. They knew
Russia's draconian new religion law threatened their right to worship. But
few expected its impact to be so swift and crude. 
Witnesses say the police came late at night, just as when Stalin was at
the height of his terror, persecuting worshippers and closing down churches
across the Soviet Union. 
They say scores of leather-jacketed officers, armed with semi-automatic
weapons and rubber batons, burst into the cathedral and its outlying
buildings and drove the occupants out into the streets. 
Freezing in the autumn night air, evicted elderly nuns and young priests
watched in dismay as their archbishop was led away in handcuffs. There is,
it seems, little subtlety, let alone charity or forgiveness, in the way the
Russian Orthodox church settles its scores these days. 
The raid in Noginsk, 30 miles north-west of Moscow, came only one
working day after Boris Yeltsin signed a law restricting freedom of worship
in Russia, and establishing Russian Orthodoxy as the nation's dominant faith. 
Half-hearted complaints from the West about the legislation have been
met with soothing noises from the Kremlin, which promised it would be
enforced with moderation. Less than three weeks on, those assurances
already sound hollow. 
Although the law was passed to protect Orthodoxy from incursions by
foreign rivals, Catholics and Protestants, it is also being used as a
weapon in a struggle for control over land, cathedrals and schools between
the Russian church and its splinter groups. The Noginsk cathedral was run
by the Ukrainian Orthodox church, which broke away from Moscow after the
end of the Soviet Union; the Russians want it back. 
"What happened was a total shock," said Valeri Bondarenko, a 20-year-old
student priest, as he stood outside the church's padlocked gates. Beyond
the fence, police in black berets and military fatigues patrolled in the
shadow of the cathedral's white dome, muttering occasionally into their
walkie-talkies. 
"There were lots of police with weapons." he said. "Some of us had wives
with babies, but they were all thrown into the streets. Some were still in
night clothes and slippers. When people saw the priest was arrested, they
tried to help, but the police began to beat them." 
Another young priest told The Independent that he was beaten on the
ground and then carted off to jail for a day. 
In the eyes of the parishioners , who are mostly Russian, the raid had
nothing to do with theology, but lots to do with land. For the last few
years, they have been repairing their cathedral, which the Soviets turned
into a factory for making felt boots. Once again, the walls are adorned
with finely carved wood panels, icons and frescos. It has a seminary, a
school, two canteens for the poor, and a convent. Unlike most of the
surrounding industrial landscape, the cathedral complex has a cluster of
new buildings. All are now under the control of the Russian Orthodox church. 
Beneath the conflict lies a feud that has been simmering between the
Moscow patriarchate and its counterparts in Kiev. This came to a head in
1995 when the first breakaway Ukrainian patriarch died. The Russians
refused to let him be buried in Kiev's main cathedral, so the schismatics
rioted and, during the disturbances, buried him beneath the pavement outside. 
The ownership of the cathedral has been the subject of court battles for
five years. Moscow's clerics say it was always theirs, and that last month
a court finally ruled in their favour. The police say they were sent in to
enforce the court's findings and met resistance from the parishioners. The
Ukrainian church says the issue was unsettled, and that the raid preempted
their right to appeal. 
A wider issue lies at the heart of the matter. Nothing in Russia's new
religion law legally justifies the eviction. But the Moscow patriarchate
was clearly emboldened by the law; it appears to be using it as a tool to
rebuild the empire it enjoyed under Soviet rule, when it worked closely
with the Communist Party and the KGB. 
"There certainly is a cause and effect relationship here, " said
Lawrence Uzzell, of the Oxford-based Keston Institute, which monitors
religious freedom in the ex-Soviet Union. "In Russia laws are often taking
as signals rather than as a precise instruction. This law was a signal that
it is the open season when it comes to religious minorities. 
"If this can happen to a church with some degree of international
organisation, what will happen, say, to a small isolated Baptist
organisation out in the Russian hinterland?" 
So far, official Western protests against the law have ranged from muted
to non-existent. (Tony Blair did not raise it during his talks with Boris
Yeltsin last week). But there are fears the same heavy-handed techniques
will be used against other offshoots of Russian Orthodoxy, such as the Old
Believers, or the Free Orthodox church. 
While the world looks the other way, the Noginsk cathedral's Ukrainian
archbishop and his nuns and student priests have set up a campaign
headquarters in a derelict barracks for textile workers. Last week their
power and water was cut off in an apparent attempt to oust them. But it
remains the nerve centre of their fight to win back their church. 
However, they admit it will be tough. "This religion law was worked out
by the Moscow patriarchate," said the archbishop, Fr Adrian, who, though he
now works from a peeling bedroom lined by iron beds, continues to wear his
purple velvet hat, black robes and golden chain. "We were just the first
victims. There will be many more." 

******** 

#9
>From RIA Novosti
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
October 15, 1997
RUSSIA'S SHRINKING FOREIGN-TRADE TURNOVER
By Alexander POTEMKIN

The nation's foreign-trade turnover totalled $73.7 billion
over the January-July 1997 period, declining by 3.4 percent on
1996 levels.
Russia's trade turnover with other former Soviet republics
plunged by 11.1 percent, and its trade with non-FSU countries
by 0.9 percent.
Russian exports totalled $47.1 billion during the first
seven months of 1997 (including $38 billion to non-FSU nations,
a 2.9-percent decline on the corresponding 1996 period). The
respective export volumes as regards CIS nations stood at $9.1
billion (a 2.6-percent decline).
Overall imports totalled $26.6 billion, a 4.2-percent
decline on 1996 levels, with Russia's CIS imports falling by an
impressive 20 percent. 
Non-organized shuttle-trade volumes totalled $8 billion
during the first six months of 1997.


********

#10
MSNBC 
http://www.msnbc.com
The dangers of denial in Russia
Amnesia, not nukes, is real threat in Russia
COMMENTARY
By Michael Moran
Michael Moran is MSNBC's International editor.

YEKATERINBURG, Russia — On a huge stone on Glavny Prospect, the main
boulevard in front of the Urals State University here, stands the
gargantuan statue of Yakov Sverdlov, his face a scowl, his arm outstretched
and his index finger pointing — appropriately it seems to me — to something
beneath us all.
THE STATUE IS ASTOUNDING not only in its giganticist vulgarity but for
its very survival at the heart of Russia's third largest city, a city that
bore his name from the early 1920s until 1991. Indeed, the surrounding
region bears it still — Sverdlovsk, in honor of the great service he
performed for the young Soviet state July 16, 1918: the slaughter of Czar
Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their four daughters and a son.
As Russia slogs on through its first post-Soviet decade, it may be
tempting to consider the past, whether that of czars or commissars, as dead
and buried. So what if the country's Duma, the parliament, is dominated by
communists and crypto-fascists? After all, the constitution President Boris
Yeltsin rammed down their throats in 1991 allows him to virtually ignore
the legislature or to call elections for a new Parliament (but not a new
president) at any point if the Parliament really gets troublesome. 
And, as he not so subtly reminded his opponents last week after the Duma
rejected his government's 1998 budget, he is not one to be bullied. Didn't
he unleash tanks on the Parliament in 1993 and still win re-election in 1996?

IRREVERSIBLE LOGIC?
This is the prevailing logic right now among most Western diplomats
here, that "reforms are an irreversible process" and that despite the
nostalgia for some of the social benefits of Soviet days, no one really
wants to go back.
"Yes, [Communist leader Gennady] Zyuganov wins the highest poll
ratings right now," a European diplomat told me. "But his support is
centered on old people — dinosaurs who are dying off. The young Russians
want none of that."
Yet writing off modern Russia's Communists as dinosaurs misses a
very important point: Russia has never faced up to the crimes committed
during the time of the dinosaurs. The liquidation of waves of Soviet people
from 1917 through Stalin's death in 1953; the deportations of entire ethnic
groups, the torture, beatings and other abuses that ran right up to the
Soviet Union's collapse. More than 20 million deaths — not including the
world wars or the civil war — and still no reckoning, no Berlin Wall
trials, no Truth and Reconciliation commissions. Just a silent conspiracy
to forget the whole thing.

BURYING THE PAST
The fact that this goes unremarked both in Russia and elsewhere is
amazing. During Soviet times, Stalin's crimes could be swept under the
carpet (by Khrushchev in 1956) as just a kind of bad patch. But even then,
some worried about the implications.
Writing in the 1970s (and probably much earlier, as it took time to
smuggle manuscripts like "The Gulag Archipelego" out in those days),
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, asks, "Why is Germany allowed to punish its
evil-doers and Russia is not? What kind of disastrous path lies ahead of us
if we do not have the chance to purge ourselves of that putrefaction
rotting within our bodies? ... In keeping silent about evil, in burying it
so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are
implanting it, and it will rise up a thousandfold in the future."
Why has Russia refused to confront its past? Part of it, certainly,
is that many of Russia's new bosses are the same as the old bosses. Yevgeny
Primakov, the foreign minister, was a KGB favorite during Soviet times and
a patron of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Syria's Hafez Assad. Viktor
Chernomyrdin, the prime minister, helped run the old Soviet energy sector.
And most importantly, Boris Yeltsin is the former Communist party boss of
his native region, Sverdlovsk. In fact, it was his administration in 1977
(he insists on orders from Moscow) that demolished the site of the Romanov
murders.

CITY'S NAME RESTORED
Yeltsin has tried to make good by restoring the city's original
name, honoring Catherine the Great. And few now doubt his commitment to a
new, if not quite totally democratic Russia.
Yekaterinburg, like Yelsin, has moved on. Soviet authorities sealed
off this region of 5 million people and top-secret defense plants. Emerging
from that utter isolation in 1990, Yekaterinburg has become a magnet for
foreign businesses, second only to Moscow this year in its ability to win
industrial investment.
There's also a white cross now marking the site of the royal
family's murder and construction of a church and memorial are under way.
Yet through it all, Sverdlov remains standing — as do thousands of
statues of Lenin and countless busts, plaques and friezes of men and women
who presided over an ideological genocide. 
Young Russians and Germans, once bitter foes, today share a common
prickliness about the relevance of these things to them. Despite the
imperfect nature of Germany's efforts to come to term with the past, I have
some sympathy for German youths who ask when the stigma will end.
But young Russians? The tragedy is that the stigma — a cross that
must be borne — never began. For as long as villains like Sverdlov are
allowed to point the way for Russia's citizens, the world will continue to
worry that Russia will suddenly lurch down that all too familiar path. 

******

#11
Jamestown Foundation Monitor
15 October 1997

RUSSIAN ABORTION RATE FALLS. The abortion rate in Russia has fallen by
nearly a quarter since 1993, according to a new draft government report
being prepared for UNICEF. The number of abortions per 100 live births fell
from 235 in 1993 to 203 in 1997, which is still extremely high by
international standards. Only about 25 percent of Russian women use any form
of contraception, up three percent from 1993. (Russian agencies, October 13) 

RUSSIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS WORKERS PREPARE STRIKE. Workers at a nuclear weapons
assembly and dismantling plant in Zlatoust-36 -- otherwise known as
Trekhgorny -- are planning a 60-minute warning strike tomorrow to protest
the fact that they have not been paid for four months. The vice-chairman of
their union, Ivan Gradobitov, said a final decision on the walkout would be
taken this evening. (Russian agencies, October 14)

SECOND THOUGHTS ON LANDMINE BAN. Four days after President Boris Yeltsin
voiced his support for an international convention that would outlaw
anti-personnel landmines, Russian newspapers yesterday were full of
arguments as to why Russia should not make such a commitment any time soon.
Writers in Izvestia suggested that Yeltsin's announcement was "nothing more
than a fine gesture made for the benefit of Jacques Chirac," Yeltsin's host
in Strasbourg. In what was certainly an understatement, they said that his
statement had produced "a slight shock in the Defense Ministry." 

Nezavisimaya gazeta was more specific. It quoted an unnamed high-ranking
officer as saying that Yeltsin's announcement was nothing more than pure
"populism," and that it violated Russian national interests. The author
noted that Russia has a stockpile of at least 60 million mines and that it
would be very expensive to destroy them in the timeframe required by the
convention. He argued, furthermore, that both nuclear installations and long
stretches of Russia's borders -- including the administrative border with
Chechnya -- are protected by such mines and that there is no readily
available alternative. The newspaper Rossiiskaya gazeta charged, similarly,
that "the complete and immediate renunciation of such mines will seriously
impair this country's security." Its writer added that "any lieutenant knows
that anti-tank mines should always be beefed up by anti-personnel mines."
This use of anti-personnel mines to protect anti-tank mines was one of the
exceptions that the U.S. tried unsuccessfully to have included in the
convention. (Russian media, October 14)

********

#12
US CONGRESS SATISFIED WITH RUSSIA`S POSITION ON NUCLEAR
NON-PROLIFERATION
MOSCOW, OCTOBER 15 (RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT YURY
ALEKSEYEV). Members of the U.S. Congress are entirely satisfied
with the approach of the Russian party towards nuclear
non-proliferation and reduction of conventional arms, American
Congress-man Salvatore Bono said at a press conference today in
Moscow. This was his answer to a question of a RIA NOVOSTI
correspondent on the reaction of the U.S. Congress to the
explanations of the Russian party related to assertions spread
by mass media and stating that the Russian experts allegedly
participate in creation of rockets in Iraq.
"After the trip to Russia it has become quite clear for me
that Russia, as well as the United States, strives for peace. My
main conclusion is that it is necessary to break the stereotypes
of former relations," he said.
In the course of his visit to Moscow Salvatore Bono met
with representatives of the Russian government, State Duma,
scientific-technical and military circles. He made a conclusion
that contacts between Russian and American delegations at
different levels must be regular but not spontaneous ones. 

********

#13
Introductory remarks from
Press Conference with Bill Gates
President of Microsoft
Moscow 
October 10, 1997

Good afternoon. It's a great pleasure to be here. I was very much
looking forward to this visit. This is a very dynamic market, where we're
seeing an incredible increase in the use of information technology and a
lot of companies starting with a clean sheet of paper to build modern
systems. 
I'm a big believer that the thing changing the world the most today is
technology, and it's going to make the world a smaller place. It's going to
allow people to exchange information democratically both within the country
and with people in other countries. 
One dramatic effect of this is that people with skills will be able to
offer their work to anyone around the globe. So, instead of just being able
to work for local customers, they'll be able to put their availability on
the Internet and be matched up with somebody who has a need for their
capabilities. 
So, whereas today, if you want to guess what someone's income is, the
first question you might ask is, "What country do you live in?" in the
future the key question to ask them would be, "What's your level of
education?" Because the use of skilled people around the world will be
greatly enhanced. For Russia, that means that the tradition of education
will be increasingly important in the years ahead. 
PC technology is the fastest-moving technology that there is. It's driven
by Moore's Law, which predicts exponential improvements in computer power.
Every two years, chips deliver over twice the performance without any
increase in cost. And that's not the only thing that's improving in the PC.
The graphics, the screens, the storage, the speed of the connections -- all
of these things are moving quite rapidly. 
It's because it's a very large market. Over 80 million PCs are sold
every year. And the number of companies contributing to this very open,
competitive environment is incredibly broad -- certainly companies all over
the world. 
Now, part of this industry is software development. Software development
is a huge employer, and it will employ more and more people in the years
ahead. In fact, there's a great shortage of skilled software people, and I
think for Russia there's an opportunity not only to have more jobs
developing software for use in the country, but also to be exporting both
software packages and software services. In the United States, over 600,000
people are employed in this area, and going up all the time. 
Software can be sold globally, and certainly our role here is to help
local software companies take advantage of the PC environment and the most
advanced tools. 
One thing that Microsoft talks about is making companies more
competitive by giving them a digital nervous system. What we mean is that,
instead of using paperwork and meetings and phone calls to exchange ideas
and analyze data, if you bring into this the connected personal computer
and use it the right way so all that the information is there, you can have
a company that's far more competitive. You can execute on planned events
more effectively -- sales planning, budgeting, all the typical procedures. 
Perhaps even more important is reacting to unplanned events -- a new
law, a development by a competitor, a customer who says they are unhappy.
And gathering all the data to deal with these things and getting people in
many locations to collaborate can be done best with the digital nervous
system. 
So, what does it take to build a successful nervous system? The personal
computer, productivity software like Microsoft Office, electronic mail,
business-specific applications, and the Internet. These are the elements
that need to be brought together, and a business needs to think about how
it can use this for its particular needs. 
I've mentioned the Internet. The Internet is a very exciting phenomenon.
I was pleased to see that almost a million people are now using the
Internet in Russia. I think that number will continue to grow very rapidly. 
I think 10 years from now most people will think of the Internet as a
standard tool, part of their everyday life -- for getting news, for sending
messages, for planning a trip, for planning a purchase. The Web fits in to
all sorts of normal activities. 
Now, Microsoft has been here in Russia for over eight years, and we've
been growing our activities, doing more localized software, and working
with the developers here in this market. We've formed a close relationship
with the PC manufacturers here in Russia, and we've been very pleased to
see their growth and success. We've also worked with the software
community, and we expect to see the same kind of growth and success there
as well. 
The approach is really driven by partnerships. Microsoft focuses on what
we do well, and we allow the partners to come in and provide the training
and integration in order to create a total solution. 
Microsoft is a very forward-looking company. We're investing now over $2
billion a year in research and development, and this is to improve our key
products -- Windows, Office, and Back Office. And so, in the years ahead,
the cost of managing these products will be decreasing, the power of the
products to connect to the Internet will be improving, and the business
benefit of putting them together in a digital nervous system will be
stronger and stronger -- not only for large businesses, but also for small
businesses as well. 
We even expect computers to be able to listen to speech, to synthesize
speech, and to work with us in a very natural way. And so we're very
optimistic about where PCs and software technology are going and, in
particular, the incredible uses people will make of this here in Russia. 

********

#14
Strong Kremlin Team Runs Country Despite Leaders' Absence 

Rossiyskiye Vesti
October 10, 1997
[translation for personal use only]
Unattributed article: "Kremlin Runs Country Even When President
and Premier Are Abroad and Many Cabinet Members Are on Assignments
in Russian Regions"

Russia's top leaders are now working at a very intensive pace, which
they are setting for all executive branch structures. On Wednesday [8
October] Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin, by his will, conviction, and force of
his arguments, spiced with his customary humor, survived a very difficult
duel with the Duma, winning a psychological and moral victory.
But he could not rest on his victor's laurels because on the same day
the premier set off on a visit to Kyrgyzstan, where he had a meeting with
President Askar Akayev and participated in a conference of CIS heads of
state, at which he advocated the need to adopt a decision on the creation
of transnational financial-industrial groups to implement large-scale
economic projects in real priority areas such as, for example, aircraft
manufacturing. It was no less difficult for him to convince his fellow
leaders of CIS governments of the advisability of taking this step than it
was to convince our deputies to adopt the budget.
Attention must be drawn to the fact that the head of government is
abroad on the very same day that the budget is being discussed in the State
Duma. In our view this indicates the strength of the new government team,
which besides the "captain" has other acknowledged "key players" such as
First Vice Premier Anatoliy Chubays and Vice Premier Yakov Urinson. They
will "keep the defense tight" in the Duma and if necessary mount an attack,
defending the government's positions and the state's interests. The
government's unity and strength is indicated by the fact that it is working
as a team not only at the center but also across a wide territorial field,
pulling together all the threads of government.
Thus, the prime minister is abroad in Bishkek, Vice Premier Valeriy
Serov is in Canada, where he is participating in a session of the
intergovernmental economic commission, Vice Premier Ramazan Abdulatipov is
in the North Caucasus, Vladimir Bulgak is on a working tour of Arkhangelsk
Oblast, where he is familiarizing himself with the state of affairs at our
oldest northern ports, and Transport Minister Nikolay Tsakh is studying the
situation at Far East ports. At the same time the "heavyweights" are
absent from Moscow -- Anatoliy Kulikov, vice premier and internal affairs
minister, is in Makhachkala and Federal Security Service chief Nikolay
Kovalev is in Chisinau participating in a meeting of leaders of CIS
countries' special services.
Attention is drawn to the fact that this is taking place on the
anniversary of the well-known October events of 1993 during a period when
the opposition was predicting a "fall offensive" and at a time when
parliament is discussing a key question of the country's economic life,
differences of opinion over which could lead to a confrontation between the
executive and legislative branches. The fact that the country's leaders
and government members can afford to go on assignments at this difficult
time indicates both the strength of the new cabinet and the new state of
the economy and society. It indicates that economic and political
stability in our country is becoming a reality. That is why at this
difficult and tense time the Russian president can, despite the premier's
absence from the country, afford to go on a foreign assignment to
Strasbourg, where he will participate in a Council of Europe summit,
representing a Russia which has acquired new strengths. Nobody can raise
the question, as they did a year ago, of who is running the state from
where and who has the "nuclear button." Nobody is any longer counting how
many hours and minutes the president and premier are going to be
simultaneously absent from Moscow. The well-oiled state mechanism
continues to operate irrespective of where the president is -- in the
Kremlin, at his country residence, or on a foreign assignment. That means
that the choice that Russians made in 1996, when they voted for Yeltsin,
has proved to be the correct one. Stability in all spheres of life is being
irreversibly established in the country, and this also gives Russia
strength in the foreign arena.

********

#15
RUSSIAN AGRICULTURAL WORKERS SHARPLY CRITICIZED GOVERNMENT
AT TODAY`S PROTEST ACTION
MOSCOW, OCTOBER 15 (RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT ANDREI
MALOSOLOV). Representatives of the agricultural-industrial
complex expressed a sharp critics of the government at the
meeting held at the House of the Government in Moscow, the
2.500-strong meeting was the central event of the All-Russian
protest action of agricultural goods producers which was started
the day before and is held today in almost all regions of the
country.
As Chairman of Russia`s Agrarian Party Mikhail Lapshin
declared from an improvised rostrum, "today`s action is a vivid
assessment of the government`s activity, a response to the
genocide of the domestic village." According to Lapshin,
recession of the agricultural production has reached critical
scales and threatens the national agriculture with a
catastrophe. He demanded to annul the law on purchase and sale
of land, to entirely clear off debts on wage to residents of the
village for this year, their sum exceeding 6 trillion rubles,
and to foresee allocation of not less than 10 percent of the
budget`s expenditure part for 1998.
Demonstrators also demanded to re-consider the tax policy,
privileged crediting for agricultural producers, it`s worth
noting that collective farmers and farmers voiced common
slogans.
However, the addresses on economic subjects have literally
drowned in the chorus of anti-governmental speeches. An address
of leader of the Labor Russia movement Viktor Anpilov has become
the apotheosis of this meeting at which communist flags were
fluttering together with the red-green flags of the Agrarian
party. Anpilov has not only voiced an ardent speech but even
sand a patriotic song with a bayan-player and chorus of women
dressed in national costumes.
As trade union leader of the agricultural workers Alexander
Davydov reported to a RIA NOVOSTI correspondent, in line with
the preliminary data, about eight to ten million people have
participated in the All-Russian meetings of Russian peasants.

*******