October 22, 1997   
This Date's Issues: 1302 • 1303 • 1304 1305 1306 1307

Johnson's Russia List
#1304
22 October 1997
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. The Electronic Telegraph (UK): Alan Philps, Yeltsin disarms 
the Communists. (DJ: I admit to surprise. Both the tone of
Yeltsin's radio talk and the subsequent conciliatory developments
are unexpected. Why is this happening? Is this a "new" Yeltsin?
Time for pundits to earn their JRL.)
2. Interfax: Abalkin: Russian Economic Situation 'Somewhat 
Improved.'
3. Reuters: Yeltsin in charge, 10 years after break with Party.
4. Moskovskaya Pravda: Possible Presidential Candidates 
Considered.
5. Sovetskaya Rossiya: Duma Committee Heads Write Clinton on NATO.
6. Interfax: Official Accuses U.S. of Hindering Entry to WTO.
7. Interfax: Poll Shows Little Support Yeltsin Proposals on Land 
Sales.
8. Interfax: Russian Minister on Land Ownership Issue.
9. Interfax: Poll Results Show Disapproval of Economics, Politics.
10. Itar-Tass: Official Views Election Rules Change Destroying 
Opposition.
11. Clifford Smith (RFE/RL): Russia: NATO Pleased With Permanent 
Military Representative.
12. TASS Carries Text of Opposition Message to Yeltsin.
13. The Times (UK): Richard Beeston, 'Gulag' to fund Solzhenitsyn 
literary prize.
14. Pravda 5: Nobody Wants to Move to a Cabin in Razliv.
15. Vecherniy Peterburg: Men Don't Care about Pension Reform Because 
They Don't Live That Long.
16. Reuters: Russia Concerned by US Military Laser Tests.
17. Reuters: Russia, China to complete border demarcation in November.]

*******

#1
The Electronic Telegraph (UK)
22 October 1997
[for personal use only]
Yeltsin disarms the Communists
By Alan Philps in Moscow 

RUSSIA'S Communist Party lifted a threat to create a "hot autumn" 
yesterday after President Yeltsin, in a rare mood of conciliation, gave 
in to some of its demands.
After talks in the Kremlin with parliamentary leaders, Mr Yeltsin 
withdrew his government's new tax code - one of the measures most hotly 
contested by the opposition - and promised extra air time on state 
television and radio for the legislature. He also promised to discuss 
his government's programme in regular "round table" talks with 
parliamentary and regional leaders as well as trade unionists. 
The Communist leader, Gennady Zyuganov, could barely believe the change 
in Mr Yeltsin. "We were met half-way on practically all matters," he 
said. The Communist Party faction in the lower house, the state Duma, 
then voted to remove a no-confidence motion which was scheduled for 
today. Without the Communists' support, any challenge to the government 
is bound to fail. 
Mr Yeltsin had opened the meeting with a stark warning. "Wednesday will 
decide whether there will be greater political stability in Russia or 
whether it will vanish, giving way to a bust-up," he said. "Neither the 
Russian people, nor you, nor we need this bust-up."
The Communists seemed overwhelmed that Mr Yeltsin had paid them the 
compliment of listening to their complaints. Hitherto he has ignored or 
humiliated them. In 1993 he sent in the tanks to show who was boss. 
Social peace was bought at what seems to be a cheap price for Mr 
Yeltsin. The Communists had to drop their most radical demands - for the 
removal of the chief reformer, Anatoly Chubais, the first deputy Prime 
Minister, and a change in the constitution to water down the president's 
near-dictatorial powers. 
Duma leaders also promised to pass the 1998 budget by the end of this 
year, which will bolster international confidence in Russia. The 
president had raised the stakes, suggesting he would dissolve the Duma 
if it voted against his government.

*******

#2
Abalkin: Russian Economic Situation 'Somewhat Improved' 

MOSCOW, Oct 17 (Interfax) -- The government has corrected its policy
over the last few months without announcing any intention to do so, said
Leonid Abalkin, director of the Economics Institute at the Russian Academy
of Sciences. It is due to this correction that the economic situation in
Russia has somewhat improved, he said.
Addressing a congress of scientists and engineers in Moscow Abalkin
said the government had taken into account the recommendations of
well-known economists, who had long suggested putting the economy under
state control. Additionally, he said, the government has increased state
regulation of prices and tariffs, stiffened control over imports, and
softened fiscal policy.
With cash and non-cash money emission under way, the money supply has
increased by 31.8% over the last six months and, as a result, the pace of
inflation on consumer goods over the same period amounted to 8.6%, Abalkin
said.
"While this cannot be called a solution to all problems, the
improvement is obvious," the economist said.
Certain myths are ingrained in society's conscience, he said, and one
of them is the myth of a forever impoverished Russia. In fact, Abalkin
said, "Russia is far from being a poor nation."
217 trillion rubles worth of foreign currencies was purchased by
Russia over eight months of 1997. In 1996, the gap between the purchased
and resold currency was $26 billion, plus $14 billion over the first half
of 1997.
"One thing is missing: the population's trust in the powers that be,"
Abalkin said.

******

#3
Yeltsin in charge, 10 years after break with Party
By Alastair Macdonald 

MOSCOW, Oct 21 (Reuters) - From Soviet Politburo outcast to Russian head of
state, Boris Yeltsin marked the 10th anniversary on Tuesday of his historic
gamble to break with the Soviet leadership by effortlessly parrying the
latest Communist attack on his rule. 
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, soundly beaten in a presidential election
last year, withdrew a planned no-confidence vote in the reformist Russian
government after a chat in the Kremlin and a handful of undramatic
concessions from a man who has begun to call himself as Tsar Boris the First.
Ten years earlier to the day, Yeltsin's standing could not have been more
different. For on October 21, 1987, he put a lifetime's loyalty to the
Communist party on the line at a secret meeting where he denounced a
personality cult growing up around then president Mikhail Gorbachev and
resigned his posts. 
The immediate result then was a strident dressing-down from Gorbachev in
front of the party's Central Committee and banishment from the upper echelons
of the party, where Yeltsin, as Moscow city boss, had been a junior member of
the Politburo. 
But it was a fall from grace that ironically provided the springboard for one
of history's most spectacular political ascents. It gave Yeltsin, the
time-served communist, the credentials to take over leadership of Russia's
embryonic democratic movement. 
Ten years and the collapse of Soviet communism later, Yeltsin sits supreme in
the Kremlin and Russians, many of whom had scarcely heard of him in 1987,
find it hard to imagine how the nation will fare when, or if, he retires in
the year 2000. 
The 1993 constitution, introduced after he used tanks to shell the Soviet-era
legislature into submission, has given him vast powers that have rendered the
Communists' relative strength in parliament of only limited use in countering
the government. 
In October, 1987, Yeltsin, then 56, spoiled the party's preparations for the
70th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution on November 7 by denouncing
Gorbachev's ``perestroika'' reforms for failing to tackle the privileges of
the party elite. 
This October, a grandfatherly Yeltsin who has not lost the common touch that
won Russia's first free election in June 1991, said most Russians would just
enjoy a holiday while the remnant communists demonstrated on the revolution's
80th anniversary. 
Autumn, he said last week, was now a time to ``salt cabbage, make pickles,
seal our windows and buy winter clothes.'' 
Ten years ago, at the fateful plenary meeting of the Central Committee, it
was a combative Yeltsin who took the floor after hearing Gorbachev report on
plans for the 70th anniversary. 
``We need to reform the party committees and the party as a whole,'' Yeltsin
said. ``We need to criticise each other openly, face to face. We must not get
carried away by eulogies.'' 
``I am asking you to relieve me of my duties,'' he concluded. 
In his memoirs, he admitted he scarcely dared step forward: ``Within me, a
battle was going on. To speak or not to speak?...I understood perfectly what
was going to come down on me in just a few minutes, how much dirt would be
thrown at me, how many unfair accusations I would have to listen to, what
kind of betrayal and meanness I would have to confront so very soon.'' 
Gorbachev, the party's general secretary, reacted sharply. 
``How politically illiterate can you get? Do we have to run a crash course?''
Gorbachev retorted. ``Personally I consider this a lack of respect toward the
general secretary.'' 
Yeltsin showed even less respect four years later. After leading resistance
to a hardline communist coup against Gorbachev in August, 1991, the then
newly elected Russian President Yeltsin dissolved the Soviet Union from under
him. 
The popular daily Moskovsky Komsomolets, in an account of the 1987 meeting on
Tuesday, referred to unconfirmed reports that Yeltsin tried to take his own
life afterwards. 
``But today, B.N. (Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin) has every right to think
fondly of that move,'' the paper said. ``From that very moment, the modern
history of the country began.'' 

******

#4
Possible Presidential Candidates Considered 

Moskovskaya Pravda
October 14, 1997
[translation for personal use only]
Interview with the CPRF member Oleg Mironov and NDR member
Nikolay Travkin by Oleg Zhirnov; date and place not given: "If Not
Yeltsin Then Who?" -- first two paragraphs are introduction
Yeltsin's seemingly categorical announcement in Strasbourg that he
would not run for a new presidential term has far from closed the book on
this problem nor has it dispelled all doubts. The pattern of responses
from the current head of state and of the people around him to the leading
questions of "Will you or won't you" goes something like this: "no"
(Yeltsin to children); "maybe, it's not out of the question" (Yeltsin in
Nizhniy Novgorod); "quite probably, there are legal grounds" (the
president's press secretary S. Yastrzhembskiy); "no, I won't" (Yeltsin in
Strasbourg). Who can guarantee that the last denial will not be followed
tomorrow by another evasive "maybe"?

Moskovskaya Pravda's correspondent discussed this topic with two
prominent State Duma deputies with diametrically opposed political
orientations. The legal aspect of the situation is elucidated by a member
of the committee on legislation, chief jurist of the CPRF [Communist Party
of the Russian Federation] Oleg Mironov. The prognostic aspect is
elucidated by a highly experienced politician and former leader of Russia's
Democratic Party, Nikolay Travkin, who now belongs to the government
faction, Russia is Our Home [NDR].

Two Terms According to Two Constitutions [subhead]

[Moskovskaya Pravda] Oleg Orestovich, does B. Yeltsin have legal
grounds for participating in the 2000 presidential elections?
[O. Mironov] In my opinion, there are no legal grounds at all. I was
amazed by the interpretation of his press secretary, who remarked, by the
way, that he himself was a "lawyer." He should have known that the
Constitution cannot be interpreted by citing one of its articles out of
context. After all, there is the systemic interpretation and the
historical one...
[Moskovskaya Pravda] How can they be applied to the current
situation?
[Mironov] Let's take the Constitution currently in force. It says
that one and the same person cannot hold the post of president for more
than two terms in succession. Period. It does not say here "in accordance
with the present Constitution." After all, we cannot look at the
Constitution outside the context of the entire history of our
constitutional legislation. When Yeltsin was elected in 1991, there (in
the former RSFSR [Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic]
Constitution) it also said: He cannot be elected more than twice.
What is more, the Constitution currently in force reads in its
transitional clauses: "the RF president, elected in accordance with the
Russian Federation-Russia Constitution (that is, the old one), exercises
his powers until the expiration of that term for which he was elected from
the day of the present Constitution's coming into force." Yeltsin was
first elected under the 1978 Constitution, but the newly adopted
Constitution confirmed his authority as president. It is as if the new
Constitution also confirmed the first term of his presidential authority.
[Moskovskaya Pravda] This must be not only a legal problem but a
moral one as well?
[Mironov] At one time he said "no," "I will not run." Then under
pressure from the people around him the president's position changed: Now
it is "I will," now "I won't." It would be moral to put a legal end to it
here and state: Regardless of the desire of the people around you, you do
not have the right to run again under the legislation currently in effect.
[Moskovskaya Pravda] But only the Constitutional Court can put a
final end to this matter. While nothing is stopping Yeltsin himself from
hinting again the day after tomorrow: I will run...
[Mironov] The Constitutional Court situation is not so simple. After
all, it can examine only normative acts. But the ruling of the Federation
Council, which schedules the presidential elections, is not a normative
act. It is an actfor the application of a legal norm. The norm itself is
contained in the Constitution.
Therefore the Constitutional Court might simply not take on an
examination of this question. Besides, there is no clause in the law on
the Constitutional Court stating that it can examine a case on its own
initiative.
[Moskovskaya Pravda] A group of deputies has the right to appeal to
the Constitutional Court...
[Mironov] Yes, for an interpretation of the Constitution. I proposed
this to my colleagues. But they answered me: We have the kind of
Constitutional Court which will most certainly give the interpretation
which the president needs...

The "Young People" Will Have to Wait [subhead]

[Moskovskaya Pravda] Nikolay Ilyich, how did you take B.Yeltsin's
announcement about the future presidency?
[Travkin] I consider his refusal to run a final and proper decision. 
The voters will not understand anything else. There is no chance for
Yeltsin to become president a third time. It would be good if this second
term confirmed him in history as a constructive figure. He should
concentrate on the work of finishing this term.
[Moskovskaya Pravda] How can we understand Yastrzhembskiy's words
then, whose meaning was that Yeltsin has legal grounds to lay claim to a
new term?
[Travkin] The vital interest of the people currently surrounding the
president is that he never leave the post at all. The fate of the people
around the president and his proteges in the government in the light of the
2000 elections is fairly hazy. No matter how you cut it, it is unlikely
that any one of the realistic candidates capable of fighting for the
presidential seat will keep these people around if he wins.
[Moskovskaya Pravda] Who are these realistic candidates? In
Strasbourg, the president expressed his hope that a "young, energetic and
aggressive candidate" would win.
[Travkin] I don't know who he had in mind. I think that on the
current horizon there is not a single "young one," who could become
president in 2000. The generation of leaders close to 70 is retiring
today. They will be replaced by the generation close to 60, say, from
about 50 on upwards. That a whole age group should drop out to "make way
for the young" is impossible.
[Moskovskaya Pravda] Can you name any specific people from that next
generation?
[Travkin] Two people have the best chances. One is the present
premier. He will have a chance if by 2000 we feel an improvement in our
lives not on a macro level but on an everyday. On the level of the family,
of the individual. The second figure is Luzhkov. He has vast political
experience to rely on, earned in the giant megalopolis.
[Moskovskaya Pravda] His opponents assert that the regions will not
accept him.
[Travkin] That is not true. Thanks to Luzhkov, that very jealousy
which always existed in the provinces towards Moscow is is perhaps now
disappearing. He is establishing direct and close ties with the regions by
concluding mutually beneficial agreements. Moscow is becoming a serious
investor. Everyone is waiting for foreign investments. They mostly come
to Moscow. But Luzhkov, in his turn, is investing in the rest of Russia. 
Jealousy towards Moscow is cultivated only in remote regions, where the
governors themselves can do nothing and are too scared to heap blame on the
president. But in terms of the elections, they make up a negligible
minority. The principal electorate is [concentrated in] Moscow, St.
Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Ryazan, Vladimir. There
Luzhkov has a high rating.
[Moskovskaya Pravda] Because of those mutually beneficial ties?
[Travkin] Not only that. He speaks a language that workers and
ordinary people understand -- he is one of the people. True, so is
Chenomyrdin. A sensible patriotism in word and deed. There are excesses,
but even they seem normal to our still "Soviet" souls. Only Luzhkov has the
skill to form a team. He can ignore Moscow for half a year, and everything
will "run smoothly." He has never sold anyone out, unlike the current
president,who has no one left from his "inner circle" of the eighties and
nineties. There, people were scheming to get access to the president. No
one can go scheming around Luzhkov.
[Moskovskaya Pravda] Will the two candidates you named not be rivals
in the 2000 elections?
[Travkin] No. These two people share a positive quality -- they have
their feet on the ground; they sense what is happening. Their personal
"interest in the presidential seat" will be secondary in that case. They
will come to an agreement. A decision will be reached so as not to tear
the party in power apart.

*******

#5
Duma Committee Heads Write Clinton on NATO 

Sovetskaya Rossiya
October 16, 1997
[translation for personal use only]
Undated "Open Letter to U.S. President William Clinton" from
Russian State Duma Committee chairmen: "NATO Will Shatter Trust"

Esteemed Mr. President!
We Russian Federation State Duma committee chairmen share the concern
expressed in the open letter to you from opponents of NATO's expansion
among eminent representatives of U.S. sociopolitical, military, and
academic circles published in the August 1997 issue of the journal
Washington [as published].
The process of expanding the alliance eastward will indeed weaken the
entire international security system and undermine strategic stability. 
The international community's hard-won arms control process, specifically
the START-2 and START-3 Treaties and the Treaty on Conventional Armed
Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty), are being jeopardized. The North Atlantic
alliance's own security will also be diminished.
Mr. President, it is evident from the above-mentioned appeal that your
compatriots are reasonably asking questions about the aims, possible
consequences, and price of the alliance's planned eastward expansion. In
actual fact, following the Warsaw Pact's disbandment and given that it is
acknowledged at all levels in the West and in particular the United States
that Russia does not currently pose a threat to its Western neighbors (and
let us personally add that it did not pose one previously either), as far
as many of them as well as we Russians are concerned there are no
convincing grounds for the North Atlantic alliance's unfriendly plans
regarding Russia to establish what is, in effect, a cordon sanitaire around
it. In this context it is hard not to agree with the ironic comment of the
authoritative U.S. newspaper, The Los Angeles Times that "NATO is turning
into a unique defense organization which has nobody to defend."
Mr. President, when you were heading for Europe you stated in a radio
interview 4 July this year that in Madrid you intended "to erase the
artificial demarcation line drawn in Europe by Stalin after World War II." 
In actual fact you are trying to draw a new and truly artificial line,
which as a result of Russia's temporary weakness would be several hundred
kilometers nearer to our borders than the line which was fairly established
on the basis of the results of World War II, in which the Soviet Union is
well known to have played a decisive liberating role.
NATO's practical steps to "open up" the East European area and draw
CIS states into its orbit speak for themselves. Thus, the Sea Breeze-97
international naval exercises off the Crimea has a clearly pronounced
provocative character and is essentially a rehearsal for a blockade of the
Crimean coast and of collaboration between the Ukrainian Navy and U.S.,
Turkish, and Bulgarian ships while carrying out policing operations in the
Crimea.
Mr. President, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that
besides the geostrategic and military-political dimension the Sea Breeze-97
naval exercise also has an extremely substantial humanitarian element. 
Bearing in mind that the center of NATO maneuvers was Yevpatoriya -- a
unique and specially equipped children's resort of international importance
-- there are substantial grounds for accusing NATO and the other active
participants in the Sea Breeze-97 exercise of contravening the norms of
international humanitarian law, above all the 1990 Convention on the Rights
of the Child and the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons.
The decision of the NATO Council's Madrid session quite clearly shows
that the Cold War against Russia never ended. It has merely been
camouflaged by propagandistic rhetoric with the aim of misleading the world
public. Combined with the West's line of active intervention in Russia's
internal affairs and the comprehensive opposition to reintegration
processes in the CIS area, the plans to advance the North Atlantic alliance
eastward are laying the foundation for unfriendly and even confrontational
relations between Russia and NATO states in the future.
On the other hand, the consideration of the Russian Federation's
legitimate interests would facilitate the creation of an atmosphere of
mutual trust between the Russian and U.S. peoples as well as the
improvement of the situation on the European continent and of the
international situation as a whole.
[Signed] V. Ilyukhin, Security Committee. L. Rokhlin, Defense
Committee. G. Kostin, Conversion Committee. A. Lukyanov, Legislation
Committee. P. Bunich, Property and Privatization Committee. V.
Varennikov, Veterans' Affairs Committee. I. Melnikov, Education and
Science Committee. V. Zorkaltsev, Committee for Public Associations and
Religious Affairs. L. Ivanchenko, Committee for Federation Affairs. A.
Mitrofanov, Committee for Geopolitical Questions. G. Tikhonov, Committee
for the Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States. O. Finko,
Information Policy Committee. V. Gusev, Industry Committee. S.
Kalashnikov, Social Policy Committee. A. Polyakov, Self-Government
Committee.

******

#6
Official Accuses U.S. of Hindering Entry to WTO 

Moscow, Oct 17 (Interfax)--Whatever its top leaders say, the United
States has not delivered on its promises to help Russia join the World
Trade Organization, a senior official in the Russian presidential
administration told Interfax Friday.
This country has responded with explanations to WTO queries on over 40
issues, but "there is no end to the process and one feels that the United
States has to do with this," he said.
The critical remarks made Russian President Boris Yeltsin recently
were dictated, above all, by concern over Russia's economic interests, the
official said.
In particular, Moscow is worried over the unwillingness on the part of
the United States to repeal the Jackson-Vanick amendment which denies
Russia the most favored nation status or to regard Russia as a market
economy, he said.
Russia suffers moral as well as economic damages because of this, the
official said.

******

#7
Poll Shows Little Support Yeltsin Proposals on Land Sales 

Moscow, Oct 16 (Interfax) -- Pollers have said 52% of Russians are in
favor of restrictions on land trade demanded by the State Duma, the lower
house of parliament.
Only 27% support President Boris Yeltsin's demand for free sale and
purchase of land, Russia's Public Opinion foundation said in reporting a
poll which was taken September 27 in which 1,500 people were questioned.
Eleven percent know nothing about the issue and 10% are undecided,
said the report, made available to Interfax.
According to the report, 69% of the rural population and 40% of
residents of bigger cities support the Duma's stance, which also has more
following among older people.
But Yeltsin's line is backed by a minority of even those who support
today's government. Only 38% of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's
supporters share the president's attitude while 44% of them oppose it. 
First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov's followers show proportions of
36% and 45% respectively.
As for Communist Party leader Gennadiy Zyuganov's supporters, 76% of
them are against Yeltsin's position and 8% share it.

*******

#8
Russian Minister on Land Ownership Issue 

MOSCOW, Oct 16 (Interfax) -- Russia's future is largely dependent on
whether the private ownership of land by peasants is legalized in full,
enabling them to buy, sell and mortgage land, Minister Yevgeniy Yasin told
Interfax.
This would be better and easier to do now rather than in the future,
he said.
On the other hand, "the land problem, a controversial issue between
the executive and legislative branches, is now more of a political issue
not very relevant for the peasant," Yasin said.
"Land as property is valuable when it is needed as a tool to make
profit," he explained. This would call for "a proper infrastructure so
that the acquisition of whatever is needed for production and sales should
not be a headache for the peasant," Yasin says.
"As long as this infrastructure is not fully developed the peasant
does not wish to have more land and he prefers to work a small lot outside
his home rather than buy machinery and fertilizers which are in short
supply now while he has no money," he said.
"Making agriculture attractive for investments" is the priority of
today, Yasin says.
"Land is a major factor" but not many land areas can attract
investments in Russia, he said.
For this reason "one should start with creating attractive investment
projects in regions favorable for farming," Yasin said.
It is true, he agreed, that a civilized land market is needed. "The
reformers may be somewhat ahead of times, but this must be done," Yasin
said.
Of the total area of 1,709.8 million hectares as little as 221.9
million, or 13%, are farm lands.

******

#9
Poll Results Show Disapproval of Economics, Politics 

Moscow, Oct 16 (Interfax) -- Only 6% of Russian citizens approve of
the current economic and political course. Another 20% showed cautious
optimism about the current course, the Public Opinion Fund informed
Interfax Thursday [16 October].
These figures were obtained in an all-Russian poll held among 1,500
urban and rural residents September 27.
Fifty-four percent of those polled think that Russia has opted for the
wrong path, including 29% who are absolutely confident in this.
The current course is mostly supported by people whose monthly family
incomes exceed 400,000 [currency not specified] per member, who are young
and educated, who live in Moscow and St Petersburg, and who are likely to
support Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov and First Deputy Prime Minister Boris
Nemtsov in the next presidential elections.
Eighteen percent of the respondents think that the current course will
lead Russia out of crisis, and to success and prosperity. Forty percent
think that this policy will make the crisis more serious and the population
poorer, and cause trials and tremors. Thirty-three percent said that
stagnation is in store for Russia.
And yet, only one third of the respondents think that the current
course must be completely changed. Most of them (57%) favor advancement
along the chosen road.
Fifty percent of those polled are convinced that a roll-back to
communism is impossible. However 34% have a different opinion. Sixteen
percent of the respondents were undecided.

*******

#10
Official Views Election Rules Change Destroying Opposition 

Moscow, October 17 (Itar-Tass)--The change of the present rules of
elections to the State Duma and electing deputies to the Duma only from
one-seat constituencies will "utterly destroy the opposition" in Russia,
chairman of the State Duma Committee for Industry, Construction, Transport
and Energy Vladimir Gusev said.
Speaking at a press conference at the Itar-Tass news agency on Friday,
he said that those who are appointed by power structures will be elected in
one-seat constituencies. This has been patently shown by elections in the
Saratov region, Gusev said.
He believes that the rules under which deputies were elected "should
not be given up at the present stage. This will lead to the utter
destruction of the opposition. Not one candidate will be elected unless
the authorities wish so".
Under the present rules, 50 per cent of deputies are elected on party
tickets and 50 per cent from one-seat constituencies.
At the same time, Gusev who was elected to the country's supreme
legislative body more than once, believes that the subdivision of the State
Duma into party factions is "artificial". He said that the committee he
heads "works professionally, guided by state interests".
Asked about progress toward a compromise between the legislative and
the executive authorities in Russia, Gusev expressed "almost complete
confidence" that the compromise would be reached as a result of the efforts
of the trilateral conciliatory commission and would enable the State Duma
to get down to work on the coordinated draft budget for 1998.
Gusev noted that the compromise would be based above all on political,
rather than economic considerations, as the 1998 draft budget cannot be
altered much.

******

#11
Russia: NATO Pleased With Permanent Military Representative
By Clifford Smith

Brussels, 21 October 1997 (RFE/RL) - NATO-Russia military and diplomatic
links are expected to get a boost this week, during meetings at NATO
headquarters. Thursday the chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff,
Colonel-General Anatoly Kvashnin, visits NATO headquarters.
Kvashnin is the guest of General Klaus Nauman, the chairman of NATO's
Military Committee, the Alliance's highest military authority. Kvashnin will
address a special meeting of the Committee. And, he will also meet Secretary
General Javier Solana.
During his visit, Kvashnin is also expected to introduce Russia's first
permanent military representative to NATO, Lieutenant-General Viktor
Zavarzin. Zavarzin will serve as a liaison officer at NATO headquarters.
NATO officials tell our correspondent that they are very pleased with
Zavarzin's appointment. NATO officials say that without such a liason
officer, it can be difficult to get down to serious planning for the
"Partnership for Peace" program, and on such matters as planning future
peace-keeping operations, including Bosnia. 
General Zavarzin has his own peace-keeping experience. Until his recent
transfer to Moscow to help coordinate CIS military cooperation, he headed
the CIS peace-keeping mission in Tajikistan.
Until Zavarzin's name emerged, Russian media had focused on the possible
appointment of former defense minister Pavel Grachev, a key figure in the
Chechnya conflict.
NATO officials say one of their goals now is to establish a regular,
joint working group with Russia on peacekeeping. This was one of the steps
suggested by Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov during recent talks at the
United Nations with NATO ministers. Another aim is to set up a documentation
center in Moscow. 
These matters, as well as others, are expected to come up Friday, when
Russia's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin takes part in a regular meeting at the
level of ambassadors of the Permanent Joint Council, which was set up under
the basic Russia-NATO agreement (the Founding Act) signed in Paris in May. 
NATO official emphasize they are not going to set up any new, heavy
bureaucratic structure. On the contrary, they say, the new structure should
be flexible to make it more effective. 
There is no confirmation in Brussels of reports Ambassador Churkin might
soon be replaced by Sergei Kisyak as Russia's top diplomat in Brussels. But,
officials tell our correspondent that if Kisyak is named, he would be a
logical choice. Kisyak has experience as a member of the Primakov team which
negotiated the basic agreement with NATO. And, Kisyak currently heads the
Foreign Ministry's arms-control department.
Churkin has been rumored as under consideration to become Russia's new
ambassador to Canada.
The first meeting of the NATO-Russia Joint Permanent Council at the level
of foreign ministers was held at the United Nations last month. The next
ministerial-level meeting is set for December 17 in Brussels.

********

#12
TASS Carries Text of Opposition Message to Yeltsin 

Moscow, 16 October -- Here is the full text of the document received
by ITAR-TASS from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation faction
today:
"To the president of the Russian Federation, B. N. Yeltsin:
Esteemed Boris Nikolayevich!
We are extremely concerned about the situation in the country. We
consider that only goodwill and coordinated actions by all the branches of
power can extricate Russia from the crisis.
We are ready for a discussion of the broadest range of problems. In
the context of your [15 October] appeal to the deputies of the State Duma
who had tabled a motion of no confidence in the government of the Russian
Federation, we would consider it necessary first of all to clarify the
official position of the head of state on the following questions:
The prospect for signing the federal constitutional law 'On the
government of the Russian Federation,' which has been passed by both
chambers of the Federal Assembly.
The attitude towards the 'freezing' of charges for rent payments and
municipal services, at least for the next two years.
The possibility of the government making a decision on a 'parliamentary
hour' on the first and second television channels and on Radio Russia.
We consider it important to have a meeting of the 'Council of Four'
before 22 October this year and to start preparations for the 'round table'
without delay.
We are submitting a proposal for discussion as a matter of priority on
the issues of:
- land;
- repayment of wage, pension, benefit and contribution arrears;
- support for science and education;
- taxation;
- the prices of energy carriers;
- crime and the fight against corruption.
We hope to have your answer to our message by the beginning of the
plenary meeting of the State Duma, at which discussion of the issue of
evaluating the work of the government of the Russian Federation will be
continued.
The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation faction G.
A. Zyuganov
The leader of the Power to the People! group of deputies N. I. Ryzhkov
The leader of the Agrarian group of deputies N. M. Kharitonov
16 October 1997."

*********

#13
The Times (UK)
22 October 1997
[for personal use only]
'Gulag' to fund Solzhenitsyn literary prize 
FROM RICHARD BEESTON 
IN MOSCOW 

THE Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn yesterday announced the 
creation of an annual literature prize in his name to help to 
reinvigorate Russian writing and culture. 
The author of some of the most acclaimed works written this century, 
said that any Russian living and writing in his homeland after the 
Revolution of 1917 would be eligible for the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 
Literary Prize worth $25,000 (£15,600). 
The move was welcomed last night by the Russian literary world, in spite 
of misgivings about the reclusive author's likely selection of 
candidates for the award, who are expected to be drawn from the ranks of 
Slavophile writers, traditionally hostile to the West. 
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian literature has suffered 
the same chaotic transition as every part of society. After years of 
being fed a strict diet of Russian classics and communist-approved 
writers, readers have devoured the Western thrillers and romantic novels 
they were so long denied. 
Mr Solzhenitsyn has been critical of modern Russian society since his 
return home more than three years ago, after spending 20 years in exile 
in the West. He has lamented the demise of Russian traditions and railed 
against the invasion of modern Western culture, which he once condemned 
as "liquid manure". 
In a recent address to the Russian Academy of Science, the author of 
Cancer Ward and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich attacked 
Hollywood, and in particular Walt Disney, for rewriting classic works 
and substituting happy endings for tragic ones. 
However, getting his message across has been difficult. Books by the 
79-year-old author are hard to find in Russian shops. Few people read 
the last instalment of his massive historical opus, The Red Wheel. His 
weekly television programme, which attacked nearly every aspect of 
modern Russian life, was taken off the air through lack of interest and 
many of his countrymen have dismissed his opinions as those of a cranky 
old man. 
The prize, therefore, should be a good way of drawing attention to his 
views while promoting the people whose ideals he supports. 
Natalya Solzhenitsyn, the author's wife, said in an interview in 
yesterday's Knizhnoe Obozrenie (Literary Review) that the idea of the 
prize first came to him after he received his Nobel award in 1974. 
The first winner will be announced in March after selection by a 
six-person jury, including experts on Pushkin and Dostoevsky as well as 
Mr Solzhenitsyn and his wife. Money for the prize will be drawn from the 
Solzhenitsyn Fund, which is supported by proceeds from his most famous 
work, The Gulag Archipelago. 
John Crowfoot, the secretary of the Russian Booker Prize, which has made 
awards for the past five years, said that any initiative that encouraged 
an interest in Russian literature was welcome: "The Solzhenitsyn prize 
may fill a niche which has so far not been covered by other awards, 
particularly for nationalist or patriotic writers." 
Others took a more sceptical view. Gleb Uspensky, the head of Vagrius, 
one of Russia's most successful new publishing houses, predicted that 
the winner would almost certainly receive the award posthumously. "The 
problem with Solzhenitsyn is that he seems to hate just about everybody 
in the business." 

*******

#14
>From Russia Today press summaries
http://www.russiatoday.com
Pravda 5 
21 October 1997
Nobody Wants to Move to a Cabin in Razliv 
Summary
At the Communist party plenum on Saturday, which gathered to discuss the
situation between the Duma and the government, General Secretary Gennady
Zyuganov said that his party favors cooperation with the government, while
the ruling regime has based its stake on confrontation. 
Regarding the no-confidence vote in the government, which was the main
issue of the plenum, the Communists decided to link it with the "roundtable
discussion of the Great Four." 
At the plenum, hardline communist Svetlana Goryacheva called for the
formation of a shadow Cabinet. Participants also said that the problem of
party discipline is very critical. "The party is not a discussion club," the
resolution said. 
The Communist Party called on other leftist, opposition and patriotic
parties to discuss their tactics in the nearest future. They suggested that
a national political strike should become a platform to join opposition forces. 
RUSSIA TODAY Notes:
Zyuganov roundly attacked the reformist policies of the government during
the Duma session last Wednesday but then backed down from calling the
no-confidence vote, with deputies voting to postpone it for a week instead.
Afterwards, many suggested that more hardline Communist supporters at the
plenum might call into question Zyuganov's leadership. Although there were
some reports that the Communist leader came under heavy criticism at the
meeting, he emerged still in control of the party. (In the title, the cabin
in Razliv refers to the refuge of Lenin before the October revolution.)

********

#15
>From Russia Today press summaries
Vecherniy Peterburg
21 October 1997
Men Don't Care about Pension Reform Because They Don't Live That Long 
Summary
The daily asked its readers what they thought of the government's plan to
raise the retirement age. 
One pensioner, Lora, said that as usual women are losing out. Men die
earlier, she said, and most do not even reach retirement age. Women will
suffer the most from the changes because they live longer, she said. 
In the past few years the number of pensioners has increased by several
million, and this is one reason why it is difficult to pay them all on time.
Many pensioners have to work in order to survive. 
The daily said many people have called the daily, expressing concern
about what will happen to them. One 38-year-old man complained that compared
to westerners, many people in Russia are living under horrible conditions.
"We have terrible medicine, a low standard of living, and terrible working
conditions." And now they want to make our old age miserable. 
RUSSIA TODAY Notes:
According to official statistics, Russian men live an average of 59 years,
the lowest life expectancy in Europe. This is attributed to several factors,
namely heavy alcohol consumption, smoking, poor diets and stress. Russian
women, by comparison, have an average life span of 71 years. 

********

#16
Russia Concerned by US Military Laser Tests

MOSCOW, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it was worried the United
States was developing an anti-satellite laser weapon which could upset the
strategic arms balance and violate an important arms control treaty. 
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Tarasov told a news briefing that
Russia was following developments closely after the U.S. military
successfully fired a ground-based laser at one of its own air force
satellites last week. 
``We must state very definitely that such activities cause growing
concern in Moscow. Objectively, the development of laser programmes could
become a step to the creation of an anti-satellite potential,'' Tarasov said. 
``The creation of anti-satellite weapons could sharply change the
strategic situation.'' 
Tarasov's comments were the latest sign of Russian irritation with
Washington and its dominant role in global diplomacy, although the United
States remains an important partner for Moscow. 
A Pentagon spokesman said on Monday the U.S. Army's ``Miracl'' laser was
fired twice at an ageing satellite last Friday to measure the vulnerability
of American satellites to laser attack. The results were still being studied. 
Tarasov made clear Russia feared Washington was developing a weapon which
might violate the 1972 U.S.-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty which
limits the countries from deploying defences against long-range strategic
missiles. 
The treaty has long been seen, especially in Russia, as a cornerstone of
nuclear deterrence. 
``Considering the fact that the technologies to be tested were formerly
developed for the purposes of anti-missile defence, the question also arises
of how compatible such work is with progress achieved on joint measures to
ensure compliance with the ABM treaty,'' Tarasov said. 
He said Moscow would have to take into account any U.S. moves to create
anti-satellite systems in future decisions on security matters. 
``We would like to hope that the United States would also take into
account all the consequences,'' he said. 

********


#17
Russia, China to complete border demarcation in November

MOSCOW, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Moscow and Beijing plan formally to complete the
demarcation of their 4,300-km (2,580-mile) long border during Russian
President Boris Yeltsin's visit to China next month, a foreign ministry
spokesman said on Tuesday. 
Itar-Tass news agency quoted spokesman Grigory Karasin as saying a
statement on full and final demarcation was in the works ahead of the
official visit planned for early November. 
The exact date of Yeltsin's visit has not been officially announced but
Kremlin officials say it is planned for November 9-11. No details of the
trip have been disclosed so far. 
``For the first time in the history of our relations the two countries
will have a precise border document,'' Karasin said. 
Most of the long frontier, the scene of armed clashes at the height of
rivalry between the two communist giants in the late 1960s, has been agreed
and mapped during negotiations which started in 1992. 
But questions have remained until now over two tiny strips of land in the
eastern part of the border area which some Russian regional leaders believed
had been surrendered to China at the expense of Russia's national security. 
Russian and Chinese officials have shrugged off the protests, saying the
deal was fair and safe for both countries. 
Moscow and Beijing, which formed a strong political and military bloc in
1950s, started improving their relations in the late 1980s after years of
hostility. They have said they are looking for a ``strategic partnership''
which would rule out both confrontation and forming any formal alliances. 
Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited Moscow last April after Yeltsin
visited China last year. 
During Jiang's visit, Moscow, Beijing, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan signed a treaty on troop reductions along the former
Soviet-Chinese border which stretches for more than 7,000 km (4,400 miles). 
Full details of the deal have not been made public, but it limits land
forces, short-range aviation and anti-aircraft defence deployed in the
100-km-wide (63-mile-wide) strip along the border. 
Karasin said a series of other important statements encouraging closer
political and economic ties were being prepared for Yeltsin's visit. 
Russia and China plan to bring their mutual annual trade to $20 billion
by the end of the century compared with the $8-10 billion expected in 1997. 

*******