Moscow Times
January 20, 2006
4 Seen as Critical Voices in Chamber
By Anatoly Medetsky
Staff Writer
Only four of the Public Chamber's 126 members are independent of the Kremlin, analysts from two major think tanks said as the chamber heads for its first full session on Sunday.
The session will take place in the Kremlin, and President Vladimir Putin will make a speech, said Tatyana Piskaryova, the chamber spokeswoman.
Putin proposed setting up the Public Chamber as a bridge between the state and civil society after the Beslan school attack in 2004. Critics say the chamber will be toothless. It can issue nonbinding advice to the government on domestic policy and legislation and request investigations into suspected wrongdoing.
The four chamber members who are clearly not Kremlin loyalists are lawyer Genri Reznik, pediatrician Leonid Roshal, Moskva magazine editor Leonid Borodin, and the head of the World Wildlife Fund's Moscow office, Igor Chestin, said Tatyana Stanovaya of the Center for Political Technologies and Vladimir Pribylovsky of Panorama.
The four could raise loud protests if they disagreed with the rest of the chamber, but they would not be able to influence any decisions, both said.
Reznik, the head of the Moscow City Bar Association, is the only member proposed by a human rights group, For Human Rights, while other rights organizations boycotted the chamber altogether. "Reznik can be called a democrat," Pribylovsky said.
Reznik, reached on his cell phone, said he would not hesitate to be critical. "I didn't join the Public Chamber to shout, 'I agree,'" he said. "I will use my own judgment on the issues that will be considered." He identified the chamber's priorities as civil society, judicial reform and "businesses' problems."
Reznik's clients have included self-exiled businessman Vladimir Gusinsky, German journalist Klaus-Helge Donath, who was sued by a songwriter after he criticized a song praising Putin, and Radio Liberty reporter Andrei Babitsky, whose critical reporting about Chechnya has angered authorities. Reznik criticized searches of Yukos-affiliated offices in October 2003 as illegal, and he was a member of a Boris Berezovsky-funded group that offered legal assistance to conscripts in 2001.
Roshal is well-known for his assistance to people caught in natural disasters, including in Armenia, Georgia, Egypt, Japan, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Roshal, who heads the Moscow Children's Clinical and Research Institute of Emergency Surgery and Trauma, also mediated with militants who seized hostages in the Beslan school in 2004 and in Moscow's Dubrovka theater in 2002. He was unavailable for comment this week.
Borodin, who served jail time for anti-Soviet activity, has nationalist leanings but is "decent and quite independent," Pribylovsky said.
Borodin said he joined the chamber in the hope that it would fulfill its stated mission to oversee government agencies and legislation. "What if it does work out?" he said, adding that he could "leave at any moment" if it does not.
Chestin -- who promised to focus on environmental and civil society issues -- described himself as part of the chamber's active core that would set the tone for discussions. He said he was optimistic about the chamber's independence and had been inspired by its protest of the passage of the controversial bill that will restrict nongovernmental organizations.
Putin-appointed members of the then-incomplete Public Chamber in November asked the State Duma to delay the NGO bill until the full chamber could review it in January. Chamber member Yelena Yershova, the president of the Consortium of Women's NGOs, promised that the chamber would ask Putin on Sunday why it had not been allowed to weigh in. Putin quietly signed the bill into law on Jan. 10.
The chamber also plans to elect a governing council and set up 15 or 16 committees on Sunday, said member Yelena Zelinskaya, vice president of the Media Union, a pro-Kremlin journalists' group.
Some of the senior posts could go to Kremlin-connected spin doctors Sergei Markov and Vyacheslav Nikonov, Pribylovsky said. Yevgeny Velikhov, head of the Kurchatov nuclear research institute, could become the chamber's head, Nezavisimaya Gazeta said.
Putin appointed the first 42 members in September, and that group then selected 42 members from national NGOs. The resulting 84 members chose representatives of regional NGOs to complete the chamber on Dec. 23. None of the four members who the analysts named as independent comes from the final group. Roshal and Borodin were appointed by Putin, and Reznik and Chestin were part of the second group.
Many of those in the final group are little-known regional business representatives and academics from regional state institutions. But there are some big names, including Alexander Zarubin, a board member of Viktor Vekselberg's Renova; Sergei Abramov, a partner at leading Russian-based private equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners; and sculptor Zurab Tsereteli.
Big business names in the first two groups include billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Vladimir Potanin, as well as Mavlit Bazhayev, chairman of the fuel and energy group Alliance; and Alexander Shokhin, chairman of the supervisory board of Renaissance Capital.
In all, 17 businesspeople are members, a fact that Stanovaya called troubling because they make up the largest single group. "Businesses go there not to defend public interests but to acquire a status that would add to their weight in their community," she said.
The second-largest group is 16 academics, while the third is 12 representatives of art and culture, including pop diva Alla Pugachyova.
By law, the chamber has to hold at least two sessions per year and publish an annual report on civil society. Members are to be rotated two years after the first session.
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The Public Chamber
First Group (appointed by the president)
Sergei Abakumov, head of the National Civil Committee for Interaction with Law Enforcement, Legislative and Judicial Agencies, an NGO
Damba Ayusheyev, Buddhist leader of Russia
Mavlit Bazhayev, president of the Association of Chechen Public and Cultural Groups and chairman of Alliance, a fuel and energy group
Lidia Blokhina, president of the International Public and Economic Union of Women
Galina Bogolyubova, president of the Russian Slavic Foundation
Leo Bokeria, director of the Bakulev cardiovascular surgery research center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences
Maria Bolshakova, head of the Russian Union of Military Servicemens' Families
Leonid Borodin, editor of Moskva, a literary magazine
Alexei Chadayev, politics editor of Russky Zhurnal, an online publication
Lyubov Dukhanina, director of Naslednik, a private school
Valery Fadeyev, editor of Expert magazine and director of the Public Projects Institute, the think tank that drafted the bill on the Public Chamber
Vladimir Fedosov, head of the Federation of Peace and Accord, an NGO
Ravil Gainutdin, head of the Council of Muftis of Russia
Vyacheslav Glazychev, professor at the Moscow Architecture Institute
Vladimir Govorov, head of the All-Russia Public Organization of War and Military Service Veterans
Pavel Gusev, editor of Moskovsky Komsomolets and president of the Moscow Union of Journalists
Tamara Ilina, dentist in Penza and member of Women's Dialogue, a national NGO
Alina Kabayeva, two-time gymnastics world champion and senior member of the Russian Sports Union of Youth
Alexander Kalyagin, director of the Et Cetera Theater and head of the Theater Workers' Union
Kliment, Russian Orthodox metropolitan
Anatoly Kucherena, Moscow lawyer and head of Civil Society, a national NGO
Yaroslav Kuzminov, director of the Higher School of Economics
Berl Lazar, chief rabbi of Russia
Alexander Lomakin-Rumyantsev, head of the All-Russia Association of Invalids
Lyudmila Lysenko, teacher in School No. 1 in the village of Kurskaya, Stavropol region
Marina Medvedeva, head of Green Planet, a national children's environmental group
Vyacheslav Nikonov, president of the Politika Foundation, a think tank
Alexandra Ochirova, president of the International Women's Center -- Women's Future, a charity
Irina Rodnina, three-time Olympic ice-skating champion and head of the All-Russia Volunteers Association Sportivnaya Rossia
Leonid Roshal, head of the Moscow Children's Clinical and Research Institute of Emergency Surgery and Trauma and president of the International Charity Fund for Aid to Children in Disasters and Wars
Sergei Ryakhovsky, head of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians
Eduard Sagalayev, president of the National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters
Aidan Salakhova, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts
Maria Slobodskaya, president of the Institute for Civil Society Issues, a think tank
Mikhail Shmakov, head of the Federation of Independent Unions
Alexander Shokhin, chairman of the supervisory board of Renaissance Capital, an investment bank, and president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
Valery Tishkov, director of the Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Yevgeny Velikhov, president of the Kurchatov Institute for nuclear research
Yelena Yershova, president of the Consortium of Women's NGOs
Vladimir Zakharov, head of the Center for Russian Ecological Policy
Yelena Zelinskaya, vice president of the Media Union, a journalists' organization
Oleg Zykov, head of No to Alcoholism and Drugs
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Second Group (national NGOs picked by the first group)
Alexander Afonichev, deputy head of a St. Petersburg and Leningrad region sports association
Alexander Baranov, director of a pediatric center at the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences
Sergei Borisov, president of Opora, an association of small and medium-size businesses
Igor Chestin, director of the World Wildlife Fund's Moscow office
Mikhail Fridman, billionaire president of Alfa Group
Valery Ganichev, head of the Russian Union of Writers
Elmira Glubokovskaya, co-head of the Movement of Women for National Health, a union
Yulia Gorodnicheva, student of Tula State University and activist with Nashi, the pro-Kremlin youth organization
Vladislav Grib, researcher at the Federal Prison Service's Research Institute and vice president of the Russian Union of Lawyers
Alexander Ignatenko, president of the Institute of Religion and Politics, a think tank
Kamilzhan Kalandarov, director of the Institute of Human Rights
Anatoly Karpov, former world chess champion
Sergei Katyrin, vice president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Roza Klementieva, head of the Association of Women Living in Rural Communities
Vladimir Korchagin, Russian Orthodox bishop
Alexei Kozyrev, writer and head of St. Petersburg's pardons commission
Sergei Kushnaryov, director of the Atomic Forum, a foundation to support nuclear research and industry
Dmitry Lipskerov, writer
Galina Malanicheva, head of the All-Russia Association to Protect Historical and Cultural Heritage
Sergei Markov, Kremlin-connected analyst
Andranik Migranyan, senior researcher at the Institute of CIS Countries
Gasan Mirzoyev, director of the Russian Bar Academy
Viktor Mishin, head of Krokus Bank
Vladimir Potanin, billionaire owner of Interros
Andrei Przhezdomsky, executive director of the Russian Foundation for Free Elections
Yelena Proklova, actress at the Moscow Gorky Theater
Alla Pugachyova, pop diva
Sergei Puzin, head of the Federal Bureau of Medical and Social Studies
Genri Reznik, head of the Moscow Bar Association
Oleg Rozhnov, senior member of the Russian Youth Union
Sergei Shabanov, department head at Opora, an association of small and medium-sized businesses
Karen Shakhnazarov, head of Mosfilm
Alexander Shkolnik, Channel One producer of children's programming
Anatoly Savchenko, head of a laboratory at a federal medical institution
Yelena Semerikova, head of Women's Dialogue
Anatoly Starodubets, head of the Russian Defense and Sports Organization
Pavel Sulyandziga, first vice president of the Association of Ethnic Minorities of the Far North, Siberia and Far East
Nikolai Svanidze, Rossia television anchor
Boris Titov, head of Delovaya Rossiya, a business association
Grigory Tomchin, president of the Foundation to Support Legislative Initiatives
Gennady Zaitsev, the longest-serving commander of the Federal Security Service's counterterrorism Group A, or Alfa, and current vice president of an association of FSB veterans
Alexander Zharkov, deputy head of the Freedom League
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Third Group (regional NGOs picked by the first two groups)
Sergei Abramov, partner at private equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners
Alexander Adamsky, director of the Institute of Educational Policy, a think tank
Tatyana Alexeyeva, head of the Kemerovo Chamber of Commerce
Fazu Aliyeva, editor of Zhenshchiny Rossii, or Women of Russia
Vladimir Belozyorov, head of a railroad workers' union
Vladimir Bondarenko, head of the Khabarovsk Association of Unions
Nikolai Derzhavin, executive director of Family Traditions
Yelena Dyakova, scientist with the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Urals branch
Feofan, Russian Orthodox bishop
Konstantin Frolov, director of the Blagonravov Machine Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Leonid Guselnikov, head of Yamal-Region, a regional state television and radio company
Valentina Kirillina, head of a union of Sakha women's organizations
Konstantin Kuzmin, director of the Kaliningrad Drama Theater
Sergei Lazurenko, lawyer at Yakovlev and Partners
Lidia Lebedeva, head of the Kalmykia Women's Union
Anatoly Makeyev, executive director of For the Revival of the Urals
Iskhak Mashbash, writer from the Adygeya republic
Georgy Mayer, rector of Tomsk State University
Vladimir Melnikov, head of the Tyumen research center of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian branch
Sergei Minko, head of a Jewish autonomous region organization for veterans of regional conflicts and wars
Kirill Mireisky, Russian Orthodox priest
Vladimir Moshkov, head of the Amur region branch of the Afghan War Veterans Union
Oleg Netrebsky, senior member of the Federation of Independent Unions
Yury Novikov, director of the Yaroslavl State Medical Academy
Natalia Ondar, lecturer at Tuva State University
David Pashayev, president of the State Center for Atomic Ship Building
Nikolai Peterov, painter
Amirkhan Samirkhanov, head of Bashkortostan's Union Federation
Mikhail Sholokhov, consultant to the Mikhail Sholokhov State Museum and the writer's son
Valentina Sokolova, director of the Omsk Youth Theater
Khusain Soltagereyev, head of Chechnya's Council of Unions
Alexander Titov, head of the Karelian research center of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Yury Tototto, senior member of the Association of Chukotka Ethnic Minorities
Oleg Tretyakov, editor of Delovoi Peterburg
Zurab Tsereteli, sculptor
Roza Tufetulova, member of Tatarstan's pardons commission
Valery Vasilyev, department head at a Krasnoyarsk utilities company
Nadezhda Vavilina, head of a department at the Siberian Academy of State Service
Svetlana Yaroslavova, director of the Center for the Study of Civil Initiatives
Viktor Zabolotsky, head of the Khanty-Mansiisk regional branch of the Afghan War Veterans Union
Alexander Zarubin, board member of Renova, a holding company
Tatyana Zhuravlyova, head of a department at the Nenets Institute for Staff Training
-- MT.