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CDI Library > Johnson's Russia List

Johnson's Russia List
 

 

February  25, 1998  
This Date's Issues:    2078   • 20792080 

Johnson's Russia List
#2079
25 February 1998
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. Reuters: Front Line to Online--Russian Army Hits 
Internet. (http://rian.ru/mo/mo.htm)

2. Reuters: Gov't Source: Yeltsin Set to Sack 3 or 4 Ministers.
3. RIA Novosti: NEW SYSTEM OF PHYSICAL PROTECTION, REGISTRATION AND 
CONTROL OVER NUCLEAR MATERIALS PUT INTO COMMISSION 
BY UNITED INSTITUTE FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH.

4. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: IN ONE'S EARTHLY LIFE ONE MUST BE BORN, 
GET MARRIED, AND DIE.

5. Moscow Times: Natalya Shulyakovskaya, Town Torn Between Jobs, 
Factory Fumes.

6. The Independent (UK): Russia's black knight makes a global 
move. Phil Reeves in Moscow reports on Chess City - a capital 
adventurer's new Utopia.

7. VOA: Michele Kelemen, Lolita in Moscow.
8. Sonia Winter (RFE/RL): NATO: Russia Plays Key Role In 
Senate Debate.

9. RIA Novosti: MOSCOW ACCOUNTED FOR 46% OF ALL TAX REVENUE PAID 
INTO RUSSIA'S CONSOLIDATED BUDGET IN JANUARY.

10. Ekonomika i Zhizn: Alexander Chistov, FOREIGN INVESTMENT: 
REGIONAL ASPECTS.

11. Jamestown Foundation Monitor: COMMUNIST PARTY TO BACK LUZHKOV
PRESIDENTIAL BID?]


*******

#1
Front Line to Online -- Russian Army Hits Internet 
Reuters
25 February 1998

MOSCOW -- The doors of Russia's long-secretive Defense Ministry creaked
open on Wednesday when it launched its own Internet website after a battle
between old-school officers and those with an eye on the future. 
"We operate a policy of openness at the Defense Ministry," a press
service spokesman said by telephone. "We would prefer to issue our
information direct to the public rather than have it distorted." 
As the full-color home page appears on the screen, visitors see the
ministry's coat of arms, including the impressive Russian double-headed
eagle, on a mottled brown background. The page title reads: "The Armed
Forces of the Russian Federation." 
To the left there are burnished gold click-on buttons offering links to
sections on the ministry, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, his general
staff, the structure of the armed forces, careers in the military, history
and publications. 
So far the site (http://rian.ru/mo/mo.htm) is only in Russian but work
is already under way to build new pages in other languages. The first
should be ready later in the year. 
"We are trying to force the pace," the spokesman enthused. "But our
problem is we have too few people who can work with the Internet. We are
training military personnel to use it." 
He said the ministry also lacked the right equipment -- a common problem
in a vast, underfunded force already grappling with sweeping reforms, staff
cuts and low morale. 
"Wired" officers have been struggling for years to persuade more
conservative colleagues to allow the site. 
"The simple fact that this home page has appeared on the world computer
network is an extraordinary event," the daily newspaper Kommersant said.
"For five years there was a battle inside the military organization." 
"Yes, of course that's the case," the ministry spokesman said. "But the
point is that the Internet is the future. The more people get to know about
each other the better." 
An important factor that seems to have tipped the balance was the
growing list of official Russian websites, including one for President
Boris Yeltsin and his Kremlin administration. 
Those hunting for secrets on the ministry site will be disappointed.
Only non-classified material is being posted. Perhaps one day there will be
links to other countries' sites. 
"You don't happen to know whether the U.S. Defense Department has a
website?" the spokesman asked. 

*******

#2
Gov't Source: Yeltsin Set to Sack 3 or 4 Ministers 
Reuters
25 February 1998

MOSCOW -- President Boris Yeltsin will sack three or four ministers on
Thursday after the Cabinet has given an account of its performance over the
past year, a senior government source said on Tuesday night. 
"There will be three or four sackings at a ministerial level. They will
not be catastrophic, though the president might decide to go further (than
he has so far intimated)," the official told a group of reporters on
condition of anonymity. 
In his annual state-of-the-nation address last week, Yeltsin said Russia
"will have another government" if the current one failed to resolve key
tasks for the year, such as having a realistic budget and securing sound
economic growth. 
But in comments welcomed by jittery financial markets, he has also said
three key figures -- veteran Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin and his two
reformist first deputies, Anatoly Chubais and Boris Nemtsov -- would keep
their posts. 
The source, who is close to the government's liberal wing, said the
sackings would be announced after Thursday's expanded government session.
He declined to name the ministers. 
He added that the president was not expected to criticize the government
over its handling of the 1998 budget, which remains stuck in parliament
after Yeltsin demanded the insertion of amendments to take account of the
Asian financial crisis. 
Last Friday the State Duma, or lower house, failed either to accept the
amendments -- which cut government spending -- or pass its own version of
the budget. 
It is expected to consider the draft spending plans again on March 4. 
The government source said Thursday's meeting would open with some
introductory remarks by Yeltsin. Then Chernomyrdin would present his report
and after several more speeches by various ministers the president would
wrap up the meeting. 
Any reshuffle is sure to be examined closely for clues to the shifting
balance of power in Russia's political and business elite as they position
themselves for the next presidential race in the year 2000. 
Yeltsin, who is 67, has said he will not seek another term but the
establishment has yet to decide which candidate to back in his place. 
Possible contenders include Chernomyrdin, Nemtsov and Moscow Mayor Yury
Luzhkov. 

********

#3
NEW SYSTEM OF PHYSICAL PROTECTION, REGISTRATION AND 
CONTROL OVER NUCLEAR MATERIALS PUT INTO COMMISSION 
BY UNITED INSTITUTE FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH 

DUBNA (MOSCOW REGION), FEBRUARY 25, 1998 /FROM RIA
NOVOSTI'S CORRESPONDENT OLEG LEBEDEV/ -- A new system of
physical protection, registration and control over nuclear
materials was launched for a final checking in the United
institute of research in the city of Dubna near Moscow. The
system is installed in the institute within the framework of an
agreement between the federal state nuclear inspection body and
the US energy department which provides for development of
corresponding systems in a number of Russian enterprises.
The final checking of the new system "will sum up results
of one of the first stages of bilateral cooperation in the
sphere of physical protection of nuclear materials", Vladimir
Kadyshevsky, head of the institute, told reporters during the
launching ceremony. According to Frederico Pena, US Energy
Secretary, the system will "substantially reduce the danger" of
unauthorised use of nuclear materials.
The works to create the safety system in question were
carried out within the frame of 19 contracts and it took about a
year to complete them. Kenneth Shilley, a spokesman for the US
energy department, told RIA Novosti that "it includes many
Russian and a few US technologies". He also said that the
project was backed by the two sides. This system will be
operated by Russian specialists while their US colleagues will
provide them with a helping hand within the next few years.
Shilley stressed that similar technical and financial
schemes had been used before to build safety systems at three
Russian objects -- the Institute of theoretical and experimental
physics, the Karpov Institute of physical chemistry and R&D
physico-energy institute. According to him, no mishaps have been
registered with them since last December.
The United institute of nuclear research is an
international intergovernmental entity established in 1956. The
institute gives opportunities to scientists from all over the
world to carry out fundamental research in the sphere of physics
of elementary particles, nuclear physics and physics of
condensed environments. To achieve this, a unique complex of
basic installations was created in Dubna which includes research
accelerators and two reactors. However, the financial situation
of the Institute leaves much to be desired. Suffice it to say
that on February 1 all intercity phones were disconnected
because of phone payment arrears. -0- (gar/var). 

********

#4
>From RIA Novosti
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
January 14, 1998
IN ONE'S EARTHLY LIFE ONE MUST BE BORN, GET MARRIED, AND DIE
The Population of Russia will be no More than 90 Million in 2040 
if no Cardinal Measures are Taken to 
Increase the Birth Rate and Decrease the Death Rate

Scientists are seriously concerned by the substantial
decrease in the birth rate in today's Russia; this situation
is, among other reasons, caused by the fact that more than
three million young men aged 23-40 died between 1992 and 1996
(550,000 a year). They were not killed in hostilities or
natural calamities - they died as a result of various diseases
which are not at all typical of young people. Their number is
dozens of times higher than that of the young killed in action
in the course of the Afghan and the Chechen wars - those are
registered by a separate statistics.
Many of the dead left no descendants. As regards the young
men between 16 and 23 years of age, according to physicians'
estimates, one-third of them suffer from different chronic
diseases, and their children, if any, will hardly be born
healthy. If the situation does not change for the better, only
54 percent of today's 16-year-old boys will live to reach the
retirement age.
Even though, according to the demographers, the landslide
decline of the population stopped in 1995, for the first time
in the past few years, the statistical data is still far from
encouraging. The birth rate fell by 23.2 percent between 1991
and 1995, while the death rate grew by 31.6 percent, which
resulted in the average life expectancy declining by 4 years to
equal 65 years.
Since 1992, the death rate has exceeded the birth rate by
one million people. The death rate level in Russia is now
higher than that in all the countries of Europe, America and
Asia (except Afghanistan and Cambodia), and even higher than in
many African countries. This data was released by the
Presidential Commission for Women, Families and Demography.
Experts believe that if no cardinal measures are taken to
increase the birth rate and decrease the death rate, the
Russian population will decrease by half by 2040 and will equal
80-90 million people. In addition, this kind of reduction in
the able-bodied population will directly affect the country's
national security.
About three million abortions are annually performed in
Russia. Two pregnancies out of three are interrupted this way,
which puts Russia the last-but-one on this "black list" (the
situation is worse only in Romania). Every 15th Russian family
cannot have children today because of female or male
infertility. The reasons why many men and women cannot or
choose not to have children are easy to discern; however,
people still get married, even though not so often, and still
live together, even though not so happily as before.
No lines now wait at the doors of the Wedding Palaces and
local registry offices. Even in the late 80s, in order to file
an application for getting married in a palace, one had to
arrive there literally before dawn and sign up on the
improvised waiting list, launched by somebody else just as
willing to get married. After the application was filed, the
couple had to wait three months (or one-two months, if they
chose a local registry office).
The number of registered marriages nowadays is on a steady
decline in Russia; the number of divorces, too, has become
lower compared to the previous few years. Nevertheless, the
marriage-divorce ratio is still 1000/807. The situation is
paradoxical in the Chukchi area, the Khabarovsk territory, and
in the Magadan and Kaluga regions: people divorce more often
than get married there.
Surveys have revealed another characteristic feature of
modern families. Brides and grooms less frequently come to the
registry offices, but choose the so-called "civil marriage" -
cohabitation without being officially married. Experts believe
it to be the consequence of family modernization: the free
matrimonial choice, the various family models and a somewhat
casual attitude to divorce. The average age of women getting
married for the first time is 22, of men, 25, but statistics
show that young couples constitute only 17 percent of the
overall number, and the newly-weds hardly live together longer
than three years. People married for 5 to 20 years account for
the lion's share of divorces; children are no longer a serious
obstacle for divorce.
One-child families still prevail. As few as 126 children
are born per 100 mothers, while their number should be at least
100 children more to ensure a complete replacement of the
current generation by a new one.
Another interesting trend among both Russian men and women
is to remain single. As of 1994, among 25-29-year-old women 142
out of 1,000 have never been married; the respective figure for
45-49-year-old women is 46. However, women over 55 are now
getting married more often and more successfully, which is
brought about by the improved correlation of the sexes after
1989: women whose husbands had not participated in World War II
have now reached retirement age.
Russia is now past the demographic crisis peak of
1992-1994, but is still far from out of the crisis altogether;
it will take at least several decades to overcome it. Speaking
about Moscow, this city's figures give more grounds for
optimism, which is confirmed by the interview with Olga
Vilkova, deputy head of the Moscow registry offices'
management. According to her, quite many children are born in
Moscow these days and only 40-43 percent of couples divorce.

********

#5
For more articles from The Moscow Times, check out their website at
www.moscowtimes.ru

Moscow Times
February 25, 1998 
Town Torn Between Jobs, Factory Fumes 
By Natalya Shulyakovskaya
STAFF WRITER

TRUBINO, Central Russia -- The residents of this tranquil village of 
wooden houses and dilapidated factory buildings are split in two over a 
new chemical plant in their midst. 
Their dilemma: The factory provides much-needed work for the people, 
many of whom have not been paid for three years, but some residents 
allege that the plant emits a toxic chemical which, apart from creating 
a pungent smell, can cause health problems 
For the last two years, a small group of activists has been locked in a 
bitter battle with the factory and have brought their case to Russia's 
Supreme Court. The factory though, is backed by the local administration 
and residents who work at the plant. 
Since August, a private company named Morava has been producing foam for 
furniture cushions in a part of Trubino's old silk-weaving factory, 
which it renovated at a cost of $7.5 million. 
One of two main components of the foam, toluene diisocyanate or TDI, is 
a substance that can cause asthma, allergies and irritate skin. The only 
source of drinking water in Trubino, an artesian well, is on the factory 
grounds about 50 meters from a production building. 
The factory owners argue the plant is safe and say that they have 
official government documents to prove it. 
But six local activists, led by Tatyana Pantyukova, disagree. They 
believe the foam plant is poisoning their village and say the local 
administration and environment officials have too much to gain from the 
factory to raise any objections to it. 
To date, no illnesses have been traced to the foam factory. But 
activists s ay it is early yet. The factory only carries out chemical 
processes for about 50 minutes a day and is expected to get up to full 
capacity in the second quarter of 1998. 
"They were building regardless of our concerns," one of the activists 
Nina Viskova, 62, said. "And people in Trubino are already suffocating," 
Their objections though, have won Pantyukova and her fellow campaigners 
few friends in the village. "These activists are dinosaurs who found 
themselves a hobby," says Nikolai Dushkov, director of Morava's division 
in Trubino. 
When a new piece of equipment at the factory went up in flames last 
year, the activists were accused of arson. "We were told we were at 
least 50 percent guilty," says Viskova. No one was charged. 
Among the people of the village, the degree of concern about the factory 
and the smell that emanates from it differs between those who depend on 
the factory for their livelihood, and those who do not. 
The Trubino chemical factory employs 79 people, 59 of them locals. The 
firm would not disclose its expected revenue but if they are able to 
sell all the foam at its current market price they could generate about 
$18 million in sales a year. 
There are no bad smells coming from the plant, says Lyudmila Fomina, a 
clerk making $300 a month at Morava whose house is next to the factory 
wall. Two years ago, she helped Morava collect shares from veteran 
workers in Trubino so the company could buy a stake in the old silk 
factory. 
But Fomina's neighbors Maria Zuyeva, 89, and Zinaida Karnaukh, 64, say 
on some days they cannot leave their house because of the stench. "My 
grandchildren are afraid to come and help me weed my plants in the 
backyard," said Zuyeva. 
For now, in the absence of an independent environmental inspection, 
there is deadlock over whether the foam plant really is dangerous. 
The factory management says the production is absolutely safe and 
demonstrates test results -- in January 1997, the plant passed a federal 
ecological inspection -- and powerful fire extinguishers to prove the 
point. 
In addition, in 1997, the Shchyolkovo district sanitary-epidemiological 
surveillance station conducted multiple checks on the plant and ruled it 
was not causing pollution. Morava paid the station almost 14,000 rubles 
($2,300) for tests. 
"Trust me," said Natalya Kurashova, the head physician of the 
surveillance station. "There are no dangerous substances in Trubino's 
air." 
The activists counter, however, that the authorities who gave the plant 
a clean bill of health have a vested interest. Officials at the plant 
admit that last year they flew the district's top health official to the 
Czech Republic to look at Gumatex, the company whose technology Morava 
adopted. 
Independent State Duma Deputy Nikolai Stolyarov came out to Trubino to 
study local concerns over the plant. He concluded there was no problem. 
Now one of his former aides, Vladimir Gerasimov, is a deputy director of 
the factory. Another Stolyarov aide, Vasily Anushko, by his own 
admission visits the plant "almost daily." 
On one afternoon last week, the head of local administration, Alexander 
Nazarchuk, was at the plant asking to borrow a tractor to clear snow 
from the village's roads. He clutched a letter from Morava promising to 
pay for a new artesian well. 
But in spite of all the talk of the chemical factory bringing new 
prosperity to Trubino, 25 workers of the old silk factory got their 
termination notices recently. The letters, with no letterhead or return 
address, explained the firings by the absence of work. 
"They cheated on us," said Olga Mazokhina, 60, who sold her shares to 
Morava to create opportunities for the young people. "We are trying to 
find some justice. But they are walking around with the money." 

********

#6
The Independent (UK)
25 February 1998
[for personal use only]
Russia's black knight makes a global move 
Phil Reeves in Moscow reports on Chess City - a capital adventurer's new 
Utopia 

BEHIND the electric gates, high walls and immense curtains that enclose 
the apricot-coloured mansion which serves as his Moscow residence, 
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is busy refining his latest sales pitch. 
He is building the equivalent of the Vatican, he announces with the 
cheerful air of a man imagining his own headlines rolling off the 
presses. His tiny new society will be a state-within-a-state. 
It will have its own parliament, cabinet, prime minister and chief 
executive. But the focus of this brave new world is not church but 
sport, the intellectual battle for superiority on a chequered board. The 
place will be called Chess City. 
Hard selling is a required skill for the 35-year-old Mr Ilyumzhinov as 
the obscure patch of the planet over which he rules needs all the help 
it can get. Until now "spin" referred to wool, a principal Soviet-era 
earner for the impoverished Kalmykia, one of Russia's autonomous 
republics. But its boyish-looking boss seems well-versed in its modern 
meaning. 
His job is to attract global attention, and thus investment, for a 
semi-arid triangle-shaped territory on the steppes of southern Russia 
between the Volga and the Don at the top end of the Caspian Sea. With 
only 321,000 mostly poor inhabitants (outnumbered ten to one by sheep), 
the task would deter any ordinary leader. 
However, Mr Ilyumzhinov is not ordinary. He has the determination of a 
pit bull (a popular animal in his fiefdom, where dog fights regularly 
pull a crowd), boundless ambition, a scornful disregard for ideology (he 
is both an admirer of Bill Clinton and a close friend of Saddam 
Hussein), and a tremendous flair for publicity. It was a combination of 
these characteristics that recently underlay Kal-mykia's failed efforts 
to buy Diego Maradona for its football team, Uralon. 
Chess is taken even more seriously than soccer. Mr Ilyumzhinov has 
issued a decree stating that all schoolchildren would study chess, 
according it the same status in the classroom as mathematics. He 
maintains that since then juvenile crime has plummeted. "Chess develops 
the brain, makes you industrious and diligent and able to foresee your 
next step", he says. Even issues of faith are overshadowed by the game 
in Russia's only Buddhist republic (the Kalmyks originate from central 
Mongolia). As one presidential aide put it: "No one gets anywhere . 
unless they can play chess." 
Ruthless determination is the hallmark of Mr Ilyumzhinov's curriculum 
vitae. A millionaire in his late twenties, with an import-export 
business in the last Soviet years, he won the republic's presidency in 
1993 after illegally promising $100 to every voter. When he wanted to 
dump his legislature, he paid it to dissolve itself, ushering in one 
that gave him still greater powers. Opposition opinion was stifled. 
The federal authorities in Moscow paid little attention. Why should 
they? The President was a Yeltsin loyalist, whose electorate could 
always be trusted, as one official wryly put it, to "vote accurately" 
when it came to choosing the occupant of the Kremlin. 
When stories of high-living and fleets of Rolls-Royces reached their 
ears, tax inspectors arrived to probe his income, which he declared as 
$1.1m. He invited the television cameras in, entertained them 
generously, and gave them a prize stallion. They left without a story. 
It is this street wisdom that Mr Ilyumzhinov is drawing on to pursue his 
dream of building a self-governing city as the forum for international 
chess contests. He has a missionary's zeal, being a former champion of 
the republic and president of the World Chess Federation, which, though 
there has been a split, retains its claim to be the sport's governing 
body. Last year, he hosted the world championship match between Gata 
Kamsky and Anatoly Karpov; this September, the Olympiad contest will be 
held in Kalmykia. 
Construction of Chess City has already begun. Luxury houses are 
beginning to sprout on a dusty site in south-eastern Elista, the 
republic's modest capital. The plans include three luxury hotels, an 
aquacentre, homes for 5,000 people, a chess academy and a grand central 
square. The promotional literature foresees a Utopia - a "cradle of 
highest achievements of human genius". 
The city, whilst still subject to republican and federal law, will have 
a 10-person parliament to make local laws under a "king", or mayor, and 
"queen", the prime minister. The president also wants it to be an 
economic free zone. "I want to see if it works," he says. 
The development is headed by a Russian-Serb joint venture but, in the 
end, it is the work of a man whose creed is that of most of the ruling 
elite that has occupied the ruins of the Soviet Union. "I am neither 
communist, nor democrat. I am a capitalist," he says. In Kalmykia, that 
makes this particular chess fiend a king. 

*******

#7
Voice of America
DATE=2/24/98
TITLE=RUSSIA / LOLITA
BYLINE=MICHELE KELEMEN
DATELINE=MOSCOW

INTRO: A NEW FILM BASED ON VLADIMIR NABOKOV'S CLASSIC NOVEL 
LOLITA HAS BEEN REJECTED BY U-S FILM DISTRIBUTORS. HOWEVER, 
V-O-A MOSCOW CORRESPONDENT MICHELE KELEMEN REPORTS THE MOVIE'S 
DIRECTOR, ADRIAN LYNE, IS FINDING AUDIENCES IN RUSSIA.

TEXT: TEENAGERS DRESSED UP AS LOLITA HANDED OUT CANDY AND SODA 
AT THE MOSCOW PREMIER (2/20) OF THE FILM ABOUT A EUROPEAN 
INTELLECTUAL AND HIS OBSESSION WITH A 12-YEAR-OLD AMERICAN GIRL. 

IT IS A SCENE NOT LIKELY TO BE REPEATED IN THE UNITED STATES, 
WHERE THE MOVIE IN EFFECT HAS BEEN BANNED BY DISTRIBUTORS WHO 
DESCRIBE THE SUBJECT MATTER AS INDECENT.

BUT ONE MOVIE-GOER, 25-YEAR-OLD IVAN, SUMMED UP THE VIEW OF MANY 
IN THE AUDIENCE IN MOSCOW WHEN HE PREDICTED THERE WILL BE NO 
DEBATE ABOUT MR. LYNE'S VERSION OF THE FILM.

/// IVAN ACT - RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///

HE SAYS, "I THINK THAT AS FAR AS AMERICA GOES, IT IS A VERY 
CONSERVATIVE COUNTRY AND IT TAKES UNILATERAL DECISIONS IN PUBLIC 
MATTERS, LIKE CINEMA." BUT, THE MOVIE-GOER ADDS, "RUSSIA WILL 
TREAT THE FILM DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT, BECAUSE VLADIMIR NABAKOV IS
AFTER ALL A RUSSIAN WRITER, THOUGH HE LIVED ABROAD ALL HIS LIFE. 
AND, LOLITA IS A WORK THAT IS CLOSER TO RUSSIANS THAN AMERICANS"

DIRECTOR ADRIAN LYNE SEEMED TO BE LOOKING FOR THIS TYPE OF 
REACTION WHEN HE BROUGHT HIS FILM TO MOSCOW. "LOLITA" HAS BEEN 
SITTING ON THE SHELF IN THE UNITED STATES FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS. 

MR. LYNE TOLD THE MOSCOW AUDIENCE HE MADE CHANGES, DROPPING 
INTIMATE SCENES BETWEEN LOLITA, THE YOUNG AMERICAN GIRL, AND 
HUMBERT, THE AGING INTELLECTUAL. HE EXPLAINED A NEW LAW CAME 
INTO EFFECT AS HE WAS COMPLETING WORK IN 1996 THAT MADE IT 
ILLEGAL TO HAVE ADULTS PORTRAYING MINORS ON FILM.

/// LYNE ACT ///

THIS MEANT THAT THE FOOTAGE I USED OF A BODY DOUBLE IN 
FACT I COULD NOT USE. I WAS TOLD BY A LAWYER TO TAKE 
IT OUT AND I SAT WITH THE LAWYER FOR SOME TIME. IN THE 
END I DON'T THINK IT AFFECTED THE MOVIE ENORMOUSLY. 

/// END ACT ///

STILL, THE FILM IS NOT BEING SHOWN IN THE UNITED STATES AND 
THERE HAVE BEEN PROTESTS IN EUROPE BY CRITICS WHO SAY THE MOVIE 
PROMOTES CHILD ABUSE. MR. LYNE SAYS THAT WAS NOT HIS 
INTENTION. RATHER, THE BRITISH-BORN DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO 
MAKE A FILM ABOUT HUMAN WEAKNESSES AND VULNERABILITIES.

/// LYNE ACT ///

I THINK THE NOVEL MANAGES TO BE MANY THINGS. IT MANAGES
TO BE HORRIFYING. IT MANAGES TO BE VERY, VERY FUNNY. 
AND FINALLY, AGAINST ALL ODDS, IT MANAGES TO BE A LOVE 
STORY. 

/// END ACT ///

MR. LYNE SAYS HE FELT HEARTBROKEN AT THE END OF THE NOVEL EVEN 
THOUGH THE MAIN CHARACTER HUMBERT WAS, IN HIS WORDS, A MONSTER. 
RUSSIAN MOVIE-GOERS SEEM TO AGREE THE NOVEL AND MOVIE FOCUS MORE 
ON HUMAN WEAKNESSES THAN ON CHILD ABUSE.

VLADIMIR NABOKOV'S SON, WHO LIVES IN SWITZERLAND, CAME TO MOSCOW 
FOR A RARE VISIT TO SUPPORT THE HOLLYWOOD DIRECTOR. DMITRY 
NABOKOV SAID ADRIAN LYNE'S VERSION OF LOLITA IS MORE TRUE TO THE 
NOVEL THAN WAS STANLEY KUBRICK'S 1962 VERSION MADE IN BLACK AND 
WHITE. AS DMITRY NABOKOV PUT IT, THERE IS NO BLACK AND WHITE 
IN HUMAN NATURE. 

THE NEW VERSION OF THE FILM HAS HAD MIXED REVIEWS AMONG CRITICS. 

*******

#8
NATO: Russia Plays Key Role In Senate Debate
By Sonia Winter

Washington, 25 February 1998 (RFE/RL) -- Top U.S. officials say they are
confident NATO expansion eastward will not set back U.S. relations with
Russia. 
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told a U.S. congressional
committee Tuesday that Russia is not happy about NATO enlargement but is
living with it. "I am confident that America can build a true partnership
with a new Russia," Albright said. 
Defense Secretary William Cohen, who appeared with Albright before the
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee inquiring into NATO enlargement,
said that on a visit to Moscow earlier this month, he spent more than two
hours discussing arms control with Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev
and "no one raised NATO expansion, not once." 
Questions about Russia dominated the hearing which was a key element in
the process of U.S. ratification of protocol amendments to the NATO treaty
that will allow Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to join the alliance. 
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will make a recommendation to the
full Senate which is expected to vote on ratification in mid-March. 
A senior U.S. official who did not wish to be named told reporters after
the hearing that the Senate may add its own amendments to the ratification
to limit costs and define the missions in which an enlarged NATO force
could engage. 
But the official said he is confident the necessary 67 Senate votes will
be there in March to approve expansion. "There was a very positive tone in
today's hearing," he said. 
The official said he expects a number of senators to remain undecided
until shortly before the full Senate session and then to vote for
expansion. "We are very encouraged by the debate so far," he said. 
The official also expressed confidence that ratification would proceed
smoothly in the legislatures of 13 other NATO member states. The
parliaments of Denmark and Canada have already given their approval. "We
are not aware of any problems among our other NATO allies," the official
said. 
At Tuesday's hearing, Committee Chairman, Senator Jesse Helms used the
opportunity for some critical words on Russia. 
He said U.S. policymakers must work to build trust and closer ties with
Russia but the effort cannot be all on one side. Russia must signal its
willingness to engage in a constructive relationship with the United
States, Helms said. 
He summed up the major concerns of U.S. legislators, expressing regret
that, in his words "unfortunately, Russian intimidation of its neighbors,
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by Russian companies and
the Russian government's support of Saddam Hussein are scarcely encouraging." 
Albright told the senators that the U.S. has made "significant progress"
in several key areas with Russia, including arms control and nuclear safety. 
She said the relationship is not perfect but, as she put it " it would
be a big mistake to think that every time Russia does something we don't
like, it is to punish us for bringing Hungary or Poland into NATO." 
Albright said America's disagreements with Russia over the Middle East
existed long before NATO expansion and stem from differing national
interests. 
She said she is confident Russia can succeed in becoming "a normal
democratic power" and that the U.S. and Russia can have a real partnership. 
But Albright emphasized that it would not be at the cost of NATO
expansion. "The partnership we seek cannot be purchased by denying a dozen
European countries the right to seek membership in NATO," Albright said 
She also spoke out strongly against a proposal by Senator John Warner
(R-Virginia) to mandate a three-year freeze before considering a second
round of NATO expansion, calling it "dangerous and unnecessary.". 
Albright said "a mandated pause would be heard from Tallinn in the North
to Sofia in the South as the sound of an open door slamming shut," and "a
vote of no-confidence in the reform-minded governments from the Baltics to
the Balkans." 
Defense Secretary Cohen reassured the panel on other key concerns in the
U.S. Senate regarding NATO's effectiveness and the cost of expansion. 
The Pentagon this week issued a revised report on costs, estimating the
bill for NATO enlargement would be $1.5 billion over ten years, instead of
last year's estimate which was more than four times higher. The new U.S.
estimate is similar to a NATO report on expansion costs issued in December. 
Cohen said the latest U.S. figures reflect several developments,
including the results of a detailed study on the military capabilities of
the three candidates. 
He said Czech, Polish and Hungarian forces were found to be in better
shape with modernization more advanced than expected and a sound
infrastructure already in place. But the three countries still have
deficiencies they will have to overcome and pay for themselves, Cohen said. 
He noted that each country will have to significantly reduce the size of
its armed forces and continue modernizing, especially to develop better
officer qualifications and troop training. 
Poland has to come down from 220,000 to about 180,000 troops, or the
same size as Spain's military, Cohen said. 
The Czech force is expected to number 51,000 troops and Hungary's
military to be 55,000 men strong, "These two will be comparable to
Portugal," Cohen said. 

*******

#9
MOSCOW ACCOUNTED FOR 46% OF ALL TAX REVENUE PAID 
INTO RUSSIA'S CONSOLIDATED BUDGET IN JANUARY

MOSCOW, February 25, 1998 /from RIA Novosti correspondent
Pyotr Bologov/ -- Moscow contributed 46% of the entire tax
revenue of the state treasury in January confirming the city's
status as the key donor of Russia's consolidated budget, RIA
Novosti was told by a source at Moscow Mayor's Office. According
to the source, the current figure is 50% higher than the same
figure for 1997. The source also said that the total tax
payments by Moscow into the country's consolidated budget may
exceed 40% this year. 
In addition to taxes, Moscow also pays monthly
contributions to the pension fund which is estimated by the
city's Committee for Social Protection at 1.7 trillion rubles
(in 1997 prices). Of this sum, over 700 billion rubles are
channelled into the Russian Pension Fund for payments in other
regions. -0- (nkp/var) 

******

#10
>From RIA Novosti
Ekonomika i Zhizn, No. 6
February 1998 


FOREIGN INVESTMENT: REGIONAL ASPECTS
By Alexander CHISTOV, AKDI International expert

The foreign investment now being channelled into the
Russian Federation has one specific feature - such investment
is distributed rather unevenly throughout the country's
economic districts. In examining various foreign investment
trends, we can see that the Central Region continues to assert
its leading positions in this respect. This is particularly
true of Moscow, which is Russia's largest and most important
economic, financial and political center. On the whole, the
available statistics show that Moscow accounts for nearly 60
percent of all accumulated foreign capital, with 10-15
constituent members of the Russian Federation accounting for
the remaining investments.
Russian regions continue to absorb more impressive
foreign-investment volumes (in absolute terms); nonetheless,
their share in the overall investment picture is showing a
clear tendency towards decline (See Table).

Foreign Investment in the Russian Federation
(Regional Break-Down)
------------------------------------------------------------
Economic 1995 1996 Jan.-Sept. 1997
regions mlns. % mlns. % mlns. %
dollars dollars dollars
------------------------------------------------------------
Russian 2,796.7 100.0 6,506.1 100.0 9,011.9 100.0
Federation
------------------------------------------------------------
Central 1,633.1 58.4 4,800.6 73.7 7,333.3 81.4
Region
------------------------------------------------------------
West Siberian 236.8 8.5 406.0 6.2 604.2 6.7
Region
------------------------------------------------------------
Volga Region 268.9 9.6 189.7 2.9 292.7 3.2
------------------------------------------------------------
North-Western 186.1 6.7 329.7 5.0 274.4 3.0
Region
------------------------------------------------------------
Far Eastern 191.4 6.8 359.7 5.5 159.9 1.8 
Region
------------------------------------------------------------
Urals Region 506 1.8 60.7 0.9 83.1 0.9
------------------------------------------------------------
East Siberian 22.3 0.8 14.6 0.2 75.6 0.9
Region
------------------------------------------------------------
Central Black 4.6 0.2 26.8 0.4 60.2 0.7
Soil Region
------------------------------------------------------------
North 48.8 1.7 68.1 1.0 56.6 0.6
Caucasian
Region
------------------------------------------------------------
Volga-Vyatka 63.4 2.3 143.9 2.2 37.5 0.4
Region
------------------------------------------------------------
Northern 79.1 2.8 83.9 1.2 26.5 0.3
Region
------------------------------------------------------------
Kaliningrad 11.6 0.4 22.2 0.3 7.9 0.1
Region
------------------------------------------------------------

Source: State Statistics Committee of the Russian
Federation.

And now let's try and classify the Russian economic
regions in line with the following criteria, e.g. the
efficiency of enterprises' use of foreign investment
(hereinafter referred to as EFI).
As we evaluate average production volumes (per
enterprise), we see that the Northern economic region occupies
the leading position in this context. (However, it was 11th in
terms of attracted capital, with only the Kaliningrad Region
receiving less--Ed.) Meanwhile, the Central economic Region,
which accumulated tremendous foreign-investment volumes,
occupies a befitting fifth place. This is apparently a result
of the fact that small enterprises and non-production
enterprises constitute the majority of all local EFI's.
It ought to be mentioned here that foreign investment
volumes, as well as EFI efficiency, don't tally with the
industrial-production potential of the Russian regions (except
the Central economic region). The Central Region is followed by
the Urals Region in terms of production volume. At the same
time, the Urals Region ranks 7th in terms of attracted foreign
investment, placing 9th in terms of production volume per each
EFI.
As I have already said, the Northern Region, which leads
the way in terms of "per-capita" EFI output, ranks 11th in
terms of investment volume; this area also ranks 6th in terms
of its overall industrial potential. 
Russian economic regions also differ greatly in terms of
their foreign investment patterns.
A more or less impressive portfolio investment can be
found in just three regions, i.e. the North-Western Region, the
Central Region and the Urals Region (6, 3 and 2 percent,
respectively, over the January-September 1997 period). Such
investment is either negligible or completely lacking in other
Russian areas.
At the same time, portfolio-investment volumes could
apparently increase by a sizeable margin in the future. This
can be explained by the fact that portfolio investment was seen
as the most profitable capital-export instrument on the global
market throughout the 1990s. Among other things, this was
facilitated by an active de-nationalization policy in Eastern
Europe and the former USSR. Owing to this process, the global
corporate-securities market has swelled by almost 100 percent
(from $11.1 trillion to $20.4 trillion) over the 1992-1996
period. The swelling Russian stock market is also conducive to
greater portfolio-investment expectations. In fact, the
aggregate market value of its securities soared by nearly 200
percent throughout 1997, reaching $150 billion. 
Direct and other investment is also quite diversified. For
example, the Kaliningrad Region received more than 96 percent
of all direct investment over the January-September 1997
period, with the Central Black Soil Region receiving
approximately the same amount of investment under the heading
"Other."
The volume of such investment has increased considerably
in the Central, North-Western, Urals and West Siberian economic
regions over the last 18 months. This can be attributed to the
presence of numerous non-residents who directly participate in
operations with state-backed securities there (namely, GKO's,
or short-term state-treasury notes, and OFZ's, or federal-loan
bonds). The above-mentioned non-residents are also involved in
such operations through numerous investment funds.
More substantial investment volumes under the heading
"Other" can also be explained by the fact that some constituent
members of the Russian Federation (which make up the
above-mentioned regions) have been allowed to issue Eurobonds,
a situation which many of them used successfully.
The issue of Eurobonds by Russian enterprises should also
be viewed as a new development.
The current investment process is marked by a number of
disproportions; nevertheless, such disproportions should not
conceal the fact that the Russian regions are now beginning to
display greater initiative in a bid to attract more foreign
capital.
The main instruments for doing this are as follows: 
- the elaboration of regional foreign economic and
investment cooperation programs;
- the presentation of concrete projects and their
subsequent evaluation by specialized international
information-and-consulting groups and agencies;
- the organization of specialized regional exhibitions in
other countries of the world, which are regarded as prospective
partners;
- the conclusion of joint cooperation agreements;
- the creation of specialized data banks;
- granting special privileges to investors and specific
projects.
The Russian regions, especially in European Russia, view
the German business community as one of their most promising
partners.
Furthermore, Russian regions stake heavily on US
companies. Incidentally, direct US investment on Russian
territory exceeded the $3-billion mark by early 1998.
The Samara region, for one, has made remarkable headway in
establishing contacts with US businessmen. The regional
administration has even signed cooperation agreements with some
states, e.g. Oklahoma, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Various large-scale projects in such fields as the
aircraft industry, car production, the food industry and the
agro-industrial sector are now being jointly discussed.
Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola and Corning Independent, which
manufactures fiber-optic cables, have contributed more
investment than other companies.
Such initiative has not gone unnoticed. The
Gore-Chernomyrdin headed Commission for Trade-and-Economic and
Science-and-Technological Cooperation included the Samara
region in the US-backed Regional Investment Initiative Program
during its September 1997 visiting missions to Samara.
This program already encompasses Russia's Novgorod and
Sakhalin regions and the Khabarovsk Territory.
The Samara region will be able to derive some really
significant benefits from this program, possibly receiving up
to $500 million worth of investment (US federal budget
appropriations included) by the year 2000. The regional
aerospace industry, oil refineries, housing and municipal
utilities construction and environmental protection are seen as
top-priority sectors here.
The Orenburg region is another good example. Its
administration has placed various information concerning
regional corporate investment operations inside the UNIDO
international electronic data bank and on Internet web sites.
This is being done in order to help Russian and foreign
investors alike. The relevant proposals, which were selected by
UNIDO experts, are bound to make foreign investors more
confident. All in all, 30 investment proposals to the tune of
$1.2 billion have been chosen. Such proposals are aimed at
developing local mineral deposits, ensuring cost-effective
minerals production, converting defense factories to civilian
production and boosting the efficiency of agricultural output.

********

#11
Jamestown Foundation Monitor
25 February 1998

COMMUNIST PARTY TO BACK LUZHKOV PRESIDENTIAL BID? The newspaper Russky
telegraf reports that the Russian Communist Party is thinking of backing a
non-Communist candidate in the 2000 presidential election. The newspaper
says that Communist Party strategists have no illusions about party leader
Gennady Zyuganov's lack of charisma and are well aware that, while he is
likely to emerge as one of the two front-runners in the first round, his
chances of winning the second round are nil. They have begun to float the
idea of throwing the party's support behind a non-Communist candidate. In
return, they would demand a share of cabinet seats for Communist nominees.
The maneuver would not be conducted openly, however. Zyuganov would run in
the first round, but at the very last moment he would drop out and call on
his supporters to vote for the non-Communist.

Russky telegraf says that, while the party has not yet definitely decided on
this course, it has strong support among heavyweight party leaders and will
be discussed at the next plenum of the party's Central Committee in April.
The paper claims to have been told by Communist parliamentarian Viktor
Ilyukhin that the party is already conducting "intense negotiations" with
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. Luzhkov has yet to declare himself a presidential
candidate, but he has of late stopped denying that he intends to run.
(Russky telegraf, February 21)

Russky telegraf is financed by Oneksimbank, which is close to Luzhkov's
sworn enemy, Anatoly Chubais. It could have an interest in smearing Luzhkov
as a closet Communist. But Luzhkov is a declared adherent of socialism,
saying that he parts company with the Communists in seeing socialism as an
end in itself, not a staging post to Communism. He was recently voted
Russia's most trusted politician (Kuranty, No 1, 1998) and he generates
genuine enthusiasm in his hometown, Moscow. Each week, NTV carries out a
poll to see who would be elected if presidential elections were held today.
In last week's poll, Zyuganov came first with 20 percent, followed by
Luzhkov with 11 percent. Running as a left-of-center candidate, Luzhkov
might also pick up the 8 percent of the vote presently going to Grigory
Yavlinsky. That would enable Luzhkov easily to outstrip the two other
putative contenders, Aleksandr Lebed and Boris Nemtsov, both of whom got 10
percent of the vote. (NTV, February 22)

*******

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