April 1, 1998  
This Date's Issues:    2127 •  2128

Johnson's Russia List
#2128
1 April 1998
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. Chicago Tribune: William Pfaff, SIGNS OF HOPE IN TROUBLED RUSSIA.
2. John Mage: Riga, Rumbuli, homage to the eXile.
3. Interfax: Contours Of Govt Program Become Visible - Kiriyenko.
4. Interfax: Russian Fuel And Energy Complex Key To Economic Growth -
Kiriyenko.
5. AP: Russian PM Won't Make Concessions.
6. AP: Yeltsin orders that archives on Stalin be made public.
7. Interfax: Duma Urges Yeltsin To Recall Candidate For PM. 
8. Russky Telegraf: Denis Cherkasov, KIRIYENKO COPIED CHERNOMYRDIN'S 
REPORT.
9. Jim Vailt: New Homeless Newspaper Begins.
10. Executive and Legislative Newsletter: Mikhail Gorshkov, A STEP INTO
THE FUTURE.The President Regains Political Initiative.
11. Paul Goble (RFE/RL): When Communists Win Elections.
12. Reuters: Adam Tanner, Russia's first nuclear plant nears 50.
13. AP: Russia Denies Biological Weapons.
14. Reuters: Russian cabinet who is in, who is out.
15. RFE/RL NEWSLINE: YELTSIN SAYS TIME HAS COME FOR 'NEW GENERATION,
CHUBAIS SEEN LIKELY TO WORK IN ELECTRICITY GIANT...AS SOME MEDIA SAY 
HE'S NOT FIT FOR THE JOB, and CHERNOMYRDIN NOT TO RUN FOR PARLIAMENT.]

*******

#1
Chicago Tribune
31 March 1998
[for personal use only]
SIGNS OF HOPE IN TROUBLED RUSSIA 
By William Pfaff, Los Angeles Times Syndicate. 

MOSCOW 
Before the latest of Boris Yeltsin's political coups, the dismissal last
week of his entire government, Moscow struck one as a city where peace and
quiet is now wanted by those in a position to enforce it.
The men who own the new Russia, having divided up the state's resources in
the guise of westernizing reform, prefer stability in which to consolidate and
enlarge their gains, while moving their profits elsewhere.
Politics concerns what they want, rather more than what anyone else wants,
including the unruly deputies in the Duma. Yet it seems reasonable to say that
stability suits the public too, at least the public in Moscow.
A brief visit affords only superficial judgments, but I have been struck
this time by the repaired and cleaned buildings and orderly streets, where
there are fewer beggars and homeless in the central city than in Washington,
D.C.
That is not automatically a positive sign, since the Russian homeless,
unlike the American, cannot count on the right to display their misery where
they please. However at Moscow University, where I gave three talks to
journalism students, the handsome old building is dilapidated and repairs and
paint are needed, but the students are better dressed and better groomed than
at the more politically correct American universities, and they are
intellectually alive, articulate, interested and interesting.
Moscow, I know, is unrepresentative of the rest of Russia, and salaries are
not being paid on time to millions of people, who together with those who have
no jobs at all have to scrounge desperately to survive. Industries and
infrastructure are still collapsing, The famous long-suffering patience of the
Russians is again being tested in what, in some regions, would in some other


countries be pre-revolutionary conditions.
On past visits I have left Moscow relieved to be getting out and depressed
about the state of the country. I did not feel that this time. The plutocracy
now seems firmly established, and even if the plutocrats are unsavory, theirs
is a form of government which has worked and endured in the past.
Thus the general assumption here that Yeltsin's dismissal of his cabinet
doesn't mean much politically, and could even improve matters economically.
The president has already said that some of the dismissed will be welcomed
back, and that his economic policy--"reform policy"--is to be accelerated by
the new team, when it arrives.
The new acting prime minister, Sergei Kiriyenko, is charged with paying
wage arrears and dealing with the consequences of the drop in world oil
prices. The former is crucial for the apparatus of state and the state-owned
industries, and to maintain the present government's support. The latter is of
considerable consequence to the Russian energy industry, which is an important
force in the country's new ownership.
The "New Russian" plutocracy is not a creative one, in that its members
exploit what they have taken from the state, rather than creating new wealth,
which is what those who believe in the romance of capitalism think that
plutocrats are supposed to do. But the possibility exists for good things to
grow up from below.
There are also would-be presidential candidates who are outside the
existing system, the most intriguing of them Gen. Alexander Lebed, who
continues to say unexpectedly intelligent things, and who would like to become
the Russian de Gaulle.
In any case the Russians themselves are chiefly responsible for the system
they now have. As Peter Rutland and Natasha Kogan write, in a summary of the
corruption problem published in the important Prague-based magazine,
Transitions, "both the shock therapy and voucher privatization programs . . .
which got Russia into this capitalist mess (but out of the communist mess)
were forged in-country and deviated from the `Washington consensus' on how the
economic transition should be managed."
In the absence of a legal and judiciary system adequate to deal with what
has happened, and in the social conditions thus produced, a pervasive nihilism
is also evident in Moscow, in contrast to the positive forces which exist. It
is reinforced by the existence of a large and usually exploitative foreign
trading and business community, whose members are mostly out to get their
piece of "New Russian" wealth before it's all gone.
An expatriates' guide offers star-ratings of nightclubs and restaurants on
the quality of the prostitutes available and for what it calls the flathead
factor--meaning "will you walk out alive?" (The reference is to the incidence
of crew-cut, armed, and pharmaceutically impaired young gangsters/bodyguards
likely to be encountered.) One star means "probably." Three stars is not so
good.
Russia itself will survive all this, but whether a decade hence it will
have walked out of its present condition in good health is the unanswerable
question. The flathead rating for the nation is probably between one and two


stars, "probably," but "not necessarily."

******

#2
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 23:08:02 -0500 (EST)
From: John Mage <jim3@cornell.edu> 
Subject: Riga, Rumbuli, homage to the eXile

The non-critical response to recent Latvian events by a couple of
commentators on JRL has disappointed me.
For ethnic reasons, the Latvian post-Soviet regime has deprived over one
third of the residents who were on its territory at the time of the
demolition of the USSR of the rights of citizenship. This includes many
who have lived there all their lives.
The actual mechanism of exclusion is the equivalent of the "grandfather
clause" of the white supremacist post-reconstruction U.S. South. In the
Latvian case this happens, incidentally, to exclude most of the persons
of Jewish ancestry, for if their forebears had been so unfortunate to
have been in Latvia in 1941 they would have been murdered by the Latvian
nationalists of their own generation. Some of these latter were
recently marching in Riga (in the presence of the current Defense
Minister) in a vile public celebration of the SS. Protests in Riga were
banned. So much for "human rights."
If our recent commentators would care to know something of the horror
these events caused in others, I recommend Frida Mikhelson's *I Survived
Rumbuli* (New York, 1979). She was one of the less than ten survivors of
the 30,000 Riga Jews marched to the pine woods near the Rumbuli railroad
halt, about ten kms east of Riga, in late November 1941. The murderers
were Latvian nationalist militia, many of whom later joined the SS.
A couple of years ago I visited Rumbuli. The Soviet-era memorial at the
massgrave was abandoned and littered with plastic garbage and broken
beer bottles. As a tribute to the eXile, consider these Latvian
nationalist hero SSmen returning to the pine woods near Rumbuli for the
drunken picnic that concluded their celebration, relieving themselves on
the massgrave. 
To RFE/RL - restrain yourselves; there is no reason to mock at whatever
small pretense of decency in regard to Latvia issues from such as Kohl,
Chirac, Yeltsin or Luzhkov. Instead one should note as positive that
they still feel obliged on occasion to pretend.

********

#3
Contours Of Govt Program Become Visible - Kiriyenko 

MOSCOW, April 1 (Interfax) - Contours of a new government program are
gradually becoming visible during consultations in the State Duma, Russian
acting Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko told the press in Moscow Wednesday.
"It has good chances of becoming realistic and efficient, and providing a
foundation for joint efforts," he said. 
He said he was satisfied with the consultations and with the way a
government economic program was being shaped. "We have managed to find
mutual understanding on almost all issues," he said. He noted, though, that
even the most brilliant program will not be implemented if it does not draw
joint support." 
"A government program must not only appeal to everyone, but bring good
economic results," Kiriyenko said. "Appointments to a new government should
be made with due account taken of the need to implement the proposed
program rigidly and quickly," he said. 

He categorically rejected the possibility of political bargaining in
consultations with the faction leaders. "No one will be able to entangle me
in political haggling. There can be neither haggling, no blackmail,"
Kiriyenko said. 

He flatly denied the rumors of his involvement in the activity of the
Hubbard-College religious sect. "I've expected rumors of this sort. It's
rubbish which does not deserve comment," he said. 
"This rumor might claim a prize if a competition of jokes were held," he
said. 

********

#4
Russian Fuel And Energy Complex Key To Economic Growth - Kiriyenko 

MOSCOW, April 1 (Interfax) - The fuel and energy complex is one of the most
serious components of the program for boosting Russia's economic growth
currently drafted by the new government, acting Prime Minister Sergei
Kiriyenko said opening the energy summit in Moscow today. 
"We are for an open and honest competition of foreign companies on the
Russian market, but we are also demanding the same attitude to Russia on
the world market," he said. 
He said that the energy summit is a possibility to discuss global
problems and a long-term energy policy. He also said that the Russian
government comes out for broader cooperation in developing fuel and energy
resources and energy markets. 
********

#5
Russian PM Won't Make Concessions 
By Sergei Shargorodsky
April 1, 1998

MOSCOW (AP) -- Acting Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko today ruled out
making concessions on the composition of the Cabinet to win support for his
confirmation from the hard-line Communist opposition. 
President Boris Yeltsin, who last month sacked all his top ministers,
subsequently picked Kiriyenko to head a new administration. However, the
dominant hard-liners in the State Duma, Parliament's lower house, show
little inclination to swiftly confirm the new premier. 
Communist leaders demand a roundtable meeting with Yeltsin on economic
policy, Cabinet nominations and other issues before voting on the
appointment. A confirmation debate is scheduled for Friday, but Communists
are threatening to drag out the process. 
Nevertheless, Kiriyenko insisted: ``There won't be any trading of
positions.'' 
Kiriyenko was scheduled to continue intensive talks with parliamentary
factions today, outlining his economic program to legislators ahead of
Friday's vote. On Tuesday, he met privately with Communist leader Gennady
Zyuganov. 
``Personnel issues in the government will have to be resolved not from
the point of view of the political situation or personal relationships but
from the (ministers') ability to implement the program quickly,'' Kiriyenko
told reporters. 
The Duma, meanwhile, invited Yeltsin to present Kiriyenko on Friday but
was still due to vote today on an appeal to the president to withdraw the
nomination and hold consultations with Parliament. The Communist-sponsored
resolution would not be binding even if passed. 
``It is not Kiriyenko, but a program that can pull the country out of
its predicament that one should think about,'' Zyuganov said Tuesday. ``No
group can do it alone, which is why the opposition insists on holding a

roundtable discussion to review ... the overall situation.'' 
Yeltsin does not want a protracted confirmation process. The president
said he had dismissed his Cabinet because the pace of economic reforms had
slowed and ordinary Russians were not seeing real improvement. 
The Russian constitution says the Duma must act on Yeltsin's nomination
within a week, and if it rejects the president's candidate three times,
Yeltsin would have to dismiss Parliament and call new elections. 

The Communists don't appear any more ready for a drawn-out showdown than
Yeltsin. But Parliament could turn down Yeltsin's candidate once or twice. 
The Communists want more money for social programs to help hard-pressed
Russians, but Yeltsin says the government must keep spending in check so
that free-market reforms can work. 
The 35-year-old Kiriyenko, who has a mere seven months of government
experience, is busy fending off challenges on other fronts as well. Today,
he dismissed reports about alleged ties with Scientology. 
Speaking to journalists in Moscow, he described the reports as
``stupidity'' and ``the best April Fool's joke yet,'' but offered no
further comment. 
The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported Monday that Kiriyenko
attended a one-week Scientology seminar while heading a bank three years
ago and arranged for other bank officials to attend similar seminars. 
Although Scientology is not illegal in Russia, the dominant Russian
Orthodox Church and many lawmakers oppose foreign sects and religions. 
Indications that Kiriyenko had ties to a foreign religion could hamper
his chances of being confirmed. 

********

#6
Yeltsin orders that archives on Stalin be made public
Associated press, 04/01/98 

MOSCOW - President Boris Yeltsin has ordered the release of classified
archives on Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, a spokesman said today. 
Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for almost three decades until his death
in 1953. Up to 20 million Soviet citizens are believed to have perished
under his strict regime. 
A presidential commission on clearing the names of victims of Soviet
repression had proposed that a volume of documents on Stalin be published,
spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky told reporters. The documents have been in a
closed presidential archive, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. 
Yeltsin ordered his staff to give documents related to Stalin to the
commission. 
''The presidential archive holds many materials still unknown to
society,'' Yastrzhembsky was quoted as saying. They include ''documents
from the organs of repression to the Communist Party asking for its
approval of their decisions; letters of the arrested and convicted; lists
of the repressed; transcripts of interrogations and trials (and) directors
of various commissions.'' 
He said that many of the documents contained ''resolutions and short
notes made personally by Stalin,'' ITAR-Tass said. 
The government has opened up some archives from the Soviet era, but many
documents still remain sealed. 

*******

#7
Duma Urges Yeltsin To Recall Candidate For PM 


MOSCOW, April 1 (Interfax) - The State Duma adopted a draft resolution
proposing that Russian President *Boris Yeltsin* chair a roundtable
discussion on the composition of the new Cabinet of Ministers and its
policy with attendance of members of parliament in the near future. 
For the period of the discussion, the Duma asked Yeltsin to recall his
candidacy of Sergei Kiriyenko for the post of prime minister. 
The resolution points out the need for the government to make its report
on 1997 results. 
The Duma will call on the upper parliamentary house for supporting its
proposal. 

Yeltsin introduced the candidate "without a serious discussion of the
composition of the new Cabinet with the leading political forces," the
draft resolution reads. 
The document will be fully adopted after a revision. 
Chairman of the Our Home is Russia faction Alexander Shokhin said they
supported the only clause on holding consultations between Yeltsin and
parliament. The rest of the proposals should be struck out, Shokhin said. 
Leader of the Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov said his faction, the
Popular Rule and Agrarian groups supported the entire draft. 
Yabloko party leader Vladimir Lukin said he supported the document,
adding that the consultations were not feasible. "They are good, although
pointless in our conditions," Lukin said. The resolution asks Yeltsin for
something, but "the pleading tone is humiliating for the parliament," he
said. 
Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky opposes the draft,
saying Russia is "a presidential republic and the president is in command
here," Zhirinovsky said. 
"The oligarchy wants the Duma to block the president's proposals so that
he dissolves it. Then the weakened president will remain alone," he said. 
The motion was voted in by 273 deputies, while the necessary majority is
226 votes. 

********

#8
>From RIA Novosti
Russky Telegraf
April 1, 1998
KIRIYENKO COPIED CHERNOMYRDIN'S REPORT 
By Denis CHERKASOV

Despite his daily political consultations with lawmakers,
acting premier Sergei Kiriyenko does not forget about his
official duties. As a matter of fact, their implementation only
contributes to the growth of political weight of the country's
new head of government.
Last Friday Sergei Kiriyenko sent to parliament the
Government's report "On Preliminary Results of the
Implementation of the 1997 Federal Budget", which the
legislators received yesterday. Russky Telegraf has managed to
study the report in detail.
In addition to the results of the implementation of last
year's budget, the report spells out the budget implementation
objectives for this year. One should not look for any traces of
the new government's economic programme in the report: the
document was entirely prepared in the Chernomyrdin Government
and it is tied up with the implementation of the ex-premier's
political goals.
There is no doubt that the old government's report will
serve the political interests of the new premier. This is the
reason why the only change made in the Chernomyrdin
government's report is the signature. The letter to State Duma

Speaker Gennady Seleznev is signed by Sergei Kiriyenko. As for
the report per se, it is optimistic and cheerful: it begins
with the statement that economic growth has begun in Russia.
According to the Government, GDP in 1997 rose by 0.4 per
cent. This figure looks especially impressive compared with the
similar indicator for 1996 when GDP fell by 4.9 per cent. The
federal budget deficit as percentage to GDP also declined from
3.5 per cent in 1996 to 3.2 per cent in 1997.
To reassure lawmakers the report gives the budget
performance figures for the so-called "sequestered" (reviewed)

budget: 103 per cent on revenues and 101 per cent on
expenditures, although the original budget was fulfilled 77 per
cent on revenues and 79 per cent on expenditures. The problem
is, however, that the State Duma last year did not pass a law
on budget cuts and may misunderstand the last two figures. At
the same time, they may be reassured by the fact that last year
the budget deficit was 4 per cent smaller than expected.
The report pays special attention to the state debt. This
is natural: the expenditures on the servicing of this debt was
the main item of budget spending last year--41.5 trillion
roubles were paid as interest. The Government honestly admits
in the report that "the difficulties involved in the collection
of taxes and non-tax revenues stimulated the efforts to get
back debts from countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America".
Special mention is made of the efforts made to get back debts
from Yemen, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Cuba and other "fraternal
countries". A separate paragraph is devoted to Russia's first
success with the Paris club of creditor nations and the
Government has succeeded in settling its debt relations with
Cameroon. 
Now we know from the report some figures on the
implementation of this year's budget. At present budget
performance stands at 63 per cent on revenues and 52 per cent
on revenues from first-quarter budget projections. This is even
worse than last year. The Government is now spending most on
the servicing of the state debt--24 per cent of all
expenditures in January and February. However, this is not the
only thing for which lawmakers may criticise the former
Government. The expression "financial crisis" is used in the
report only in the context of "signs of improvement of the
financial situation" and "significant decline in interest rates
on the government bonds market". In January and February
Russia's GDP continued to grow--100.7 per cent against the same
period of last year.
However, it is Kiriyenko who will have to account for the
report. Even if the government document dresses up things a
little, it sounds quite plausible, while the use of the acting
premier's name in the context of positive economic information
may evoke positive associations in deputies' minds. In
addition, the Government opens up for them ground for retreat
in a third vote. 
"Communists will have a justification when they approve
Kiriyenko in a third vote," a member of the People's Power
faction told Russky Telegraf yesterday. 


*******

#9
From: Jim_Vail@eu.bm.com
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 19:00:50 +0000
Subject: Re: New Homeless Newspaper Begins

Dear Johnson subscribers,

In case you haven't heard, we've begun a new homeless paper in Moscow. 
Already two issues have been printed and we're looking for 
sponsors/advertisers/contributors. 

New Rag Covers Life on the Street
By Bryon MacWilliams
SPECIAL TO THE MOSCOW TIMES

Her bright purple coat hangs well past her knees. Wisps of dark brown 
hair peek out from beneath a white scarf pulled tight around her oval 
face. Lida Novgazanskaya, 47, resembles an Easter egg as she toddles, 

as if nursing stubbed toes, outside the Kazansky Station in 
temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius.

In her right hand, the knuckles ruddy from the cold, she clutches 
dozens of black and white newspapers pressed against her chest as 
ballast against the wind.

She approaches a small group of workers. "Good afternoon, guys. Please 
take a look at our new newspaper, Bezdna, the profits from which help 
Moscow's homeless. Surely 60 kopecks is nothing for you when it will 
help the homeless in conditions like these," she says, gesturing 
toward the gray skies with a wavy tilt of her head.

"Get the (expletive) outta here," says one man.

"Hey, hey, Sasha. That's not necessary," says another man. "She's 
homeless, understand?"

"C'mon, get out of here, we're talking," interjects a third man, 
pushing Novgazanskaya's shoulder indelicately with the back of his 
right hand.

She takes a few steps back, looks up again to the skies, crosses 
herself two times in prayer and moves on. It is her second day trying 
to sell Bezdna, the new monthly newspaper created to draw attention to 
and help reverse the uniquely dire conditions of the homeless in 
Moscow.

A former Communist party worker, Novagazanskaya left Rostov on Don 
three weeks ago - running from a situation she refuses to discuss.

In less than two hours last Wednesday she had distributed her allotted 
50 copies of the 8-page tabloid for donations on average of 60 kopecks 
(10 cents). That's about 30 rubles, 30 percent of which was turned 
over to the distribution manager to help sustain the fledgling 
publication - and 70% of which was kept by Novagazanskaya.

The paper's title means bottom, the absolute lowest depth one can fall 
to. It also carries the subtitle, "International Philanthropic 
Newspaper for All."

The premier issue debuted Jan. 19. The title appears in English, in a 
nod to its intended universality, although the text is in Russian. It 
is published by Stary Svet, a nonprofit organization based in Moscow 
that helps drug addicts and alcoholics, and the Center for 
Humanitarian Aid, which operates a feeding program for the homeless 
and refugees.

The first run was comprised of a mere 2,000 copies, a figure that will 
likely increase by several thousand as advertising and readership 

potential are determined, said the editor, Violetta Zhmakina. "Our 
main goal is to resurrect the charitable tradition. There used to be 
that tradition in Russia, before the (communist) revolution," Zhmakina 
said. "Second, we are looking to preserve the rights of every person, 
to preserve something human - especially for the homeless ... And 
lastly, we hope to help the homeless with everyday problems."

Despite the gloomy title, the paper is light and engagin. Its design 
is varied and creative, and the pages are speckled with boxes of 
information on how to find free meals on a regular basis, alcohol and 

drug rehabilitation, medical care, shelter, work and clothing.

"It is useful because many people, especially the elderly who were 
tricked into selling their apartments and now live on the streets, 
don't have the information about how to get help," said a voluble 
reader, Vladimir Komarov, 39.

It also aims to move beyond homelessness as a dominant theme. To that 
end, the first issue features an interview with popular DJ Slava 
Finist; all issues will publish man-on-the-street interviews on 
topical questions, and essays by individuals who have overcome 
extremely difficult challenges in their lives.

The eighth, or back page, is printed in English and features excerpts 
from some of the dozens of homeless newspapers throughtout the world. 
Bezdna is the second newspaper of its kind in Russia - Na Dnye is 
published monthly in St. Petersburg.

"Right now it is a very modest newspaper. We are trying to do 
everything the least expensive way possible," Zhmakina said. "But it's 
only a question of money, and not of time. I hope that it will 
resemble a kind, Western newspaper. Not uptight, or strict - but 
something light and unaggressive because life (in Moscow) is not 
enough like that."

*********

#10
>From RIA Novosti
Executive and Legislative Newsletter, No. 13
A STEP INTO THE FUTURE
The President Regains Political Initiative
Mikhail GORSHKOV (PhD), general director, Russian 
independent institute of social and ethnic affairs

The reason for the latest personnel reshuffle in the
Cabinet is the expectation of events that Russia is in for in
the near future - eighteen months to two years from now. The
president's moves were anything but spontaneous in this
connection.
By retiring the government, Yeltsin has attained a number
of major goals that will have most serious consequences for the
development of the political process in Russia. 
To start with, Yeltsin has appreciated and even
anticipated the public sentiments. Our institute has conducted
opinion polls to indicate that public feelings began changing
sometime last fall. 
Before the fall, the majority of the population had been
content with tranquillity, stability and a lack of
transformations (lest things changed for the worst) yet began
feeling the need of social transformations in early 1998. This
goes for both social poles - the content and the malcontent

with life. 
The trend has had to be translated into political
decisions. 
Last year, the popular trust in the government was the
lowest in the past three years - only 16%. Lower ratings were
registered for the State Duma - 14%, and the political parties
- 8%. 
Secondly, Yeltsin endeavoured to consolidate power in the
runup to the elections thus ensuring the continuity of power. I
believe that the president could no longer tolerate discord in
the upper echelons, the under-carpet wrangles which weakened
the so called party of power and undermined its unity.
The new Cabinet is likely to be a team of technocrats

aiming to tackle specific economic and social tasks. Public
politics will be minimised, if not eliminated altogether, in
the new government. 
Thirdly, the president has effectively launched the first
stage of the 2000 election marathon. That Viktor Chernomyrdin
has been charged with political preparations for the upcoming
elections should not be viewed solely negatively. Of course,
the ex-premier has lost his post on the eve of the election
battles to be fought, but then he has gained room for
manoeuvre. 
As distinct from the other presidential aspirants,
Chernomyrdin is a man who has a movement behind him, who has
human and financial resources and who is backed by quite a few
managerial personnel throughout the country. What he needs is a
sound strategy and wholesome tactics, something that the April
congress of Chernomyrdin's Our Home Is Russia is expected to
devise.
Having made Sergei Kiriyenko the acting premier, Yeltsin
has retained a free hand. Society cannot visualise a single
candidate for the premiership. 
The latest probing by the institute indicates that Moscow
Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and, paradoxically, Chernomyrdin are the two
most expected candidates. They would get up to a third of the
votes each in a national referendum. 
The other candidates would stand a much smaller chance:
Yabloko's Grigory Yavlinsky, first deputy premier Boris Nemtsov
and the Communist Party's Gennady Zyuganov would get about 15%
of the votes each. 
In this light, the appointment of Kiriyenko, a dark horse,
can be viewed as the attempt to probe society's political
reactions. 
Moreover, if the Duma rejects Kiriyenko, the president can
always suggest an alternative candidate. 
To sum up, the president has regained the political
initiative which had been increasingly in the court of the
Cabinet and the Duma. The effect of the political initiative
regained and its influence on the political processes will be
felt for a long time to come - at least until Russia elects a
new president.
********

#11
Eastern Europe: Analysis From Washington -- When Communists Win Elections
By Paul Goble

Washington, 1 April 1998 (RFE/RL) -- The impressive showing of communist
party candidates in the Ukrainian and Moldovan parliamentary elections has
led some observers to make apocalyptic predictions about the future of
these countries.
The day after the Ukrainian vote, one Kyiv newspaper asked in a headline
whether the results constituted a new "red dawn." And other commentators

suggested that the vote for the communists meant a return to the past and a
reorientation toward Moscow. 
But both an examination of the actual returns in these countries and a
consideration of what has actually happened in these elections suggests
that their future is not likely to proceed in either of these directions,
let alone both.
On March 23, the communist party in Moldova received 30 percent of the
vote, far more than any other party but also far less than a majority in
the parliament.
Not surprisingly in such a situation, the party's leader Vladimir
Voronin indicated that the communist deputies would seek to form a
coalition with the country's main centrist bloc and would not demand that a
communist be named prime minister.
And while Voronin said that his party would seek to promote the economic
"rebirth" of the country, he also said that the Moldovan communists would
not oppose privatization, a key part of the reformist program.

Then on March 29, the communist party in Ukraine received approximately
one vote in four, giving it 25 percent of the 225 seats allocated by party
list, far more than any other political party in this election.
But the communists triumphed in fewer than 40 of the 225 parliamentary
seats chosen in single-member districts and thus will be forced to seek
allies among other parties if they hope to participate in the government or
determine policy outcomes.
More to the point, in both countries, there are three important reasons
to think that this increase in the vote for communist parliamentarians does
not presage a return to the past either domestically or internationally.
First, in both countries, the communists won their position in
competitive elections rather than through the use of revolutionary methods.
As such, these communist parties are far more like leftist parties in
Europe than like their Bolshevik predecessors.
They have had to make promises to voters. They have not won a majority
that would allow them to run roughshod over others. And they are forced to
seek coalitions to be effective.
Second, and again in both countries, the communists won as the result of
a protest vote by those who have suffered as a result of the social and
economic dislocations of the past decade.
As one of the more thoughtful Ukrainian newspapers put it yesterday,
"Ukraine voted in protest -- not for the Greens or other colors of the
spectrum but against the way we are living."
Pensioners and many workers there have not been paid for months. Many
people are suffering from the decline in public services. And still more
are frightened about what will happen next.
Not surprisingly, they voted for communist candidates who promised to
ease their situation. If those making promises cannot keep them any better
than those they defeated, they too will lose at the next election.
And third, the vote for the communists was not necessarily a vote for
closer ties with Moscow, let alone a return to some kind of revived Soviet
Union.
While some people in both countries may have voted communist out of a
misplaced nostalgia for the past, most voted the way they did out of

domestic considerations rather than foreign policy calculations.
And while some communist candidates did promise to improve ties with
Moscow, even they spoke out in favor of strengthening the national
governments they hoped to be elected to.
Indeed, precisely because of the legacy of the past, many of the
communists adopted campaign rhetoric as nationalist as any of the other
candidates.
To say all this is not to welcome the votes for the communists in either
Moldova or Ukraine. On the one hand, the vote for the communists represents
a repudiation at least for a time of those who have sought to promote
democracy and free markets.
And on the other, communist deputies in both countries are likely to be
able to block or at least water down further efforts toward these two goals.
But rather it is to suggest that this pattern of voting may be part of
the birth pangs of a democratic system in Moldova and Ukraine instead of
its death knell as some fear. 


********

#12
FEATURE - Russia's first nuclear plant nears 50
By Adam Tanner 

OBNINSK, Russia, April 1 (Reuters) - The physicist broke off a short
conversation at the centre of the nuclear reactor and led the visitor down a
twisting series of narrow passageways to the control room. 
``Radiation in the control room is five or six times more than on the
street,
and in the core it's a lot higher than that,'' said Anatoly Andriykin, who
works at the world's first nuclear power plant, 100 km (60 miles) south of
Moscow. 
``That's no problem for those of us who work here, but we would not want to
subject an outside visitor to that.'' 
Today as in the past, Obninsk's workers take pride in their ability to
split
atoms at the plant, unveiled by the Soviet government in 1954 as the world's
first nuclear generator of electric power. 
But critics say the time has come to retire the nuclear grandfather,
which is
similar in design to the reactor at Chernobyl, site of the world's worst
radiation disaster in 1986. 
``The plant is obviously too old to operate further on,'' said Igor
Kudrik, a
researcher at the Oslo-based Bellona environmental foundation. ``The only safe
way to handle it is to close it down.'' 

WARMING WATER 

When it first went on line, the Obninsk reactor helped Soviet scientists
research the possibility of propelling submarines with nuclear power. Military
research continued for years, although the plant also provided local power
needs. 
The small government-funded, water-cooled reactor has not produced
electricity
since 1968, but it is still used for experiments, and to warm the town's
centrally-distributed hot water supply. 
Inside, a series of covered holes under the reactor core's floor store the
spent radioactive fuel of years past. A series of new uranium rods hang on the
wall for future use. 
The potentially dangerous old fuel used to be shipped to Siberia for
reprocessing, but, as at many nuclear plants, cash shortages force officials
to keep the spent rods on site. 
A wall outside the control rooms shows the portrait of Nikolai
Dollezhal, who

helped design the reactor. He later participated in the design of the reactor
in Chernobyl, an association that does not trouble local officials. 
``Chernobyl had an accident not because it was poorly designed but
because it
was poorly operated,'' said Vyacheslav Kupriyanov, a scientist at the city's
main nuclear research centre, the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering.
``This reactor has not had a dangerous accident in almost 50 years.'' 
Kudrik disagrees. He says a series of minor emergencies have plagued the
three-storey rectangular building, topped by a tall red and white smoke stack,
since it opened. 
``They have already had a series of incidents,'' he said. ``The
probability of
these incidents just increases as it gets older.'' 
Highlighting fears over safety, Adolf Safronov, a top official at the
Federal
Monitoring Authority for Nuclear and Radiation Safety, last year called on the
government to close or upgrade Obninsk and other ageing reactors in the Moscow
region for safety reasons. 

It costs about $1 million a year to keep the small reactor going, in an
economic climate where the government is struggling to pay even nuclear
workers on time. 
``There are many less expensive ways to produce hot water than to use this
reactor,'' said U.S.-based science writer Paul Josephson, who is preparing a
history of the Soviet Union's peaceful nuclear programmes. 

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY 

Officials say they have received government authorisation to operate
until at
least 2001, and are hoping to extend the reactor's life even longer. 
``We would like to keep it in operation until its 50th anniversary in
2004,''
said Yury Stuzhnev, 58, the reactor's director who has worked here since 1957.
His aim reiterates the love of Russian officialdom for anniversary
celebrations, and the pride of a town that still calls itself ``The Atomic
City'' after being founded in secrecy for nuclear research following World War
Two. 
``The reason why they want to keep using it is that it is sort of a
symbol for
the nuclear industry...and we want to keep it for pride,'' said Kudrik.
``There are no pragmatic reasons behind it, but in nuclear power you need to
be pragmatic.'' 
Many local officials see a need to rally behind the nuclear industry, which
developed behind barbed wire as Russian soldiers and German prisoners of war
built a scientific city in the isolated and carefully chosen riverside
location. 
An East German physicist was the first scientific director to develop the
nuclear power station, but he and several dozen colleagues left before it came
on line. 
Nuclear research remains the leading engine of the city's economy. More
than
22,000 of the 100,000 population work in Obninsk's institutes, which host
other atomic reactors. 
Some research focuses on nuclear medicine or studying the radiation
impact on
Chernobyl victims, but workers minimise the danger to themselves of so much
nuclear activity in one town. 
``I'm 62 and don't feel any lessened interest in women; I'm doing just
fine,''
said Yuri Mardynsky, a leading expert at the Medical Radiological Research

Centre. ``You have to know what you are dealing with, and what is and is not
permissible.'' 
Yet even as the original nuclear station powers forward to the 2004 goal,
industry workers who earn less than $200 a month acknowledge the field has
lost some of its earlier glamour. 
``In the early days there was a very considerable amount of enthusiasm
among
people here who very much believed in developing atomic energy,'' said plant
director Stuzhnev. 
``Today there is pride but it is different; you need to earn to feed your
family, so many people have left to go to Moscow and other cities. But there
are Russian patriots who have remained even under difficult conditions.''

**********

#13
Russia Denies Biological Weapons
31 March 1998

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday again denied claims that
the country is continuing to develop offensive biological weapons. 
``Russia does not have facilities for producing biological weapons,''
Foreign
Ministry spokesman Gennady Tarasov told a news conference on Tuesday. ``There

is no reason to doubt that Russia strictly complies with all of its
commitments under the Chemical Weapons Convention.'' 
Ken Alibek, a former Soviet biological weapons expert who fled to the
United
States in 1992, said recently he believes Moscow has kept part of its Cold War
biological weapons program active. 
In 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin acknowledged the existence of a
Soviet biological weapons program, and since then has issued several decrees
declaring that biological weapons activities are illegal. 
Both Russia and the United States continue conduct research on programs to
defend themselves against biological attacks. 
Russia insists it has strictly complied with the 1972 Biological Weapons
Convention, which bans the development, production and stockpiling of
biological and toxin weapons. 

********

#14
Russian cabinet who is in, who is out

MOSCOW, March 31 (Reuters) - Russia's new government has not
yet been named but President Boris Yeltsin has already made
clear several members of the outgoing team will stay in the
cabinet.

Yeltsin sacked the old government last week and appointed
Sergei Kiriyenko as acting prime minister.

Here is a list of ministers from the old cabinet whose fate
is more or less clear after their own comments or those from the
Kremlin.

SERGEI KIRIYENKO - Yeltsin appointed the little-known fuel
and energy minister as acting prime minister on Monday last week
and nominated him as his full-time prime minister on Friday.
However, Russia's opposition-led parliament has yet to approve
Yeltsin's nomination.

SERGEI STEPASHIN - Yeltsin named this outgoing justice
minister on Monday as an interior minister in the new government
replacing ANATOLY KULIKOV sacked last week by a separate decree
with no hopes of being included in the new cabinet.

YEVGENY PRIMAKOV - Confirmed by Yeltsin as the foreign
minister in his new cabinet on Tuesday.

MIKHAIL ZADORNOV - Confirmed by Yeltsin as finance minister
on Tuesday.

IGOR SERGEYEV - Appointed defence minister last May to
oversee widescale military reforms, Sergeyev is also expected to

keep his job after praise from Yeltsin.

VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN - Chernomyrdin, dismissed by Yeltsin to
concentrate on preparing presidential election in 2000,
announced on Saturday he would run as a candidate. There is no
chance Chernomyrdin could stay on in the government.

ANATOLY CHUBAIS - Yeltsin dismissed the reformist first
deputy prime minister by a separate decree leaving him no chance
of remaining in the government.

BORIS NEMTSOV -- Nemstov's press service has said the
reformist acting first deputy prime minister felt he was very
likely to keep his post.

YEVGENY YASIN - Minister without portfolio and formerly
economy minister, said he was likely to stay in the government's
economic team.

IVAN RYBKIN - Appointed only last month as deputy prime
minister to handle Russia's relationships with former Soviet
republics. He said on Friday he would continue handling the
issues of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Yeltsin said on Friday he wanted Kiriyenko to halve the
government.


There have been no indications concerning the fate of the
rest of the acting ministers. :
Deputy Prime Minister.............Vladimir BULGAK
Deputy Prime Minister................Oleg SYSUYEV (Also Labour
& Social Development Minister)
Deputy Prime Minister............Farit GAZIZULLIN (Also head of
the State Property Committee, effectively Privatisation
Minister)
Deputy Prime Minister...............Yakov URINSON (Also Economy
Minister)
Deputy Prime Minister.............Viktor KHLYSTUN (Also
Agriculture Minister)
MINISTERS:
Civil Defence & Emergencies.............Sergei SHOIGU
Commonwealth of Independent States..Anatoly ADAMISHIN
Culture............................Natalya DEMENTYEVA
Education..........................Alexander TIKHONOV
Foreign Trade & Economic
Relations.............................Mikhail FRADKOV
Health..............................Tatyana DMITRIEVA
Nationalities....................Vyacheslav MIKHAILOV
Natural Resources........................Viktor ORLOV
Nuclear Energy.........................Yevgeny ADAMOV
Railway Communications..............Nikolai AKSENENKO
Science & Technology..................Vladimir FORTOV
Transport................................Sergei FRANK

********

#15
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 63 Part I, 1 April 1998

YELTSIN SAYS TIME HAS COME FOR 'NEW GENERATION.' Yeltsin says the new
cabinet will contain "many young, talented people who do not carry the
burden of having worked in the communist and post-communist period." In an
interview published in "Komsomolskaya pravda" on 1 April, Yeltsin declined
to name specific appointments but said "the time has come" for "new
leaders, young men with brains, with good education, with common sense."
Asked why he fired the government, Yeltsin said economic indicators over
the last several months "gave reason to be horrified. And then there was
the situation with falling world prices for oil...Completely new methods
should operate here. And that means new people." Yeltsin claimed that
former First Deputy Prime Minister Anatolii Chubais himself requested to
leave the government. He also refrained from criticizing former Prime

Minister Chernomyrdin, although he said that in his opinion, Chernomyrdin
decided "a bit early" to run for president. LB

CHUBAIS SEEN LIKELY TO WORK IN ELECTRICITY GIANT... Yeltsin told the 1
April edition of "Komsomolskaya pravda" that having left the government,
Chubais "will help correct the situation" in the electricity monopoly
Unified Energy System (EES). Kirienko recently ruled out Chubais's
candidacy for the post of EES board chairman, but here has been widespread
speculation that Chubais may replace Boris Brevnov as EES chief executive
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 March 1998). Anatolii Dyakov, the current
chairman of the EES board, told ITAR-TASS on 31 March that Chubais has good
chances to become the company's chief executive. Meanwhile, "Russkii
telegraf" reported on 31 March that Yevgenii Yasin, who has been minister
without portfolio since March 1997, is the most likely candidate to replace
Dyakov as chairman of the EES board. LB


...AS SOME MEDIA SAY HE'S NOT FIT FOR THE JOB. "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 28
March charged that Chubais has no experience in managing state property and
that his expertise in the electricity sector is comparable to "knowing how
to change a light bulb." The newspaper argued that Chubais wants a top job
at EES for political reasons and is hoping to use the company's resources
to build up a war chest for the next parliamentary and presidential
elections. Russian Public Television commentator Sergei Dorenko warned on
28 March that the whole country "will pay" if Chubais is appointed to run
EES. Boris Berezovskii's LogoVAZ group is the main financial backer of
"Nezavisimaya gazeta," and Berezovskii is believed to influence editorial
policy at Russian Public Television. LB

CHERNOMYRDIN NOT TO RUN FOR PARLIAMENT. At a 31 March meeting chaired by
former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, the Our Home Is Russia Duma
faction decided that it would not be "expedient" for Chernomyrdin to take
up a seat in the Duma, RFE/RL's Moscow bureau reported. By-elections are
periodically held to fill the seats of Duma deputies who have died or taken
jobs in the government, and some Our Home Is Russia members called for
Chernomyrdin to compete in such a by-election. But Aleksandr Shokhin, the
leader of the faction, said it was decided that Chernomyrdin should
concentrate on strengthening Our Home Is Russia's organization. Meanwhile,
government spokesman Igor Shabdurasulov on 31 March said there are "serious
doubts" that Chernomyrdin will return to work at Gazprom. Chernomyrdin was
the gas monopoly's chief executive before joining the government in
December 1992. LB

********