April 15, 1998  
This Date's Issues: 2147• 2148 • 

Johnson's Russia List
#2148
15 April 1998
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. AP: Russia Communists Oppose Nominee.
2. Interfax: Yeltsin Does Not Cater To Opposition - President's
Representative.
3. UPI: Duma votes to investigate Kiriyenko.
4. RFE/RL NEWSLINE: YELTSIN WARNS BEREZOVSKII; KIRIENKO, 
STEPASHIN CALL FOR TRUTH IN CRIME STATISTICS; and DUMA DIVIDED 
OVER START-2 RATIFICATION. 
5. Interfax: Russia's Berezovskiy Says Private Capital Can Unite CIS.
6. Jamestown Foundation Monitor: RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY: 
GIRDING FOR BATTLE?
7. NTV: Zyuganov Most Popular Choice for President in Latest Poll.
8. Moscow Times editorial: Yeltsin Shift On Caspian Positive Sign.
9. Floriana Fossato (RFE/RL): Russia: Does New Caspian Policy Coincide
With 
New CIS Policy?
10. Pravda: Kokoshin Calls for Consensus on Defense, National Security.
11. Obshchaya Gazeta: Aleksandr Gorodzeyskiy: "The Human Computer Likes
Scuba-Diving: For Nizhniy Novgorod Residents, Hometown Boy Sergey Kiriyenko's 
Career Rise Is No Surprise."
12. NTV: Kiriyenko Interviewed on Background.] 

********

#1
Russia Communists Oppose Nominee 
By Vladimir Isachenkov
April 15, 1998

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's Communist leader insisted today that his party will
not confirm Boris Yeltsin's nominee for prime minister despite the
president's threats to dissolve parliament and call early elections. 
Yeltsin has insisted on approval of his candidate, Sergei Kiriyenko, and
refused to offer any other nominees to the Communist-dominated State Duma,
parliament's lower house. 
On Tuesday, Yeltsin's firm stance appeared to have led to erosion in the
Communist Party ranks. A prominent Communist, Duma speaker Gennady
Seleznyov, said he and others would approve Kiriyenko because the future of
the parliament was more important than any candidate. 
But today the party's head, Gennady Zyuganov, indicated Kiriyenko's
confirmation was still in jeopardy. 
``The faction will vote in accordance with the decision of the party's
central committee, which obliged the Communists to vote against Kiriyenko's
candidacy. The Communists will fulfill this decision,'' Zyuganov said. 
Earlier, the Duma tentatively approved a measure allowing the
confirmation vote to be an open one, instead of the secret vote mandated by
the previous rules. A second vote on the ballot method is planned Friday. 
The Communists backed the step in an effort to tighten party discipline
during the confirmation vote, also scheduled for Friday. 
``I'm convinced that (Kiriyenko) will not get the necessary number of
votes,'' Zyuganov told reporters, adding that his party would press other
conservative factions to oppose Yeltsin's nominee. 
Under the constitution, the president can dissolve parliament and call
new elections if the Duma rejects his nominees three times. But Zyuganov
said he was not worried by this possibility. 
``If the Duma is dissolved, Yeltsin and Kiriyenko would face a robbed
country,'' he said. ``There won't be a parliament capable of taking
well-considered decisions, of explaining them to citizens and of cushioning
the enormous difficulties, hatred and anger which have accumulated in the
country.'' 
In a secret ballot last week, Kiriyenko received only 143 of the 226
votes needed for confirmation. There are 450 seats in the Duma and the
nominee needs a simple majority. 


The hard-line opposition argues that Kiriyenko, 35, a former banker and
fuel minister, is too inexperienced to lead Russia's Cabinet, and wants
several candidates to choose from. 
But Yeltsin has said he will nominate Kiriyenko three times, and refused
to promise his foes any Cabinet seats or discuss a coalition government as
a way out of the impasse. 
Also today, the Duma voted 305-2 to appeal to the Constitutional Court
to clarify whether the president can nominate the same candidate two or
three times. 
But before the formal appeal was submitted, court chairman Marat Baglai
said it would take the judges a long time to tackle the issue. And even if
the court decides in favor of the Duma, the decision would not be
retroactive, he said. 
*******

#2
Yeltsin Does Not Cater To Opposition - President's Representative 

MOSCOW, April 15 (Interfax) - Russian President *Boris Yeltsin*, having
dismissed the government, "took the initiative in his own hands and refused
to cater to the opposition," Alexander Kotenkov, Yeltsin's representative
in the Russian Duma, said in an interview with the newspaper Argumenty i
Fakty, countering the arguments by ex-presidential spokesman Vyacheslav
Kostikov. 
The latter alleged that Yeltsin had made a mistake by exploding the
balance of authority advantageous for him and partly for the country, and
gave the opposition serious reasons for revising the Constitution. Further
consultations with the parliament leaders "actually marked the first step
towards a coalition government which will bring about serious changes in
policy," Kostikov said. 
Kotenkov, on the contrary, thinks that the Chernomyrdin government was
doomed and that by the end of March "clouds over it thickened to the limit,
because the Duma was ready to pass a vote of no confidence on it." Yeltsin
was right when he took the decision to dismiss the old government, he said. 
In his opinion "a government orientated to economic growth must be
different - more resolute, more professional and less politicized." "New
approaches and new ideas are needed," he said. "And most important, new
people, politically and financially unengaged, who would influence the
government's mentality and moves, are needed," he added. 
He described acting Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko as a professional
manager who "undoubtedly will not take part in the presidential elections."
This means, he said, that "the new prime minister's efforts will be
concentrated exclusively on economy and on reform, not at shaping his own
election image." 
He said that Yeltsin had created conditions for ex-prime minister Viktor
Chernomyrdin's election start, because two years before the presidential
elections Chernomyrdin, rid of the burden of economic problems, has a
chance to concentrate on the election campaign. 
He rejected Kostikov's argument that Yeltsin "surrenders" his faithful
allies and that "in fact a supra-constitutional center of authority" or the
president's "household party" is emerging. The head of state and his
entourage is not "a family circle in which relations with subordinates are
based on personal friendship," Kotenkov said. He explained the dismissal of
ex-interior minister Anatoly Kulikov by the fact that he was "not ready to
restructure his ministry which has not been reorganized since Beria's
times." [Lavrenty Beria headed the former Soviet Union's security and
interior agencies during the last 15 years of Stalin's era.] 



********

#3
Duma votes to investigate Kiriyenko

MOSCOW, April 15 (UPI) _ The State Duma, the lower house of Russia's
parliament, has voted to begin an investigation of acting Prime Minister
Sergei Kiriyenko's (``sir-GAY kee-ree-YEN-kah'') links to a group of
Scientologists. 
The Communist opposition in the Duma, which is opposed to the
appointment of the inexperienced 35-year-old technocrat to the post of
premier, has been looking for ways to get rid of Kiriyenko. 
Hard-liners have pushed for a probe of Kiriyenko's background, and today
a group called Popular Rule managed to place the Scientology link on the
agenda. 
The Duma voted 184-19 to begin the investigation. 
Russian media reports say Kiriyenko attended seminars run by
Scientologists in Germany, but the acting premier dismissed the story as an
April Fool's joke. 
The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung says Kiriyenko attended seminars
organized by the Scientologist Hubbard College and donated money to the
movement. 
Scientology, while not banned in Russia, is seen as a fringe sect, and
any documented proof of links between Kiriyenko and the religious movement
is bound to hurt his already feeble chances of winning approval from the
Duma. 
The Duma rejected Kiriyenko in a first round of voting last Friday and
is due to vote again in two days. 

******

#4
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 72 Part I, 15 April 1998

YELTSIN WARNS BEREZOVSKII. Yeltsin has warned the 
businessman Boris Berezovskii that he may "drive him out of 
the country" if Berezovskii does not stop trying to 
influence the formation of the government behind the scenes, 
RFE/RL's Moscow bureau reported on 14 April. Unnamed 
government sources say that during a meeting with a group of 
cosmonauts the previous day, Yeltsin said he had issued the 
warning in a telephone conversation with Berezovskii. 
Presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembskii and 
presidential Chief of Staff Valentin Yumashev asked those 
present to keep quiet about Yeltsin's remarks, but the story 
was leaked. ("Kommersant-Daily" and "Moskovskii komsomolets" 
published similar accounts on 15 April.) Berezovskii, a 
billionaire, was a key financial backer of Yeltsin's re-
election campaign in 1996 and has recently described himself 
as an "adviser" to Yumashev. His business empire includes a 
share in the airline Aeroflot, whose top executive is 
Yeltsin's son-in-law. LB

KIRIENKO, STEPASHIN CALL FOR TRUTH IN CRIME STATISTICS. 
Acting Prime Minister Kirienko and acting Interior Minister 
Sergei Stepashin have called on police to stop 
"whitewashing" crime statistics by not registering crimes 
that are difficult to solve, Russian news agencies reported 
on 14 April. Prosecutor-General Yurii Skuratov has said that 
practice is widespread (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 February 
1998) At a Moscow conference with high-ranking law 
enforcement officials, Stepashin demanded an "objective 
picture of crime" and said police will not be judged 
according to statistics showing fewer registered offenses. 
Kirienko charged that law enforcement bodies have waged an 
ineffective battle against crime, even though, he claimed, 


there are more police officers now than during the Soviet 
era. Kirienko also accused the Interior Ministry of having 
been "carried away with enhancing the functions of interior 
troops at the expense of criminal police and investigation." 
Last month, officials announced plans to downsize the 
Interior Ministry troops. LB

DUMA DIVIDED OVER START-2 RATIFICATION. Duma speaker 
Gennadii Seleznev told Interfax on 14 April that the 
uncertainty over the new Russian prime minister and 
government will not delay the Duma's plans to debate 
ratification of the START-2 treaty before the end of its 
spring session in June. Vladimir Lukin, chairman of the Duma 
Committee for International Affairs, said that the lower 
house will '"work at normal speed" to ratify the treaty. But 
deputy speaker Sergei Baburin of the Popular Power faction 
argued that it is premature to begin discussing 
ratification, and Duma Defense Committee chairman Lev 
Rokhlin argued that START-2 "is not beneficial" to Russia. 
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Valerii Nesterushkin told 
journalists on 14 April that the protocol to the treaty that 
Yeltsin submitted to the Duma takes into account deputies' 
reservations and extends by five years the 2002 deadline for 
destroying all missiles, ITAR-TASS reported. LF 

********

#5
Russia's Berezovskiy Says Private Capital Can Unite CIS 

MOSCOW, April 13 (Interfax) -- Private capital "is absolutely the only
cementing force" capable of consolidating the CIS states, Boris
Berezovskiy, former deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, told
Interfax Monday.
Regarding alleged plans for his appointment to a top post in a CIS
executive agency, Berezovskiy said nobody had made such proposals to him.
Several CIS leaders advocate representation of private capital in CIS
agencies, acting Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Rybkin told Interfax
previously.
"Representatives of the financial, industrial and banking sectors
should work in CIS executive structures" since private capital plays a
major role in generating gross national product throughout the CIS, Rybkin
said.

********

#6
Jamestown Foundation Monitor
April 15, 1998

RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY: GIRDING FOR BATTLE? According to a
report published last week in a Russian daily, the secretary of Russia's
powerful Security Council, Andrei Kokoshin, is gearing up for what is likely
to be an intense turf battle with the heads of the country's various "power
structures." (Kommersant-Vlast, April 7) Kokoshin was given considerable
formal authority over Russia's defense and security agencies last summer
when he was named to the twin posts of Defense Council secretary and chief
of the State Military Inspectorate. 

The latter post in particular gave Kokoshin responsibility for ensuring that
these various government agencies worked together in pursuit of a single
state policy in defense and security. According to last week's newspaper
report, Kokoshin had the right to report to the president at any time
regarding shortcomings in the performance of leading officials serving in
these agencies. Kokoshin's formal authority in this regard has, moreover,


only increased since his appointment to the post of Security Council
secretary in early March and the concomitant assumption by the Security
Council of the functions formerly assigned to the State Military
Inspectorate and the Defense Council. The Defense Council was abolished. The
State Military Inspectorate survives administratively under the Security
Council. 

Formal authority is not real power, however. Last week's report says that
Kokoshin has moved over the past seven months to surround himself with aides
capable of aiding the effort to rein in the power ministries. Among those
aides is General Aleksei Molyakov, a former chief of the Federal Security
Service's Counter-Intelligence Department, who should provide Kokoshin with
information on the activities on all the power ministries. He is serving as
chief of the military inspectorate. Another of Kokoshin's recruits is
General Aleksei Moskovsky, formerly deputy chief of the Defense Ministry's
Armaments Department. Like Kokoshin, he has extensive experience in weapons
and weapons procurement. 

Kokoshin has also been joined by General Vladimir Potapov, who had formerly
served for current Russian General Staff Chief Anatoly Kvashnin as chief of
staff of the North Caucasus Military District. Finally, Kokoshin's team
includes an officer who served earlier on the General Staff's Main
Intelligence Directorate (GRU). The Security Council chief is now searching,
according to the newspaper report, for recruits from Russia's Interior
Ministry and Federal Border Guard Service. These would fill the last key
vacancies on his staff.

Kokoshin's ability to exert control over Russia's various power structures
is likely to depend in part on his own resourcefulness as a bureaucratic
infighter. A more important factor is the extent to which Kokoshin gets the
Kremlin's support. At present, Boris Yeltsin appears to be backing his
Security Council secretary. In recent months, two of the power ministry
chiefs most noted for their independence and political clout--former
Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov and former Border Forces Director Andrei
Nikolaev--have been removed from their posts and replaced by men lacking
independent political bases. The Russian president has proven to be a fickle
patron, however. It remains to be seen whether he will stand behind Kokoshin
as unpopular reforms planned for the power ministries are implemented. 

********

#7
Zyuganov Most Popular Choice for President in Latest Poll 

NTV
12 April 1998
[translation for personal use only]

Moscow NTV's "Itogi" program reports on the latest opinion poll on who
Russians want as President, with Communist Party leader Gennadiy Zyuganov
again in the lead.
If elections had taken place Sunday 12 April, Zyuganov would have
polled 20 percent, compared with 19 percent in April 1997. Next comes
Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov and Yabloko leader Grigoriy Yavlinskiy with 11
percent each, up from seven percent and eight percent respectively a year
ago; Gen. Aleksandr Lebed with 10 percent, down from 16 percent; ex-Prime
Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin with eight percent, up from three percent in
November 1997; and acting First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov with


seven percent, down from 21 percent in April 1997.
Asked whether they approved of Chernomyrdin's decision to run for
President in the year 2000, 30 percent of respondents say they approved, 56
percent do not, and 13 percent do not know. Also, 37 percent think he has
a chance of winning, 47 percent think not, and 16 percent do not know.
The polls were carried out by the Public Opinion Foundation on 4- 5
April 1998 in 56 rural and urban built-up areas in 29 regions among 1,500
people.
********

#8
Moscow Times
April 14, 1998 
EDITORIAL: Yeltsin Shift On Caspian Positive Sign 

Is the Caspian Sea really a sea or is it a lake ? Yes, it is quite big 
and filled with salt water. But on the other hand, it is not all that 
big and it is not connected to any of the other seas and oceans. 
This sort of argument may sound trivial, but it is the stuff of a 
diplomatic dispute in which Russia has just made a potentially crucial 
change of policy. 
For the question of whether the Caspian is a sea or lake has enormous 
significance under international law. It determines who can lay claim to 
the tens of billions of dollars of oil that lies in off-shore fields in 
the region. 
The issue was raised after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the 
number of countries around the Caspian Sea jumped from a cozy twosome of 
Iran and the Soviet Union to a more competitive quintet of Iran, Russia, 
Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. 
On the one hand, the new states realized that if the Caspian Sea was 
considered a lake, then it could not be divided up and would have to be 
managed and owned by the mutual consent of the five nations that 
surround it. 
If, on the other hand, the Caspian was a sea, each country could lay 
claim to the portion closest to it. 
It comes as no surprise that countries like Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan 
with lots of oil in the seabeds in their territorial waters were keen to 
have the Caspian declared a sea. 
Russia and Iran, though, with few resources in their sections, have 
spent the last five years citing chapter and verse on just how lake-like 
the Caspian Sea really is. 
This was partly about grabbing resources and partly a tactic to keep the 
Central Asian states under Moscow's thumb. 
But President Boris Yeltsin last week turned Russian policy on its head. 
At a meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, he accepted the 
Caspian was a sea and gave the littoral states the green light to 
develop their sections. Iran is now the only advocate of the lake 
theory. 
Of course, Russia's decision was only an acknowledgement of the reality 
that Azerbaijan and the other littoral states already consider parts of 
the sea their territorial waters. 
Russia may be hoping for a slice of the action in return. And recent 
data suggest Russia's own territorial waters may be richer than first 
thought. 
But the chance of an end to the Caspian Sea dispute is a positive 
gesture toward other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States 
that shows Russia is willing to cooperate in developing the region. 


*********

#9
Russia: Does New Caspian Policy Coincide With New CIS Policy?
By Floriana Fossato

Moscow, 15 April 1998 (RFE/RL) -- Since the beginning of 1998, after years
of stark opposition to a sectoral division of the oil-rich Caspian Sea,
Russia has been hinting at a change of stance, concerning its policy toward
the division of the Caspian. 
The shift has surprised observers. Most analysts have called it a
positive sign, but reservations remain, as analysts do not believe Moscow
has any real intention to loosen its grip on former Soviet satellites in
the region, allowing them to compete directly in foreign markets, bypassing
Russia. 
Recent developments seem to indicate that the Kremlin, concerned about
its role as a leader of the moribund Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS), may be trying to couple its economic and political interests in
Caspian and CIS matters, instead of clearly choosing an economic, rather
then a purely political stance, as the principle guiding its future foreign
policy moves.
Last week, Russia's President Boris Yeltsin seemed to confirm the shift
in policy during a meeting with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan
Nazarbayev. During their talks, the two Presidents discussed control of the
Caspian and how to divide its vast natural resources, including oil
deposits. Before Yeltsin's statement, comments from a number of Russian
diplomats and government officials had suggested that Moscow acknowledged
that the Caspian was already treated as a sea by its littoral states.
Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky said the Yeltsin-Nazarbayev talks
focused on a future agreement that would determine how the resources will
be used by the Caspian littoral states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan and Iran. Nazarbayev was quoted as saying that he and Yeltsin
had agreed that "we do not divide water, we divide only the sea's floor" at
equal distances from coasts. Yeltsin and Nazarbayev agreed to prepare a
bilateral agreement on the status of the Caspian by the end of April.
The terms of the agreement are expected to delimit along its median
line the sea's floor and the natural deposits under it, but envisions the
joint use of its surface. The agreement represents the first step to solve
previous disagreements between Russia and Kazakhstan, but it is also a step
toward a more comprehensive agreement among Caspian states. Yastrzhembsky
said Russia believes that, without a Caspian agreement, there will be
little chance for the utilization of the sea's vast natural resources. 
The issue became important following the breakup of the Soviet Union,
when the number of countries around the Caspian increased from two partners
united in a friendly, anti-Western partnership -- the USSR and Iran -- to
five states, whose relations are complicated and increasingly becoming
competitive. The five Caspian states understand perfectly that, if the
Caspian would be considered a lake, it could not be divided. Exploitation
and management of its resources could take place only by the mutual consent
of all. This would be too difficult to achieve, as new, often diverging
national interests have emerged in the last few years.
Only Iran is now left openly supporting this option and regretting
Russia's recent policy shift. Russia and Iran, with fewer resources
believed to be in their sectors -- but, bigger influence ambitions, were
united up until last year in their argument that the Caspian should be
considered a lake.


Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, with
huge resources lying under the seabed in their sectors, were seeking, since
the beginning, to gather enough consensus to declare the Caspian a sea. 
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan are all already developing natural
resources in the portions each considers its territorial waters. Azerbaijan
is at the center of the new Caspian oil boom, possessing more than half of
the sea's estimated reserves of up to 15 billion tons. Azerbaijan has
started production from large offshore fields in the Caspian in a joint
project with an international consortium, but, so far, only a small part of
the country's annual oil output has reached Western markets, because of
problems with export pipelines. 
Analysts say that the pipelines issue is extremely important and
connected to the overall Caspian sea discussion. Without pipelines bringing
the countries' oil and gas outputs Westward, an eventual agreement to
develop natural resources would be a largely worthless piece of paper. 
In both issues, the future position that Russia assumes is key to unlock
the situation, and it appears that developments in Russia's controversial
relations with other CIS members will also play a role in the issue.
Research by Russian oil companies suggests Russia's own territorial
waters may be more promising then expected. Therefore, Russia is now
extremely interested in having its existing network of pipeline upgraded
and amplified. But Vagit Alekperov, chairman of the powerful oil giant
LUKoil, involved in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, warned a government
commission this week that an oil pipeline carrying crude from Western
Kazakhstan across Russia to an export terminal on the Black Sea won't be
operational until the end of 2001, instead of 1999, as expected.
At the same time, Moscow is opposing construction of another proposed
pipeline, that would stretch along the Caspian's seabed, to connect Turkmen
and Kazakh oil-and-gas fields with Azerbaijan. Russia's acting First Deputy
Foreign Minister Boris Pastukhov said two days ago that Moscow
"categorically opposes" the undersea pipeline, which would allow the
Central Asian states to bypass Russian territory. Pastukhov said Russia
will oppose the project on the ground that it is "too environmentally
risky." And, the diplomat said that Caspian Sea states should resists the
advances of outsiders, who may support transport routes bypassing Russia.
He said that "the transit of Caspian oil is very profitable, particularly
if Russia is pushed to the sidelines...and, the wish of some countries,
having nothing to do with the Caspian, is therefore understandable."
According to Pastukhov, pipelines on Russian territory would be less
costly. He singled out Turkey's efforts to encourage oil companies to
transport oil from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to the Turkish port of Ceyhan
by offering reduced transport tariffs.
The complex issue of the development of Caspian resources and their
export seems to be at the center of a number of diplomatic missions on the
eve of the next CIS summit in Moscow, scheduled April 29. The bilateral
agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan is to be signed April 28, one day
before the opening of the CIS Summit. The signature will undoubtedly become
the focus of the most important talks among CIS heads of state.
Russia's acting deputy prime minister in charge of CIS relations, Ivan
Rybkin, since last week is touring CIS capitals, to meet heads of state.
Last week, he visited Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Kazakhstan. This
week, he held talks with Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov, and
travels to Kyrgyzstan. The talks focus on the agenda of the CIS summit, but
news agencies reports note that, during most of the meetings, the Caspian
Sea issue also played a major role.


Interfax news agency quoted Rybkin as saying that Niyazov, following the
example of Yeltsin and Nazarbayev, advocates the strengthening of bilateral
relations among CIS members, particularly on economic issues.
Rybkin was not the only Russian representative visiting Ashgabat
yesterday. Pastukhov led a big delegation, including officials from the
Fuel and Energy Ministry and top LUKoil representatives, to discuss with
Niyazov the Caspian's legal status. Pastukhov was expected to give Turkmen
officials details of Yeltsin and Nazarbayev's joint proposal on the
division of the Caspian. 
Reports following the meeting were scarce. The Russian daily "Russky
Telegraf" quoted Pastukhov as saying, without elaborating, that Moscow's
and Ashgabat's positions have "much in common." 
As after a recent visit to Azerbaijan, Pastukhov said consultations on
the issue will continue on a bilateral basis, and also within the frame of
a working group, including deputy foreign ministers from Russia,
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran. The working group is
expected to meet in Moscow in May or June.
Meanwhile, Turkmenistan's Niyazov will travel before the CIS Moscow
meeting to the U.S., for talks with top American officials and oil company
representatives. And, Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Cumhur
Ersumer visits Baku to strengthen bilateral relations in the energy field.
Turkish officials have said that Ersumer's talks with Azerbaijan's
President Heidar Aliev will include the Caspian pipeline project.
The shift in Russia's policy and its recently acquired pragmatism seem
to indicate that Russian officials are finally taking into account
realities such as the development of foreign policies independent and often
contrasting Moscow's, and the fact that international political and
economic support will make possible the development of the Caspian
resources, despite all obstacles Russia might create.
At the same time, Russia seems to be determined to balance its new
pragmatic positions with the usual drive to maintain its influence on the
former Soviet republics surrounding the Caspian, through the establishment
of bilateral agreements in-and-outside the CIS frame. The role of CIS as an
institution uniting most of the former Soviet republics is rapidly
declining, and Russia does not have the human and financial resources to
support its re-invigoration.
Bilateral agreement on key issues, leaving open the possibility that they
could eventually become multi-lateral agreements, could be the way out of
many impasses. 

*********

#10
Kokoshin Calls for Consensus on Defense, National Security 

Pravda 
11 April 1998
[translation for personal use only]
"Own Information" report: "National Consensus Needed. Russia's
Security Problems on Eve of 21st Century"

The latest session of the Moscow Intellectual-Business Club, which
unites entrepreneurs, leaders of major industrial enterprises, and cultural
figures whose names are well known in the country, has been held. Suffice
it to say that Nikolay Ryzhkov is chairman of the club council. The club
members were addressed at the latest session by Andrey Kokoshin, secretary


of the Russian Federation Security Council.
Addressing an audience comprising people who hold the most varied
political views, Andrey Kokoshin particularly emphasized the need to shape
a pan-Russian consensus on national security problems, and particularly on
defense issues. In his view, the "year of national harmony and
reconciliation" announced by Russian President Boris Yeltsin last year has
already played a part in this respect. Further progress in building
consensus, according to Kokoshin, is becoming possible in connection with
the president's proposal to make 1998 a "nonconfrontational" year.
Mutual understanding between the most varied political parties and
movements has already been achieved on the basic problems of foreign
policy. We need only recall the recent Iraq crisis or the situation over
Latvia. Kokoshin believes that consensus on the questions of defense and
national security is the next step and will be a necessary condition if
Russia is to take its proper place in the world on the threshold of the new
century.
In his speech the Security Council secretary described "increasing
national wealth, capital, and, ultimately, moving Russia to a higher level
of the world economic and political hierarchy" as one of the strategic
tasks of state policy. And we will build our relations with the outside
world purely on the basis of equal rights and mutual benefit.
Andrey Kokoshin called the colossal intellectual and technological
potential of Russian industry's defense sectors a "bridgehead for a
breakthrough into the 21st century." According to him, the corresponding
scientific and design schools are still being maintained, as is confidence
in many types of Russian high-tech product, although this is being achieved
with increasing difficulty and by stretching our resources and abilities to
the limit. That is why now it is more important than ever before to focus
the efforts of the state and our emerging national capital and
intelligentsia on making the breakthrough into the 21st century.

*********

#11
Personal Background on Kiriyenko 

Obshchaya Gazeta, No. 13
2-8 April 1998
[translation for personal use only]
Article by Aleksandr Gorodzeyskiy: "The Human Computer Likes
Scuba-Diving: For Nizhniy Novgorod Residents, Hometown Boy Sergey
Kiriyenko's Career Rise Is No Surprise"

Nizhniy Novgorod--A year ago, when Boris Nemtsov hastily moved
from Nizhniy Novgorod to Moscow, Sergey Kiriyenko was being mentioned as
the former's only potential successor as governor. Kiriyenko disappointed
many by refusing to run. People in the know immediately drew the conclusion
that the NORSI-Oil company president's math was very good and he had
decided not to run because he figured he had no chance of winning. Yes, the
34-year-old deputy minister confirmed later, his math is indeed good, and
therefore he could easily calculate how to meet Nizhniy Novgorod voters'
expectations. But the problem is that these expectations differ from his
own ideas of where the oblast should be moving, and making oneself fit the
electorate is amoral, in his opinion.
Head of government is not an elected position. To accept it, one only


has to share viewpoints with one person--the President. As it turned
out, Boris Yeltsin was not the person who originally came up with the idea
of making Kiriyenko prime minister. As far back as three years ago this was
brought up by Tamara Konysheva, deputy chairman of Guarantee bank. She
suggested it quite seriously and without any servility—at the time
Tamara Nikolayevna was no longer working in Kiriyenko's bank but at the
Pension Fund. Thus, the President's decision was met with much less
surprise in Nizhniy Novgorod than in Moscow.
Vasiliy Zakharov, rector of the Volga Water Transportation Academy,
recalls that in the entire period of studying in the shipbuilding
department, Kiriyenko never got a single "B" and could have had a promising
scientific career. He declined graduate study, however, and went to work as
foreman of the Krasnoye Sormovo plant, then served his term in the
military--already a husband and father. After the military he worked
in Komsomol [All-Union Leninist Communist Youth League] jobs, and, as we
hear, the "technocrat" Kiriyenko had his share of public politics: In the
late 1980s, when party honchos were keeping their heads down, he spoke at
rallies in defense of perestroyka.
After studying at the Academy of National Economy, Kiriyenko founded
the Guarantee bank. The bank's foundation was predominantly "pension
money," of which at the time there was a surplus, but which was floating
around somewhere, missing the intended recipients. Kiriyenko brought his
idea of a social bank to Nemtsov, who liked it but decided to hold a bid:
The bank that would pay most to the oblast budget for the remainders in
pension accounts would get the accounts. At first, the pension money was
handled by Boris Brevnov's NBD-Bank, and later Guarantee won the bid. The
bank's deputy chairman of the board, Yevgeniy Bobkov, who before Guarantee
worked at NBD, is in a position to compare the management style of the two
Nizhniy Novgorod natives who have now become Muscovites: While for Brevnov
the main point is "because I said so!," Kiriyenko first makes a convert out
of a person. In general, as a local newspaper said as much as four years
ago, Kiriyenko prefers to manage the process, not people.
Over several months Kiriyenko succeeded in setting up the process at
the NORSI plant--a component of the NORSI-Oil oil company. We mean, of
course, not the technological process but a solution to the problem of the
so-called "commodity pyramid" and the debts drowning the plant. The idea
seemed to be simplicity itself: not letting debts pile up by starting to
pay liabilities from a certain date, and taking care of old debts later.
Some people in Nizhniy Novgorod call Kiriyenko a human computer. If
you ask him a question to which he does not know the answer but wants to
find out, Sergey Vladilenovich knits his brow and stares for a few moments
past the interlocutor, appearing to process all the information needed for
a decision during these brief moments. He can get distracted from a task in
order to instantly deal with a more urgent one, and then easily return to
the first one at the same stage he left it. We hear that he became


attracted to oriental single combat first of all because it helps him
discipline his thinking. Actually, he is also a hunter, a tourist, and a
scuba-diver. For one birthday, bank colleagues gave him a diving suit for a
gift; then the whole group went to a hunting preserve and...they did not
see the birthday boy for half a day—he disappeared underwater.
Two weeks ago a telephone call came in to Sergey Kiriyenko's Moscow
apartment--the callers were from a Nizhniy Novgorod organization, the
Theatrical Union [STD], and the request was for an entry in the "Merry
Goat's Virgin Album"--the former being an all-Russia theater roast
festival, which will open for its sixth year in Nizhniy Novgorod on 3
April.
"Write this: 'A philistine was asked what was better: to be a fool or
to be bald. He replied: To be a fool—it is not as obvious." The Merry
Goat has been and is financed by the Guarantee Bank. Without Kiriyenko,
Nizhniy Novgorod would not have such a festival. The people in STD keep
saying this, recalling all the things the banker invented to make the Merry
Goat a true celebration for actors and to make viewers participants in the
celebration. They remember with laughter how in 1995 the bank's prize for
the best Nizhniy Novgorod team was brought onto the stage by four muscular
OMON [special purpose police detachments] soldiers—a stretcher with 1
million metal rubles.
The Kiriyenkos were frequently late for Merry Goat
performances--because of the husband's busy schedule, of course. By
the time they arrived, there was often only standing room left.

**********

#12
Russia's Kiriyenko Interviewed on Background 

NTV 
11 April 1998
[translation for personal use only]
Prerecorded interview with acting Russian Prime Minister Sergey
Vladilenovich Kiriyenko by studio correspondent Irina Zaytseva in
Kiriyenko's country residence, with additional comments by Zaytseva
in the studio; date not given; from the "Hero of the Day Without a
Tie" program; first paragraph is introductory

[Zaytseva] Good evening! Sergey Kiriyenko appeared on the political
horizon as swiftly as a rocket. In the past two weeks the acting prime
minister was the subject of heated discussions both in the Duma factions
and in people's kitchens. He was an active member of the Komsomol, a
brilliant student, and a sportsman in the past. His more recent personal
belongings feature a state-of-the-art car and a small computer. Kiriyenko
himself admits that throughout all the 35 years of his life he has been
used to setting himself a goal, reaching it, and setting a new goal and
reaching it again. Otherwise life is not worth living, he says. This time
it was the President [Boris Yeltsin] who set a goal for him. It is beyond
Sergey Vladilenovich's control whether he can reach this goal or not. So,
what is Sergey Kiriyenko like? Two weeks ago he was known to very few
people. [passage omitted on Zaytseva's recollection of Kiriyenko's
nomination as Russia's prime minister and comment that this nomination was
quite a surprise for Kiriyenko himself]
[Kiriyenko] I do not believe that things happen totally at random. 


This is not true. I think it is a combination of things that happen
randomly and of some regular occurrences. Yes, this is how it is. If we
are just talking about incidental things, for instance, winning a lottery,
I never have any luck. I have never won in a lottery. When I served in
the army and we drew lots to decide whose turn it was to be on guard, I
always got the most inconvenient time. This is why I do not believe in
pure luck, although some people are lucky, and it is always a nice feeling
when luck turns your way.
[Zaytseva] Of course.
[Zaytseva in the studio] Kiriyenko does not believe in destiny,
either. He thinks that everyone has some sort of lucky streak, but the
rest depends mainly on people themselves. Kiriyenko says that at 35, he
had good schooling in life, thanks to his service in the army and his work
for Komsomol and a plant, the famous Krasnoye Sormovo [in Nizhniy
Novgorod]. Kiriyenko worked there as a shop steward, and the plant
produced submarines. He recalls this time as a special time in his life.
[Kiriyenko] I used to leave home at seven in the morning. People were
going to work, and it was like a current flowing toward Krasnoye Sormovo. 
People were walking along the alley toward the plant, side by side, a huge
crowd. After several years of working at the plant I knew practically
everyone and I greeted everyone while I was walking toward the plant, and
talked to these people. I had the feeling that we were all doing something
great, the feeling of togetherness at work. By the way, it is not possible
to experience this feeling as being more real anywhere else but at the
plant. [passage omitted on Kiriyenko reminiscing about the feelings he had
at ship launchings]
[Zaytseva] Many people were surprised that he, a professor's son who
graduated with honors from the Gorkiy Institute of Engineers of Water
Transport, did not want to take up post-graduate studies but decided to
work at a plant. He thinks that he made the right choice. First, he
really wanted to work at the plant, and, second, he had a very serious
personal reason.
[Kiriyenko] My father was the head of a department. He held a
doctor's degree; he was a professor. I thought that if I took up research
and wrote a brilliant thesis, everyone would say: of course, he has no
problems, and it is not difficult for him to write a thesis, because his
father is a professor and a doctor of sciences. If I failed, they would
say: what a fool he is; his father is a professor and a doctor of
sciences, but he cannot write a reasonably good thesis. I think it was a
matter of principle. I wanted to succeed and I wanted to achieve it
myself, so that no one would accuse me of having strings pulled for me.
[Zaytseva] Are you a man of principle, then?
[Kiriyenko] My wife says that she would describe me as being a pest.
[Zaytseva] By the way, Kiriyenko's family--his wife, Masha [short for
Mariya], who is medical doctor, and his 15-year-old son Vladimir--had mixed
feelings about his new post.
[Masha Kiriyenko] Posts are just posts; they are temporary. In
general, I keep my cool about his posts, I am absolutely calm. I am not


vain. He thinks these jobs are interesting, he likes them, and he copes
with his work. Why not then? He is the best, as far as I am concerned.
[Vladimir Kiriyenko] He was nominated by the President. I have to put
up with it. I was not very keen on this appointment--I do not think so.
[passage omitted on Vladimir's comments that he is happy for his father
because his father deserves it]
[Zaytseva] What if the Duma never agrees to approve your candidature
and the President replaces you and puts forward someone else, say, one of
the regional governors?
[Kiriyenko] Yes, there are many deserving candidates.
[Zaytseva] Will you be upset?
[Kiriyenko] No. I can say absolutely frankly that I shall not be
upset. I did not ask for this post. No. But it is another matter if I
get appointed and then after a while I get dismissed for not coping with my
job; then I would be very upset, of course, and I might react quite
painfully because of that, I think. [passage omitted on Zaytseva saying
that Kiriyenko is more concerned with what the government should be doing
in case he becomes prime minister]
[Zaytseva] Who put forward your candidature to the President?
[Kiriyenko] I do not know. To tell you frankly, I do not know.
Perhaps, I shall find out one day--one day. [passage omitted on Zaytseva
saying that Kiriyenko is reportedly a good manager]
[Masha Kiriyenko] He has a bit of everything, including weaknesses.
[laughs].
[Kiriyenko] Quite a few weaknesses, in fact.
[Masha Kiriyenko] He is just a normal person, he is alive, and it is
only natural that he has both strengths and weaknesses.
[Zaytseva] Tell us about just one of your weaknesses. Let us not
touch upon all others.
[Kiriyenko] To be honest, I am quite a lazy man, I think. If I
promise something to someone, this is an important factor. Then I feel
responsible, if I owe it to someone, and then I shall deliver. But if I do
not think that I owe anything to anyone and if nothing depends on me at any
particular moment, I shall not stir a finger. I shall feel lazy. I have
regular fits of laziness, for instance, on Sundays. My wife says: Are you
going to feel lazy today? And I say: Yes, I am planning to be lazy today.
[Zaytseva] They say that you are a kind and easy-going person, but you
are not one of the lads, are you?
[Kiriyenko] I do not know. I think you are correct; I am not one of
the lads. As for kind-hearted, the devil only knows! Sometimes I have the
impression that one becomes less kind with age. Perhaps, to be more
correct, not less kind but sort of much tougher. I cannot say that I am
pleased about this, but I must admit that sometimes it happens. I can be
unjust and cruel toward my employees. Not because I mean it, no. My
employees are good, they do not bear a grudge, but I am not pleased about
this. It is not good. [passage omitted on more generalities on being tough
and being soft and remembering his childhood; he first met his wife when
they were 15; they were classmates and got married at 19]
[Kiriyenko] I told her that she would marry me when we were 15. It was
three or four weeks after she joined our class. She was a popular girl,


and quite a few boys had a crush on her. She was popular. I was quite
ugly.
[Masha Kiriyenko, laughing] I told him to go and look at himself in
the mirror. [passage omitted on more jokes and reminiscing about the time
when they were courting; Masha says they never quarrel now, and Kiriyenko
says that he has succeeded in training her properly and that she is an
ideal wife now; Kiriyenko likes Georgian food and he is a good cook who can
bake cakes and make preserves for the winter; he can make furniture and do
everything around the house but has no time for household chores now; he
says that he has learned much about himself from the media that is not
true, and the only true observation in these reports is that he does not
smoke; Kiriyenko likes sports, and his favorites are kendo, scuba diving,
and boxing; his son is his sparring partner; Kiriyenko does not like
tennis.
[Kiriyenko] I do not like tennis. I cannot play tennis. I do not
know why I do not like it.
[Zaytseva] Tennis has become very fashionable lately. All politicians
are fond of tennis now.
[Kiriyenko] Perhaps, this is why I do not like it. I do not like
taking up sports just because it is high fashion. [passage omitted on
Kiriyenko saying that he likes taking risks and prefers to spend his
holidays in an active way, for instance, in the mountains; he likes the
feeling of overcoming difficulties and he likes challenges; he is fond of
hunting and fishing and mountain skiing; Kiriyenko's children attend
ordinary schools; his favorite flowers are tulips; he likes attending the
theater; He is indifferent to luxury and prefers comfortable, convenient,
and functional; he consults his wife on clothing, and she chooses for him;
he likes music, and his favorite singer is Whitney Houston]
[Kiriyenko] In fact, I do not like asking for advice. I prefer
listening to all points of view. When someone says: If I were you, then I
remember a joke. It is one of my favorite jokes, one with some contextual
meaning. Two great masters are playing chess, and a third man comes up to
them. He watches the game for a while and then tells one of the players: 
If I were you, I would have played E2-E4. The player thinks for a few
minutes and then says: I am sorry, this is what an idiot would choose to
do. The third man replies: Yes, I did say if I were you, didn't I? I
think that everyone has one's own place. I do not like sentences which
start with if I were you--no. [passage omitted on Kiriyenko knowing many
jokes and using them at work; he can find a common language with everyone
if required; as for private friends, he chooses them with great care; he is
not emotional; he is a leader and an ambitious man who always sets new
goals and achieves them; his birth sign is Leo, and he was born in the year
of the tiger]

*********