November , 1999    
This Date's Issues: 3608 • 3609 

Johnson's Russia List
#3608
6 November 1999
davidjohnson@erols.com


[Note from David Johnson:
1. Itar-Tass: Talks in Chechnya Possible only after Wiping out Terrorists.
2. Interfax: 257 FEDERAL TROOPS KILLED IN NORTH CAUCASUS - GENERAL.
3. Washington Times: David Satter, Anatomy of a Massacre. (re apartment house bombings)
4. Moscow Times: Newspaper: Talbott Said U.S. Knew. (about money laundering).
5. Bjorn Kaupang: Can we count on Law?
6. Moscow Times EDITORIAL: U.S. Accepts Need to Kill Innocents.
7. Reuters: Maria Eismont, Chechens flee ghost towns, Russian bombs.
8. Reuters: Paul Taylor, ANALYSIS-West raises voice, not action on Chechnya.
9. Update on Dr. Sergey Piontkovski, an oceanographer in the Ukraine.
10. Victor Kalashnikov: Barkashov.
11. Moscow Times: Valeria Korchagina, Duma Candidates Put in Their Place. 
12. Moscow Times: The 28 blocs running for the State Duma and their leaders in the order they will appear on the ballot.
13. AP: Papers Show Gorbachev Contradiction. (re Eastern Europe in 1989) 
14. AFP: Clinton to face "difficult choice" if Russia nixes ABM changes: Pentagon.
15. Itar-Tass: Fatherland-All Russia Publishes Election Manifesto.
16. Itar-Tass: All Party Money Found, Passed Over to State Investigator.(re "party gold")
17. Interfax: FORMER RUSSIAN PM'S RATING FALLING. (Primakov)
18. Interfax: BEREZOVSKY BEHIND PERSECUTION OF FATHERLAND-ALL RUSSIA - 
LUZHKOV.
19. Reuters: Charges dropped against Russia businessman Berezovsky.] 


*******


#1
Talks in Chechnya Possible only after Wiping out Terrorists.


MOSCOW, November 5 (Itar-Tass) - Talks in Chechnya may be held only after the 
wiping out and neutralisation of terrorists there, First Deputy Chief of the 
General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Colonel-General Valery Manilov 
stated at a news conference in the Russian Information Centre on Friday. 


Moscow's action will not halt until after "the full destruction of terrorists 
or their surrender," he added. 


Tough measures against militants have been vindicated by their inroads to 
Daghestan and acts of terrorism in Russian cities. 


"We must protect the Russian people and the entire world from the real threat 
of terrorism," Valery Manilov said. 


"The work is far from being completed. The objective of our state and the 
final aim of our actions is to restore peace in the North Caucasus, ensure 
democratic liberties and free elections in Chechnya," the general pointed 
out. 


"The hostilities are a very deplorable tragic necessity, but we must bring 
Chechnya to the path of democratic values," according to Valery Manilov. 


"We are ready to conduct negotiations with constructive forces," the first 
deputy chief of the General Staff accentuated. 


"But as for Aslan Maskhadov, to our regret, the Chechen president personally 
withdrew himself from the negotiating process as he had directly linked up 
with terrorist formations. He appointed such terrorists as Basayev and 
Khattab front commanders. Unfortunately, they dictate to him a manner of 
behavior and a character of actions," the Colonel-General pointed out. 


"There is a lot of evidence testifying to the fact that Maskhadov and his 
administration have been acting in close contacts with terrorist and bandit 
formations," Valery Manilov informed. 


"Taking into account the experience of the 1996 Chechen war and the world 
practice, we consider talks with him inexpedient," he elaborated. 


The general noted that "in principle, talks are possible, a political 
settlement being in the first place, but this may be done only on condition 
that terrorists are completely destroyed and neutralised." 


In view of Valery Manilov, "Aslan Maskhadov is an experienced and qualified 
military man, and he must understand that it is impossible to go further in 
one team with terrorists." 


The general believes that Maskhadov's decision to dissociate himself from 
terrorists will "predetermine his future fate." 


*******


#2
257 FEDERAL TROOPS KILLED IN NORTH CAUCASUS - GENERAL


MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry has lost
257 soldiers killed and 683 wounded since the beginning of fighting in
the North Caucasus, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed
Forces Col. Gen. Valery Manilov said at a Moscow news conference.
Out of these, 142 were killed and 365 wounded in Chechnya, he said.
Over 3,500 militants have been killed in Dagestan and Chechnya
during the same period, "or maybe a little more," he said.
There are some 5,000 militants confronting the federal force in
Chechnya, including about 1,000 mercenaries from abroad, Manilov said.
Manilov categorically denied reports of differences between the
Russian political and military leaders over the operation in Chechnya
that could result in the dismissal of General Staff chief Anatoly
Kvashnin. "These are lies, slander and misinformation," he said.


******


#3
Washington Times
October 29, 1999
Anatomy of a Massacre
By David Satter (satter@jamestown.org)
David Satter is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a visiting
scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies (SAIS). He is the author of Age of Delirium: The Decline and Fall of
the Soviet Union (Knopf).


It is hard to imagine a tragedy more fortuitous for the present Russian
government than the bombings last month of apartment buildings in Moscow,
Buinaksk and Volgodonsk. 


With the Yeltsin government enjoying the support of 2 per cent of the
population and many members of the Yeltsin political family threatened with
the loss of their wealth or prison once Yeltsin leaves his post, the
explosions united the country in support for a military campaign against
Chechnya. The early success of this campaign, in turn, has led to a sharp
rise in the popularity of prime minister Vladimir Putin, the man Yeltsin
wants to succeed him. It has also created the conditions for declaring a
state of emergency in the country and cancelling the presidential elections. 


These advantages may be purely coincidental. After all, it is hard to
believe that the leaders of any country would seek to achieve their
political ends by blowing up nearly 300 of their own citizens. As the
investigation into the bombings progresses, however, the possibility that
bombings were planned by elements of the Russian leadership becomes more
plausible not only because they were so politically useful but also because
the official version - that they were exclusively the work of Chechen
terrorists - makes increasingly less sense.


According to persons close to the investigation, the four bombings, which
were carried out in a two week period, all had the same "handwriting," as
attested to by the nature of the destruction, the way the buildings'
concrete panels collapsed and the volume of the blast. In each case, the
explosive was hexogen, a critical component in a new generation of Russian
artillery shells. The bombs in three cases were placed in basements (in
Volgodonsk, in a truck) and all four were set to go off in the middle of the
night to kill as many people as possible.


To do what they are accused of having done without expert assistance,
Chechen terrorists would have needed the ability to organize nine explosions
(the four that took place and the five that the Russian authorities claim to
have prevented) in widely separated cities in the space of two weeks. They
also would have had to be able to act with lighting speed. In the case of
the bombing on Kashirskoye Highway, the police checked the basement where
the bomb was placed three hours before the blast. 


In addition, the Chechen terrorists would have had to have the ability to
penetrate top secret Russian military factories. Investigators believe that
each bomb contained 200 to 300 kilograms of hexogen of Russian manufacture.
Hexogen is produced in Russia in only one factory, which is located in the
Perm oblast. Its distribution from there is tightly controlled. Despite
this, the presumed Chechen terrorists were able to transport tons of hexagon
to locations all over Russia.


Finally, Chechen terrorists, if they acted alone, would have had to
demonstrate technical virtuosity. In Moscow, the bomb on Gurianov Street
caused an entire stairway to collapse. On Kashirskoye Highway, an eight
story brick building was reduced to rubble. In Volgodonsk, the truck bomb,
which killed 17 people, also damaged 37 buildings in the surrounding area.


To achieve this type of result, the explosives had to be carefully measured
and planted. In the case of the Moscow apartment bombings, they had to be
placed to destroy the weakest, critical structural elements so that the
buildings would collapse "like a house of cards." Such careful calculations
are the mark of skilled specialists and the only places where such
specialists are trained in Russia are the army spetsnaz forces, military
intelligence (GRU) and the Federal Security Bureau (FSB.)


As it presses its second Chechen campaign, the Russian government has been
careful to depict itself as a victim of international terrorism. 


The West, however, should use extreme caution in accepting the Russian
version of events. The bombing of Russian civilian apartment buildings by
Chechen terrorists, if it did occur, would not necessarily justify the
invasion of Chechnya but the bombing of Russian civilians by their own
government would be a certain sign that both Russia and the West face
serious dangers from the lengths to which some members of the present regime
may go to protect the corrupt Yeltsin government. 


*******


#4
Moscow Times
November 6, 1999 
Newspaper: Talbott Said U.S. Knew 


A Russian newspaper quoted U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott as 
saying Washington had been aware of Russian money laundering through the Bank 
of New York for two years and had criticized it "moderately," but a U.S. 
government official said Talbott was misquoted. 


Segodnya wrote Friday that Talbott, speaking to a group of Russian 
journalists in Washington last week, had said the U.S. government knew long 
ago of alleged Russian money laundering and had complained about it through 
International Monetary Fund channels. 


"In the past year our Treasury Department, long before this last scandal, 
started looking into it. For two years we have been criticizing money 
laundering moderately through the IMF," Segodnya quoted Talbott as saying. 


"That must be a bad translation, because obviously we did not [know about 
money laundering]," a U.S. government official, who asked not to be 
identified, said in a telephone interview from Washington. 


Segodnya reporter Sergei Mulin said in a telephone interview Friday that he 
had reported Talbott's comments exactly as they had been translated by 
Talbott's interpreter. 


*******


#5
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 
From: "Bjorn Kaupang" <trader@wood.nnov.ru> 
Subject: Can we count on Law ?
By Bjorn Kaupang, Nizhny Novgorod
David Hoffman, Washington Post had an article in JRL 3605 on this
theme, and I fully agree that it's impossible to foresee what is going
to happen, whatever the law predicts, because it's other than rule of
law that works.
I have been writing about my experience here in Nizhny Novgorod,
both on shareholders rights and on the Law on Bankruptcy. For the
later, we are now facing a new impressing development in this case ;
The External Manager, who disagree with the result of the tender held
in March (5 votes against 1(the external manager) in the committee), is
now preparing a new tender, on condition of her own. Which in clear
words mean she is preparing for a buyer she prefer.
But, still the tender held in March is not canceled, nobody have even
applied for that. Can we then count on the law for to stop this, and make
final papers for to handle the company over to us, as legal winners of
the tender ? I would not count on that !!!
The company where we have the case with the shareholders right, is also
going into a interesting situation. Of course this company is in the same
situation as approx. 80 % of the rest of the companies in Russia - ready
for bankruptcy.
But, what is happening is the following ; The General Manager have started
on a course for to get license as "External Manager", because he have 
a clear wish of putting the company into this position. This he have told us
by himself, for to avoid Creditors claiming for money. I'm also rather sure
he have support of the local Mayor, as he is the "strong guy" in this "team".
This is some kind of the local "oligarch", who rob the company, without
any thoughts about the rest of the society. And local people still are very
quiet, even if they can see that this guy have built a new house, size approx.
150 m3 in three floors, with the salary of Mayor (?).
But in this case they will not succeed, because we are also big creditor after
doing a lot of investment, in addition to costs of our shares, and have
already
started the procedure for declare the company bankrupt, and take it under
"External Management", where our company, together we some other 
friendly creditors, have control in the creditors committee.
But, why is it like this in the country, why is it impossible to change the 
attitude of managers, political leaders and so on ????
Probably the answer only is confirmed by what have been in the past, they
continue living in the "old system" - as several articles here in JRL have
described many times.
My wish for the country, is that the West start helping on implementing the
rule of the law, and also adapt the law to the real life.


*******


#6
Moscow Times
November 6, 1999 
EDITORIAL: U.S. Accepts Need to Kill Innocents 


In a December 1994 radio interview, U.S. President Bill Clinton urged the 
Russians waging war in Chechnya to wrap things up with "the least possible 
violence." That comment was translated into Russian as with "a minimum of 
bloodshed" or "little bloodshed" - a phrase that Chechens and Russian 
liberals saw as unfortunate. After all, at the time Russia was carpetbombing 
civilian neighborhoods in Grozny. Why not urge the Russians to stop killing 
civilians altogether? 


Now here we are five years later, and Washington is in some ways more 
prepared than ever to take a sharp tone with Moscow over Chechnya. Criticism 
of the war is also in many ways more justifiable than ever. Yet we have U.S. 
Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott weakly echoing Clinton's notorious 
"minimal bloodshed" call from the first war. 


Why? Because Talbott & Co. are trapped by the logic of Kosovo - which holds 
that destroying civilian infrastructure and killing civilians can be 
acceptable means for a government's ends. 


In fact, Talbott's remarks in 1999 are far more troubling than Clinton's in 
1994. Clinton had accepted Moscow's position that it was battling 
secessionists, and so he accepted the need for the war; when he compared 
President Boris Yeltsin to Abraham Lincoln, he was saying that he was not 
going to show much sympathy for secessionist tendencies in a patchwork quilt 
of nations and passions like Russia. So when Clinton called for "the least 
possible violence," he was being morally consistent - he had accepted the 
need for violence to stop secession and was urging moderation. Fair enough. 


Where Clinton earned shame was in the United States' foot-dragging response 
to the execution of the war. Russia went wild in Chechnya, killing tens of 
thousands of civilians, including thousands of children; Washington responded 
hazily. 


But even so, during the first Chechen war, neither Clinton nor anyone else in 
his administration ever argued that Russia had the right to kill civilians; 
that had to wait until the present day and Talbott, who has asked the 
Russians to strive for "minimal civilian casualties." 


The Russians have been busily and unapologetically bombing hospitals, 
collective farms, apartment blocks and the Grozny marketplace, and given 
that, they have been forcing civilian refugees back into a war zone. And 
that's the best that this State Department official can come up with? Because 
what this comment does is accept that it's justifiable to kill X number of 
terrified children and old women, as long we keep the amount as "minimal" as 
possible. It's a subtle point - but then, the post-Kosovo world is doomed to 
be plagued by such subtleties. 


******


#7
Chechens flee ghost towns, Russian bombs
By Maria Eismont

ON THE CHECHEN-INGUSH BORDER, Russia, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Thousands of refugees 
left what they called devastated ghost towns in Chechnya on Friday as Russian 
warplanes launched more raids in a six-week campaign against Moslem rebels. 


Russia's army headquarters at Mozdok, just outside the breakaway region, was 
quoted as saying that planes had made more than 100 sorties in the past 24 
hours, killing more than 100 ``extremists'' and damaging their camps. 


Refugees, some having waited for two weeks at the border, moved freely from 
Chechnya for the second day after Russia reopened the clogged checkpoint with 
the province of Ingushetia. 


Russia has been bombing and shelling Moslem rebels whom it calls 
``terrorists'' as its forces advance into Chechnya. 


``When they started shooting, everyone started packing up their things and 
leaving,'' said Idris Elgukayev, a village elder in Sernovodsk, just inside 
Chechnya. 


``No more than 20 percent of people stayed there either because they couldn't 
leave, they were too old, or they did not fear the Russians,'' he said after 
he crossed into Ingushetia. 


``Today, we are moving like we're on a smooth, smooth road,'' said Sair, 45, 
from Samashki, finally celebrating his arrival in Ingushetia with two 
daughters and a son after a week's wait. 


SOME VENTURE OUT THROUGH GEORGIA 


A few hundred refugees left along a perilous alternative route through 
mountains into Georgia. Some spent the night on the 1,400-metre 
(4,500-foot)-high road. 


They spoke of almost non-stop Russian bomb and missile attacks on Chechen 
villages and many said some bombs exploded a few metres above the ground, 
sending razor-sharp metal flying. 


``They are designed to maim. If one hits you, it takes a big chunk of flesh 
out of you, like a machete,'' Baudi Batuyev said. 


The refugee exodus and increasing number of civilian casualties have prompted 
a chorus of Western criticism. 


A senior general dismissed criticism voiced again on Thursday by British 
Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. 


``To great misfortune, an entire series of statements by responsible Western 
leaders...are based on the so-called CNN effect,'' said Valery Manilov, first 
deputy chief of the general staff. ``By their own admission, they formulate 
political positions on the basis of information that is not confirmed.'' 


PUTIN LOOKS FOR SUPPORT 


Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was quoted as telling his Turkish counterpart 
that Moscow wanted international support, including from Moslem countries, 
for its campaign. 


Putin and Turkish premier Bulent Ecevit signed a joint declaration on 
fighting terrorism but steered clear of an uncomfortable direct discussion of 
Chechnya. 


Turks feel close to the Moslems of the North Caucasus, but Ecevit referred to 
the campaign as Russia's internal affair. 


Many leaders have urged talks with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov but 
Moscow has so far resisted the pressure, vowing only to destroy the rebels it 
accuses of bomb blasts in Russia. 


The fighters, often outside Maskhadov's control, say they had nothing to do 
with the explosions. 


******


#8
ANALYSIS-West raises voice, not action on Chechnya
By Paul Taylor, Diplomatic Editor

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The West is raising the volume of criticism of 
Russia's military onslaught in Chechnya but analysts say Western countries 
have little leverage, and trying to punish Moscow could be counterproductive. 


Under public pressure from harrowing images of refugees fleeing the breakaway 
republic, the United States, Britain and Germany have stepped up calls on 
Russia to seek a political solution and avert an humanitarian catastrophe. 


Western governments hope this month's Istanbul summit of the Organisation for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will be an opportunity to convince 
Russia to allow the international community to help play a role in Chechnya. 


But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is riding a wave of public support 
for the offensive against what Moscow calls ``Islamic terrorists'' and 
Russian generals seem determined to press their advantage on the ground. 


Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said this week that Russian troops planned to 
take eventual control of the entire separatist region, from which they were 
forced out in a bloody 1994-96 war. 


Western action over Chechnya so far has been largely verbal and symbolic, 
prompting growing media criticism. 


The French daily Liberation, for example, ran the front-page headline 
``Silence, killing in progress!'' in protest at what it called the 
indifference of Europe and the United States. 


Perhaps stung by such scorn, British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote to Putin 
on Thursday urging Russia to halt its advance on the Chechen capital Grozny, 
and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and German Foreign Minister 
Joschka Fischer made a joint appeal for a peace dialogue with Chechen 
leaders. 


Washington accused Moscow of using ``indiscriminate force against innocent 
civilians'' and called it indefensible. 


The European Parliament withheld approval of a modest package of scientific 
and research assistance for Russia worth less than $100,000 in a gesture of 
disapproval. 


The parliamentary assembly of the 41-nation Council of Europe, which promotes 
democracy and human rights, called on Thursday for a ceasefire in Chechnya 
and urged Moscow to ``abstain from any human rights violations'' but stopped 
short of more serious measures. 


The Council admitted Russia in 1996 during the first Chechen war, which drew 
largely token Western protests. 


ENGAGEMENT BETTER THAN PUNISHMENT 


Experts said engagement with Russia was a more promising avenue than punitive 
measures such as sanctions or exclusion to influence the outcome in Chechnya. 


``Russia is fed up with being lectured by the West. Our moral influence 
counts for nothing after Kosovo,'' said Anatol Lieven of the International 
Institute for Strategic Studies. 


Halting International Monetary Fund lending to Russia would only provoke a 
default on Moscow's debt and cause a shock to the international financial 
system, he said. 


``The best the West can do is to combine political pressure to let the 
refugees out and let international organisations take care of them, with 
efforts to involve the OSCE on the ground in relief work and eventual 
mediation,'' Lieven said. 


He noted that the OSCE had provided a channel for Russia to talk to Chechen 
leader Aslan Maskhadov at the end of the first Chechen war, leading to a 
political settlement. 


Leaders of the 54 OSCE member states are due to sign an updated treaty 
limiting Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) to take account of post-Cold War 
changes at the November 18-19 Istanbul summit. 


But Russia is in breach of that treaty by its own admission by pouring tanks 
and armoured vehicles into Chechnya, and Putin declined to give a timetable 
at a meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Oslo this week for coming 
into compliance. 


Some Western officials question whether there is any point in signing the 
treaty under such circumstances, and there is strong diplomatic pressure on 
Russia to give some ground to avoid a fiasco at the Istanbul meeting. 


But a senior NATO diplomat said most allies wanted to sign the CFE treaty 
because it gives the West more leverage, for example in the right to demand 
inspections of Russian violations. 


``The OSCE is important to the Russians because they regard it as the premier 
European security forum in contrast to NATO. Perhaps we can use the summit to 
persuade them to allow some OSCE role on the ground,'' a senior European 
diplomat said. 


VIDEO DIPLOMACY 


So far Russian ministers and officials have taken a hard line towards any 
Western criticism, insisting Chechnya is a purely internal affair and Moscow 
will not be swayed by criticism. 


But Western officials said the decision to allow Chechen refugees to leave 
the rebel republic on Thursday was partly a response to international 
political and humanitarian criticism. 


The NATO diplomat said Russia had agreed to a two-hour discussion of Chechnya 
at an informal meeting with alliance ambassadors in Brussels last week. 


But it had spent much of the time showing them a gruesome video apparently 
sent by Chechen kidnappers to their victims' families, showing what would 
happen to their loved ones if they did not pay a ransom. 


Putin has responded to criticism by urging Western and Moslem countries to 
give Russia international support in the fight against terrorism. 


*******


#9
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 
From: kathyc <kathyc@qur.nrl.navy.mil> 
Subject: piontkovski 


Dear David,
Here is an update for your readers about the international action taken
for Dr. Sergey Piontkovski, an oceanographer in the Ukraine
Kathy Crane
Hunter College
> 6. THE ARREST OF DR SERGEY PIONTKOVSKI - OUR READERS TAKE ACTION
> In issue 180 we informed our readers of the arrest of Ukrainian
> marine biologist Dr Sergey Piontkovski (Article 1: 'Disturbing
> news from the Ukraine'). Charles Miller updates us on the action
> that is being undertaken:
> 
> "Hello Oceanspace,
> This is just to thank you for promptly posting the notice from
> IBSS in Sevastopol about the arrest and other difficulties of
> Sergey Piontkovski. 
> 
> It got lots of us going on asking questions and pursuing Sergey's
> welfare. You made a very useful contribution indeed. You will
> see an article regarding this in Nature shortly. The U.S. National
> Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, and others are now
> working on the situation. It seems like none of it may actually
> help, but what can be done is being done."
> 
> Charles B. Miller, Prof. Oceanography, Oregon State University,
> USA
> E-mail: cm@OCE.ORST.EDU
*******


#10
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 
From: machinegun@glasnet.ru (Victor Kalashnikov) 
Subject: Barkashov


here's an episode about the 'neo-Nazi' Barkashov. He was 
shot into his leg in late 1993 on a Moscow street - after he 
had 'successfully' defended the White House in October of 
same year. For treatment he was brought into the 
Krasnogorsk military hospital near Moscow. To note: that 
hospital is a prestigious medical institution owned by Ministry 
of Defence. To be treated there you need to be either a high-
ranking officer with good connections or a wounded hero.


******


#11
Moscow Times
November 6, 1999 
Duma Candidates Put in Their Place 
By Valeria Korchagina
Staff Writer


Numerology was the pseudo-science that State Duma candidates appealed to 
Friday after their order on the ballot was determined by an election 
commission lottery. 


Although the simple procedure of random number generation was most likely 
ruled by the laws of probability, many candidates were convinced that divine 
intervention was at work. 


"I just drew my favorite number," said former Prime Minister Sergei 
Kiriyenko, leader of the Union of Right Forces election bloc, after the 
lottery machine spat out the number 23. 


"All the women in my family were born on the 23rd - my wife, my daughter and 
my grandmother. On March 23, I was appointed acting prime minister. On April 
23, I was approved by the State Duma as prime minister. On June 23, we 
proposed our anti-crisis program. On July 23, we received the IMF loan. And 
on Aug. 23, I was removed from office," he told journalists, recounting the 
tumultuous chronology of 1998. 


Kiriyenko predicted the Union of Right Forces would receive 23 percent of the 
vote - though the latest polls show the bloc getting from 3 percent to 4 
percent. 


State Duma Deputy Oleg Morozov, who represented the Fatherland-All Russia 
bloc, led by former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, also seemed cheered by 
his draw - No. 19. He said that boded well for his bloc's turnout in the Dec. 
19 election. 


"On Dec. 19, which number should be picked by voters? The 19th! And we will 
get 19 percent," Morozov said, obviously unaware that Kiriyenko had used the 
same logic to conclude that his bloc would get 23 percent. 


Morozov said it was a good sign that Fatherland-All Russia's main competitor, 
the Communist Party, was lower down - even if only slightly - at No. 20. 


Duma Deputy Vladimir Zhirinovsky's eponymous bloc sent three representatives 
to pick a number. 


"This is to avoid a situation where a single person is blamed for getting an 
unlucky number," said Alexei Mitrofanov, Zhirinovsky's close ally in 
parliament. 


The Zhirinovsky Bloc will be 17th on the list of 28 blocs and parties. By 
coincidence, the bloc managed to keep the number under which it was initially 
registered by the Central Election Commission. 


Mitrofanov suggested the coincidence had a supernatural significance. 
"Fortune will remain with us, and we will get 17 percent of the votes," he 
proclaimed. He said he was pleased that the Zhirinovsky Bloc was neither 
first, nor last, nor 13th. 


Candidates said that of the 28 slots, the top and bottom numbers were less 
preferable, as they are likely to be overlooked by voters. 


The No. 1 slot went to the little-known Conservative Party of Russia. In the 
1995 election, the movement failed to win the necessary 5 percent of the 
votes to earn Duma seats. 


The Russian Socialist Party, headed by maverick pharmaceutical and alcohol 
baron Vladimir Bryntsalov, will be last on the ballot. But Bryntsalov was 
optimistic. 


"I believe that the Lord's hand will guide the voter's hand right to the end 
of the list to where we will be located," Bryntsalov said. 


The ominous No. 13 went to the Russian Party for the Protection of Women, but 
the movement's representatives did not comment on this turn of fate. 


According to the election law, the numbers are assigned to blocs for the 
duration of the campaign. Even if a bloc or party drops out, the numbers will 
be kept and there will be blank spaces on the ballots for the lost 
contenders. 


Candidates said the assigned numbers will be used in campaigning, to help 
voters locate the right bloc on the ballot. 


"No. 10 is a good, round number that is easy to remember. We are going to 
incorporate it into our advertising," said Alexei Podberyozkin, leader of the 
Spiritual Heritage movement, which will be 10th on the ballot. 


The Stalinist bloc, led by Viktor Anpilov and Josef Stalin's grandson Yevgeny 
Dzhugashvili, drew the fifth slot. While the only meaning party 
representatives attached to their draw was that they would be guaranteed at 
least 5 percent of the vote, the number may have more ominous connotations 
for the bloc. After all, Stalin died on March 5. 


******


#12
Moscow Times
November 6, 1999 
The 28 blocs running for the State Duma and their leaders in the order 
they will appear on the ballot 


1. Conservative Party of Russia 
Lev Ubozhko 
Vladimir Burenin 
Andrei Tishkov 


2. Russian All-People's Union 
Sergei Baburin 
Nikolai Leonov 
Nikolai Pavlov 


3. Women of Russia 
Alevtina Fedulova 
Galina Karelova 
Nina Veselova 


4. Spas Movement 
Alexander Barkashov 
Vladimir Davidenko 
Dmitry Belik 


5. Stalinist Bloc for the U.S.S.R. 
Viktor Anpilov 
Stanislav Terekhov 
Yevgeny Dzhugashvili 


6. Yabloko 
Grigory Yavlinsky 
Sergei Stepashin 
Vladimir Lukin 


7. Social Democrats 
Vladimir Belyayev 
Tatyana Tsyba 
Vasily Topov 


8. Peace, Labor, May 
Alexander Burkov 
Valery Trushnikov 
Alexander Tatarkin 


9. The General Andrei Nikolayev and Academician Svyatoslav Fyodorov Bloc 
Andrei Nikolayev 
Svyatoslav Fyodorov 
Tatyana Malyutina 


10. Spiritual Heritage 
Alexei Podberyozkin 
Pyotr Proskurin 
Valery Vorotnikov 


11. Congress of Russian Communities and the Yury Boldyrev Movement 
Yury Boldyrev 
Dmitry Rogozin 
Viktor Glukhikh 


12. Party for Peace and Unity 
Sazhi Umalatova 
Viktor Stepanov 
Nikolai Antoshkin 


13. Russian Party for the Protection of Women 
Tatyana Roshchina 
Zhanna Makhova 
Irina Kremenets 


14. Medved (Unity) 
Sergei Shoigu 
Alexander Karelin 
Alexander Gurov 


15. Communists and Workers of Russia for the Soviet Union 
Viktor Tyulkin 
Anatoly Kryuchkov 
Vladimir Aseyev 


16. Movement in Support of the Army 
Viktor Ilyukhin 
Albert Makashov 
Yury Savelyev 


17. The Zhirinovsky Bloc 
Vladimir Zhirinovsky 
Oleg Finko 
Igor Solomatin 


18. For Civil Dignity 
Ella Pamfilova 
Alexander Dondukov 
Anatoly Shkirko 


19. Fatherland-All Russia 
Yevgeny Primakov 
Yury Luzhkov 
Vladimir Yakovlev 


20. Communist Party of the Russian Federation 
Gennady Zyuganov 
Gennady Seleznyov 
Vasily Starodubtsev 


21. Movement of Patriotic Forces - Russian Cause 
Oleg Ivanov 
Yury Petrov 
Mikhail Sidorov 


22. All-Russian Political Party of the People 
Anzori Aksentyev-Kikalishvili 
Tatyana Bure 
Vladimir Shainsky 


23. Union of Right Forces 
Sergei Kiriyenko 
Boris Nemtsov 
Irina Khakamada 


24. Kedr 
Anatoly Panfilov 
Vladimir Petrov 
Ivan Okhlobystin 


25. Our Home Is Russia 
Viktor Chernomyrdin 
Vladimir Ryzhkov 
Dmitry Ayatskov 


26. Socialist Party of Russia 
Ivan Rybkin 
Leonid Mayorov 
Andrei Belishko 


27. Pensioners' Party 
Yakov Ryabov 
Anatoly Kontashov 
Rimma Markova 


28. Russian Socialist Party 
Vladimir Bryntsalov 
Igor Bryntsalov 
Yury Bryntsalov 


*******


#13
Papers Show Gorbachev Contradiction
By DAVID BRISCOE
November 5, 1999

WASHINGTON (AP) - Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mikhail Gorbachev was 
making speeches that promised the Soviet Union would not intervene as reform 
spread across Eastern Europe. Privately, once-secret documents show, he was 
telling Soviet Bloc leaders to stand firm and safeguard communism. 


``Comrade Gorbachev emphasized that we clearly have to draw the boundaries,'' 
said a previously classified Hungarian account of a conversation between the 
Soviet leader and Hungarian party chief Karoly Grosz. The document was among 
several released Friday by the private National Security Archive. 


Such warnings left some party reformers wondering whether Moscow might still 
send in tanks to prevent the collapse of communism in Hungary, East Germany 
and elsewhere, said Tom Blanton, archive director. 


With the help of researchers in Eastern Europe and Russia, the George 
Washington University-based archive has been obtaining official transcripts, 
memos and diaries documenting the collapse of Soviet communism. Some are 
being prepared for publication but were released Friday at a seminar marking 
the breaching of the wall 10 years ago. 


``There was an implicit threat that the Soviets did have a sense of limits 
that were vital to the Communist Party in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe 
maintaining power,'' Blanton said. 


A Hungarian memorandum of the conversation between Gorbachev and Grosz eight 
months before the wall fell in Germany describe the Soviet leader as 
expressing confidence that the communists could retain power and that people 
were afraid of armed conflict. 


Gorbachev, according to the document, warned Grosz that Western countries are 
pushing ``a development that suits their own political ideas.'' 


``Democracy is much needed, and the interests have to be harmonized,'' 
Gorbachev is quoted as saying. ``The limit, however, is the safekeeping of 
socialism and assurance of stability.'' 


Gorbachev said this week that he never regretted his decision not to 
intervene in East Germany and other Eastern European countries where 
communism fell. It would have led to bloodshed, he said, and would have gone 
against his political philosophy and morals and led to possible superpower 
confrontation. 


``By the time discontent in East Germany had been transformed into a mass 
movement, the people there knew that my policy of `freedom of choice' was not 
just a propaganda slogan,'' Gorbachev said in a commentary published in 
Newsweek. 


The archive's Blanton said the previously secret conversations and meetings 
reveal Gorbachev's contradictions as he tried to set boundaries and prevent 
the collapse of the Communist Party while at the same time end a legacy of 
Soviet repression. 


Another document reports that Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa told 
then-West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl hours before the Berlin Wall was 
unexpectedly opened that he wanted the wall to stay. Walesa said he feared 
Kohl's German government would put Poland ``in the background'' if it were 
unified with impoverished East Germany. 


``Events are moving too fast,'' Walesa told Kohl in Warsaw. Their 
conversation was just before the German chancellor got word that the wall was 
open and cut short his visit to Warsaw to fly to Berlin. 


The newly disclosed accounts of discussions involving top-level leaders 
behind the Iron Curtain also include: 


An extraordinary Nov. 10, 1989, entry from the diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, 
Gorbachev's foreign policy assistant, with an instant reaction to the fall of 
the Berlin Wall from inside the Kremlin: ``This entire era in the history of 
the socialist system is over.'' He praised Gorbachev for not intervening and 
allowing ``history to find a natural channel.'' Chernyaev said the fall of 
East German leader Erich Honecker left only three communist leaders, all of 
whom ``hate our guts'': Fidel Castro of Cuba, Kim Il Sung of North Korea and 
Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania. 


A previously secret transcript of a speech by Czechoslovak Prime Minister 
Ladislav Adamec at a Communist Party session where he spells out the reasons 
for nonviolence against protesters. While violent state action would 
temporarily return calm, he said, it also would radicalize the youth, end 
international support from other socialist countries and trigger boycotts 
from capitalist states. 


Documents are available at the National Security Archive's Web site, 
www.gwu.edu/nsarchiv. 


*******


#14
Clinton to face "difficult choice" if Russia nixes ABM changes: Pentagon


WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (AFP) - 
President Bill Clinton will face a "difficult choice" over whether to 
withdraw from the 1972 ABM treaty if Russia rejects changes that would allow 
deployment of US anti-missile defenses against a limited rogue missile 
attack, a senior Pentagon official said Friday.


"If they persist absolutely in that position, then ... President Clinton, the 
United States in general, will have to face a very difficult question which 
is whether to withdraw from the treaty," said Walter Slocombe, US 
undersecretary of defense for policy.


Moscow has responded negatively so far to US proposals to modify the 1972 ABM 
treaty, which limits each country to a single anti-missile site and bars 
systems designed to protect the US or Russian national territories. Building 
such an anti-missile defense system would violate the 1972 treaty.


To persuade Moscow that the proposed US anti-missile system poses no threat 
to its strategic arsenal, Washington has offered to help upgrade Russia's 
decrepit early warning radars and "cooperatively" operate intelligence 
satellites with it.


But with or without Russia's okay, Clinton is expected to decide next June 
whether to go ahead with the deployment of the first phase of a national 
missile defense system to counter a looming missile threat from North Korea 
and the Middle East.


As outlined by Slocombe in a speech here at the Center for Strategic and 
International Studies, the system initially would consist of a site in Alaska 
with 100 interceptor missiles backed by an advanced X-Band radar and a 
network of early warning satellites. It is projected to be operational by 
2005.


Washington also has made clear to the Russians that US plans call for adding 
a second interceptor site, possibly including foreign-based radars, which 
would require additional changes in the ABM treaty down the road.


The first phase of the anti-missile system would be designed to protect all 
50 US states against a launch of "a few tens of North Korean warheads 
accompanied by basic penetration aids," Slocombe said. It also would protect 
against a few warheads launched from various locations in the Middle East, he 
said.


The second phase could be deployed by 2011, and would involve a more 
sophisticated network early warning satellites capable of distinguishing 
incoming missiles from "more complex penetration aides" or decoys, according 
to Slocombe.


*******


#15
Fatherland-All Russia Publishes Election Manifesto.


MOSCOW, November 5 (Itar-Tass) - The Fatherland-All Russia electoral bloc 
published its manifesto on Friday. The bloc, to run its candidates in the 
elections to the State Duma lower house of parliament on December 19, is led 
by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and has former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov 
on top of its federal list. 


The slates of Fatherland-All Russia are a strong state, order on the basis of 
law, cooperation of all sound forces of society, conditions for economic 
development, priority to development of the agricultural sector, national 
security, property rights, freedom of speech and mass media, and ethnic 
rights. 


Fatherland-All Russia cited among its priorities the preservation of "strong, 
indivisible, federative multi-national Russia, reforms in interests of 
Russians, protection of rights and liberties of citizens, ensuring the growth 
of their well- being, guarantees of the social orientation of market 
reforms". 


The manifesto capitalises on the need for strong armed forces as an 
"indispensable condition of ensuring national interests of Russia, a 
guarantor of its indivisibility and sanctity of borders". 


Fatherland-All Russia said "Russian mass media should be protected from both 
the state dictate and arbitrariness of commercial structures; any monopoly in 
the mass media is ruinous for democracy". 


*******


#16
All Party Money Found, Passed Over to State Investigator.


MOSCOW, November 5 (Itar-Tass) - Deputy chief of the Russian Prosecutor 
General's Office main investigation department Sergei Aristov, who was in 
charge of a team looking for the "party gold" in 1992, bluntly refutes claims 
that a part of those funds has been deliberately concealed from the state and 
now may be used by a political force in the election campaign. 


"In the course of the investigation every kopeck, which the administrative 
department of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee had, was found and 
registered," Aristov told Itar-Tass on Friday. He commented on Thursday's 
report of Novye Izvestia claiming that, due to the cooperation of the 
investigation team with the then chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service 
Yevgeny Primakov, some important documents were kept secret. In the words of 
the newspaper, these documents dwelt, in particular, the activity of the 
"Simaco" party concern related to the defense industries and the 
Scientific-Industrial Union of Arkady Volsky. 


According to Arisov, that is simply a conjecture, bearing in mind such 
information is spread by people who have nothing to do with the 
investigation. 


"That was a criminal case, the investigation into which verified documents of 
the state importance that carried the top secrecy sign in the Soviet times," 
Aristov said. "If the persons, who did the investigation, refute such 
inventions, all the rest, who had nothing to do with the case and did not see 
the files, can say anything but it will be mere words." 


"The genuine documents, which could give the right to speak about anything, 
are being kept in the case file. All the rest is versions, assumptions, 
conjectures," he noted. 


The investigation resulted in the location of some 7.5 billion Soviet rubles. 
That is a huge sum, bearing in mind the exchange rate was 60 kopecks to the 
dollar, Aristov said. 


"All the money was found and passed over to the state," he noted. yer/ 


********


#17
FORMER RUSSIAN PM'S RATING FALLING


MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) - In October the popularity of former
Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, the leader of the Fatherland -
All Russia bloc, started to fall.
It used to increase following his appointment as prime minister in
September 1998 until May 1999. Though, it did drop somewhat from
February to early May when it was 18%.
In mid-May, when he was dismissed, his presidential rating
increased to 22%. At that time he overtook communist leader Gennady
Zyuganov. His popularity was at the highest again early in August when
it reached 23% to start dwindling again.
In particular, to answer the question, ff the presidential
elections were held next Sunday, who of the listed candidates would you
vote for? Primakov was named by 18% of the poll taken by the Public
Opinion fund on October 16, 14% on October 23 and 13% on October 30.
If the choice were between two men, Primakov would lose to Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin in October, with 36% and 42%, respectively,
voting for them.
The fund polls 1,500 urban and rural residents weekly in areas
close to the interviewers' home. Sociologists say that the statistical
error of such polls stays within 3.6%.


******


#18
BEREZOVSKY BEHIND PERSECUTION OF FATHERLAND-ALL RUSSIA - LUZHKOV


MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) - Moscow Mayor and Fatherland movement
leader Yuri Luzhkov has sharply criticized well-known tycoon Boris
Berezovsky's activities.
Berezovsky is "the chief organizer of the harassment of Fatherland-
All Russia election bloc leaders," Luzhkov told the Moskovsky
Komsomolets newspaper.
Russian "The presidential staff aggressively opposes Fatherland-All
Russia, the Moscow City government and the city's mayor," Luzhkov said.
"While Boris Abramovich [Berezovsky] is the main organizer of this
harassment, [Yeltsin's chief of staff Alexander] Voloshin is the main
implementer. However, he does not merely do what he is told, but takes
the initiative," he said.
"The president's staff probably had the intention of imposing
emergency rule with all the consequences that entails," he said. "The
attitude of society" and the "lack of power" prevented them from
implementing "this scenario," he said. The army would not have backed
this plan, he added.
An open letter from the alliance's leaders "is primarily addressed
to the people," Luzhkov said. "We wanted to speak openly about real
happenings in the top echelons of power and lay out our position," he
said.
"Numerous previous occasions have proved to us that [Yeltsin] is
capable of acting very decisively. It is noted that he is unpredictable.
[Yeltsin's] actions were unexpected not only for the general public, but
also for his inner circle," he said. "The situation has principally
changed," he said.
Yeltsin "is no longer in control of events. As they say, he is not
on the subject. Things are neither spun by Voloshin nor the Kremlin
administration, but unfortunately by Boris Abramovich, and I have every
reason to say this. Berezovsky does not only give orders to Voloshin,
his former subordinate, but he rules law-enforcement agencies. Certainly
not all [the agencies], but the most important ones," he said.
Prime Minister Vladimir "Putin makes a strange impression. He seems
to be formally independent of Berezovsky. But I think that there are a
lot of conditions here," he said.
"Those on top seem to abide by the law of the herd. Everybody is
afraid, they are primarily afraid to lose power. But everything is
absolutely rotten up there," he said.
Regarding his libel suit against television journalist Sergei
Dorenko, Luzhkov said that journalists should face criminal charges.
Luzhkov said that it is in civil court that he usually files libel
suits.
"Dorenko's slander was premeditated and he knows that perfectly
well. Let a civil trial take place. I will have Dorenko go broke," he
said.
Furthermore, Luzhkov voiced disapproval of "bombing squares" in
Chechnya. "Those are Russian citizens. It turns out that the government
has again decided to fight its own people," he said. The Khasavyurt
accords [Krasnoyarsk Governor] Alexander Lebed signed back then
represent "capitulation to bandits. Civilians are paying for that now,"
he said.


*******


#19
Charges dropped against Russia businessman Berezovsky
November 5, 1999


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian prosecutors said Friday they dropped charges, 
including those of alleged money-laundering, against prominent businessman 
Boris Berezovsky, who has had good ties to President Boris Yeltsin's family. 


Charges of money-laundering, illegal business practices and continuing 
business activity while holding a government post were filed against 
Berezovsky in April. 


Berezovsky denied the charges. 


``A resolution has been drawn up to stop the criminal investigation against 
Berezovsky,'' Special Investigator Nikolai Volkov told ORT public television. 


``Bearing in mind that it was too early to pass the case over to court, and 
the guilt of Berezovsky was not fully confirmed by the documents the 
investigators had, it was decided to lift the charges,'' he was quoted as 
saying by Itar-Tass news agency. 


Volkov told ORT that documents sent from Switzerland, where various 
Russian-linked investigations have been pursued, also failed fully to confirm 
the initial charges against Berezovsky. 


Berezovsky built up a huge business empire after the Soviet Union collapsed 
in 1991. But he said he stopped his business activities while he was deputy 
secretary of Russia's advisory Security Council and later the executive 
secretary of the 12-nation Commonwealth of Independent States. 


His influence was long thought by political analysts to go beyond his 
official titles. Berezovsky helped finance Yeltsin's re-election campaign in 
1996 but later fell from favor. 


******