January 18, 2000    
This Date's Issues: 4044 4045 4046

Johnson's Russia List
#4046
18 January 2000
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. Reuters: Putin vows no dictatorship in Russia.
2. Reuters: Russian Duma speaker is smooth veteran. (Seleznyov)
3. REMARKS BY ACTING PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN AT THE FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRD STATE DUMA.
4. New York Times editorial: The Debilitated Russian Military.
5. New York Times: Anders Aslund, Underselling Russia's Economy.
6. Kommersant: It Was Profitable To Kill Starovoitova. SHE WAS CARRYING THE PARTY MONEY.
7. Itar-Tass: No Proof that Ex-Omon Policeman Killed Starovoitova.
8. Reuters: Albright has kind words for Putin.
9. Los Angeles Times: Richard Paddock, Russia Hiding War Casualties, Activists Charge.
10. The Independent (UK): Helen Womack, FRIENNDSHIP REMAINS A BETTER INVESTMENT IN RUSSIA THAN A CAREER.
11. Segodnya: RUSSIA'S PUTIN SEEN IN TROUBLE AS CHECHEN WAR SPINS OUT OF CONTROL.]

******

#1
WRAPUP-Putin vows no dictatorship in Russia
By Ron Popeski

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Acting President Vladimir Putin vowed on Tuesday 
that dictatorship would never take hold in Russia and called for a 
partnership with the newly elected parliament to proceed with market-oriented 
economic change. 

In separatist Chechnya, Itar-Tass news agency said Russian troops had broken 
through rebel lines in a second day of concerted attacks on the capital 
Grozny, renewing progress that had stalled since the New Year. 

The new State Duma lower house of parliament, elected last month, had 
difficulty finding a consensus on its first day, calling four recesses in its 
bid to elect a speaker. Communist incumbent Gennady Seleznyov was among 
leading candidates. 

Putin's conciliatory message to parliament's opening session coincided with 
the opening stages of the election campaign in which he is heavily favoured. 
Some opponents suspect Putin, a former head of the domestic security service, 
of having tendencies toward authoritarian rule. 

"Those who speak about a possible dictatorship are themselves dreaming of 
it," Putin said after his address. "Their dream is impossible in modern 
Russia. This issue is settled." 

Tass quoted Russian military headquarters in Chechnya as saying troops had 
reached Grozny's centre after a night of heavy artillery and aerial 
bombardment. Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said the operation to take 
the city was nearing an end. 

China's visiting Defence Minister offered Putin Beijing's "full support" for 
the Chechnya operation, where Putin has used an uncompromising stand to build 
up his popularity ahead of an early presidential election on March 26. 

Rare domestic criticism came from a pressure group of Russian soldiers' 
mothers which accused the Kremlin of violating the rules of war and urged 
Putin to seek a political solution. 

MODERATELY LIBERAL 

Putin, who has made few detailed disclosures on the economy, said his 
government stood for "moderately liberal" policy. 

"The government should create a good investment climate in the country, 
trying to strengthen the state institutions that support market mechanisms," 
he said. 

That meant courts, arbitration and anti-monopoly bodies "should serve the 
interests of the entire government and not specific groups." He ruled out a 
central bank proposal to oblige exporters to sell all hard currency earnings 
on exchanges. 

Putin, virtually unknown when he became Russia's fifth prime minister in 17 
months last August, was thrust into the presidency on New Year's Eve by Boris 
Yeltsin's resignation. 

In addition to a tough stand on Chechnya, he has portrayed himself as a tough 
figure intent on restoring firm central authority in the post-Soviet era. 
Several candidates are lined up to run against him, but some admit their 
chances are slim. 

Putin called on the Duma to abandon confrontation and work 

with him to produce legislation vital for economic development. 

He called for an end "to the notion of political battles and personal 
ambitions. A policy of cooperation and mutually agreed restraints is the only 
one possible." 

He cited several pieces of legislation needing quick treatment, including 
laws on land and labour, criminal and civil justice codes, provision for 
alternative service and acts governing investment funds, pay and social 
services. 

Communists remain the largest faction in the new Duma, which is the main 
law-making chamber though its powers are dwarfed by those of the president. 
But this Duma is likely to be less hostile to the Kremlin than its 
predecessors as it includes large groups which back Putin or are prepared to 
support him. 

In the absence of a speaker, the session was opened by its oldest member, 
former Soviet ideologist and Communist stalwart Yegor Ligachev, who addressed 
his colleagues as "comrades." 

QUICK END TO GROZNY OPERATION 

Interior Minister Rushailo, accompanying a fact-finding mission of the 
Council of Europe to areas near Chechnya, predicted a rapid conclusion to the 
Grozny operation. 

"The results could be expected shortly," he said, before taking the 
delegation to Botlikh, a mountain village in the neighbouring republic of 
Dagestan. Chechens briefly seized the village last year, an event that was 
one of the main triggers of Russia's offensive. 

Tass said a pro-Moscow Chechen militia backing Russian troops had taken full 
control of a Grozny district situated 1.5 km (one mile) from the city centre. 

Fierce fighting raged elsewhere in the city where up to 40,000 civilians are 
trapped in cold cellars with little food or heat. An earlier drive to seize 
the city ran into trouble in the New Year when troops encountered fierce 
resistance from rebels. 

Four months into their campaign troops have established control over most of 
Chechnya. Grozny and mountain hideouts in the south remain the last 
strongholds in the rebel hands. 

*******

#2
NEWSMAKER-Russian Duma speaker is smooth veteran
By Gareth Jones

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Gennady Seleznyov, elected on Tuesday for a second 
term as speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, is a smooth pragmatist 
from the main opposition Communist Party who knows how to work with the 
Kremlin. 

A total 285 deputies voted for Seleznyov in the 450-seat State Duma, with 
only two against and seven abstentions. But several political blocs stormed 
out of the chamber before the vote after accusing the two biggest factions, 
the Communists and pro-Kremlin Unity group, of cutting a backroom deal. 

``I shall do everything I can to ensure that this third State Duma works 
properly, without disruption,'' Seleznyov said after the vote, seemingly 
unruffled by the unexpected withdrawal of all the other candidates at the 
last moment. 

The candidates, including former prime ministers Yevgeny Primakov and Sergei 
Stepashin, accused the Communists of effectively buying Unity's backing for 
Seleznyov by giving Unity control of a large number of Duma committees. 

Seleznyov condemned the walkout, saying it smacked of sour grapes. ``This has 
nothing to do with democracy,'' he said. 

Seleznyov, a dapper, 52-year-old former journalist, is a familiar figure for 
Russians from his four-year tenure in the same post during the last Duma, 
which was dominated by the Communists and its allies. 

The new chamber, which met for the first time on Tuesday since the December 
19 parliamentary election, has a more varied composition, generally more 
sympathetic to the Kremlin and Acting President Vladimir Putin. 

As speaker, Selezynov remains number four in Russia's constitutional lineup, 
after the president, prime minister and speaker of the upper house Federation 
Council. 

KREMLIN SEES SELEZNYOV AS CAPABLE, RELIABLE 

Seleznyov has forged a reputation as a capable operator, skilled at forging 
compromises and shepherding an often fractious chamber through complex 
parliamentary procedures. 

Earlier this month, the Kremlin unsuccessfully backed Seleznyov in his bid to 
become governor of the Moscow region against Afghan war hero General Boris 
Gromov. It saw Gromov as close to Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a stern Kremlin 
critic. 

Seleznyov was number two on the Communists' party list for December's Duma 
election behind party leader Gennady Zyuganov. Zyuganov now plans to run as 
the Communists' candidate for Russia's presidency in an election set for 
March 26. 

In contrast to the dour, often strident Zyuganov, Seleznyov, a former editor 
of the Communist daily Pravda, displays a dry wit and independent style which 
has earned him the distrust of some Communist hardliners. 

``He has the art of compromise...His party to this day suspects him of free 
thinking and so, it seems, they do not so much love him as put up with him,'' 
the Vyek newspaper wrote of Seleznyov last year. 

But as speaker Seleznyov has never pretended to be an apolitical figure 
standing above the fray of party politics. 

He has assiduously backed key projects like Russia's controversial union with 
Belarus and, last May, came out in favour of impeachment for then-President 
Boris Yeltsin for alleged misrule during his eight years in the Kremlin. The 
impeachment bid, initiated by the Communists, ended in failure. 

During the Kosovo crisis, the anti-NATO Seleznyov met Yugoslav President 
Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade where he pushed the idea of Yugoslavia joining 
the Russia-Belarus union. 

But Seleznyov -- who often leads parliamentary delegations on trips abroad -- 
broke with the bulk of his party to vote in favour of a motion to censure a 
fellow Communist lawmaker, Albert Makashov, for making anti-Semitic remarks. 
The censure motion failed. 

Seleznyov was born on November 6, 1947, in the Urals town of Serov. He 
studied journalism at Leningrad University and worked on several newspapers 
before entering Communist Party politics. 

He is married and has one daughter. 

*******

#3
REMARKS BY ACTING PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN AT THE FIRST
SESSION OF THE THIRD STATE DUMA
(STATE DUMA, 10:50, JANUARY 18, 2000)
SOURCE: FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE
DATE: 01/18/00

Putin: Dear Yegor Kuzmich, distinguished deputies,

I am genuinely happy to see you in the conference hall of the
State Duma, and I would like again to congratulate you on your
victory in the hard and far from easy electoral struggle. The very
fact of the election of the State Duma, the very fact of the
beginning of its work is a good sign and a good step towards
forming a democratic society in our country, in our state. And I
sincerely and wholeheartedly want to congratulate you, myself and
all our countrymen on this occasion. Congratulations! (Applause.)

Today you are opening a new parliamentary season. It is taking
its start in the milestone year of 2000. Hopefully, the work of
this State Duma will mark a qualitatively new step in the history
of our national parliamentarism - democratic, professional and
politically balanced.

Of course, you are beginning your work not from scratch: you
have what to fall back upon. I mean the work of the two previous
Dumas, and also those intrinsically Russian traditions which hark
back to the parliamentary experience of pre-revolutionary Russia.

I have had more than one occasion to say that the second half
of last year can be regarded in many ways as an example of
efficient cooperation between the executive and the legislative
branch of government. It is precisely this model of cooperation
that has brought about good results for the country. Cooperation
and our joint businesslike mood were appreciated by the people;
they demonstrated that government could be united and consolidated.
That is why the new State Duma, too, can confidently count on
constructive and open cooperation with the Federal Government. As
Acting President of the country, I also must and am ready to give
every help to your work. I will stress once again that we have not
and are not going to divide the corps of deputies into "our own"
and "not our own".

For normal work we need the biggest possible base of support
in the State Duma. And this is not a political but a purely
pragmatic position.

Esteemed deputies, parliament, figuratively speaking, is a
"hot shop" of law-making work. Decisions of crucial importance for
the country get final form in it. Many of them are directly
connected with the strategy of Russia's long-term development that
is now being drafted.

But without law-making and legislative backing, without
parliament's support we will never even approach a genuine result
regardless of the best of our intentions. Although Yegor Kuzmich
called himself a "ship's boy", I think he is a "ship's boy" only as
regards matters of procedure. In reality, our present chairman has

enough experience and I support his call to the corps of deputies
to join the work to determine the strategy of Russia's development
in the near future, at least in the next ten years.

The beginning of the work of the new parliament has actually
coincided with the shortest campaign to elect the president of the
country. Not later than mid-April a new president will be elected
in Russia.

We all understand how responsible for government as a whole
will these months be. That is why it is our common task to ensure
close-knit and hitch-free work of the entire state mechanism of the
country.

But already during this period it is you who will have to
begin important work, to lay the groundwork of the legislation of
Russia's new age. This means politically expedient, economically
substantiated and juridically precise legislation.

I also count very much that the lower house of parliament will
not procrastinate with organizational matters... I think that in
this sense you have taken to a good start... I count very much that
the Duma will promptly consider and adopt top-priority federal
laws.

Despite the election campaign the legislative process in the
country must remain continuous. That is why as you are drawing up
your plan of law-making I want to ask you to do everything to
prevent any legislative procrastination.

We are yet to adopt eight of the fifteen federal
constitutional laws. Without them it is impossible to implement
many basic provisions of the Constitution. Codes regulating crucial
spheres of social relations have not yet been adopted -- the Land
Code, the Labor Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Code of
Civil Procedure.

The adoption of a whole number of laws directly concerning the
rights and freedoms of citizens brooks no delay, for instance, the
law on alternative military service. I also want to ask you not to
put off for long the drafts of socio-economic laws that have been
submitted by the government, among them the law on investment
funds, the law on the procedure of establishing the amount of
social allowances and other payments in the Russian Federation, as
well as many, many draft laws.

Of course, it is not only the deputies of the State Duma of
the previous convocation who are to blame for the fact that these
and other important laws have not yet been adopted. I must admit,
and we spoke about this quite frankly at the meeting with the
leaders of factions which were elected to the Duma of this
convocation, I must admit that in the previous period the
government's legislative initiative was quite sluggish. This is
evidenced, for instance, by the small number of drafts submitted
by the Cabinet of Ministers as compared with the total amount of
draft laws considered by the Duma.

This was also noticeable as regards the choice of the object
of regulation. The same is true of the quality of the drafts. Very
often, quality was not the strong point of the draft legislation.
That is why such laws were vetoed by the President.

I understand very well that the process of law-making cannot
be too intensive. That is why it is so important to correctly

identify priorities and jointly think about those tasks that really
are urgent for the state and society.

I think all of us, the government, the State Duma, will find
it equally useful not only to clear the plan of legislative work in
advance but also to jointly determine the priorities of this work.
We must save each other's working time. We also must do our best to
move away from declarative and all sort of decorative acts which
are not backed with sufficient resources or real mechanisms of
their implementation.

The abundance of such laws that cannot be fulfilled today or
tomorrow or in the near future does not do any credit to our legal
system, it only clutters it. And on the whole, this exerts a
baleful impact on society, undermines the prestige of authority as
a whole and trust in it.

Esteemed deputies, many new politicians have come to the State
Duma. Parliament has been renewed by almost two thirds. The number
of independent deputies has also increased. Many of them are people
from the regions, young people. Their names are not yet known to
the public at large. But on the whole, this is a very good sign for
society. A very good sign of renewal.

But this also means that the new members of parliament will
have to master very quickly the very difficult profession of
legislator, a profession that is very important to society. More
than that, they will have to cope with the unfinished business of
the Duma of the previous convocation. I wish them successful work
and quick joining of the law-making process. I also wish them good
cooperation with deputies who have experience of legislative work.

In conclusion, I would like to remind you that in March of
this year we will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of new
Russian parliamentarism. The Congress of People's Deputies of
Russia was elected in 1990, the prototype of the first parliament
in our modern history.

At that time ideological work split the deputies into two
implacable camps and had grave consequences for the country. And we
have no right to forget that deputies are representatives of the
people. They were elected by the people and are accountable to
them.

The time has come to return to the prime sources, the time has
come to precisely define the very word "people's", the term
"people's deputy". We have in this hall representatives of
different parties and different movements. And everyone is most
probably convinced that he or she knows better than anyone else
what the country needs and what the people need.

But one must agree that there can be no movement forward if
one only relies on one's own preconceptions and views. It is my
profound conviction that as united government we will never score
any success if we don't pull together in one harness, so to speak,
but keep arguing with one another, more often than not over obvious
things, over trivia.

Whether one likes it or not, this State Duma represents a real
cross-section of society and an objective indicator of public moods
and priorities. This is objective, regardless of the fact that many
problems cropped up in the process of the election campaign.

We understand and accept this choice. The executive branch is
ready for fruitful cooperation with the new State Duma.

Russia has entered a new phase of its development. We are to
do a great deal together. That is why it is more than time to put
an end to the politics of infighting and promotion of ambitions.
The politics of cooperation and mutual checks and balances is the
only possible common way for cooperation between the branches of
government in Russia today.

Allow me to congratulate you anew upon the beginning of the
work of the third State Duma of Russia and to wish you success in
the legislative field for the good of the country and in the
interest of all the people of the Russian Federation.

I congratulate you, and thank you for your attention.

******

#4
New York Times
January 18, 2000
Editorial
The Debilitated Russian Military

Moscow's recent setbacks in Chechnya suggest that the decade-long 
deterioration of Russia's conventional military forces has not yet been 
checked. The Chechnya operations have been characterized by command failures, 
overreliance on crude and obsolete weaponry and sparing use of regular 
Russian ground forces, whose combat readiness is uncertain and morale 
unsteady. 

Although Americans may feel relieved that Russian conventional forces are now 
too weak to pose a serious external threat, there is a worrisome side to 
Russia's military breakdown. Moscow's defense planners have placed greater 
reliance on nuclear weapons to resist potential attack. Further, there is a 
risk that battlefield failures in Chechnya during the coming Russian 
presidential campaign could spur demands for a costly and wasteful military 
buildup. 

Russia needs to repair its armed forces. But it should do so through rational 
downsizing and modernization, not by a futile attempt to rebuild along 
cold-war lines. Large-scale remilitarization would draw away resources and 
energies urgently needed for reviving the economy and reinvigorating 
government administration. 

Moscow has learned some lessons from its first disastrous campaign in 
Chechnya, from 1994 to '96. In the first phase of the current campaign 
Russian forces advanced steadily, behind inaccurate but lethal artillery and 
air strikes, through the lowlands of northern Chechnya. This approach broke 
down once the war reached its present stage of fighting in the mountains of 
southern Chechnya and the urban outskirts of Grozny, the Chechen capital. In 
recent weeks Chechen guerrillas have staged effective counterattacks and even 
managed to retake some areas from Russian control. 

The Kremlin needs to reconfigure Russia's military forces to better fit the 
country's post-cold-war needs and resources. In the past dozen years, Russian 
troop strength has shrunk from around five million to about a million and a 
half. Investment in everything from nuclear weapons maintenance to new 
aircraft and tanks has dried up. Military salaries are paid erratically, 
recruits are treated brutally and conscription orders are widely ignored. 
While Russia's nuclear weapons still appear to be under effective political 
control, security at nuclear installations has deteriorated and power and 
communications interruptions are alarmingly frequent. 

Nuclear weapons reduction negotiations with the United States must be 
revitalized. Russia's new Parliament should quickly ratify the long-stalled 
1993 treaty with Washington that provides for Russia's present total of some 
6,700 nuclear warheads to be cut almost in half. Formal talks should then 
begin on a new treaty to bring warhead levels well below 2,000. America can 
encourage Russia to reform its military forces. But the first steps must be 
taken by Moscow. The place to begin is by disengaging Russian troops from 
Chechnya at the earliest possible date. 

******

#5
New York Times
January 18, 2000
[for personal use only]
Underselling Russia's Economy
By ANDERS ASLUND
Anders Aslund, a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International 
Peace, was an adviser to the Russian government in 1992-93. 

Americans perceive Russia as hopelessly corrupt, with an economy going from 
bad to worse. But it is not that awful. 

A frequently cited statistic is that the average life expectancy for Russian 
men has declined to 57.7 years. But that was in 1994. After that, the figure 
increased by 10 months a year, to 61.8 years in 1998. Yet this freely 
available statistic is rarely cited, as it contradicts standard prejudices. 

For 1999, the usually judicious International Monetary Fund had forecast that 
the Russian gross domestic product would slump by 9 percent. But it grew 
about 2 percent and industrial growth topped 8 percent. The pro-government 
parties could not have gained a near majority in the recent parliamentary 
elections, if Russians had not felt better about the economy, as opinion 
polls have indicated. 

Even when economic growth is recognized, it is dismissed as merely an effect 
of the large devaluation of the ruble in August 1998 and higher oil prices. 
But the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development reckons that Russia 
has done almost as much systemic reform as Latvia and Lithuania, and sooner 
or later the results are likely to emerge. The 1998 financial crash seems to 
have been a catalyst for more profound change. 

By imposing tough budget constraints, the crash convinced many Russian 
businessmen that they could no longer live off the state but had to make real 
money in the market. Meanwhile, the much-publicized barter economy is 
dwindling. From August 1998 to August 1999, barter dropped by one-third. 
Nonpayments of most kinds have fallen by at least one-half. 

A persistent myth is that Russia cannot collect enough taxes or balance its 
budget and that Moscow is losing power to the regions. In fact, the percent 
of G.D.P. that the government collects in revenue -- 31 percent -- is nearly 
equal to the portion collected in the United States. (In fact, that is too 
much, not too little, considering the poor quality of the Russia state.) Last 
year, the public deficit was barely 2 percent. 

The only big budget problem is the old Soviet debt. The West should write off 
up to half of it, as it did for Poland and Bulgaria, when the success of 
reforms is secured. 

Nor is Moscow losing economic power to the regions. Revenue rose from 9 
percent of G.D.P. in 1998 to 13 percent in 1999, largely at the expense of 
the regional governments. 

There is little reason to doubt that acting President Vladimir Putin will 
undertake substantial reforms. He has made numerous statements supporting a 
market economy. While he talks about a strong state, he seems to simply mean 
a functioning state. In his first government reshuffle, Mr. Putin demoted the 
two men in the administration with the worst reputation for cronyism. 

Unlike Boris Yeltsin, Mr. Putin also benefits from a reformist majority in 
Parliament. The old Duma featured a Communist majority, whereas the party now 
holds only 25 percent of the seats. Boris Yeltsin fought unsuccessfully for 
years to legalize private ownership of land. Now the Communists can no longer 
block a good land code. 

The tax system does need to be changed. Today, finally, nearly everybody 
agrees on the need to simplify the system, which could include cutting the 
number of taxes, the highest rates and loopholes. Such reform is likely to be 
legislated this year. 

If anything, the Russian economy looks better than it has for a long time and 
further improvements are likely. Isn't it time to stop claiming otherwise?

******

#6
Russia Today press summaries
Kommersant
January 18, 2000
It Was Profitable To Kill Starovoitova
SHE WAS CARRYING THE PARTY MONEY

Summary
In Riga, former local special police detachment (OMON) warrior Constantin 
Nikulin was arrested on suspicion of being privy to the murder of Duma deputy 
Galina Starovoitova.

Constantin Nikulin has been wanted by the Latvian powers for several years in 
connection with the investigation of the attempted coup in 1991, when dozens 
of defenders of Latvian independence were killed at the storm of the Riga 
television center by OMON.

Nikulin was arrested in November, and experts have proven that the pistol he 
possessed was the same weapon that seriously wounded Starovoitova's aide, 
Ruslan Linkov, at the same time she was murdered. Starovoitova was killed 
with another weapon which was left at the scene of the crime.

The crime was not connected with politics, police sources say.

Some days before the killing, the Moscow DVR office (Democratic Choice of 
Russia), of which Starovoitova was a member, held a meeting of party sponsors 
which raised $890,000 in cash for the St. Petersburg local legislative 
assembly election. The money was passed to Starovoitova, for which she wrote 
a receipt that was placed in a safe in DVR headquarters. Soon after this, 
Starovoitova flew to her home city St. Petersburg and was killed on her way 
home. The money disappeared after the attack. At first, DVR called the story 
with the money "a dirty lie" and even sued journalists who wrote about it, 
but now they do not even comments on it.

So far, the Russian side has not requested the extradition of Nikulin to 
Russia.

*******

#7
No Proof that Ex-Omon Policeman Killed Starovoitova.

RIGA, January 18 (Itar-Tass) - There is no proof that 32-year-old Konstantin 
Nikulin, ex-serviceman of the Riga OMON police, is implicated in the 
assassination of prominent Russian politician Galina Starovoitova in 
St.Petersburg, chief of the Latvian criminal police Aloiz Blonskis told 
reporters on Monday evening. "There is no sensation", Juris Reksne, chief of 
the Latvian state police, said in evening news on TV on Monday. 

Earlier on Monday, a number of Latvian media circulated a report that Nikulin 
arrested in Latvia is charged with committing a number of crimes in Latvia 
and is suspected by Latvian law enforcement bodies of complicity in 
Starovoitova's assassination. 

Nikulin was on the Riga OMON detachment from the time it was formed (in the 
times of the USSR -- correspondent). He was charged with committing a number 
of crimes involved in the activity of OMON units in Latvia but he was not 
detained until he stopped appearing at the trial which lasted for a long time 
in 1999. Then the court announced his search. 

The police received the information that Nikulin who visited St.Petersburg 
returned to Riga. He was detained in October 25, 1999. 

Arms of rare type was found when his apartment was searched. After shots were 
made, empty cartridges were sent for ballistic examination to St.Petersburg. 
Reksne asserted there was information that Nikulin might have been linked to 
criminal groups in St.Petersburg engaged in contact killings. "No answer has 
come from Russia so nothing can be confirmed or denied," Reksne said. He said 
Nikulin will also be charged with illegal possession of arms. 

The Federal Security Service (FSB) agency for St.Petersburg and the Leningrad 
region investigating the criminal case of Starovoitova's assassination has 
not yet given a comment on the information from Latvia, Itar-Tass reported 
from St.Petersburg on Monday evening. Tass was told at the FSB agency's press 
service that there is no statement for the press regarding the case. 

Within the year from Galina Starovoitova's assassination in St.Petersburg on 
November 21, 1998, eighteen people were undergoing investigation on suspicion 
of involvement in the crime and were brought to criminal responsibility for 
other offences. The press service noted that the best forces of law 
enforcement bodies of St.Petersburg and other cities are busy investigating 
the crime. Some 700 witnesses were questioned and more than 90 various 
examinations conducted. 

******

#8
Albright has kind words for Putin
By Jonathan Wright

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on 
Tuesday described acting Russian President Vladimir Putin as a leading 
reformer and said she saw positive economic and political changes in his 
country. 

Answering questions after a wide-ranging speech on democracy and foreign 
policy, she also said that access to information must sooner or later bring 
democracy to China. 

Speaking at Washington's School of International and Advanced Studies, she 
said Putin had two sides, including a tough one exemplified by his background 
in the KGB, the Soviet intelligence organisation, and his hard line on 
pursuing the war against separatist rebels in Chechnya. 

``At the same time he has, I think, been one of the leading reformers, first 
out of St Petersburg and then within the Yeltsin administration. And he, from 
what we can tell, seems determined to move reform forward,'' she added. 

Among hopeful signs in Russia, with which the United States has a troubled 
relationship, she noted that outgoing president Boris Yeltsin stayed within 
the constitution and that Duma elections took place last year as planned. 

``There are various aspects of a functioning market economy going on. There 
has been some improvement in their economic situation,'' she added. 

Putin, who became acting president on December 31, reinforced his liberal 
credentials on Tuesday when he vowed that dictatorship would never take hold 
in Russia and called for a partnership with the newly elected parliament to 
proceed with market-oriented economic change. 

``Those who speak about a possible dictatorship are themselves dreaming of 
it,'' Putin said after his address to the Duma's opening session. ``Their 
dream is impossible in modern Russia. This issue is settled.'' 

But in the Chechnya campaign, which Washington has repeatedly criticised, 
Russia said its troops had reached the centre of the regional capital Grozny 
after a night of heavy artillery and aerial bombardment. 

Albright said managing relations with Russia, marred in 1999 by disagreements 
over NATO's use of force in Kosovo and over sanctions against Iraq, was 
``clearly one of the major issues that we have to deal with in the year 
2000.'' 

``With a country the importance and size of Russia, we are bound to have a 
relationship that has some pretty tough points and some areas of 
cooperation,'' she said. 

``But I am pretty sanguine about it moving forward properly,'' added 
Albright, who will go to Moscow in about two weeks for Middle East 
multilateral meetings and bilateral contacts with Russian officials. 

On China, the Secretary of State said globalization, the Internet and the 
need to compete economically would inevitably open up Chinese society. 

``It is now obvious that people have access to a variety of information, and 
with information comes democracy. I can't predict the amount of time. I just 
think that information and the desire of people to run their own lives, those 
two together, and the need to be a part of the economy, makes this evolution 
inexorable,'' she added. 

In her speech, entitled ``Sustaining Democracy in the 21st Century,'' 
Albright said that in the year 2000 the United States would concentrate 
attention on what she called four ``key democracies'' -- Colombia, Nigeria, 
Indonesia and Ukraine. 

The United States has increased or plans to increase its assistance to 
programmes designed to help build democratic institutions in the four 
countries. 

Albright visited Colombia over the weekend to talk about the Clinton 
administration's decision to seek $1.6 billion from Congress to support 
President Andres Pastrana's Colombia Plan -- a $7.5 billion plan to save the 
country from the double scourge of guerrillas and drug traffickers. 

``Only Colombians can devise a solution to Colombia's ills. President 
Pastrana has put forward a bold plan for doing just that. We are proud to 
support him,'' she said on Tuesday. 

``I believe that this is a very good investment ... Trying to get Colombia 
and the drug problem there under control is something that is good for 
regional stability, obviously good for the United States,'' she added. 

******

#9
Los Angeles Times
January 18, 2000
[for personal use only]
Russia Hiding War Casualties, Activists Charge 
By RICHARD C. PADDOCK, Times Staff Writer

MOSCOW--Russian forces in Chechnya, facing increasingly tough resistance 
from guerrilla fighters, are systematically underreporting their losses to 
prevent public opinion from turning against the war, a prominent mothers 
group charged Monday. 
The Soldiers' Mothers Committee, Russia's most active antiwar 
organization, said it estimates that more than 3,000 Russian soldiers have 
died in the 15-week war--more than four times the official count. The group 
also contends that at least 5,000 Russian soldiers have been wounded, about 
twice the government figure. 
"The Russian armed forces are telling lies and are underreporting their 
losses in Chechnya," said Maria G. Fedulova, a leader of the Soldiers' 
Mothers Committee in Moscow. "The general staff deliberately conceals federal 
losses. They consider these figures to be classified information." 
The Soldiers' Mothers Committee is Russia's largest grass-roots 
organization and is widely respected for its independence and integrity. The 
charge that the military is understating the body count is echoed by soldiers 
coming back from the war and, on rare occasions, by the Russian press. 
"Reports about low losses on the federal side and tremendous losses on 
the Chechen side are nothing but a figment of generals' imagination," said 
Alexander Burnayev, 20, who served in an artillery regiment in Chechnya for 
40 days last fall. "The generals can't explain why they lose so many 
soldiers. If they did, the people would immediately stop supporting this 
war." 
The war against separatist Chechen rebels has contributed greatly to the 
popularity of Vladimir V. Putin, who as prime minister and now as acting 
president has pressed Russia's war effort. The appearance of success by 
Russian troops is considered key to his chance of winning election to the 
presidency March 26. 
In recent days, the Russian push into Chechen-controlled territory has 
slowed as federal soldiers have run into fierce opposition, especially in the 
central area of Grozny, the capital. Even so, Russian generals continue to 
project optimism and say their slow advance is protecting the lives of their 
men. 
The government issued a statement Monday denying that it is 
underreporting casualties and charging that such reports "were lies viciously 
spread by certain media outlets." 
The Russian military has consistently reported numerous Chechen 
casualties for every Russian soldier killed or wounded. 
Russia lost a bloody 20-month war to separatists in the tiny Chechen 
republic in 1996. The conflict claimed an estimated 80,000 lives, most of 
them civilians. On the Russian side, many of the dead were poorly trained 
draftees sent into battle against hardened guerrilla fighters. 
The Soldiers' Mothers Committee rose to prominence when it led 
opposition to the first Chechen war. Some mothers in the group went to 
Chechnya, yanked their boys from their regiments and took them home. Others 
scoured Chechnya's battlefields for months looking for their missing sons. 
Last October, after Chechen rebels invaded the neighboring republic of 
Dagestan, Russia sent troops back into Chechnya to destroy what the 
government calls "terrorists and bandits." 
This time around, Russian generals have tried to show that they learned 
the lessons of the first conflict--including the need for strict control over 
information. 
"There has never been an official list of losses in the previous Chechen 
war, and there will be none this time, either," Fedulova said. "The generals 
prefer to hold the truth back in order to save their own reputations and 
preserve public support for the war." 
She said the Soldiers' Mothers Committee conducted its own count of the 
casualties by surveying its branch offices, which are located in most of 
Russia's 89 regions. Mothers in each region tallied the number of soldiers 
who had gone off to war and been reported killed or wounded. 
Only one region reported fewer than 40 deaths and some reported 50 or 
more. Based on the survey, the committee estimated the number of soldiers' 
deaths at 3,000 to 3,500 and the number of wounded at 5,000 to 6,000. 
The latest official Russian military death toll, also issued last week, 
was 741. The government put the number of its wounded at 2,233. 
In an unusually critical report on Jan. 14, the Russian newspaper 
Komsomolskaya Pravda estimated the death toll at 1,300 and the number of 
wounded at 5,000. 
"We are not being told what is really happening in Chechnya," Fedulova 
said. "The military command thinks that there is nothing wrong with drafting 
these young rookies and then sending them to die in faraway Chechnya. But 
problems immediately arise when it comes to revealing the figures on losses 
to the public." 
Burnayev, the veteran of the Chechen conflict, said the Russian military 
machine runs on fear, and officers who lose too many soldiers try to make 
themselves look better by reporting fewer casualties. 
One technique, he said, is to label some dead soldiers missing in action 
and leave their bodies behind. 
"The trick of substituting MIA for KIA is the favorite one," he said. "A 
human life is still absolutely worthless in the Russian armed forces. Top 
commanders have never cared about servicemen and have always treated soldiers 
as disposable. For them, it is as easy to write off a soldier as to throw 
away a used bus ticket." 
Alexander Borovik, 25, who served in Chechnya until he was wounded and 
sent home in November, said soldiers were not told how many of their comrades 
fell in battle. 
"Soldiers would always find out about losses from the medics they 
personally knew," he said. "We had to go around and ask about our friends we 
did not see among us." 
On one occasion, he said, a high-ranking general came for inspection and 
an officer announced that his unit had lost 35 people. After the general 
left, some of the soldiers tried to recall all the men they knew who had been 
killed. "The total was almost twice as much--well over 60 people," he said. 
"And those were only the soldiers we could remember." 
The underreporting of casualties, Borovik concluded, is because of 
politics. "If the losses are high, then the feeling of triumph is not that 
pure. And the authorities can't allow this. They need a clean victory in the 
coming elections. As for the truth, the Russian society doesn't need it, 
really. No one wants the truth here--not the military, not the politicians, 
not the people." 
Alexei V. Kuznetsov of The Times' Moscow Bureau contributed to this 
report. 

******

#10
The Independent (UK)
18 January 2000
[for personal use only]
STREET LIFE - SAMOTECHNY LANE, MOSCOW
FRIENDSHIP REMAINS A BETTTER INVESTMENT IN RUSSIA THAN A CAREER
By Helen Womack

IN RUSSIA, friendship is a full-time occupation. If you have a Russian 
friend, you cannot pencil him in your diary for lunch two weeks next Tuesday. 
When he phones, he expects to see you the same day, and real druzhba 
(friendship) demands that you meet at least once if not several times a week. 

Perhaps the harshness of life makes Russians interdependent. Perhaps the fact 
that work is hardly more satisfying than in Communist times makes friendship 
a better investment than a career. Russians would say it is because they have 
bigger souls than petty and calculating Westerners. Whatever the reason, 
Russian friendship is as tight and binding as a bear hug. 

Lately, my Russian friends have been losing patience with me. They have been 
ringing up, wanting to meet, and getting the reply that I was busy. "What do 
you mean, busy?" 

"Well, it may have escaped your notice that Boris Yeltsin has resigned and so 
I am quite busy at the moment." 

"Yeltsin, Putin, Futin. That is only politics. When does real life start 
again?" 

It began again last Tuesday, when an old friend, Grisha, arranged to come 
over to Samotechny Lane for tea and ended up monopolising me for the rest of 
the week. Before he set off he rang to say he would be passing the market and 
asked if I wanted anything. I requested a bottle of washing- up liquid. Half 
an hour later, he rang again to say that in his haste to fulfil this 
commission, he had fallen down the stairs and broken his leg, so I ended up 
going to his place instead. 

It turned out he had fallen down one step and twisted his ankle. "You had 
better have an X-ray to make sure it is not broken," I said. But he did not 
want to get involved with doctors, so he whined for a while, we drank tea and 
I left him, apparently recovering. 

Next day he rang to say he was in agony and I must come over with a bottle of 
vodka to kill the pain. "I spared nothing to buy your washing- up liquid," he 
said. Indeed, I remembered all the times he had made heroic efforts on my 
behalf. So I went over with the vodka and left him to get happily drunk. 

But, next morning his ankle was as swollen as ever. He rang a medical friend, 
who repeated my rational Western advice about the X-ray but added her own 
Russian diagnosis. "You know," she said, "a broken limb is usually a sign of 
something changing in your life. You should go and see an astrologer as 
well." 

Thus began an idiotic little adventure, with me playing chauffeur to my 
suffering friend. "Where is your local polyclinic?" I asked. "I can't go 
there," he said, "I have not got an insurance policy. We will have to charm 
our way into the Sklif." He meant Sklifasovsky Hospital, Russia's leading 
centre for serious injuries. 

We sat in the corridor while road and assault victims were wheeled past. A 
nurse had given Grisha a piece of paper describing his injury as a 
"self-inflicted trauma, a fall from a height of the patient's own height". In 
a pause between less absurd cases, a kind radiologist overlooked the absence 
of the necessary paperwork and X-rayed him for a small payment on the side. 
"No break; you will live," she said. Everybody was happy. 

The next thing was to find the astrologer. "There is an Age of Aquarius 
exhibition down near the old KGB headquarters," said Grisha, no longer 
limping but leaping. We entered a hall smelling of joss sticks where New Age 
types were selling everything from essential oils and crystals to Buddhist 
texts and tarot cards. 

Wedged between a stand offering buns and a counter with Chinese snacks sat a 
golden-haired lady in purple. Here was the very person we needed. Tatyana 
Gorbunova, "independent astrologer", tookthe details of my friend's birth and 
invited him to collect his horoscope a few hours later. 

When we returned, she told him the first half of his life had been a disaster 
but everything was going to improve and he might end up rich and famous. He 
was so pleased he persuaded me to make an appointment to have my fortune 
told. That is life in Russia. One thing leads to another and you get sucked 
into the soap opera. If you remember that Putin is only politics and the real 
action happens with your friends. 

Helen Womack 

******

#11
BBC MONITORING
RUSSIA'S PUTIN SEEN IN TROUBLE AS CHECHEN WAR SPINS OUT OF CONTROL
Segodnya
January 18, 2000

While the war in Chechnya has worked wonders for the popularity of Russia's 
acting President Vladimir Putin ahead of the presidential election, it will 
make Putin's life "extremely unpleasant" in the postelection period, 
according to the Russian newspaper 'Segodnya'. It is impossible either to 
stop the war, which has begun to "follow its own logic", or defeat Chechnya. 
It is a time bomb Putin himself, if elected, will be unable to defuse. 
Follows the text of Leonid Radzikhovskiy's article, "Stop Not Continue", on 
18th January: 

Putin is unable to put a comma either in that sentence [reference to original 
headline] or in the entire Chechen war. In fact, no-one else knows where to 
put the punctuation mark either. At the moment, this irresolution is being 
portrayed as steely political will, and the punctuation marks are being 
provided, one after another, by artillery and aircraft. 

The Chechen war brilliantly fulfilled its PR task. [Presenter Sergey] Dorenko 
and company [Russian Public TV] "wasted" the FAR [Fatherland - All Russia 
bloc of Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov and former Prime Minister Yevgeniy 
Primakov] leaders "on the toilet" [reference to Putin's pre-election remark], 
while other propagandists in uniform raised the poll numbers of "resolute and 
practical tough guy" Putin as high as the Caucasus. The small victorious war 
paved the way for a small victorious dictatorship. 

But then the situation on both fronts began to change. Until 19th December, 
the Moscow media front (against the FAR) and the Chechen front (for Putin) 
fought in an amazingly coordinated fashion. When Putin's flag, its device a 
bear [symbol of Emergencies Minister Sergey Shoygu's progovernment Unity 
party], was hoisted over the State Duma, the time came to end the war. It 
could not be easier to end the media war - but just you try to end the real 
war! 

Putin did not need the war in Chechnya after 19th December. But it is utterly 
impossible to stop it. It is following its own logic, which no-one can 
control. 

It is not true that the Chechen war, with all its difficulties and setbacks, 
is undermining Putin's position. Putin's popularity is growing and long ago 
broke free from Chechnya. The Chechen war played the role of the first stage 
of a carrier rocket and took Putin to the heights of popularity, then fell 
away. It is only foreigners, who learn about Russia from CNN, who imagine 
that the war in Chechnya is the only thing on Russia's mind. Russian people 
have plenty of concerns of their own. They are fed up with Chechnya, and they 
will vote for Putin simply because: a) Putin is power; power is always 
respected in Russia; very great lengths must be gone to to make people hate 
it; and Putin has still not had time to get on the nerves of the people; b) 
Putin has no real rival; and c) Putin is making populist gestures - he is 
raising wages and pensions. 

So the war is no impediment to Putin's election. But, unfortunately, a 
president must think not only about election day, but also about the days 
that follow - and here the Chechen war is an extremely unpleasant thing. 

There can be no question of stopping the war and quitting Chechnya. The 
Chechens have brilliantly shown what they use their independence for - 
Chechnya is a centre of the slave trade and banditry. This is not propaganda, 
it is obviously true. 

There can be no question of defeating Chechnya. It is not only that it is 
impossible to defeat a people in a guerrilla war. The situation is actually 
far worse. It is possible to intimidate a people and make them "bend". But 
such things have usually been done to a "foreign" people from whom you are 
subsequently divided by a border - and only very rarely to "your own" people, 
from whom there is nowhere to hide. Indeed, to do to the Chechens what we 
have done and are doing and then to open our arms and say: "You are all 
citizens of Russia", in simple terms is like beating and raping a woman then 
marrying her and waiting to see what kind of coffee she brings you for 
breakfast! Well, we shall see. 

******

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