March 12, 2000    
This Date's Issues: 4162 4163

Johnson's Russia List
#4163
12 March 2000
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. The Sunday Times (UK): Mark Franchetti, Putin caught in food scandal.
2. The Russia Journal: Andrei Piontkovsky, Putin’s Urbi et Orbi.
3. Itar-Tass: Most Russians Favour Continuation of Chechnya War to Victory.
4. The Sunday Times (UK): Eben Black and Mark Franchetti, British terror experts give help to Russians.
5. Monterey Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies: P. Litavrin and M. Litavrina, IN SEARCH OF A "NATIONAL IDEA"
6. The Russia Journal editorial: Putin’s NATO prank.
7. Financial Times (UK): Hair today, gone tomorrow: In Russia, with an election days away, hairlines seems to count as much as party lines, writes Astrid Wendlandt.
8. International Foundation for Election Systems: Annotated List of Web-sites Relating to Elections in Russia.
9. The Sunday Times (UK): Tom Robbins, Kremlin papers reveal Lenin the head banger.]

*******

#1
The Sunday Times (UK)
12 March 2000
[for personal use only]
Putin caught in food scandal 
Mark Franchetti, St Petersburg 

IN THE murky world of Russian politics, Vladimir Putin, the hawkish acting
president, presents himself as a relentless opponent of corruption.
However, documents dating back to his time as a bureaucrat in St Petersburg
reveal a man who appeared less eager to enforce the law during the chaotic
and crime-ridden days that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

Putin was accused by a parliamentary inquiry eight years ago of presiding
over an import-export regime that allegedly deprived the city of millions
of dollars in revenue. The report recommended he be dismissed. 

Details of the investigation, made public last week by Marina Salye, who
headed the inquiry, seem likely to embarrass Putin two weeks before
presidential elections he is virtually certain to win. 

The inquiry was set up in January 1992, at a time when Russia was plagued
by hyperinflation following the decision by Boris Yeltsin, the former
president, to end decades of state control on prices. 

In the ensuing chaos, communist apparatchiks and ruthless businessmen
seized the chance to make fortunes by stripping the state of huge
resources. Fears grew of food shortages. In Moscow and St Petersburg,
Russia's second city, mile-long queues for bread began to appear. 

After an early career in the KGB, Putin, then 39, had gone to work for
Anatoly Sobchak, the mayor of St Petersburg and his former law professor.
As Sobchak's deputy and head of the city's committee for external
relations, Putin was responsible for a complex bartering system to help
feed the city. 

Under the system, Russian companies were given lucrative licences to export
oil and rare metals. The money raised was earmarked to buy food. In the
space of a few weeks, large numbers of licences were issued and contracts
signed, many by Putin himself. 

It was not long before the city's soviet - as the local parliament was then
called - became suspicious. Despite contracts worth more than $92m (£58m)
signed by Putin's office, the city was receiving little food. Rumours of
corruption and theft began to circulate when it emerged that the prices the
companies had to pay for raw materials were only a fraction of what they
would fetch on world markets. 

"We were tipped off and we smelt a rat," said Salye, then a member of both
the local and national parliaments. For weeks, she and a group of fellow
deputies investigated the nature of the contracts and Putin's possible
involvement. Their conclusions, compiled in a report dated March 23, 1992,
were damning. 

Putin and his deputy, Alexander Anikin, were accused of "complete
incompetence bordering on lack of conscientiousness" and of "unprecedented
negligence and irresponsibility in providing the investigating commission
with documents. 

"The main task the committee of external affairs of St Petersburg was
given, namely to provide the city with food in the first quarter of 1992,
was not fulfilled." 

Salye's committee further recommended that both Putin and Anikin be
dismissed and that the material gathered be passed to the city's
prosecutors. Their evidence was sent to Moscow. 

Yuri Boldirev, then a member of Yeltsin's presidential administration and
the chief inspector of the Russian Federation, wrote that Putin should not
be considered for any other position until the evidence had been examined.
City prosecutors do not appear to have followed up Salye's report. Sobchak
also stood by his former pupil. 

Accused: Putin's dismissal was recommended by an inquiry into food barter
deals 
The committee found Putin had failed to gain official permission from
Moscow to allow companies to sell oil or rare metals on behalf of the
Russian state. When Salye asked him to hand over documents signed by his
office, Putin initially refused on grounds they contained commercial
secrets. Eventually, he was forced to produce the documents. 

"When we compared the original contracts with the table he had first given
us we discovered a discrepancy of $11m which he had tried to conceal,"
Salye said. "To this day we have no idea what happened to that sum."
Examination of the files showed Putin and his office had signed agreements
allowing companies to receive thousands of tons of raw metals at prices
which, in some cases, were up to 2,000 times lower than their true value on
the world market. 

One contract alone, signed with Dzhikop, a company that had been registered
only two and a half months before being granted an export licence from
Putin's office, was found by the commission to have deprived the city of
$7m in potential earnings. 

The committee never accused Putin of benefiting personally from the alleged
irregularities. Putin has denied accusations of wrongdoing. He rejected
complaints at the time that the companies were obtaining the raw materials
too cheaply, saying prices on international markets were too volatile to
track precisely. 

Nevertheless Salye remains convinced of the seriousness of what her inquiry
uncovered. "Most of the contracts signed were fraudulent," she alleged.
"The companies were highly dubious, the contracts were riddled with
mistakes, fictitious sums and irregularities that meant in practice they
were legally non-binding. Millions of dollars were earned, and millions of
dollars vanished. Whereto remains a mystery." 

*******

#2
The Russia Journal
March 13-19, 2000
Putin’s Urbi et Orbi
By ANDREI PIONTKOVSKY

Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Putin’s message to the international community
is straightforward and frank. "I will do whatever I think necessary in my
country – raze my own cities to the ground and hold military parades on the
ruins to mark the event, abduct inconvenient journalists so they get a real
fright, play dirty tactics and falsify elections. I won’t let anyone meddle
in my affairs, especially not under the pretext of defending so-called
human rights. At the same time, I support constructive international
relations, including in security and arms reduction.

"I have had a pocket parliament elected that I can count on at all times.
At any moment I think necessary then, I will ensure, among other things,
that the START-2 treaty will be ratified. If you agree to play by my rules,
I will be so generous as to let you invest unlimited amounts in the Russian
economy. By the way, my authoritarian regime will guarantee Western
investors the best conditions and maximum security."

The parade of foreign dignitaries through Moscow and exclusive flow of
praise heaped on Mr. Stasi by world leaders means one thing only: "We’ve
got your message, Sir. We accept." 

U.S. President Bill Clinton, for example, had this to say in an interview
with CNN: "Based on what I have seen so far, I think the United States can
do business with this man. I think he is obviously highly intelligent, he’s
highly motivated; he has strong views. He’s capable of being a very strong
and effective and straightforward leader."

Here are two more quotes. Try and guess who made them or wait to find out
at the end of this column. 

"He is a born leader of men, a dynamic personality with resolute will and
dauntless heart, who was trusted by his people."*

"He had showed his patriotic ardor and love of his country. History is
replete with examples of men who have risen to power by employing stern,
grim and even frightful methods, but who, nevertheless, when their life is
revealed as a whole, have been regarded as great figures whose lives have
enriched the story of mankind."** 

Naturally, conducting foreign policy requires dealing with foreign heads of
state. But Putin is acting president, not president. Furthermore, he is
just one candidate in the current election campaign, and bestowing a
barrage of lavish praise on him is tantamount to direct interference in the
Russian electoral campaign. 

Certainly, Putin’s PR managers immediately seized on the opportunity and
put it to use. The day after Clinton’s CNN appearance, the interview was
shown on all Russia’s main TV channels with the appropriate commentary on
the lines of "our brilliant leader has taken a firm and uncompromising
stand with regard to all Western attempts to interfere in our domestic
affairs. This stand has won only respect from the West both for Putin and
for Russia. Look at what U.S. President Bill Clinton has to say about Putin
and at how interested he is in cooperating with Putin as the future leader
of Russia."

The trips made by Putin’s sales agents Anatoly Chubais and Yegor Gaidar to
read lectures in the U.S. have achieved their aim. The West is seduced by
the prospect of a Russian Pinochet ensuring Western investors’ rights in
Russia.

P.S. * Lloyd George (1934) ** Winston Churchill (1935)

(Andrei Piontkovsky is director of the Center of Strategic Research in
Moscow.)

*******

#3
Most Russians Favour Continuation of Chechnya War to Victory. .

MOSCOW, March 12 (Itar-Tass) -- Citizens of Russia back actions of federal
forces to destroy Chechen armed gangs and are not inclined to think that a
great war can flare up in the Caucasus. 

This opinion was revealed by a poll, conducted by the ROMIR Independent
research centre, whose results were supplied to Itar- Tass. According to
the poll, over half of Russian citizens (64.7 percent) are convinced that
the continuation of military operations till full victory over terrorists
is the most correct solution of the Chechen conflict. 

Only 28,3 percent of respondents favoured an end to hostilities and
peaceful negotiations. Some 2.3 percent of the polled see other versions
for settling the conflict, and 4.7 percent of citizens found it difficult
to reply to this question. 

Incidentally, 44.8 percent of Russians do not believe that if
constitutional power is restored in Chechnya, this will result in
establishing law and order in the republic. 

Over 33 percent of respondents believe that it is possible to establish law
and order in Chechnya to some or other extent. The position of 17 percent
of the polled is "neither yes, nor no". Only 8.6 percent found it difficult
to reply to this question. 

At the same time, two-thirds of Russians fear that following the
establishment of constitutional law and order in Chechnya, gunmen may start
a guerrilla war and that armed gangs can engineer terrorist acts in Russian
cities. 

As many as 44.3 percent of the polled regard as impossible the start of a
large-scale war in the Caucasus after power, loyal to Moscow, is
established in the Chechen Republic. The position of 15.5 percent is
"neither yes, nor no". 

A possibility of the start of a large-scale war in the Caucasus is
acknowledged by 23.8 percent. A total of 16.4 percent found it difficult to
answer to this question. 

The ROMIR agency conducted the poll among 1,500 respondents on the
nation-wide scale. 

*******

#4
The Sunday Times (UK)
12 March 2000
[for personal use only]
British terror experts give help to Russians 
Eben Black and Mark Franchetti 

WHITEHALL'S intelligence agencies have been sharing anti-terrorist
information with Russia, British sources revealed yesterday during Tony
Blair's visit to St Petersburg. 

The disclosure came during talks between the prime minister and Vladimir
Putin, Russia's acting president. Putin had asked Blair to send British
anti-terrorist experts to advise troops who are fighting Muslim rebels in
Chechnya. 

There is no suggestion that Britain is assisting in the war against
independence campaigners in Chechnya. But Blair's aides said Russia and
Britain had shared concerns about Muslim terrorist organisations which
might seek to foment trouble in the region or beyond. Information on
international terrorists had been traded and this would be stepped up. 

"We do not know the extent to which international terrorists are causing
trouble in Chechnya," said Blair's spokesman. 

"There is already work that goes on. The security services of the two
countries have not been friendly in the past. That is something to talk
about." 

Blair has been under fire for treating with Putin as the bloody conflict in
Chechnya continues. The prime minister sought to allay these concerns
yesterday by telling Putin that human rights abuses in the breakaway
republic must be investigated and the response to terrorism be
"proportionate." 

Blair is the first western leader to meet Putin since the resignation of
President Boris Yeltsin. Russians saw the visit as an endorsement of the
former KGB man's candidacy in the presidential election on March 26. St
Petersburg is Putin's home town and power base. 

Talks became heated when the prime minister insisted the Russians should
take more account of international concern over human rights in Chechnya. 

Blair's spokesman said: "They are not going to operate in the same way that
we do. Putin made it clear that he thinks they are right to be doing what
they are doing. The prime minister put his concerns several times." 

The two leaders also clashed over Slobodan Milosevic, who Putin insists is
the legitimate leader of Serbia. 

The spokesman said Blair realised he would face criticism for meeting Putin
because of the Chechnya war, but had found the Russian leader "very easy to
talk to, very open". 

The Muslim Council of Great Britain expressed "surprise" that Blair was
visiting Russia at a time of concern over Chechnya. "Russian conduct must
be recognised for what it is - war crimes," said a spokesman. 

About 100 demonstrators protested in St Petersburg during the visit, waving
placards which read "Putin is a future dictator" and "Putin means war". One
demonstrator said: "Putin is going to set up a totalitarian regime." 

Putin said he and Blair were lawyers of the same generation, which made
Blair a fine partner. Blair had defended his trip in London, saying it was
vital to maintain dialogue with Russia. 

******

#5
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000
Subject: In Search of a "National Idea"
From: esokova@miis.edu (Elena Sokova)

Dear David,

Attached is a latest addition ("In Search of a "National Idea") to the
CRES essay series written by Petr Litavrin and Marina Litavrina. If you
find it interesting, feel free to use it for you list. For more essays or
other publications visit our website: http://cns.miis.edu/cres.htm

Sincerely,
Elena Sokova
Research Associate
Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies
425 Van Buren Street
Monterey, CA 93940
Phone: (831) 647-3582
Fax: (831) 647-6672
E-mail: esokova@miis.edu


IN SEARCH OF A "NATIONAL IDEA"
P. Litavrin and M. Litavrina 
February 29, 2000

"What is to be done?"--this question, asked by the Russian writer Nikolai
Chernyshevskiy more than a hundred years ago, is still a pressing issue in
Russia today. Appeals for reconciliation and restoration of moral values,
and the continuous search for a "national idea" have been at the top of the
governmental and social agenda for the last several years. The acting
president and front-runner of the current presidential campaign, Vladimir
Putin, has repeatedly stressed that the revitalization of Russia depends
not so much on economic success or correct policies, but first and foremost
on the revival of moral values and the spirit of the people. 

It is difficult to disagree. A decade of crisis, constant neglect, and
criticism of the Soviet legacy, followed by intense political struggles
among the constituents of the Russian political elite, have resulted in a
tremendous loss of faith in truth and justice, and caused deep mistrust in
the state and the authorities. Low morale and discipline are the other side
of the coin. Facing unprecedented economic problems, millions of ordinary
people were busy simply trying to survive and were not particularly
concerned with human values, culture, or education.

The Russian intelligentsia often served as a locomotive and pulled the
nation out of a quagmire of crisis. Russians are rightfully proud of their
culture - a truly indigenous mixture of European artistry and oriental
flavor. In times of trouble, they have always turned to history,
literature, and religion. Russian society, whether in harmony or in
disarray, tended to unite around great spiritual values that reflected the
highest level of human decency. It is most remarkable that during the
darkest days of the World War II, when German troops were 15 miles from
Moscow, even Stalin, in spite of Communist dogma, turned to the Orthodox
church and the days of glory of Imperial Russia to inspire the nation.

Political debate also always found its way into Russian literary works. A
search for the answer to the eternal question, "What is to be done?"
inspired many members of the intelligentsia to acts of great sacrifice and
also to great misdeeds.

Unfortunately, the Russian authorities have always failed to develop a
philosophy that combines economic prosperity with social mores. This was
certainly true during the early 1990s when the official ideology-"enrich
yourself"-obviously lacked a social and moral underpinning and only
disoriented the population. Of course, the government never called for
theft or corruption, but it failed to draw the line between right and
wrong. As one observer put it, "For some people it was natural to make
money using loopholes in legislation, while for others it was natural to
keep these loopholes open." Laws and courts could not compensate for the
absence of values, even more so because the legal system was itself in
disarray. And in any event, social mores are often more important for
Russians than written laws.

In the mid-1990s, authorities attempted to come up with a formula to
reconcile and restore essential Russian values by focusing on religious
consciousness and national pride. But this did not work either. Any fool
can see that if corruption is tolerated, oligarchs continue to triumph,
billions of dollars flow out of the country while there is not enough money
to support domestic education and culture, it is difficult, if not
impossible, to expect a resurgence of moral values and social cohesiveness.

Those who worked hard in the 1990s trying to answer the question "What is
to be done?" should be reminded of Chernyshevskiy's other question: "Who is
to blame?" Those who were supposed to become moral leaders of the society
were not up to the task. Instead, many allowed themselves to be assimilated
into the new system rather than provide guidance to society.

The blatantly neglectful policy of the state towards national cinema,
theater, art, and literature, which were left on their own at the time of
crisis, was a terrible blow to the intelligentsia, who expected that
democracy, even if it could not bring immediate prosperity, would at least
promote real freedom of speech, help restore public morale, and support
culture. Instead, they found that under the free-market system they have to
support themselves through books and movies sales or by seeking funding for
their projects from private business. Independence from state ideological
control did not mean independence of thought; instead it often meant
dependence on worse characters and being defenseless against
better-packaged and better-financed foreign movies and books. 

Thus, it is not surprising that intelligentsia in general feels lost,
degraded, and disillusioned. However, people always try to adapt. The
adaptation of the new Russian artistic intelligentsia is particularly
noticeable. As the critic B. Kagarlitskiy wrote in Nezavisimaya gazeta,
"Artists and intellectuals who once examined Russia's soul can be seen
rushing from one cocktail party to another." What are they looking for
there, sacrificing their precious time and efforts? Numerous receptions and
theatrical competitions (well-supported by the nouveau riches), soap
operas, and gatherings where the artistic and political elites mingle give
new meaning to the phrase "political theater." 

Following Soviet traditions, a long line of actors, writers, directors, and
former perestroika troubadours, some hiding their faces from cameras, some
demonstrating disarming frankness, gathered recently near the fashionable
President Hotel in Moscow. They rushed there to publicly express their
loyalty to the "future President" with the hope of being rewarded. The
director of the Satyricon theater was the most outspoken of them all: "Mr.
Putin said he got to know his wife at a performance of our theater in St.
Petersburg! It's a sign of fate."

The desire to cling to the rich and powerful is understandable. But this is
not a typical Russian tradition. Anton Chekhov, who used to be an icon for
Russian intellectuals, once said that the moral obligation of
intelligentsia is to raise its voice for the benefit of the suffering and
persecuted, rather than to volunteer eager support for those in power, get
involved in political campaigns, or serve someone. Today, a new artistic
Praetorian Guard is quickly emerging, and old actors are putting on new
faces. Instead of turning to the souls of the people, many rehearse new
roles. And it is difficult to start searching for a "national idea" when
former political westernizers now pretend to be Slavophiles.

Of course in prosperous societies, the intelligentsia is not doomed to
constant confrontation with or opposition to the authorities. This may also
be true in Russia, but not until a serious attempt is made to answer both
of Chernyshevskiy's questions.

******

#6
The Russia Journal
March 13-19, 2000
Editorial 
Putin’s NATO prank

For Western diplomats more used to dealing with stone-faced Russian
diplomats, facing PR savvy, olive branch-bearing tsars must be a gut
wrenching experience.

NATO and the Western establishment are so much more at ease dealing with
the traditional Russia, which, to put it bluntly, has been a "problem," if
not quite the old enemy of the Cold War, over the past decade.

No one in their right mind believes that in the foreseeable future Russia
could be a full member – with the power of veto – of NATO, an alliance
primarily created to defend the West against the advance of Communism.

A Russia fully integrated into NATO would remove the good guy vs. bad guy
games that NATO has been playing lately in Europe. It would also take away
the final justification for NATO to exist, once Europe runs out of
Milosevic-type dictators.

So, theoretically, for NATO to survive, Russia must remain a potential
threat. Now, NATO cannot admit that either. With the exception of the
Communists and some ultranationalists (same thing), Russians would gladly
go along with any improvement in relations with the West, including
hypothetical membership of NATO.

Putin’s overture in that direction is perhaps more a naughty jibe at the
West than a serious proposal. He is too much of a realist not to know the
practical side of such proposals. 

Having failed to draw the line on acceptable conduct in internal conflicts
and providing a clean chit to Putin, Western leaders now risk choking on
their own rhetoric. There is, after all, nothing wrong with a democratic
Russia whose president does not see himself as a potential enemy of NATO
and wishes for an "equitable partnership."

One can even see Russian PR managers laughing hysterically over the acting
president's joke. In the end, this is nothing more than a good-natured
prank on the Western leadership.

It should serve as a timely reminder to NATO leaders, though, that they
must remain consistent in their principles and vocally and trenchantly
stick to an agenda that puts democracy, human rights, the free market and
individual freedoms first. The initiative cannot be left to Putin or his PR
managers.

By ignoring violations of basic rights, without strong institutions of
democracy – not just a strong federal presidency but legislature and
judiciary, as well as the fourth estate – Russia will not be fit to join
Western nations as an equal partner.

The onus is not on the West to respond to Putin’s rhetorical question (or
half-baked proposal). Western leaders must demand fundamental change in the
manner that Russia does business, both with its own people and the wider
world. The onus is on Russia to be a truly civilized state. 

If Russia can successfully achieve this, relations with NATO won’t matter
because there will be a natural alliance between Russia and the West.

Or perhaps, a truly European Russia could even demand some answers from
full NATO partners like Turkey and friends like Azerbaijan about their
support for terrorists and their violation of human rights.

On the other hand, today’s NATO is an imperfect alliance of unequal
partners without common moral codes and standards of conduct. It services
the interests of some partners "more equally than others," while paying
only lip service to deeper, more fundamental issues. 

In this NATO, incorporating today’s Russia could, in fact, be a natural
alliance.

******

#7
Financial Times (UK)
11 March 2000
[for personal use only]
PERSPECTIVES: Hair today, gone tomorrow: In Russia, with an election days
away, hairlines seems to count as much as party lines, writes Astrid Wendlandt

No one knows who Vladimir Putin, Russia's acting president, really is. Some
say he is a liberalreformer, others say he is a dark and conservative
figure who would rule with an iron hand. Elections are just days away and,
until now, Putin's party line suggests little about his policies. 

But perhaps this doesn't matter. For in Russian politics, whatseems to
matter as much as the party line is the hairline. 

Putin's balding head bodes well for him. Itfits perfectly Russia's 120-
year-old pattern of the bald succeeding the hairy. 

"People often discuss this theory around dinner tables and some actually
take it seriously," says Sergei Fyodorov, 29, sales manager with a
household products trading house in St Petersburg. 

When the conservative and balding Alexander III took over from his liberal
bearded and hairy father in 1881, a strange tradition of alternating hairy
and bald leaders was born. Lenin, who was losing his hair, was succeeded by
mustachioed Stalin. Then, bald Khrushchev was followed by hairy Brezhnev. 

Balding Andropov was replaced by hairy Chernenko, who then left his seat to
bald Gorbachev. And finally, Yeltsin, with an enduring hairline, anointed
Putin as his heir. 

Looking back to Russia's literary tradition, rich with absurd stories and
characters, cultural backing for this quirky theory naturally follows.
"Maybe it's God who is playing with us," says Vladimir Georgiev, 39, a
biologist from Nizhny-Novgorod. 

Even pundits cite the theory when they run out of ideas to explain Russia's
convoluted political developments. "A lot of people in Russia believe this
is true because it has not been contradicted yet," says Nikolai Petrov,
political analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in
Moscow. 

The definition of the political spectrum in Russia remains fuzzy and there
is no real equivalent of the western left-right alternatives. And, as
Yelstin and Putin have shown, one does not need to be a member of a
political party to be a contender for the presidency. 

"No one respects serious laws in this country, but leaders at least respect
this one," says Slava Bulavin of Premier SV, a show-business and
advertising company in Moscow. 

Much is read into the hairiness or otherwise of a man. Mikhail Gorbachev,
Russia's last Soviet leader, is a case in point: Russians saw his uncovered
head as a sign of his openness to the west. Gorbachev's smooth and silky
skull was dubbed "the airstrip of Mathias Rust", the West German pilot who
landed his aircraft on the cobblestones of Red Square in 1987. The
19-year-old airman had violated several Soviet laws yet, to everyone's
amazement, he was released after having spent little more than a year in
prison. 

"People were baffled to see that he was allowed to return to Germany so
quickly," recalls Georgiev. "That's when we started to call Gorbachev's
head 'the landing strip'. At the time, Gorbachev was trying to warm
Russia's relations with the west, so he could not afford to cause Rust any
harm," says Georgiev. The young pilot escaped a four-year labour camp
sentence and Moscow asked nothing from Germany for his return. 

Until last month, Yevgeny Primakov, the popular and hairy 70-year-old
former prime minister, was the most serious contender against Putin. But
since Primakov's withdrawal from the presidential race, Putin faces no
serious opponent. The hairy-bald theory suggests Primakov was too hirsute
to have a real chance of winning. 

"He left because he did not want to waste his energy on a lost cause," says
Georgiev, who would have voted for Primakov had he remained a candidate. 

Barring any last-minute upsets, Russia's new president will take power
without having had to wait for his predecessor to die - an exception to
Russia's grisly history of conspiracies and blood-tainted successions. 

Yeltsin had such a grip on power that many believed he would never hand
over the presidency while still alive. Whenever people started speculating
too much about his health after a series of illnesses, Yeltsin enjoyed
reasserting his power from the depths of his hospital bed by sacking a few
officials. 

But whether Yeltsin saw himself as the custodian of the hairy-bald theory
when he named Putin as his successor, or whether the succession is down to
some higher authority can only be a matter of speculation. 

******

#8
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 
From: "Christian Nadeau" <CNadeau@ifes.ru> 
Subject: Election Web Sites 

Attached are two things useful for the upcoming elections:
a) a list of web sites on the election process that an international intern,
Robyn Curnow, put together for us during her program with IFES. These
sites are in addition to www.ifes.ru
and http://www.democracy.ru that cover various aspects of the elections as
well.

b) The 21 FAQ about the technical aspects of the election process, by IFES.
[DJ: Not reproduced here]

Regards,
Christian Nadeau
Project Director
IFES/Russia

International Foundation for Election Systems
Annotated List of Web-sites Relating to Elections in Russia.

· News Coverage

http://www.wps.ru/elections_rev_e.html

"Elections 1999-2000" Media Survey, WPS. 
A weekly survey of press reports, commentaries and analysis of events
taking place in Russia in connection with the recent parliamentary election
and the coming presidential campaign
Newspapers covered include: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Kommersant-daily, Dengi,
Literaturnaya Gazeta, Obshschaya Gazeta, Moskovskie Novosti, Novaya Gazeta,
Vedomosti, Novoye Vremya, Profil, Vremya MN, Expert, Novye Izvestia, Trud,
and Vek.
By Anna Fedotova
Translated by Andrei Bystrov

http://www.user.cityline.ru/~partinf/
Russian language site entitled "Partinfo", a weekly overview of events
concerning members of political parties in Russia. Structured at a
national and regional level. 
Edited by the Center for Applied Political Research, Moscow office.

http://www.rferl.org/elections/russia00report/index.html
English language "news and analysis of the Russian Presidential election."
Issued weekly in the form of a news digest compiled by Laura Belin.
Also provides coverage of the 1999 Parliamentary election at the following
site: <http://www.rferl.org/elections/russia99report/archives.html>
These reports are much more detailed and voluminous than the standard
http://www.rferl.org bulletins, which are issued daily.

http://www.elections.ru/
English and Russian language site devoted entirely to the Presidential
elections. Contains news updates, online opinion polls and profiles of each
candidate. Initiated and maintained by Sergei Kirienko, former Prime
Minister of Russia, the Russian version tends to be much more detailed than
the English. Previously known as the "Internet Parliament."

http://polit.kulichki.net/
Russian language site devoted to current political issues, maintained by
Polit-Tsentr.
Comprehensive information, assembled under the following categories:
Political Survey; Political News; Party Life; Question and Answer;
Political Discussion and Opinion Polls.

http://www.cityline.ru/politika/
English and Russian language site designed to function as a portal to
other, affiliated web-sites. Offers immediate access to all major press
agencies, party sites and politicians' personal web-pages, as well as back
ground legal materials and political forums. 
Low-key design, but excellent functioning.
Special feature is the linked site
http://www.cityline.ru/politika/vybory/tablo.html, which contains a
detailed list of the progress of registration by candidates for the post of
President of the Russian Federation.

http://www.apn.ru/
Russian and English language web-site devoted exclusively to political
news. Specializes in photo mock-ups of prominent politicians and personal
commentaries, for example, Gennady Zyuganov's waist-line.

www.elections99.com 
English and Russian language site, giving "realtime" infomation about the
results of the Duma elections, including violations, repeated elections and
opinion polls. The Russian version contains an extensive catalogue of
opinions expressed by prominent politicians and analysts.

Lenta.ru - Elections 99 http://lenta.ru/vybory/
Russian and English language web-site.
Sophisticated site devoted generally to current affairs as well as elections.

ITAR-TASS : Elections in Russia
http://www1.itar-tass.com/russ/vibory/index.htm
- Russian language
Very detailed ITAR-TASS display, displaying results of 1999 Duma elections.
Up to date, ongoing time-line with detailed information concerning
Presidential election.

Polit Tsentr - Elections 99 - http://polit.kulichki.net/politcenter/vibor/
- Russian language
Site devoted to Duma elections of 1999. Unlikely that it will extend its
operation to cover the Presidential elections.
Time-line format, plus links to Russian Administration. No updates since
30/12/99.

National Electric Library - Elections 99/00 - http://www.nns.ru/Elect-99/
- Russian language
This is a sub-section of the National News Service's home-page which
incorporates into the Electronic Library's archival collection, as well as
a comprehensive press digest and up-to-date series of analyses by political
experts. Also contains information on the gubernatorial elections in the
St. Petersburg and Moscovskaya Oblasts, and the historical background on
elections in Russia. Pitched towards a very wide audience, by providing
very basic, introductory summaries of the Russian electoral system as well
as detailed analysis of specific issues.

Russia Today - Election 2000 - http://www.russiatoday.com/election2000/
English language. Special section concentrating on "election news." 
Dominated by advertising material.

http://www.elections.koenig.ru/
Russian language web-site devoted to Kaliningrad Oblast elections at all
levels, including Mayor, Gubernarial, Duma and Presidential. Very new site
(only established in 2000) incorporating detailed news coverage, results of
elections and information about candidates.
Established by two journalists, Yuri Dmitriev and Oleg Sheblikin, of the
company "Etap."
Research Centers and Institutional Reports.

OSCE Election Monitoring Report - Russian Federation Election of Deputies
to the State Duma (19 December 1999)
Report on the administration of the 1999 Duma elections by the
International Election Observation Mission. Includes preliminary findings
and conclusions based on observation of pre-election preparations, the
election campaign, and the media. The statement is also based on the
election-day findings of the International Election Observation Mission's
more than 400 short-term observers, including more than 130
parliamentarians from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of
Europe Parliamentary Assembly, and the European Parliament, who visited
some 4,000 polling stations across the country.

Russia before the Elections to Duma -
http://pubs.carnegie.ru/books/1999/11np/default.asp?n=toc.asp
A book published by the Moscow Carnegie Center (1999 , in Russian)

http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/bcsia/library.nsf/electionwatch
Russian Election Watch (edited by Research Associate Henry Hale)
An initiative of the Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project, housed
within the Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University), this website
takes the form of a monthly bulletin which features the latest polls,
insider commentary from Russia's own leading analysts and brief responses
from Russian party leaders themselves to questions posed by the
Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project.

http://www.online.ru/sp/iet/
Russian language web-site for the Moscow based Institute for The Economy in
Transition.
Fairly out of date, but the journal produced by the Institute, Journal of
Russian Political Life - Open Politics is valuable.

http://www.6buro.ru/frames.asp?rubric=vote
Russian language. Detailed site giving precise information region by region. 
Latest update is 15/11/99.

Elections in Russia http://www.rusline.ru/
- Website supported by the Soros Foundation (in Russian)
Very "user-friendly" site, includes "countdown" to day of election.

http://src-home.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/eng/Russia/politics-e.html
A Japanese/English web-page devoted to a wide variety of Russian materials.
Established and maintained by the Slavic Research Center at Hokkaido
University, located in Sapporo, Japan, it is Japan's only research
institute for the study of the Slavic countries. Contains valuable links
to research institutes and public opinion registers, such as Romir.


· Public Opinion Polls

http://www.whoiswho.ru/
Russian language web-site, containing special election database of elected
Duma deputies' biographies. Searchable at both single-mandate and Federal
level. Features internet polling site for Presidential post.

http://www.sova.ru/politika/lady.htm
Russian language site dedicated entirely to assessing voters' attitudes
towards potential "first ladies" of the Russian Federation. Displays
photographs of each male candidate's wife, and asks voters to rate each
woman by placing a rose next to her name. Quite tacky, but amusing
nonetheless.

http://chart.web2000.ru/politika/index.phtml
Russian language internet polling site entitled "Elect the President
Yourself."
Essentially, a public opinion monitor with very basic coverage of political
scene.

RussiaVotes.org http://www.russiavotes.org/
- English language
Joint project supported by Centre for the Study of Public Policy,
University of Strathclyde and Russian Center for Public Opinion and Market
Research (VCIOM), and concentrates largely on displaying and interpreting
the statistical results of polls. Reasonably up-to-date but fairly
pedestrian in its coverage.

http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/
"Inside Russia". 
English language site, established by the Heritage Foundation's Moscow
office, designed to give "insider's account" of current events in Russia.
Fairly up-to-date and contains useful links, particularly the site
constructed on December 20, 1999
<http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/>, which gives detailed
analysis of the results of the parliamentary elections in Russia. Densely
structured, and opinionated.

http://www.fom.ru/
The Public Opinion Foundation.
English and Russian web-page geared towards the collection and display of
internet-administered opinion polls. Heavily oriented towards political
scene, with specific questionnaires about Presidential Elections.
Incorporates a searchable data-base of polls conducted.

http://www.romir.ru/
Russian and English web-page of the Center for Russian Public Opinion and
Market Research.
Very slick design, divided between two major categories: social/political
and marketing/financial. Strong corporate emphasis.


· International Observation and Commentary

http://www.afpc.org/issues/duma99.htm
Elections in Russia,
By Herman Pirchner, Jnr.
President of the American Foreign Policy Council.
English language web-page launched on December 21, 1999, providing analysis
of the 1999 Duma elections and a look ahead to the 2000 presidential race.
Commentary is necessarily out-dated due to events of December 31, but
nonetheless gives "official" perspective of American Foreign Policy Council.

http://www.eim.de/ru-prelims.htm
European Institute for the Media (English, German and French) web-page
outlining the Institute's monitoring of the media coverage of the 1999
parliamentary elections in Russia. 
This report forms part of the Institute's "media and democracy" project.

http://idc.cis.lead.org/idc/idc.html
English and Russian language web-site of the International Discussion Club,
a non-government, non-profit association for international development and
co-operation with branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Minsk, Novorossisk
and Murmansk. A significant element of the Club's activities is comprised
by election observation. Currently, the web-page contains invitations for
international observers to travel to Russia participate as observers in the
2000 Presidential Elections.

http://www.osce.org/odihr/
English language web-site of the Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights, an "organization for security and co-operation in Europe."
Regular election news updates and information about democratization
programs and election observation.

http://www.democracy.ru/rus/index.html
Russian and English web-site for the Institute of Development of Election
Systems.


· Federal Power Organs

http://gosorgan.amursk.ru/
Russian language website entitled "Power on the Web."
Provides a portal to the administrative organs of the Russian Federation.

http://www.supcourt.ru/
Russian language web-site of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
Contains links to bodies which make decisions of the "first instance",
including the Central Election Commission. 
Up-to-date and user-friendly.

http://www.xyz.ru/policy/
Russian language web-page established by the Tulskoi oblast election
commission prior to the Duma elections in 1999 as an information base for
"inquisitive web surfers and politicians who want to communicate directly
with electors." The page is interesting, in that it represents a local
initiative, containing daily news digests and information on district
candidates, including their personal advertisments. 

http://www.mgik.mos.ru/
Russian language web-page for the Moscow City Election Commission.
Contains an archive of documents relating to elections since 1996, as well
as numerous links to Moscow City administrative organs and territorial
committees. Particularly interesting is the information dedicated to
"raising the legal culture" of electors.

http://www.fci.ru/
Russian and English language web-site for the Central Election Commission
of the Russian Federation. This is a permanent, more general site -
however - the CEC periodically releases alternative websites, constructed
for particular purposes. For example, the Russian language site
<http://www.izbircom.ru/1911/index.shtml> functions as a Federal
Information Center for the results of elections up to and including those
of 1999. 

http://www.pravitelstvo.gov.ru/
Russian and English web-site of the Government of the Russian Federation. 
Sophisticated web-site, providing links to a wide range of Governmental
bodies, as well as personal biographies of members of Government Ministries.

http://www.artstyle.ru/politics/
Russian language web-page offering internet services for political campaigns.
· Political Parties and Movements in Russia

http://www.otechestvo.org/
Russian language web-site for Otechestvo.

http://www.luzhkov.ru/
Russian language web-site devoted to Yuri Luzhkov, including a news
service, biographical information, question and answer facilities and links
to the Ochestvo web-site.

http://ds.ru/
Russian (some English capabilities) language web-site of the Democractic
Union party of the Russian Federation.
Contains a great deal of information about Valeria Novodvorskaya.
Sophisticated, up-to-date publication with useful news-service and
excellent links. 

http://www.rne.org/
Russian language web-site for Rossiskoe Natsionalnoi Edinstvo. Fairly
jumbled site, containing information about the organization and limited
news services. The font outside the banners is quite difficult to read.

http://www.yabloko.ru/
Russian language web-site of Yabloko party. Very slick and well presented. 
Features Yabloko-centric news service and link to comprehensive web-site
about the 1999 Duma elections.

http://www.prav.ru/
Russian language web-site for Union of Right Forces. Slick, efficient news
service and search capabilities coupled with basic campaign propaganda.

http://www.kprf.ru/
Russian and English language official web-site of the Communist Party of
the Russian Federation.

http://www.dvr.ru/
Russian language web-site of the Party for Democratic Elections in Russia.

http://www.chat.ru/~nsrp/
Home-page of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Russia.
Russian language only.

http://www.titov.samara.ru/index-r.html
English and Russian language web-page of Konstantin Titov. Contains
information about the procuratory system of Russia, as well as interviews
and letters from Titov himself.

http://www.sps.ru/
Russian language web-page of the Union for the Rule of Law party.

http://women.centro.ru/
Russian language web-site for the Women of Russia party.

http://www.pravitelstvo.gov.ru/government/minister/
Russian and English language web-site (official) for Vladimir Putin. Gives
brief biography and career summary, as well as large photograph of the
politician in his Judo outfit. Not very detailed, in characteristic
Putin-style.

http://www.zyuganov.ru/1/1.asp
Russian language web-site for Zyuganov. Essentially a news-report,
accompanied by a fairly extensive photo-gallery, showing Zyuganov in a
variety of poses.

http://www.yabloko.ru/Persons/YAVL/index.html
Russian and English language web-site (official) of Grigory Yavlinksy.
Well constructed, with an extensive list of publications, speeches and
interviews given by the politician.

******

#9
The Sunday Times (UK)
12 March 2000
[for personal use only]
Kremlin papers reveal Lenin the head banger 
Tom Robbins 

LENIN, one the most powerful leaders of the last century, was a problem
child who slammed his head on the 
ground to demand attention, claims a new biography. 

Details of Lenin's troubled early life were discovered in the handwritten
memoirs of his elder sister Anna, which had been censored after his death
and stored in sealed vaults under the Kremlin. 

The disclosures will further unravel the official account promoted by the
communist government, which portrayed him as a saintly purist, far removed
from the weaknesses and foibles of ordinary men. 

The memoirs reveal that the young Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, later known as
Lenin, had short, weak legs and a large head that made him top heavy and
caused him to fall over. He was unable to walk until he was three. 

When he fell over he would bang his head on the ground in frustration. "The
wooden structure of the house made it into an echo chamber and the floors
and walls resounded as the little fellow went on crashing his head on the
carpet - or even the floorboards," wrote Anna, who was six years older. 

Lenin's parents were deeply concerned that he would end up mentally
retarded. As well as his headbanging habit, Lenin had boisterous and
destructive tendencies which upset his cultured family. "It was such
obsessive behaviour that the family were very worried," said Robert
Service, author of the biography which will be published later this month.
"He was very noisy and extremely disruptive as a child." 

At three, he stamped all over his brother's collection of theatre posters.
His parents gave him a papier-mâché horse for his birthday but he twisted
its legs off one by one. 

After Lenin's death in 1924, anything that might have been perceived as
even mildly critical was censored. As the Communist party developed the
cult of Lenin, personal details vanished. 

His sister abandoned the drafts of her memoirs, which contained frank
details of his personal life that she knew would not pass the censor. They
remained locked in the Kremlin until discovered by Service after the fall
of the communist state in 1991. 

"What has been brought out is how spoilt the little brat was by all the
women around him," said Dominic Lieven, professor of Russian history at the
London School of Economics. "This family correspondence gives you an awful
lot of little insights into the hatreds which boiled up inside him, as well
as the strength of his personality." 

Service has played an important role in uncovering the Kremlin's secrets
since he was granted access to its archives. Three years ago he revealed
that Lenin kept his mistress in the Kremlin alongside his rejected wife. 

******

Web page for CDI Russia Weekly: 
http://www.cdi.org/russia