March 17,
2000
This Date's Issues: 4173 4174
4175 4176
Johnson's Russia List
#4174
17 March 2000
davidjohnson@erols.com
[Note from David Johnson:
1. AFP: Russia's future ties with West depend on Chechnya: US official.
2. Moscow Times: Yevgenia Borisova, No Proof Chechens Blew Up Buildings.
3. Itar-Tass: FSB Identifying Attackers on Moscow, Buinaksk Houses.
4. Moscow Tribune: John Helmer, PUTIN'S METHOD FOR VIPER CONTROL -- can the president do a St.Patrick for Russia?
5. Interfax: HALF OF PUTIN SUPPORTERS LOVE HIM, 24% FEAR HIM - POLL.
6. Interfax: PUBLIC OPINION CENTER FORECASTS NO SURPRISES IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
7. Nezavisimaya Gazeta - Stsenarii: Leonid Ionin, WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD IN STORE FOR RUSSIA?
8. Carol Any: crime in Moscow.
9. Miriam Lanskoy: Stepashin "does" Boston.
10. Fabergé Arts Foundation job announcement.
11. Andrei Liakhov: RE: 4172- Borovik Crash.
12. AFP: Mark Rice-Oxley, Yeltsin Silent As Elections Loom.
13. Reuters: Regional leader backs Putin, not Chechnya.(Murtaza Rakhimov of
Bashkortostan)
14. Moscow Times: Yevgenia Albats, State Trumps Individual in Putin's World.
15. AFP: Radio Liberty Chief Slams "Intimidatory" Chechnya
Media Law. (Tom Dine)
16. AP: Russia Communist Seek Votes.]
*******
#1
Russia's future ties with West depend on Chechnya: US official
MOSCOW, March 16 (AFP) -
Russia's future relations with the West will heavily depend on Moscow's
willingness to investigate reports of atrocities committed by its troops in
Chechnya, a top US official said Thursday.
"I told them how they handle this matter means a lot to how they will be
perceived in the United States and the world," said the administration
official under conditions of anonymity.
"People inside the (Russian) government listened politely and told me that
they will look at the facts."
The official said it was premature to judge acting President Vladimir Putin's
record before the March 26 vote. He called the new Kremlin chief "a very
smart man" keen to avoid Russia's political isolation.
"After the election, if Putin's objective is to lead Russia decisively
towards contact with the rest of the world, he will investigate" the human
rights abuse reports.
Earlier this month Lord Judd, the British head of a Council of Europe
delegation which conducted a two-day tour of the region, accused both Russian
and Chechen fighters of committing warcrimes and atrocities.
The Council of Europe came close to voting Russia out of the human rights
watchdog body in January, instead agreeing to return to the issue next month.
On his visit Judd cited locals as saying that Russian soldiers had engaged in
summary executions of civilians and harassment.
Russia defends its Chechen campaign, which remains popular at home despite
entering its sixth month, as an "anti-terrorist" operation designed to wipe
out rebel bases.
The war, masterminded by Putin, has seen the acting president assume a
commanding lead just 10 days before the presidential poll.
The US official said it appeared likely that Putin would be elected to a four
year term but refused to speculate what that would mean for Russia's future
policies.
"Everyone expects that Putin will be elected, so there is no question about
who is going to be president. There are questions about what he is going to
choose."
He said Putin has mentioned ideas "which to our ears sound somewhat
contradictory," noting that he has come out in favor of both streamlining the
government and increasing its role in running the economy.
"There is a mixture of tendencies here."
The official also noted that Putin appeared willing to put behind him
disputes over NATO's expansion into eastern Europe, since he mentioned Russia
possible membership of the Atlantic Alliance.
"This is a really interesting signal of a desire on his part to put the
disagreement over NATO expansion in the past," the US official said.
"When he says something like this, it really suggests that he wants to move
on."
The administration official underlined his concern about accusations that the
Kremlin has cracked down on the media for its portrayal of both the elections
and the campaign, adding he expected Putin to adapt once elected.
"Putin is a man who will learn from experience. I believe that he will be
testing his own theories against the reality."
******
#2
Moscow Times
March 17, 2000
No Proof Chechens Blew Up Buildings
By Yevgenia Borisova
Staff Writer
After six months of work, investigators said Thursday they still believe
Chechen rebels may have been behind the apartment building explosions in
Moscow, Buinaksk and Volgodonsk, but they have no evidence to prove it.
And of the 26 people on the list of suspects, none is an ethnic Chechen.
The explosions in September, which killed some 300 people, were immediately
blamed on rebels from Chechnya and used to help win public support for the
military offensive.
Investigators, armed with flow charts, held a news conference Thursday to
give an update of their findings to date. But with no big development to
report, it appeared to be a response to the snowballing newspaper reports
suggesting the Federal Security Service, or FSB, may have masterminded the
explosions itself.
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov entered the fray by calling for
further investigation into the explosions, saying there was increasing
evidence they were staged to boost the popularity of Vladimir Putin. Now the
acting president, Putin left the FSB in August when he was appointed prime
minister.
Only one person, Ruslan Magayayev, has been arrested in the course of the
probe, which has produced 110 volumes written by more than 100 investigators.
Sixteen people have been detained for questioning and nine are still wanted.
Nikolai Sapozhkov, deputy head of the Interior Ministry's federal
investigative committee, who is coordinating the investigative work of the
Prosecutor General's Office, FSB and Interior Ministry on the case, said
links have been identified between those who carried out the Sept. 8 and
Sept. 13 bombings in Moscow.
But the trail goes only as far as Kislovodsk, a city in the southern
Stavropol region, where a store of explosives has been found, he said.
Investigators have identified the components of the explosives used in all
three cities, the drivers who delivered the explosives and the people who
stored them in the cities and who chose which buildings would be attacked,
said Alexander Shagako, deputy head of the FSB investigation department.
But, Shagako said, information that those who carried out the explosions were
trained in the Kavkaz Islamic training center managed by Khattab and located
on Chechen territory, or that the bombings were prepared from this center,
has not been proven. He said investigators hope to get answers from Salman
Raduyev, a commander in the previous 1994-96 Chechen war who they believe
founded the center with Khattab. Raduyev was captured in what the FSB said
was a special operation last weekend and is being held in Moscow.
Investigators said they have not determined the source of the explosives
believed to have been delivered from Kislovodsk to Moscow.
Similar explosives were found in Urus-Martan and Chiri-Yurt in Chechnya, they
said, while instructions on how to use Casio electronic watches in the bomb
mechanism were found recently in Duba-Yurt.
FSB spokesman Alexander Zdanovich said there was no effort made to try to
find the origin of the explosives other than in Chechnya.
"The plant [that produces explosives] and stores that included ammonium
nitrate and aluminum powder were discovered in Chechnya. That is why it was
useless to look for such on Russian territory."
But Sapozhkov said not enough evidence has been found to unmistakably pin the
apartment bombings on Chechen terrorists.
"We haven't yet linked those stores [of explosives] in Urus-Martan to our
defendants," he said. "It is one of our versions and we are working on it."
Sapozhkov added that at least another year will be needed to complete the
investigation.
Shagako, the FSB investigator, said at least 10 blasts were prevented by the
law enforcement forces in 1999: six in Moscow, including one on Borisovskiye
Prudy; one planned for Sept. 23 in Vladikavkaz; another for Oct. 5 in
Pyatigorsk; and two planned to take place in Tatarstan. One blast took place
Dec. 1 in the Kirov region when a gas pipeline was blown up.
Fifteen people have been arrested in the Vladikavkaz, Pyatigorsk and Kirov
incidents, he said, and all are believed to have been organized by Islamic
terrorists.
After the four apartment building blasts, the last Sept. 16 in Volgodonsk,
the country was on edge. So when residents of an apartment block in Ryazan
saw several suspicious people carrying sacks into their basement Sept. 22,
they called the police. The local FSB department said it found the explosive
hexagen in the sacks, but two days later FSB headquarters in Moscow announced
that it was a training exercise and the sacks contained only sugar.
Recent articles in Novaya Gazeta and Versia - and Obshchaya Gazeta on
Thursday - have suggested the Ryazan affair was an unsuccessful attempt to
blow up the building.
Acting President Vladimir Putin has dismissed such allegations. "There are no
people in the Russian secret services who would be capable of such a crime
against their own people,'' Putin said in an interview published by
Kommersant newspaper last Friday. "The very allegation is immoral.''
Zdanovich was quoted by Interfax as saying Thursday, "I absolutely understand
why events that took place more than half a year ago are coming out now.
"Some political forces are trying to present this as a chain of terrorist
acts allegedly prepared by the FSB. To their mind, this became the grounds
for the decision to conduct a military operation in Chechnya," the FSB
spokesman said. Putin has specifically sited the bombings as a justification
for the war.
"I see it also as an effort to cast a shadow on one of the candidates to the
presidency," Zdanovich told Interfax.
"Such exercises were conducted in Ryazan, Ivanovo and a few other cities, but
in other cities nothing was discovered. In Ivanovo our colleagues acted in a
demonstrative way - but no one paid attention."
The Yabloko faction plans to ask the State Duma on Friday to send a request
to the Prosecutor General's Office to look into what happened in Ryazan, said
Alexander Pivovarov, chief of staff of Yury Shchekochikhin, deputy editor of
Novaya Gazeta and a State Duma deputy. He said if the Duma rejects the
proposal, the faction will file the request itself.
"We must get answers to all the facts raised by Novaya Gazeta," Pivovarov
said. "Was hexagen found there or sugar? Was a criminal case opened? Was
there a proper test or not? Was it a training exercise and do documents on it
exist in the FSB, including its plan, the order to conduct it, the
responsible officers? We want them to answer officially."
Novaya Gazeta was kept off the newsstands Thursday when a hacker destroyed
the issue before it went to press Wednesday. Interior Ministry investigators
were working in its offices Thursday.
******
#3
FSB Identifying Attackers on Moscow, Buinaksk Houses.
MOSCOW, March 16 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's Federal Security Service is
implementing measures to identify the terrorists who were behind the bomb
attacks on the apartment house in Moscow, Buinaksk and Volgodonsk, an
official told a news conference at the Itar-Tass news agency on Thursday.
"There is clear, concrete information that all the bomb attacks were planned
in advance and prepared in Chechnya, on the territory controlled by gangs,"
First Deputy Director of the FSB Search Department Alexander Shagako said.
There are indications that Arab instructors were involved, Shagako added.
According to the FSB official, terrorists were developing and implementing a
large-scale plan of terrorist war against Russia. As an example, he cited the
preparation by a terrorist group of the bomb attack in Pyatigorsk on October
5, 1999.
The explosive devices and substances are similar to those used in preparing
other acts of terror in Russia, Shagako said.
On September 23, police in Vladikavkaz arrested two people who were preparing
a new bomb attack. Investigators obtained information from them about who had
planned the attacks and the names of instructors and suppliers of explosives.
Shagako reminded about the attack on the gas pipeline on the border with
Tatarstan on December 1, 1999, "which was prepared and organized by a
significant number of persons." Police seized from them two home-made bombs.
The explosive's composition is aluminum powder and ammonia saltpeter -- and
exactly the same was used in bomb attacks in other parts of the country, he
said.
On Thursday, FSB spokesman Alexander Zdanovich told Tass that the terrorists
Gochiyaev and Saitakov who were involved in the bomb attacks in Moscow last
September, had been traced to Chechen gangs, though they had repeatedly
circulated rumours about their death during Russian air strikes at militants'
bases.
Saitakov leads a small group of militants in mountainous Chechnya, according
to Zdanovich. The FSB says a majority of suspects who have been on the
federal wanted list in connection with bomb attacks in Moscow, Buinaksk and
Volgodonsk are now in Chechnya among militants.
The FSB also says Saitakov and Gochiyaev were trained at one of the Chechen
bases run by international terrorist Khattab and that they recruited
mercenaries.
Shagako told reporters that terrorists selected "densely- populated apartment
houses" and that all were demolition experts. Duties were clearly specified
within terrorist groups, including the search for explosives, means of
transportation, and places to plant them.
Nine terrorists have been put on the federal and international wanted lists,
Shagako said.
Last September, terrorists blasted two Moscow apartment houses located in
Kashirskoye Shosse and Guryanov streets, killing more than 300 people and
injuring another 500.
On September 4, 1999, a five-storey house was blasted in Buinaksk, Daghestan,
in which families of servicemen lived. The explosion killed 64 people,
including 23 children, and 146 others were wounded. Seventeen people died in
the Volgodonsk explosion, including two children. Dozens of other tenants
were wounded.
*******
#4
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000
From: "John Helmer" <helmer@glas.apc.org>
Subject: PUTIN'S METHOD FOR VIPER CONTROL
Moscow Tribune, March 17, 2000
PUTIN'S METHOD FOR VIPER CONTROL
-- can the president do a St.Patrick for Russia?
>From John Helmer in Moscow
The fable is told by an ancient Sanskrit writer of the small crow who
disposed of his enemy, the big snake.
This the crow did by dropping around the snake golden beads which caught
the eye of a passing farmer. Imagining his good fortune if he could only
retrieve the beads without being bitten, the man raised his walking-stick,
and beat the snake to death. The crow was relieved.
The moral of the fable is that, if you wish to control your enemies, method
is much more important than strength.
Kremlin politicians tend to be obsessed with strength, and Russian
pollsters have encouraged them to think this way, claiming Russian voters
love a strong man.
Ex-President Boris Yeltsin used to make a cartoon figure of
himself on those occasions when, in the company of other strongmen, heads of
state, and military officers, he literally puffed himself out, and strutted
to make himself appear larger than them, and larger than life. In earlier
times, tsars used tall horses for the same effect. Peter the Great, the last
tall man to rule Russia, took a personal hand in the execution of his enemies
to make the same point.
Vladimir Putin doesn't enjoy the physical attributes, and until recently,
not even his colleagues considered him to have anything more than average
strength. Political and bureaucratic strength, that is.
His lack of trusted Moscow allies after almost four years of work in the
capital is already apparent from his reliance on men he knew for much longer
in St. Petersburg. Strongmen gather allies quickly; weaker men, more slowly.
But as the sage and the crow both understood, it's the method for cracking
rivals that counts when strength is too puny to succeed -- and that's the
approach Putin has been pursuing. This has already earned him the sobriquet
of authoritarian among newspapers which call themselves liberal. Clever as a
crow might be just as accurate.
When it comes to confronting the seven snakes who have controlled Russia
through the Yeltsin family, Putin will need to have a method. If you count
those like Alexander Smolensky and Vladimir Potanin, the notorious bankers, as
much weaker today than they were before the 1998 crash, you must add
several new and potent adders. In today's Russian jargon, they are called
oligarchs.
All the oligarchs have to be equally distant from the state, Putin
has said in one of his few remarks about what he plans to do about them. The
remark, contained in this week's website release of a book of his interviews,
leaves open to question whether Putin intends that distance to be close or
far. As for the state, Putin means himself.
A clever crow, confronting a dozen snakes, will naturally start with a
method for keeping them equidistant. This, for example, is why Putin is so
far refusing to intervene in the fierce battle for control of aluminum, one
of
the largest sources of wealth in the Russian economy. Not even during the
episodes of pseudo-privatization of billion-dollar state properties between
1995 and 1997, has so much easy money been up for grabs in Moscow.
While there is obvious evidence of the monopoly intentions of Roman
Abramovich and Boris Berezosvky, who are masterminding the takeover of 70% of
the Russian aluminum industry, Putin has refrained from backing their
rivals, Anatoly Chubais and Oleg Deripaska. Indeed, Putin has warned Chubais
he is too threatening to be trusted in power again. Chubais is a "Bolshevik",
Putin says in his new book. "He has a bad credit history -- the credit
history of trust to him on the part of the population."
Putin's cleverness can only last so long, if he means nothing more than to
keep the snakes at bay. Yeltsin imagined himself strong enough to play them
off, one against another. That failed, because Yeltsin's method was
hopelessly
corrupted by the greed of his family and cronies. When he thought he had the
strength to crush one of them, he discovered they threatened to do the same
to him. Yeltsin was never strong at playing bluff with bluffers.
Crows don't fool themselves into thinking they can coexist with snakes.
If Putin is as serious about national power as he says he wants to be, he
will have to ensure that, on the road to beating all the snakes to death,
there should never come a moment when they could combine together, and do
him in.
National power isn't the same thing as personal potency. Yeltsin always
confused the two, and destroyed the country with his vanity. If Putin is
serious about the former, and suffers no illusions about the latter, he will
distribute as many allurements among the oligarchs as will keep them equal
with each other, and subservient to him. But when a passerby can be found
with a hefty stick, he will be enlisted to use it.
******
#5
HALF OF PUTIN SUPPORTERS LOVE HIM, 24% FEAR HIM - POLL
MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) - A recent poll has shown that 50% of
acting Russian President Vladimir Putin's supporters love him, 26%
respect him and 24% fear him, but will vote for him all the same.
The director of the Strategic Analysis Center, Dmitry Olshansky,
told a news conference on Thursday that Russians will elect their
president on March 26 not only out of love, but also out of fear.
Putin's backers regard his toughness as his most attractive
feature, Olshansky said.
The poll was held on March 6-14 among 20 focus groups in four large
areas consisting of several regions.
******
#6
PUBLIC OPINION CENTER FORECASTS NO SURPRISES IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) - There will be no surprises in the
March 26 Russian presidential elections, Director of the All-Russian
Public Opinion Center Yuri Levada has said.
"The main sensation is that no sensations are expected," he said at
a briefing at the Interfax main office on Thursday. "The people have
made their choice. The main curiosity is what will happen next and what
kind of policy we will have."
Levada's deputy, Alexei Grazhdankin, described the election
campaign as "rather dull." "Only 6% of voters planning to take part in
the elections have not made up their minds. Regardless of acting
president Vladimir Putin's ratings fluctuations, it is possible to say
he will be elected president of Russia. If the elections were held last
Sunday, Putin would have received 60% of the votes," Grazhdankin said.
"People predict the same," he noted. "All voters are certain of the
election of Vladimir Putin. One fourth of the supporters of Communist
Party leader Gennady Zyuganov hope he will win, but half of them think
that Putin will be the winner," Grazhdankin said.
"Putin's rating makes it possible for him to win the elections in
the first round. But even if we allow for a second round, Putin would
receive the support of two thirds of voters if his rival was Gennady
Zyuganov, and three fourths of the votes if his rival was Grigory
Yavlinsky," Grazhdankin said.
******
#7
Nezavisimaya Gazeta - Stsenarii No. 3
[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD IN STORE FOR RUSSIA?
Professor Leonid IONIN, D. Sc. (Philosophy), dean,
applied political-science department, State University --
Higher Economics School
At present quite a few publications note that the people
of Russia will have to take part in undemocratic and
non-alternative presidential elections. In their opinion, there
are no serious candidates to choose from at this stage. In real
life, though, we have a clear-cut and undoubtable alternative.
One also gets the impression that Russia has already opted for
this alternative.
A Real Alternative
I'm talking about an alternative to Boris Yeltsin's rule.
The forthcoming presidential elections herald the end of
Yeltsin's era, which was an epoch of great achievements. One
should say that this was an era of disappointments instead. We
became disappointed in democracy, freedom, civilization, our
apparent friends, partners, Russia and the future itself.
By all looks, the March 26 elections will end this period,
which doesn't want to recede into the past, and which keeps
resisting. Politicians, who are inseparably linked with this
epoch, continue to resist. They made it into politics together
with Yeltsin, e.g. Russia's first president, also leaving the
political scene together with him. However, it goes without
saying that they don't want to fade away.
One doesn't have to be a prophet in order to suppose that
the line-up of presidential candidates will change a great deal
four years from now. Some tell-tale shifts are taking place
already today. Prospective presidential candidate Yuri Luzhkov
has flopped, what with Yevgeny Primakov also deciding not to
run for president. All these events fit into one and the same
category.
Quite possibly, Yeltsin's other comrades-in-arms, enemies
and enemy cronies, namely Yavlinsky, Zyuganov and others, will
fade away prior to the next presidential elections. In fact,
the very structure of Russian politics is going to change.
Instead of rudimentary parties, which have failed to evolve
into full-fledged political organisms, yet another nationwide
political party will emerge on a par with the KPRF (Communist
Party of the Russian Federation). By all looks, such a party
will evolve on the basis of the present-day Unity movement. The
structure of Russian political problems is also going to change.
Russia will break that vicious circle, which used to bedevil
its current leaders for nearly a decade, as they keep debating
all the time, whether Russia should unite with the West or
confront it, whether it should reduce taxes or raise them,
whether it should invite foreign investors or rely on domestic
producers, etc.
It should be mentioned for justice's sake that the
presidential election race's current favorite, who is expected
by most voters to take a resolute step forwards, was also
ushered into big-time politics by Yeltsin and the so-called
"family." However, Vladimir Putin has proved to be different
from the very outset. But how can this be explained? Perhaps,
he was promoted to top positions somewhat later, treading
independently of the current epoch, rather than in its wake.
Quite possibly, Putin's behavior can be attributed to his
career as an intelligence- service operative, who is supposed
to remain aloof, and who can't identify himself with his
natural surroundings. At any rate Putin is quite different.
One can say that Yeltsin has made two brilliant political
moves during his entire ten-year rule. I'm talking about his
enthronement and resignation. In 1991 Yeltsin abolished the
USSR.
The so-called Belovezhye agreement, which is quite vulnerable
from the legal standpoint, seems to be really brilliant from
the point of view of political intrigue. Yeltsin's resignation
on December 31, 1999 and his decision to cede all power to the
Prime Minister is also perceived as something brilliant, albeit
invulnerable from the legal standpoint. However, everything,
which lies between these two dates, won't serve to glorify
Russia's first president. Nonetheless, Yeltsin's resignation,
as well as the ceding of his powers to Putin, can justify a
decade of inaction. Quite possibly, this would prove to be main
excuse of Yeltsin's era.
It's crystal clear that any non-alternative elections are
out of the question. On the contrary, Russia has received a
real alternative and a real choice for the first time in recent
years.
Incidentally, this alternative is rather timely.
Last Chance
They often note that the forthcoming elections constitute
Russia's last chance. Quite possibly, we should not
over-dramatize the situation. However, if one thinks it over,
then he or she will realize that the world is surging ahead
rather quickly, and that, one fine day, Russia might find
itself to be a Cinderella, of sorts.
What does this country have to offer, as it prepares to
join that new and complicated outside and inner world? Alas, we
can rejoice over nothing at this stage. Russia apparently has
the world's weakest economy. Its geo-political future remains
uncertain. Disintegration processes still continue in the wake
of the Soviet Union's demise. The ten-year Yeltsin epoch boiled
down to gradual degradation. As of today, the Russian
Federation amounts to nothing but a disintegrating empire.
Chechnya is seen as the most tell-tale sign of Russian
disintegration. Anyone can name at least ten other areas, which
can be engulfed by separatism as a result of certain political
circumstances. However, disintegration doesn't amount to the
secession of territories alone. Disintegration also implies
inner rot, a weaker state will, the triumph of corruption and
crime, lawlessness, apathy, as well as lack of consensus over
specific goals and rules of the state's existence.
Russia must display its strength both on the domestic
scene and on a global scale, too. The current Chechen campaign
is seen as part and parcel of such a show of force. Frankly
speaking, Russia is now being pressured by the so-called world
community, or the West, to be more exact, virtually every day.
Such pressure amounts to a double test. On the one hand, they
are trying to test Russia's strength; and, on the other hand,
Russian maturity is also being gauged. Maturity amounts to a
civil coming of age, as well as an ability to confidently and
competently interact with other members of the global community.
If Russia fails to pass this endurance test, in that case
it would not be admitted into the club of those specific
powers, which decide the world's destinies. In the long run,
Russia would become a raw-materials appendage of the West,
completely falling apart some time later. Consequently, Russia
would turn into a rump state, what with other post-Russian
countries playing the part of raw-materials appendages. If
Russia fails to test its maturity, then it would also have no
chance of joining the afore-said club, becoming doomed to
isolationism and permanent Western counteraction. This scenario
would also spell the same sorry finale, e.g. disintegration.
* * *
Until now, our political forces have failed to solve the
following fatal dilemma, e.g. self-isolation attaching priority
to Russia's distinctive features and self-sufficiency, or
appealing to the West for help, expecting Western loans and
wresting such loans at any price (even at the price of national
humiliation). In both cases, this position used to highlight
Russia's weakness. However, there exists the only way out of
this situation. Russia must be strong, without opposing the
world and other mighty powers. Apart from that, Russia must
side with the rest of the world and other world powers.
*******
#8
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000
From: Carol Any <Carol.Any@mail.cc.trincoll.edu>
Subject: crime in Moscow
Do any JRL subscribers know where I can find the most recent
statistics on the crime rate and/or murder rate in Moscow?
Dr. Carol Any, Associate Professor
Dept. of Modern Languages & Literature
Trinity College
300 Summit Street
Hartford, CT 06107
phone: (860) 297-2169
fax: (860) 297-5111
******
#9
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000
From: Miriam Lanskoy <mlanskoy@bu.edu>
Subject: Stepashin "does" Boston
I attended the talk Stepashin gave at Harvard on Tuesday and he certainly
did NOT come out against the war in Chechnya. Instead, he suggested that
most "decent people" fled the republic before the start of the current
campaign and that covert operations should be used more extensively. (He
alludes approvingly to his very own failed Nov 1994 intervention which
precipitated the last war. ) He also reiterated his earlier admission
that his government was planning operations against Chechnya before
Basaev's incursion into Dagestan. I also want to draw your attention to
certain linguistic features -- the quotation from Lenin and the use of
the verb "kimuli" -- with which list-readers probably remember in the
context of the Chubais/IMF affair.
Miriam Lanskoy
Boston University
Sergei Stepashin
Strengthening Democratic Institutions and Davis Center
Harvard University
3/14/00
Putin can and will combat corruption. He has the resources to do this.
Due to his service in the FSB (which fights corruption even the Kremlin
inner-circles) he has all the necessary information. He has plenty of
experience in business from his service in St. Pete. Putin is not
beholden to any oligarch and is not compromised the way Yeltsin was after
the 1996 campaign. There is a favorable balance of forces in the Duma
and the price of oil is high. So he has the resources and the capability
to carry out an anti-corruption plan.
Stepashin presented an anti-corruption program to Putin 3 weeks ago. This
is his first public presentation of it.
Now he goes on to drone about the details of this comprehensive program
apparently to the delight of all assembled. ( Budget reform including
budget code and public hearings. Tax administration reform.
Anti-corruption pact to supervise privatization. Reform of state
administration. Struggle against monopolies. Defense of consumer and
journalist rights. etc...).
In response to question:
Putin will not put the press or the electronic mass media under his
control. He and his circle value the free press. But I'm more concerned
about the press engaging in economic activities, what Lenin called
journalists for sale (prodazhnye).
Q on Chechnya:
In 1994 I would have done everything to avoid direct military conflict.
There was a real opposition to Dudaev. Most thought he was leading
Chechnya to economic and military destruction -- as indeed occurred. We
should not have rushed events after the attack on Grozny in November
1994. The story in 1999 is different. Chechnya in effect got its
independence from Lebed in 1996. Most normal Chechens left during that
period. The Russians left earlier. But the situation became chaotic,
functioned along the rules of gangs (bandy). Then they presented a danger
to their neighbors. My last day as PM the night of 8/8 to 8/9 I cleared
with Yeltsin and then gave the directive to begin the operations in
Dagestan. This was my last act as PM. The idea of going across the Terek
river came up before the Volgodonsk attacks. I gave Yeltsin my opinion
on that. But when they brought the war to Russian cities the situation
changed. This is not an anti-terrorist operation. Or I should say it
just became that when we arrested Raduyev. We are putting down roughly
2,500 rebels.
Michael Lelyveld RFE/RL:
Rosinform (? the media agency) just requested all the tapes from RFE/RL
since Feb 15 and informed the agency that taking interviews from Chechen
leaders is henceforth considered illegal.
S: Give them the tapes if you want. Don't if you don't want to. I will
check into this. Perhaps it's part of the criminal case against
Babitsky. I've also met with Chechen leaders like Maskhadov, so what
should I do now? Remain here? I know better than to take on the media! I
also want to say that there should be journalistic ethics. Journalists
should not be corrupt.
Q on Zoifur, Nikitin, Pasko
S: Nuclear waste cases initiated under my leadership in FSB. Yeltsin/
Kohl meeting in Germany. Why would anyone steal or sell nuclear waste
... and the like ...
Richard Pipes:
Does your anti-corruption plan address the private sector? For instance
the way the aluminum industry and other vast sources of Russian wealth
have been given away and proceeds sent abroad.
S: You are right I wish this plan was instituted in 1992. But in the
private sector it's crime, corruption refers to the public sector. (The
story of the aluminum industry. yada yada yada) Before we had the proper
legislation in place many western business men "did" (raped? "kinuli")
the Russian state sector. (...)
S: In closing Putin said recently that he would like Russia to join NATO.
I think that if Russia joins NATO then maybe we could have NATO troops
in Chechnya, so you can sort out that mess.
Graham Allison: We'll trade you Kosovo for Chechnya.
******
#10
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000
From: EggsFAF@aol.com
Subject: Fabergé Arts Foundation job announcement
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Development and Program Officer
Challenging mid-level position open at the Fabergé Arts Foundation in
Washington, DC, from April 1. The requirements, including project
development, program supervision and office management skills, offer an
exciting range of action for someone with knowledge of Russian cultural
history and language with strong writing skills (grant and other),
international experience and business acumen. FAF is a small, not-for-profit
organization with offices in DC and St. Petersburg dedicated to restoring the
latter city as a cultural center for the arts. Among activities since 1991:
international art exhibits, architectural restoration, jewelry competitions,
exchange programs. Note website at http://members.dencity.com/faberge.
Salary commensurate with skills and experience. Applicants should submit
resume and cover letter to eggsfaf@aol.com, fax: (202) 331-9316, or write to
Director, 910 17th Street, NW, Suite 408, Washington, DC 20006.
*******
#11
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000
From: "Andrei Liakhov" <liakhova@nortonrose.com>
Subject: RE: 4172- Borovik Crash
De-icing is a standard procedure in the weather conditions which were in
place on the day of the crash and although technically speaking the crash
could have been caused by a combination of "iced lift surfaces" (i.e. wings)
and wrong flap position which caused "insufficient lift", the real question
which should be asked is how the experienced crew (with the Captain having
done over 7,000 hours with the type) could have taken the decision to
proceed with the take off failing to check whether de-icing was properly
completed. If there is a satisfactory answer to this question - then I think
we can safely say that Borovik's death was really a ill timed tragedy.
*******
#12
Yeltsin Silent As Elections Loom
AFP (courtesy of www.russiatoday.com
March 16, 2000
By Mark Rice-Oxley
Deep in a silver-birch forest west of Moscow, the dacha-villas nestle softly
in the snow, formidably guarded by perimeter brick wall, wrought-iron gates
and no-nonsense police officers.
"Yes he's here," says one lieutenant when asked if Boris Yeltsin is at home.
"And no, you can't take photographs or we'll arrest you."
In short, all is quiet at Gorky-9, the dacha compound where Yeltsin owns a
government villa granted him by his preferred successor, Vladimir Putin.
And all is quiet with Russia's 'first president' too, despite the advent of
an election which finally sets the seal on his tumultuous, haphazard and at
times burlesque decade in charge of Russia.
Since his dramatic departure from office on New Year's Eve last year,
Yeltsin, 69, has kept an even lower profile than during those long periods
when as president he would disappear from public view, nursing an alphabet of
ailments.
Apart from a rather ambitious trip to Jerusalem soon after his resignation,
Yeltsin has remained closeted here, his public pronouncements few and far
between, his health a taboo subject.
Although he gave Putin a huge head start in the election race by resigning
early and handpicking the former KGB spy as the man to replace him, Yeltsin
has only once issued a public call for voters to rally behind the acting
president.
Kremlin officials insist he is totally behind Putin's bid for the presidency,
but note that Yeltsin meets his dauphin rarely and only informally, gives him
no advice and intervenes neither in his day-to-day affairs nor in his
election campaign.
Yeltsin was meanwhile meant to be setting up a foundation, but it has no
name, no designated purpose and no Kremlin-allocated space. The former
president has even been left without a press secretary.
Analysts say that Yeltsin has effectively been sidelined as a political spent
force, hence his deafening silence in recent weeks. His once all-powerful
family clan has been eclipsed, they say, and his low profile is a sign of
Putin's determination to break with the past and distance himself from his
former mentor.
"Putin is not interested in making any problems for the Yeltsin family, but
it would be wise for Yeltsin not to interfere" in Kremlin business, said
political analyst Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Center think-tank.
"The Yeltsin family will lose all its influence after the election, and there
will be no possibility for Yeltsin to return to the political stage," added
analyst Sergei Parkhomenko.
All of which leaves the past master of Russian political theatre sitting it
out in the wings at Gorky-9, speaking occasionally to world leaders of his
generation such as Ryutaro Hashimoto and George Bush, and working on his
memoirs.
And, according to his wife, winding down from the frantic years he spent in
the Kremlin.
"Boris Nikolayevich is a bit freer now," Naina Yeltsina said in a recent
interview with Izvestia daily. "He has already felt that this burden, this
heavy load of concerns is getting lighter. There is a feeling that he has
become calmer.
"I very much want him to have a little rest because he worked too much in his
life."
Indeed, in his eight and a half years as president, Yeltsin lived through
enough to leave those with even the strongest constitutions breathless.
Yeltsin faced down Communist putchists, sent tanks to pound his own
parliament, drafted a new Russian constitution, launched two wars in
Chechnya, won re-election despite chronic ill-health, underwent bypass
surgery, got through six prime ministers and watched Russia's economy
collapse before finally admitting enough was enough.
In surviving crisis after crisis, he repeatedly demonstrated a doughty
capacity for the political comeback.
Not this time, according to satirists in Moscow behind the Russian version of
the Spitting Image television show.
Last month the former star of the show, the permanently tipsy puppet
affectionately named Boris Nikolayevich, was auctioned off for $26,000.
*******
#13
INTERVIEW-Regional leader backs Putin, not Chechnya
By Michael Steen
UFA, Russia, March 16 (Reuters) - The leader of one of Russia's most
independent regions said he backed Acting President Vladimir Putin to win a
March 26 election although he sharply condemned Moscow's military campaign in
Chechnya.
Murtaza Rakhimov, the president of oil-rich Bashkortostan in the southern
Urals, also told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that he did not see a
Putin presidency threatening his region's wide-ranging autonomy from Moscow's
rule.
Putin, the favourite to win the election, oversaw the sending of troops to
mostly Moslem Chechnya five and a half months ago and has said he favours a
strong, centralised government in Russia.
``How can you bomb peaceful people? It's a tragedy for the Chechens,'' said
Rakhimov, whose four-million-strong region is dominated by mainly Moslem
Tatars and Bashkirs and lies some 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Moscow.
``The problem should have been solved peacefully, by negotiations, without
degrading and destroying the whole Chechen people.''
Although the West has expressed concern over the conduct of the war in
Chechnya, it is rare for domestic politicians to criticise a campaign backed,
according to opinion polls, by a majority of Russians.
Rakhimov said Putin was not to blame for the war because he had been
``dropped in it'' and he supported the aim of getting rid of ``terrorists.''
He dismissed the suggestion that Putin might revoke the wide autonomy
Bashkortostan won in 1990 which has allowed it to draw up its own rules in a
number of key economic areas.
``No, we won't give back what we've now got,'' he said.
``That would be pointless: we have a good relationship with the centre, we
don't have any ethnic tensions, our businesses and industry work, wages and
pensions get paid and we're building theatres, roads, hospitals. There is no
turning back.''
Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace in Moscow, said Rakhimov and President Mintimir Shaimiyev
in neighbouring Tatarstan were fighting a rearguard action to preserve their
autonomy.
``They will show their loyalty (to Putin) in order to keep their positions,''
he said. ``They have no choice but to maintain as friendly relations as
possible with the future president.''
Rakhimov's critics say he runs Bashkortostan like a personal fiefdom and has
infringed democratic norms.
He emphatically denies such charges.
``It will be a long time before we have true democracy like you,'' he said.
``I don't think that in five or 10 years (we will have it). It will probably
take as long as it took you in England to create. You didn't do it in one
day.''
******
#14
Moscow Times
March 16, 2000
POWER PLAY: State Trumps Individual in Putin's World
By Yevgenia Albats
In the First Person: Conversations With Vladimir Putin," a book released this
week as part of Putin's PR campaign, initially aimed to assuage the public's
fears about the unknown face of the next likely president. In fact, it did
quite the opposite. It disclosed to us the kind of Putin who leaves little
illusions to those few in Russia who still believe in liberal democracy.
"You must hit first, and hit so hard that your opponent will not rise to his
feet."Putin's praise of the power of violent force over the power of argument
is the main theme of the book.
"In the First Person" reveals to us an ordinary man, born to a poor working
family in a most nonelite kommunalka and whose dream since his school days
was to join the KGB ranks so as to become part of the most powerful component
of the Soviet ruling elite: the Chekists. As one KGB captain explained to me
years ago, " I was the man. I could get my foot in any minister's door.
Everyone was afraid."
Like most people with no access to books like Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag
Archipelago," Putin knew little then about the KGB's bloody past. His parents
did not talk to him about their survival during the Stalinist years, and he
was not eager to ask questions nor look for such books. In fact, books were
not and are not part of Putin's life; he does not mention a single one
throughout his lengthy interviews. But he does note that he learned his
lessons from real life instead. Real life in a poor neighborhood led him to
take up judo, a sport he values above all others: "A sport is only a sport
when it has to do with sweat, with blood, with hard work."
During the years of perestroika, when newspaper pages were full of stories
about the monstrous history of the Soviet Union, Putin served in East
Germany, where he learned another kind of real-life lesson. There he first
saw the fruits - as it seemed to him - of democracy: He watched a crowd
storming the Stazi buildings. Those memories had a great impact. It became
clear to him that the state he had served for 16 years had become so sick
that it did nothing to help its servants overseas.
For the ordinary man who always felt he was not an individual but a particle
of the state, it was a pain he has never forgotten. Putin's years in the
democratic government in St. Petersburg did not cure him of that pain. On the
contrary, it seems the real-life lessons taught him that individuals with
democratic aspirations are weak and incapable, and no good can be achieved
without the strong hand of the state. One must admit that these are the kinds
of lessons many ordinary Russians also gleaned from years of reforms.
The book shows that Putin's best memories still belong to his KGB past. Putin
appears to be the first top-ranking Russian politician who has acted as a
vocal apologist for the KGB, and who feels no guilt for the deeds of his
former colleagues.
Overall, "In the First Person" presents us a man of the Soviet ideological
type, only stripped of communist camouflage. The ideology is one of an
extreme statism pragmatically married to a market economy. The state comes
first; individual freedoms and rights are of secondary value - inasmuch as
they serve and contribute to the power of the state.
Oh, well.
Yevgenia Albats is an independent journalist based in Moscow.
******
#15
Radio Liberty Chief Slams "Intimidatory" Chechnya Media Law
MOSCOW, Mar 16, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) The head of the US-funded
Radio Liberty, Thomas Dine, on Wednesday slammed a new law banning Russian
media from broadcasting comments by Chechen rebel leaders wanted on terrorism
charges.
The station, whose reporter Andrei Babitsky disappeared while reporting on
the Chechen war only to be exchanged by Moscow for Russian servicemen,
pledged to continue covering all sides of the conflict.
Dine also sharply criticized a demand by the Russian authorities that it
provide them with copies of all its broadcasts from February 15 to March 15,
saying the edict sought to brow beat the station.
"We will comply with all legal requests from the Russian government, but we
view the timing and form of this request as an act designed to intimidate us
and others," Dine said in a statement.
"But we will not be intimidated," he added.
Dine also attacked the broadcast ban on comments by top Chechen leaders,
which came into force just 11 days before Russia chooses a new president.
Interim head of state Vladimir Putin, the architect behind the brutal five
and a half month campaign, is widely expected to secure the job on the back
of strong popular support for the crackdown.
"Freedom of the press is the foundation for all other freedoms and Moscow's
recent actions to limit what the media cover thus threaten the chances for
democracy and rule of law in Russia," Dine added.
The broadcaster said he would continue to work for the complete exoneration
of Babitsky, who is accused of membership of an illegal armed group and
possession of forged identity papers.
Babitsky's critical reports of the Chechnya campaign were a constant thorn in
the side of authorities, anxious to retain tight control of Russian media
coverage of the conflict.
******
#16
Russia Communist Seek Votes
March 16, 2000
By ANGELA CHARLTON
CHELYABINSK, Russia (AP) - Usually stiff and stern, Communist presidential
candidate Gennady Zyuganov flirted with students and took the stage at a
comedy contest Thursday as he sought the youth vote 10 days ahead of
elections in which he runs a distant second.
Retirees nostalgic for Soviet-era stability make up Zyuganov's core
electorate and are expected to turn out in large numbers for him in the March
26 voting, although pre-election polls show him far behind acting President
Vladimir Putin.
But the 55-year-old Communist Party chief appears determined to expand his
support base, and lavished attention on the under-30 crowd during a campaign
tour of Chelyabinsk, a Ural Mountains industrial city 930 miles east of
Moscow.
``Good for you for choosing such a difficult profession,'' he said, patting
the shoulder of a young medical resident testing laser equipment at the
regional cancer hospital.
``Hello beautiful,'' Zyuganov said with a grin every time he passed a female
medical student.
Irina Sharupova, a 22-year-old student, blushed when Zyuganov passed by.
``He's sweet. But I don't think I'll vote for him. His ideas are dying ideas.
We don't need more dying,'' she said.
Years of Soviet-era nuclear tests in the Chelyabinsk region exposed people in
dozens of towns to high radiation, causing a high cancer rate. Zyuganov
promised wage increases for the hospital's doctors, who earn $28 to $42 a
month.
Zyuganov has criticized Putin for the acting president's failure to state a
detailed program for addressing the country's complex economic ills. But
Putin appears a shoo-in, with a poll released Thursday showing him with 58
percent support against 21 percent for Zyuganov, his nearest challenger.
Later Thursday, Zyuganov attended a contest for college comedy troupes and
said he had performed in a similar group at school.
``So if you want to become a presidential candidate you must do this, too,''
he said, climbing on stage with an awkward bounce.
Zyuganov bellowed with laughter and his face turned as red as his tie when he
was targeted by the skits.
The students seemed excited and bemused. Some said they would consider voting
for him, after seeing him in person.
He also toned down his hard-line rhetoric at most of the day's events.
``We will use normal, democratic means to improve the situation in the
country,'' he said in an interview on local television.
But Zyuganov did not abandon his loyal supporters. In a two-hour speech in a
theater bulging with several hundred people - few of whom were under 60 - he
extolled Soviet industrial might and said Russia should be grateful to
dictator Josef Stalin for the Soviet victory over the Nazis.
Zyuganov also pledged to shore up Russia's nuclear industry. The Chelyabinsk
region housed top Soviet nuclear research centers, which have sharply
curtailed their operations for lack of funds since the end of the Cold War.
Zyuganov lost the presidential runoff in 1996 to Boris Yeltsin, getting 40
percent of the vote.
The poll released Thursday by the All-Russia Opinion Research Center showed
none of the other candidates anywhere near Putin and Zyuganov. It showed the
leader of the liberal Yabloko party, Grigory Yavlinsky, with 5 percent of the
vote, and ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky with 3 percent. None of the
other eight candidates received more than 2 percent. The poll of 1,600 people
gave a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.
******
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