March 17, 2000    
This Date's Issues: 4173 4174 4175 4176

Johnson's Russia List
#4175
17 March 2000
davidjohnson@erols.cmo

[Note from David Johnson:
1. Reuters: Martin Nesirky, Putin aims to restore pride of armed forces.
2. Bloomberg: Russian Former PM Kirienko on Foreign Investment.
3. Moscow Times: Anna Badkhen, Polls Show Drop in Putin's Popularity.
4. Obshchaya Gazeta: Dmitriy Furman, From the Late Yeltsin to the 
Early Putin: The Times Require New Words. (Putin Presidency Themes Evaluated)
5. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Text of Russian presidential contender Gennadiy Zyuganov's election campaign statement.] 

******

#1
Putin aims to restore pride of armed forces
By Martin Nesirky

MOSCOW, March 17 (Reuters) - Just hours after taking over as acting 
president, Vladimir Putin flew through the night to Chechnya to hand out 
hunting knives to troops battling rebels. 

``This is not just about restoring the honour and dignity of Russia,'' he 
told the bleary-eyed men assembled at 6 a.m. on New Year's Day to meet their 
new commander-in-chief. 

``It's more important than that. It's about putting an end to the break-up of 
the Russian Federation.'' 

Knives in the darkness and illuminating patriotism -- strong imagery at an 
early stage from the man set to be president of the world's largest country 
and second-biggest nuclear power. 

Putin, a 47-year-old former KGB spy who took over from the older and less 
military-minded Boris Yeltsin on New Year's Eve, is widely expected to win 
the March 26 presidential election. 

``Unlike Yeltsin, Putin finds anything to do with the military and security 
structures highly interesting,'' Alexander Golts, defence expert at the news 
weekly Itogi, told Reuters. 

The feeling seems to be mutual. There are 1.2 million men and women in the 
armed forces and thousands more in the interior troops and intelligence 
services. Putin has unquestionably raised morale, even if many in the West 
question his tactics. 

STRONG BACKING FROM ARMY, SECURITY FORCES 

Election victory would be in no small part thanks to backing from that 
security establishment and, in turn, his support for the military in its 
campaign in rebel Chechnya. 

It is not that he would be otherwise short of votes but that the support of 
the military is hugely important to Russian leaders and not necessarily a 
given, as Yeltsin found in 1993 when troops only reluctantly intervened to 
quell a rebellion. 

``Putin is counting on the uniformed electorate,'' said Vadim Solovyov, 
managing editor of the weekly military newspaper Nezavisimoye Voyennoye 
Obozreniye. ``His authority among those in the armed forces and intelligence 
services is extremely high. 

``For that reason, of course, the first steps will be toward the army and 
special services above all. The armed forces are for him a guarantee for the 
presidency.'' 

Putin's campaign promises have been long on rhetoric but short on detail, 
particularly on how to improve the economy. 

His post-election intentions are as much a mystery as some aspects of his 
earlier career. 

The West waits to see whether the Putin they see now is the man they will 
have to deal with after the election, not least on arms control, security and 
military cooperation, including with NATO. Stability in Russia's 89 disparate 
regions and in foreign policy is a major factor for would-be investors. 

``Europe and America are greatly interested in our defence policy being 
sensible and predictable,'' Itogi magazine said, noting a climate of trust 
would help encourage investment. 

Putin's views on Russia's security forces -- the military, police and 
intelligence fraternity -- seem relatively unambiguous and certainly dovetail 
with his main campaign theme of rebuilding confidence and strengthening moral 
fibre. 

``The armed forces have regained trust in themselves and society believes and 
trusts its armed forces,'' said Putin last month at a Kremlin top-brass 
reception to mark Defender of the Fatherland Day. 

WEST SEES PUTIN AS MAN IT CAN DO BUSINESS WITH 

Interwoven with his campaign theme is the idea, also reflected in the new 
security concept and nuts-and-bolts military doctrine Putin helped to draft, 
that domestic concerns should take precedence over foreign affairs. 

Defence experts say there are indications that Putin will seek a compromise 
with the United States over Washington's anti-missile defence plan and move 
quickly to ratify the START-2 treaty cutting superpower nuclear arsenals. 

Both steps would take pressure off Moscow to deliver on arms control, reduce 
the need for extra arms spending in those areas and bring the West on side, 
freeing minds and money for internal matters. 

Recently thawed relations with NATO and Putin's recent ``why not?'' reply 
when asked whether Russia could join the alliance should be seen in this 
light too. 

``When (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair and (U.S. President Bill) Clinton 
and others chorus they can do business with Putin, it is above all connected 
with this,'' said Golts. 

Few would regard Putin as a soft touch, however, and the concept and doctrine 
he helped compile both see NATO and the West as security threats. 

``There is no need to fear a strong Russia but it should be taken into 
account,'' Putin writes in his open manifesto-style letter to voters. 

DETERMINED TO REBUILD ARMY'S PRESTIGE 

Russia's military graphically illustrate the notion of lost might, struggle 
for respect and potential power. 

For much of the past decade, the armed forces have been demoralised, 
under-funded and dangerously marginalised. Post-Soviet Russia had less to 
spend on defence and its forces were badly beaten in the first Chechnya war 
between 1994 and 1996. 

``Our armed forces are emerging from a long crisis with honour and becoming 
better and more professional,'' Putin writes. 

Conscripts fighting in Chechnya or subjected to bullying back in barracks may 
argue with this assessment, but senior officers and generals broadly back it. 

Defence specialists expect Putin to press ahead with military reforms, 
although he may shift the emphasis to give a boost to the ground forces. He 
may also take steps to reduce the proportion of conscripts but stop short of 
attempting to introduce an all-professional army. The Interior Ministry's 
troops may be brought under Defence Ministry command. 

He has vowed to boost defence spending and to revive the ailing 
``military-industrial complex,'' as the defence industry is called. China, a 
strategic partner and one of Russia's best customers, looks likely to remain 
a key market. 

It is far from clear whether Putin will retain Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev 
and if not who would replace him. 

But Kremlin sources say it is likely that Security Council Secretary Sergei 
Ivanov, a close Putin associate and fellow ex-spy, will head SVR foreign 
intelligence. Former spymaster and prime minister Yevgeny Primakov could take 
over running the Security Council, which has an advisory but influential 
role. 

Putin knows he must juggle competing rivalries and interests in the overall 
security apparatus. He equally knows to ignore them would be folly. 

``He has no opponents,'' said Sergei Markov, director of Moscow's Institute 
of Political Studies. ``His only opponents are chaos and a lack of 
stability.'' 

*******

#2
Russian Former PM Kirienko on Foreign Investment: Comment

New York, March 16 (Bloomberg)
-- Sergey Kirienko, former Russian prime minister and chairman of the 
Union of Right Forces, comments on the Russian economy, reform and acting 
Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

On foreign investors: 

``Everybody says that Russia acts in opposition of economic theory. This time 
everything happened in accordance with economic theory. So what it means is 
that quality finally translated into quantity. That is (to say) the reforms 
that took place in previous years finally gave results. And probably that 
would be the most important thing for investors to know about Russia.'' 

``The biggest investor in Russia is Germany, and the second place probably is 
taken by the United States. But the total volume of investments in Russia is 
minimal. The total capitalization of the Russian economy equals the total 
capitalization of a U.S. Internet provider, such as Yahoo.'' 

On corruption: 

``Yes, there is corruption, but corruption is not a strictly Russian 
phenomenon. You can look at the United States and its history. You can look 
at Latin America. The experience of other countries shows that it can be 
dealt with ... and overcome.'' 

On the Russian economy: 

``The biggest challenge is not the reform, but the structuring and results of 
such reform.'' 

``Putin likes to end his speeches by saying `taxes have to go down.' I am 
prepared to join him on that.'' 

``Russia has a new generation of people. This generation grew up in an 
environment of market economy and democracy. For them, it's a natural state 
of being.'' 

``The shifting of assets from (the public sector) to (the private sector) 
will require the shutdown of a lot of companies.'' (He declined to name 
companies unlikely to survive reform.) 

On acting President Putin: 

``Mr. Putin is a strong-willed person, and he is very decisive. He also is 
capable of carrying out the decisions he makes.'' 

``His economic views are liberal. The proof of that are his latest 
statements, as well as his previous work experience in St. Petersburg. In the 
St. Petersburg municipal government, he was responsible for attracting 
foreign investment. During the period of his tenure, foreign investment was 
probably the biggest.'' 

*******

#3
Moscow Times
March 17, 2000 
Polls Show Drop in Putin's Popularity 
By Anna Badkhen
Special to The Moscow Times

With less than two weeks to go before the March 26 presidential elections, 
polls - including one conducted for The Moscow Times - indicate acting 
President Vladimir Putin remains the obvious front-runner, but has slipped 
closer to the 50-percent threshold that could spell the difference between a 
clean first-round victory and an April 16 runoff between the top two 
finalists. 

The Moscow Times poll, conducted with the participation of 1,254 respondents 
across Russia by the Institute for Comparative Social Research, or CESSI, 
showed that 53 percent of those surveyed will vote for Putin. 

According to the poll, conducted between Feb. 21 and March 3, only 18 percent 
will vote for Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, leaving Yabloko leader 
Grigory Yavlinsky in third place with just 5 percent of the vote. 

CESSI director Vladimir Andreyenkov this week compared that figure to Putin's 
autumn popularity ratings, when between 60 percent and 75 percent of Russians 
said they approved of his performance as prime minister. The drop, he said, 
could be chalked up to a perceived lack of development in the country's 
economy and Putin's failure to put forward a concrete economic program. 

"Time went by and no real changes [in the economy] occurred," Andreyenkov 
said. 

Other recent polls likewise indicate a slight drop in the acting president's 
popularity. According to a survey published Wednesday by the ARPI regional 
polling institute, 52.7 percent of respondents said they will vote for Putin 
- down from 55 percent in an ARPI poll published March 8. 

Yelena Bashkirova, director of the ROMIR public opinion and market research 
group, said Thursday her polls also show a small decrease in Putin's 
popularity. 

Although ROMIR's polls - conducted Feb. 27 and 28 and March 11 and 12 and 
posted on the group's web site, www.romir.ru - showed a 10-percent dive from 
60.4 percent to 50 percent, Bashkirova said they were conducted differently 
and therefore do not indicate an actual 10-percent drop. The actual decrease 
is closer to 2 percent, she said. 

Poll-watchers have kept their eye on the crucial 50-percent mark, which may 
provide the only suspense of this political season. Long considered a 
shoo-in, Putin may ultimately have to face the inconvenience of a runoff on 
April 16 if he receives less than 50 percent of the votes. 

But the lack of a concrete program and criticism from other presidential 
hopefuls will likely do little to shatter Putin's established rating as a 
leader, Andreyenkov said. Sergei Markov of the Center for Political Studies 
agreed, saying Putin may sweep even more than 53 percent of the vote. 

According to Markov, "people who have not yet decided whom to support" - 11 
percent of The Moscow Times-poll respondents - will most likely cast their 
ballots for Putin. 

ROMIR's Bashkirova also said she expects between 55 percent and 60 percent of 
the electorate to vote for Putin. Zyuganov and Yavlinsky will get no more 
than 27 percent and 7 percent of the vote, respectively, she said. 

Putin's initial ratings skyrocketed last August when then-President Boris 
Yeltsin appointed the little-known Federal Security Service director to the 
post of prime minister and tapped him as his presidential successor - a coup 
Andreyenkov attributed to a "successful course of events. 

"People were tired of the unstable situation in the country: the rise in 
crime, unpaid wages, unemployment," he said. "The August 1998 [financial 
crisis] encouraged people to long for a strong state, which Yeltsin could not 
provide." 

In Putin, "they saw a strong leader," Andreyenkov continued, citing the 72 
percent of respondents in The Moscow Times poll who said Russia "absolutely" 
requires a "strong state" in order to bring about a return of economic and 
social stability. An additional 21 percent said that, "with some 
reservations," they also believed a strong state was necessary. 

Fifty-eight percent of those interviewed for the poll, meanwhile, said the 
economy was the issue that concerned them most this election season, while 16 
percent said they most wanted to see candidates address the problems of crime 
and corruption. However, only 24 percent said they have complete confidence 
their chosen candidate will adequately address their issue of concern. 
(Forty-seven percent said they had partial confidence, 14 percent said they 
had little confidence.) 

The poll also indicates Russians have little trust in either media coverage 
of the elections or the fairness of the elections themselves. 

Only 35 percent believe the elections will be carried out in a democratic 
manner, a mere 29 percent said media will do a fair job covering the 
elections. Fifty percent of the respondents said media coverage of the 
elections will be unfair, and 40 percent said the elections will not be 
democratic. 

"Only after being cheated so cynically with the Unity bloc did people finally 
begin to get that they were being tricked," Andreyenkov said, referring to 
the pro-Kremlin political bloc that was created from scratch mere months 
before the State Duma elections last December and finished a very close 
second behind the Communists. 

Unity's victory was widely considered to be a result of a propaganda campaign 
waged by pro-government media against Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and his 
anti-Kremlin Fatherland-All Russia movement. 

During the Duma election campaign, pro-Kremlin ORT television anchor Sergei 
Dorenko used his weekly analytical program to ravage Luzhkov while openly 
backing Unity. Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko said last month 
that "one could not fail to notice a certain erosion in the concept of 
journalistic ethics" during the campaign. 

"The paradox of this situation is that [although people realize they are 
being cheated] it will not reflect on their behavior. They will go to the 
polls and vote for a man chosen for them by Yeltsin," Andreyenkov said. 

The Moscow Times poll also asked respondents when they believe the war in 
Chechnya will be resolved. Fifteen percent said the war will be over before 
summer. Another 11 percent said before the elections, while 27 percent said 
it will not be over before the year's end. 

The recent cooling of relations between Russia and the West - due in large 
part to the Chechen conflict - was also addressed in the poll, with 42 
percent of respondents saying they "somewhat" disapproved of the growing 
estrangement. Twenty-four percent of respondents, however, said they would 
not like to see Russia develop into a Western-style democracy. 

*******

#4
Putin Presidency Themes Evaluated 

Obshchaya Gazeta
February 10, 2000
[translation for personal use only]
Article by Dmitriy Furman: "From the Late Yeltsin to the Early 
Putin: The Times Require New Words" 

Despite the fact that Putin has not yet been 
officially enthroned, the distinctive traits of his policy and 
phraseology, and the way they differ from the policy and phraseology of 
his predecessor, are already becoming quite clear. Whereas Yeltsin came 
to power using slogans of democracy and human rights, Putin has slogans 
about order and discipline. Yeltsin was "communism's undertaker," who 
before the end of his rule assumed the pose of guarantor against a "red" 
backlash. Putin's first and most clear-cut steps as acting president have 
been made in the direction of a truce with the communists. Although 
closer to the presidential election Putin and Zyuganov will clearly have 
to play out some sort of ideological confrontation, it is clear that 
relations between the new government and the communists will be different 
than under Yeltsin. On the other hand, it is quite likely that Putin will 
try to restrict the liberal media, to which Yeltsin gave virtually 
unrestricted freedom. Putin has yet to say or do anything clear regarding 
the economy, but it is obvious that there is no hint of Pinochet about 
him. More likely he will tend to reinforce state control over the economy 
and pursue a policy of state support for companies that are "of strategic 
importance to the development of the Russian economy" (read: establish 
mutual support relations with a group of the largest businessmen). 
Whereas at the beginning of his reign Yeltsin was a passionate 
Westernizer, for whom the highest honor was to become a member of the G-7 
and who was on a personal footing with Western leaders, Putin did not go 
to Davos, and his emphasis on "national interests" and "a great Russia" 
indicate that the era of cozy chats is over. The war with the Chechens 
never occupied a central position in Yeltsin's rhetoric or policy, while 
to Putin it is of fundamental significance - he has gained most of his 
popularity for fighting Chechnya. 

Many people find this puzzling: why did Yeltsin choose as his 
successor a person whose positions seem to differ so widely from his own? 
In order to understand that, we must first take into consideration that 
the differences between Putin and Yeltsin are differences between Putin 
and the "early" Yeltsin of 1991-93, when our first president's image took 
shape, not between the Putin and Yeltsin of 1999, when he sanctioned the 
second (one might consider the first a "mistake") Chechen war and 
reminded "brother Bill" that he had the atomic bomb. Over his eight years 
in power Yeltsin's phraseology and policy underwent a very great 
evolution. It is quite likely that Yeltsin would have liked to have 
shifted even farther in "Putin's" direction, but was prevented by his age 
and his past. One gets the sense of a sort of unbroken evolution of 
"presidential" phraseology and policy that smoothly transitions from the 
"early" Yeltsin to the "late" Yeltsin, then to the "early" Putin, as if 
that evolution were proceeding independently of those who perform 
presidential functions. Yeltsin 1999 differs sharply from Yeltsin 1991, 
simply because eight years have passed, but differs little from Putin 
2000, because less than a year has passed. Of course there are things 
that are specific to Yeltsin and Putin and are not dependent on time, but 
they have more to do with mannerisms and matters of style. Just as 
illusory are differences between Putin and his main opponents for the job 
of single candidate from the "government party," whom Putin's supporters 
only recently, during the Duma elections, tried to discredit as best they 
could. The shift toward more distance from the West and "defense of 
national interests" did not come from Putin at all, but instead from his 
recent opponent Primakov (and it was even observed in the "late" 
Kozyrev). Tolerance of communists, attempts to conspire with them - these 
were the main accusations leveled at Primakov and Luzhkov by the 
"family's" media. Strong words about order and discipline were spoken 
both by Primakov and by Luzhkov, and who in this country does not talk 
about the state and patriotism? The fact that Primakov and Luzhkov were 
not confidants of the "family" is quite obvious, but just try and point 
to any other political and ideological differences between them and 
Putin, you will come up empty. Therefore the polemics directed by Putin 
supporters at Primakov came to sound like jibes at an older man by 
hooligan kids - "hey, geezer, get out of here!" 

So we see that there are words that have to be spoken by government 
at certain times regardless of who is in power, whether by the same 
person, saying different things in different years, or by different 
people. What is the logic behind this change of words? Could one say that 
it reflects changes in society's moods? The parallelism of changes in the 
people's thinking and in presidential phraseology is beyond doubt. But 
the people's thinking is immeasurably more complex and more multifaceted, 
and the leader of the state "masters" and verbalizes only some part of 
the people's contradictory thoughts and feelings, and in turn those 
thoughts and feelings are to some extent defined by state propaganda. On 
the other hand, it appears to me that there is a direct dependence of 
presidential rhetoric on changing interests, and accordingly on the 
thoughts and moods of the ruling class. Naturally Yeltsin's phraseology 
in the early 1990's ("democracy," "the market," etc.) cannot be separated 
from the interests of the late Soviet elite, which was striving to become 
an elite of the Western type. All these words and concepts were not 
invented by it or in Russia; originally they were communicated not by the 
bureaucracy, but rather by the dissident intelligentsia. But the use of 
this rhetoric gave our bureaucracy the opportunity to transform itself 
from well-paid people who were nonetheless cogs in the state machine into 
free and wealthy individuals. Not in and of themselves, but instead 
functionally, to the Russian bureaucracy the words "democracy," "market" 
and "human rights" in 1991-93 meant the ideology of an elite/criminal 
revolution. (Just as the words "communism," "Lenin" and "Stalin" and 
calls for struggle against the Americans and the "Zionists" became 
objectively, regardless of their actual content, the ideology of those 
robbed by that revolution, the ideology of protest). And the evolution of 
presidential rhetoric was also determined by the evolution of the ruling 
class' interests, expressed in a form granted by the culture. What did 
the ruling class want after its members had plundered the public wealth? 
To secure its new position. What were the tasks they had to perform? 

1. The most general task: to achieve general agreement to the outcome 
of privatization. This yearning for agreement is visible even in the 
names of our governmental associations and those political associations 
that strive for the role of governmental. Whereas the first party that 
laid claimed to status as a government party was "Russia's Democratic 
Choice," then came "Russia Is Our Home," "Fatherland," "All Russia" and 
"Unity." The idea that stands behind them is as old as the world: 
"Maybe some are rich, and others poor, some robbed and others robbers, 
but nonetheless we are all citizens of Russia." 

2. Although the "Yeltsin-Zyuganov" political system that now exists in 
our country reduces the threat from the people to a minimum, it cannot 
ensure definitive legitimization of the outcome of privatization and 
guarantee the elite tranquillity. There is still the CPRF, a powerful 
party, that keeps on talking about how the people were robbed and the 
inevitability of payback. Since destroying it, something recently called 
for by Berezovskiy, would be difficult and dangerous, now Berezovskiy 
himself is recommending that it be included in a "general national 
consensus" (what can't be killed has to be bought off). That is quite 
possible, since communist party leaders, in contrast to their electorate, 
are themselves quite well off and derived some benefit from the division 
of property, so they do have a desire for "unity" and are getting tired 
of playing the role of "the people's advocates." The new course toward a 
truce with the communists was first discernible in the actions and words 
of the elite's leaders who did not belong to the president's inner circle 
and were even somewhat in the opposition. Though that course did reflect 
the general aspirations of the ruling class, to some extent it was still 
dangerous to attempt to direct it, since that threatened to split the 
ruling stratum and destroy the existing system of essentially 
predetermined elections of the highest branch of government. Now Putin, 
free of that threat and not bound by Yeltsin's past, is making a policy 
of ideological rapprochement official and safe. 

3. National solidarity requires an enemy to divert the people's 
attention from social issues to external issues. There is one such enemy: 
Chechnya. But Chechnya is not enough, and the search for an enemy will 
inevitably turn westward. Why, the West and not, say, China or the Muslim 
world? Since the process of plundering state property took place under 
"Westernizing" slogans, the social protest has naturally assumed an 
anti-Western form. In order to deflect the people's displeasure from 
itself, the elite has to use precisely this anti-Western component of the 
ideology of protest. There is another reason, one that has been 
increasingly coming to the fore: the Western legal system is becoming 
more and more of a threat to our establishment. At first the elite did 
not see this danger and did not understand, naively assuming that in the 
West money determines everything, and after all they do have money, and 
that "if we gave up communism and broke up the USSR for them, now they 
have to go to bat for us." But Western society did not turn out to be 
quite what they expected, and in addition began quickly evolving in the 
direction of an ever larger role for international legal regulation and 
restrictions on national sovereignty. Our elite began to increasingly 
feel all kinds of discomfort and even began to fear for its personal and 
property safety. If Pinochet could be arrested, that meant that no amount 
of services in the fight against communism conferred immunity (or else 
what were they fighting for?). If a country like Switzerland could issue 
an arrest warrant for Borodin, then who could rest easy? Therefore added 
to the popular anti-Westernism as part of the ideology of protest one can 
add the anti-Westernism stemming from the elite's direct interest and 
phobias. 

4. Securing the outcome of privatization also presumes the 
achievement of unity within the ruling class. The threat of a political 
split in its ranks has already been largely overcome, but something more 
is needed, something to rein in the predatory instincts of the elite, 
which engages in constant squabbles and bloody "sorting outs." And of 
course that will require not a rule-of-law state, but instead a "strong" 
state which, even if it does not eliminate the "sorting outs" will 
monopolize and regulate them, so that competitors in search of "justice" 
will not turn to contract killers, but instead will make appointments to 
meet with the president and his aides. To accomplish that it will be 
necessary to rein in the press, so that fodder for blackmail does not 
wind up in print, but instead goes to the place where it went back in the 
"good old days." 

5. In the early 1990's the slogan of a market economy was an 
ideological slogan for the elite; it did not strive for a market economy 
as such, but rather for property ownership and the "good life." In and of 
themselves a market economy and free competition are not particularly 
attractive to our elite. The psychological and intellectual qualities 
that were essential to success during the privatization process are not 
at all the qualities needed for success in a market economy, where our 
"business sharks" would most likely immediately go broke. Therefore the 
slogan of a market economy, although necessary to justify the theft, no 
longer works when it come to securing the stolen goods. Naturally a 
return to socialism is out of the question. But we do need "a 
reinforcement of the state's economic role" and "support for 
strategically important companies," i.e. an ideology and policy, the 
objective of which is to keep the new property owners from going broke 
under conditions of genuine market-based competition. 

In essence, that is all there is to Putin. Although our elite as a 
whole played no part in his nomination and therefore is a bit afraid of 
him, all his "presidential" words and thoughts are the words and thoughts 
of that class, because there are simply no others available to him. It is 
clear that his personality and his origin (when it comes to protecting 
property a person with a security background is excellent, a sort of 
protection specialist) will add their unique flavor to the accomplishment 
of these tasks, but the tasks themselves were not defined by him, nor did 
he come up with the slogans. No matter who was in his position, he would 
start uttering approximately the same words and pursuing approximately 
the same policy. A real alternative to Putin would appear in the event of 
a split within the elite and an election with a real choice (for example, 
if Primakov formed an alliance with the communists and they worked 
together against the candidate from the "government party. There was a 
tiny chance of that happening. But we missed it. Or maybe it never 
existed, and I am mistaken.). 

******

#5
Text of CPRF Zyuganov's Election Appeal 

Rossiyskaya Gazeta
14 March 2000
[translation for personal use only]
Text of Russian presidential contender Gennadiy Zyuganov's election 
campaign statement: "Russian Presidential Candidate Gennadiy Zyuganov's 
Appeal to the People" -- words between slantlines published in boldface 

Citizens of Russia! My compatriots! At this 
difficult hour I appeal to you for support as the Communist Party of the 
Russian Federation [CPRF] and "For Victory" patriotic movement candidate 
for the post of president of Russia. At the turn of the century our 
Motherland, our great people have been confronted by the most serious of 
ordeals. 

We Will Put an End to Anarchy 

Evading responsibility, Yeltsin retired, but his "era" is not yet 
over. It has already lasted 10 years and in this time /the country has 
lost 8 million people./ Every day the genocide of Russia's peoples 
carries off more and more lives. No one is safe in their own home from 
the bandits' bullets or the terrorists' bombs. Illnesses that seemed to 
have been long since eradicated are sweeping the country. And drug 
addiction, tuberculosis, and AIDS have assumed the nature of an epidemic. 

The Russian people have for the first time in the past 400 years lost 
their national-state unity. Every day our troops pay with their lives 
in the North Caucasus for the political intriguers' irresponsible games. 

We have been robbed of one-half of our industry. Our agriculture 
has fallen into decline. The country is being torn to pieces by a 
handful of oligarchs and corrupt officials who have established their own 
criminal dictatorship in the country. Colossal wealth running to 
hundreds of billions of dollars has been stolen from the people and taken 
abroad. 

/As a result 50 million Russian citizens are unable to feed 
themselves or their families. And 20 million are unemployed. Around 
10 million are homeless or refugees./ 

Women are afraid of having children in dread of their being unable to 
set them on their feet. The inhuman regime that has been created in the 
country is dooming old people to starving to death. Even veterans who 
defended the country from the fascist scourge are being denied heating, 
lighting, medical services, and most basic medicines. 

The devastating crisis in education, the deterioration of culture, 
the paralysis of Russian science, and the "brain drain" are adding to 
this tragic picture. The universal decline is not leaving Russia's 
young generation with any hope for the future apart from the sorry 
"prospect" of being cannon fodder, a reserve of cheap unskilled labor, 
and new recruits for criminal groups and gangs. 

/That is the upshot of the Yeltsin "era" -- an era of criminal 
anti-people "reforms," genocide, and the rape of the country. All this 
has been done to please the transatlantic patrons of Russian 
"democracy."/ 

In the past 10 years the regime has repeatedly duped the people. 
You were lied to when you were promised that prices would fall soon after 
their "liberalization." When you were promised "two Volgas" apiece for 
a voucher. When you were assured that the ruble was as "solid as a 
rock." You well remember what came of this. 

Today you are once again being lied to, lulled with talk of 
"stabilization," "recovery," and "restoration of order." 

/Do not believe it! The tragic truth about the country's true 
position is being hidden from you. If the current Yeltsin course is 
continued, there will be another economic collapse in early summer./ 

Millions of people will lose their jobs. A new spiral of price 
rises and inflation will begin. The ruble will fall and savings will be 
devalued. Budget sequestration will occur and another default will be 
announced. Payment of pensions and wages to budget-funded workers -- 
teachers, medics, and servicemen -- will be suspended. Payment for 
apartments, light, gas, water, transport and communications service will 
rise several times over. The elimination of free education and health 
provision will speed up. 

The oligarchs who have ruined the country know better than other 
people that the collapse is inexorably coming. Hence /in order to 
remain in power they decided to forestall events./ To remove Yeltsin 
and hold the election early before the truth came to light. And install 
in the presidency the "iron hand" that will be needed to suppress the 
inevitable people's protest. /A regime based on poverty and the 
extinction of the people, a regime based on dictatorship and violence/ -- 
that is what awaits us if people allow themselves to be duped. 

/Either there is an end to this anarchy or Russia will be robbed of a 
future./ 

Your Vote Can Save Russia 

Russia is now faced with the choice of whom it will enter the 21st 
century with. With Yeltsin's heirs. With their accomplices from the 
former nomenklatura? With oligarchs and their lackeys who have no roots 
in Russia? Or with those who will put an end to the disgraceful legacy 
of Yeltsinism once and for all and lead Russia to national revival and 
greatness? 

/This is not only a question of political sympathies and antipathies. 
The question is: Is Russia to be or not to be?/ And each citizen 
must answer that question during the coming Russian Federation 
presidential elections. The fate of Russia, your fate, the fate of your 
children and relatives is now in your hands. /Your vote can save 
Russia./ 

It is not enough today just to say that you refuse to accept the 
incumbent regime. It is not enough to proclaim a viable alternative to 
Yeltsinism -- it is necessary to be able to implement that alternative. 
And for that what is needed is not just the political will and 
determination but also a Russia-wide organization, a well-trained team 
that is ready for work. 

/The CPRF, which heads the "For Victory" movement and backed my 
candidacy for the post of Russian Federation president, has that kind of 
will, that kind of organization, and that kind of team./ It is made up 
not only of Communists but also of representatives of other patriotic 
parties and movements. 

During the previous presidential election in 1996 we proposed a broad 
program for the recovery of the Russian economy and the political system. 
If the voters had given us more resolute support then, the country 
would have been governed over the past four years by a responsible 
regime, a government of people's trust rather than the high-handed 
"godfather" of an utterly degenerate "family" of oligarchs and corrupt 
officials. Then Russia would have been able to recover the bulk of its 
lost positions. And dramatically boost the people's well-being. And 
save the lives of millions of people. This, however, did not happen. 
Time was lost and everyone will have to pay a harsh price for that. 

Hence I am appealing primarily to everyone who is making their choice 
at the last moment, influenced by sentiment or by the television and 
newspaper "hitmen" hired by the oligarchs. Have a good think. Do not 
repeat the mistakes. Entrust the government of the country to us! 

/We are not calling you back into the past. But we are taking all 
the best from it so that Russia can advance more confidently./ Do not 
listen to the slander and false allegations against us. The Communists 
have made mistakes. But no one can deny that the Communists also had 
the greatest of achievements. /It was under the Soviet regime that our 
country reached the apogee of its greatness. If you think about this, 
you will realize that only we and our political allies in conjunction 
with the whole people can halt the despoliation and degradation of 
Russia, the devastation wrought upon your pockets and hearts./ 

Order in the Country Equals Prosperity in the Home 

We have proved in the Duma and the regions of the patriotic belt that 
we are able to work, that we are open to dialogue. Power for us only 
means an opportunity to faithfully serve the Motherland and our people. 
/We will never use it as a means of making money or settling scores with 
anyone whatsoever./ 

The main thing is to increase the regime's accountability to the 
people. Among the first legislative initiatives I have outlined 
/amendments to the Constitution/ which ensure the real democratization of 
society, /the elimination of the president's authoritarian power,/ the 
enhancement of the role of the Federal Assembly and the Russian 
Federation Government. 

For last year's State Duma elections /we prepared the 
people's-patriotic forces' economic program entitled 'By Means of 
Construction."/ It was only partially tested during the brief 
Primakov-Maslyukov government. And it produced a result. Despite the 
then premier's indecisiveness and massive opposition from the oligarchs 
and Yeltsin himself and the "family" it proved possible in a short period 
to save the country's military-industrial complex and heavy industry from 
definitive collapse. And on the whole to ensure a 25-percent increase 
in industrial production. The Agro-Industrial Union of Russia has 
elaborated a /program for the restoration and development of the 
countryside,/ whose implementation will ensure parity of prices and 
support all forms of economic management on the land without the buying 
and selling of agricultural land. I will take on board these carefully 
thought-out and realistic programs. 

/We will return strategically important sectors of the Russian 
economy to state control./ I am primarily referring to the restoration 
of legality in the management of property, the return to citizens and the 
state of property stolen in the course of the predatory privatization. 
The restoration of state control of natural resources and the fuel and 
energy complex. The introduction of an effective state monopoly on the 
sale of liqueurs and vodkas and tobacco goods. /That is how we will 
obtain the tens of billions of dollars that the Russian Federation budget 
is lacking./ 

Whereas mafia operators are pumping over $25 billion a year out of 
Russia into foreign banks by hook or by crook, we will stop this criminal 
business and recover the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been 
stolen from our people for the Russian budget. We will make this money 
work for the good of the country, which will make it possible to pay off 
the state's disgraceful wages and pensions arrears, support industry and 
agriculture, create new jobs, feed the hungry, provide shelter for the 
indigent, and rapidly eliminate the poverty that reigns in our country. 

/State guarantees will be provided for investors/ who invest their 
own money in the development of the state sector of the Russian economy 
and the legal interests of foreigners who invest capital in Russia's 
economy will be protected. 

We will ensure a rational blend of state, collective, and private 
property along with real equality for these forms of property. Each 
sector of the national economy will work for the good of the country. 

/Taxes will be reduced and the tax system streamlined./ We will 
ensure the stability of prices /of a number of highly important foods,/ 
goods and services. We /will reduce fuel prices and energy, transport, 
and communications tariffs./ It will be possible to travel from one end 
of Russia to the other -- from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok -- for three 
times the minimum wage. 

We will place /banks and insurance companies/ in Russia under 
rigorous state supervision and will deprive light-fingered operators of 
opportunities to legally rob gullible investors. 

I will be one of the first to sign edicts regarding a national 
program of /assistance for the unemployed and provision of employment,/ a 
/housing/ program for Russian citizens, an immediate /two-fold increase 
in pensions and social benefits, a two-fold increase in the guaranteed 
wage/ for budget-funded workers. /The minimum wage or pension will be 
no less than 1,000 rubles [R]. And the wage of a teacher or doctor will 
be no less than R3,000./ 

For the first two years every Russian citizen will be able to obtain 
/permanent employment./ Within a year or two we will restore the system 
of /free education and health provision./ We will create broad 
opportunities for all strata of the population to improve their expertise 
and have a profession that is to their liking. We will revive the broad 
network of /preschool education for children in kindergartens and 
creches,/ which was virtually free under the Soviet regime. 

With the money that criminal operators have stolen from our people 
and returned to Russia we will create a /special fund to aid large or 
young families and single mothers./ And funds to /assist the widows of 
servicemen and Internal Troop servicemen/ who have died at the hands of 
criminals and terrorists. 

As early as 2001 we will be able to restore a /full-fledged pension/ 
that corresponds to the subsistence minimum and also /guarantee the 
indexation of wages/ in order to safeguard citizens from the grave 
consequences of inflation and price rises. The state will be able to 
provide maximum assistance for everyone who needs an /improvement in 
their housing conditions./ /Preferential loans for developers along 
with monetary benefits and free housing/ will be introduced for refugees 
as well as for people who have been deprived of their means of existence. 

I will immediately issue an edict /on urgent measures to combat 
crime, ensure citizens' security, and observe legality and law and 
order./ 

To Equality Without Leveling! 

I have no intention of ensuring social justice on the basis of 
leveling. Needless to say, we will first and foremost concern ourselves 
with blue- and white-collar workers employed in production, agriculture, 
science, public education, the medical service, transport, the Armed 
Forces, and the forces of law and order. 

/Workers and peasants are the backbone of the nation./ Everything 
will collapse without them. But under the "democrats" they have found 
themselves in the position of slaves, from whom everything has been 
taken, even their wages. We consider it our duty to guarantee them a 
fitting life. 

You all know the abyss of despair and poverty to which Yeltsin's 
"reformers" have reduced the /intelligentsia/ -- particularly doctors and 
teachers who maintain the physical and spiritual health of the nation. 
Only enemies of their own people could have allowed teachers to go on 
hunger-strike protesting that they had not been paid for six months. 
And allow emergency doctors to faint through hunger! I myself am by 
profession and come from a long line of teachers and I know the 
tremendous exertion involved in this daily, often thankless work with the 
rising generation. I know how doctors often sacrifice themselves, 
particularly in the boondocks, in order to save the sick. /Doctors and 
teachers are designed to play a most important role in Russia's revival. 
I will take care to ensure that they are guaranteed reliable state 
support./ 

Our opponents often pit Communists against the private businessman. 
But it is the current gentlemen "reformers," the current leaders of the 
right-wing forces who have done everything to devastate the "middle 
class." We also intend to take care of it because its representatives 
are first and foremost workers and, thus, our objective allies in the 
restoration of great Russia. /We will ensure the protection of legally 
acquired property and legal incomes. We will return to investors the 
savings that were taken away from them by robbers in the private banks 
and provide compensation for our fellow citizens' labor savings that 
have been reduced to dust in the course of the "reforms."/ 

I would like to stress once again that the state must do its utmost 
to support private enterprise, particularly in the sphere of small 
production, trade, and consumer services. This also applies to every 
citizen's right to have their own home, apartment, dacha, personal 
transport, subsidiary plot, and everything they need for a fitting life 
and unimpeded economic activity within the framework of the law. 

A Strong State. Developed People's Power 

We will not renounce the democratic achievements. I will vigorously 
develop and cleanse them of the distortions of the Yeltsin era. But we 
also have to /restore/ the /state/ which has been ravaged by the 
"reformers." And place the executive under the people's control. 
/Ideologically/ the Russia of the future will rely on freedom of world 
outlooks based on generally recognized values such as /social justice, a 
strong state [derzhava], people's power, patriotism, and human rights and 
freedoms./ 

Russia can only exist in the modern world as an autonomous sovereign 
state with a /blend of peacefulness and strength,/ observance of all 
/human rights/ for each of its citizens and maintenance of proper law and 
order compulsory for everyone. 

We have a large rich country. There are plenty of people ready to 
covet its wealth and independence. History has regrettably taught us 
that. Hence we will revive the former might of our /military-industrial 
complex./ My most important concern will be /to strengthen the 
country's defense capability,/ pay close attention to our glorious Army 
and Navy, and /boost the combat readiness of the Armed Forces./ Russia 
will back the world community's efforts to /eliminate surplus nuclear 
missile arms/ along with the nuclear weapons nonproliferation regime but 
it will always preserve the high combat readiness of its Armed Forces in 
order to be able to /rebuff any aggressor./ 

We see the Russia of the future in union with /fraternal Belarus/ as 
a free multiethnic state with a mixed economy. With a /strong central 
authority,/ an effective, active parliament, with well-developed local 
self-government. It will be open to alliance with all the former USSR 
republics and with all the Slav states. This /Russia along with China, 
India, and other countries/ will be an important factor in restoring the 
balance of interests in the world. 

No one people in this new Russia -- be they big or small -- will be 
subject to discrimination. I will not allow Russian people to be 
humiliated any more by local princelings who have developed a passion for 
nationalism. /Ethnic Russians will occupy a place and position in the 
Russian state that accord with their status as a great people,/ the 
custodian of our distinctive character and the uniter of the fraternal 
peoples. 

The moral anarchy that has reigned in Russia over the past few years 
has begun to threaten the very existence of our people, their spiritual 
principles, age-old traditions, and distinctive culture. Having won the 
Cold War the "victors" have organized the duty-free export to Russia of 
the cult of brutality and violence, pornography, and the vulgar Coca-Cola 
culture as it has been dubbed in Western Europe. At the same time a 
crusade on the Russian language and Russian culture as a whole has begun, 
a crusade against Orthodoxy and Islam. Foreign Terrorists have, 
incidentally, come to Chechnya as part of this crusade. Recovery from 
the spiritual ailments which this sabotage has inflicted on the rising 
generation is the state's business. It must be tackled together. This 
is primarily the duty of the creative intelligentsia, journalists, and 
writers. 

In the coming century the lasting /alliance between state and 
church,/ all traditional Russian denominations -- with the recognition of 
/Russian Orthodoxy's special role in the people's life/ -- will be able 
to ensure our Fatherland's high morality and spirituality. 

I am not coming to "rule" but to serve the people. I will work 
tirelessly for the good of people and the state. I am prepared to 
cooperate with all the country's constructive forces on the basis of 
/concern for the working person, patriotism, people's power, respect for 
the people's spiritual holy places [dukhovnyye svyatynya], and human 
rights and freedoms./ My main aim is to pool the efforts of all 
courageous, honest people in the great cause of Russia's revival. 
/Together we will ensure order in the country and prosperity in every 
home. 

/I am sure that life will work out!/ 

We will build a /Free Russia/ which we will be able to take pride in. 
A /new Russia/ which will become a center of attraction for all the 
fraternal peoples. A /Great Russia/, first among equals in the world 
community. If you want it to be that, back me in the elections! 

Vote 

/For Russia! For the Motherland! 

/For the People!/ 

*******

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