May 20, 2000    
This Date's Issues: 4313 • 4314

Johnson's Russia List
#4314
20 May 2000
davidjohnson@erols.com


[Note from David Johnson;
1. Reuters: Russia's Putin names new ministers, parties confer.
2. Reuters: Moscow TV cries foul on free speech in permit row.
3. RIA: RUSSIAN DUMA LIBERAL FACTION DRAWS UP STATE OF EMERGENCY BILL.
4. AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE: NINE NATO HOPEFULS SAY READY TO JOIN IN 2002, 
LOBBY FOR INVITES.
5. AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE: RUSSIA'S NEW FINANCE CHIEF VOWS TAX CUTS, PENSION INDEXATION. (Kudrin)
6. AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE: GERMAN GREF: ARCHITECT OF ECONOMIC REFORM 
PLAN FOR RUSSIA.
7. BBC MONITORING: ONE OF LEADERS OF RUSSIA'S UNION OF RIGHT FORCES ON POLITICAL RESHUFFLE. (Irina Khakamada)
8. AP: Russia Struggles To Fill Military.
9. Moscow Times: Oksana Yablokova, Children With HIV Face Risk of Neglect.
10. RFE/RL: Sophie Lambroschini, New Government Maintains Links To Oligarchs.
11. Reuters: Russia minister sets conservative economic policy.
12. Bloomberg: Russia's Rogozin on ABM Treaty, US-Russia Relations.
13. Moscow Times: Galina Stolyarova, Remembering Galina. 
(Starovoitova)]


******


#1
Russia's Putin names new ministers, parties confer
By Ron Popeski

MOSCOW, May 20 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin put some 
finishing touches to his streamlined government on Saturday, pleasing 
liberals by dropping his embattled fuel and energy minister. 


The sacking of Alexander Kalyuzhny won praise from opponents who had said he 
had applied too much state control to a vast oil and gas sector that accounts 
for most of Russia's foreign trade, tilting the playing field toward favoured 
business groups. 


The appointments all but completed Putin's cabinet, headed by economic 
specialist Mikhail Kasyanov. Most top positions were unchanged, though there 
were two new faces in key portfolios -- Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and 
German Gref, head of a new ministry for economic development and trade. 


Political parties met to take stock of moves announced by Putin since his 
inauguration this month -- including constraints on regional bosses that form 
the most far-reaching overhaul of Russian federalism since the constitution 
was adopted in 1993. 


Putin has named seven new representatives to tame the regions, moved to strip 
governors of parliamentary seats and assume the power to fire them. 


Officials in Moscow have applauded the moves, part of Putin's campaign to 
strengthen state authority. Regional leaders whose jobs are on the line have 
given it a cautious welcome. 


Putin and Kasyanov say their economic plan will not be released until early 
next month, though both profess attachment to market values and free business 
opportunities for all. 


DEPUTY MINISTER PREDICTS CONSERVATIVE POLICY 


Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Kolotukhin, speaking at the annual meeting of 
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Latvia, predicted 
prudent economic policies. 


``The task of the government is to lower inflation to below double digits, 
raise foreign exchange reserves and gradually lower interest rates to create 
favourable conditions for investment,'' he said. 


A decree issued by Putin appointed Alexei Gordeyev, food and agriculture 
minister since last year, to be the fifth deputy prime minister -- against 
seven in the previous administration. 


He also named Sergei Lebedev as head of the foreign intelligence service. 


Gordeyev, 45, was born in the now-defunct East Germany had worked in the farm 
sector since the 1980s. He replaced Vladimir Shcherbak, previously deputy 
premier responsible for farming. 


Alexander Gavrin was made head of a newly formed energy ministry to replace 
Kalyuzhny. 


In his year on the job, Kalyuzhny introduced a plan to set up a cartel of 
oil, gas, metals and transport bodies to fix prices of fuel and transport, 
but abandoned it within weeks. 


He also became embroiled in rows with Gazprom, the powerful gas monopoly and 
set complicated export restrictions on oil products and changed them 
frequently. 


LIBERALS APPLAUD MINISTER'S DEPARTURE 


Members of the liberal Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS), applauded 
Kalyuzhny's removal at a weekend conference. Boris Nemtsov, one of the 
party's leaders, called it ``a good sign. Kalyuzhny represented the interests 
of...concrete groups.'' 


The SPS, which groups many of the liberals who oversaw reforms in the early 
1990s and later lost much of their influence, approved a ``liberal 
manifesto'' of post-Soviet values. 


``The scale of change of the last decade is historic and difficult to compare 
with anything else in our history except the 1917 communist revolution,'' 
said Anatoly Chubais, former privatisation chief and now head of Russia's 
power utility. 


``It is perfectly clear that historians will call the Yeltsin decade a great 
decade. And this was done by us all together.'' 


The SPS also considered leadership changes after former Prime Minister Sergei 
Kiriyenko accepted the job of one of Putin's new regional representatives in 
the Volga region. 


The Communist Party, their Agrarian allies and the liberal Yabloko party also 
held meetings to discuss the reforms. 


******


#2
Moscow TV cries foul on free speech in permit row
By Michael Steen

MOSCOW, May 19 (Reuters) - Several hundred protesters gathered in central 
Moscow on Friday in support of a local television station which says it is 
being targeted in a crackdown on free speech. 


The rally was organised by the TV Tsentr station, controlled by Moscow's 
powerful mayor Yuri Luzhkov. The station is fighting Press Ministry moves to 
take away its licence. 


Speakers at the rally linked TV Tsentr's problems with a police raid last 
week on the headquarters of another media company, which controls the 
commercial NTV television station. 


``The fate of TV Tsentr, or NTV, or of any newspaper in Saratov, Tambov, 
Moscow or St Petersburg is not just the fate of television, newspapers or 
radio stations, but of society and the people,'' said TV Tsentr's Director 
General Oleg Poptsov. 


Protesters waved banners reading ``Hands off TV Tsentr'' and ``We're for 
freedom of choice.'' 


TV Tsentr received two warnings from the Press Ministry during December's 
parliamentary election campaign for breaking election law in its coverage. 
Under Russian law, this means the station's broadcasting licence has to be 
put up for tender. 


The station challenged the warnings at a Moscow court which declared one of 
them invalid. 


But regulators have said the tender scheduled for May 24, will go ahead. TV 
Tsentr is allowed to take part but will have to pay a fee if it wins. 


Luzhkov, a regular face on TV Tsentr which he uses to reach out to the nine 
million Muscovites, has often had rows with the government and the Kremlin 
although his relations with President Vladimir Putin have so far been fairly 
smooth. 


Commentators have said Luzhkov's improved relations with the Kremlin make it 
unlikely that TV Tsentr will actually lose a tender. But actors, celebrities, 
journalists and politicians loyal to Luzhkov at the rally voiced fears for 
Russian democracy. 


Last week's raid on Media-MOST, which owns NTV, by dozens of tax police 
unleashed a wave of criticism from journalists and politicians who saw the 
search as a politically motivated attack against Russia's only national 
commercial television station. 


The police said they were simply investigating a crime and that the raid was 
aimed at Media-MOST's security service for alleged infringements of privacy 
laws rather than the media outlets. 


******


#3
RUSSIAN DUMA LIBERAL FACTION DRAWS UP STATE OF EMERGENCY BILL
Russian news agency RIA


Moscow, 19th May, RIA correspondent Lubov Petrova: A group of deputies from
the Union of Right Forces' [URF] faction in the State Duma has drawn up a
bill on a state of emergency and will soon submit it to a session of the
Duma Council, one of the bill's authors, Sergey Yushenkov, told RIA on
Thursday [19th May]. Besides him, the faction's deputy head, Viktor
Pokhmelkin, and the State Duma's Defence Committee deputy chairman, Eduard
Vorobyov, took part in drawing up the bill. 


Yushenkov said that the State Duma had to consider another bill on a state
of emergency, submitted by Russia's first Pesident Boris Yeltsin back in
1997. However, "for some reasons" its consideration was suspended. He added
that in this case the Duma would have to consider two alternative bills
which is envisaged in the Duma regulations. 


Yushenkov said in order to accelerate the passing of the "vitally
importrant" bill, the URF deputies were prepared to withdraw their
legislative initiative in favour of the presidential version. He noted that
the latter was "considerably more severe" than that the bill proposed by
his faction. 


The URF bill preserves the main conceptual principles of the previous law,
which the RSFSR Supreme Soviet passed back in 1991 but which by now has
fully lost its juridical validity. Yushenkov said that apart from cases
envisaged by that law, the URF deputies were proposing that an armed
rebellion and a threat to the country's integrity and territorial
inviolability should be regarded as a reason for introducing a state of
emergency. 


The new bill includes a norm, according to which the bodies of executive
power of a territory, where a state of emergency is introduced, may be put
under direct subordination to the president or to a representative or body,
appointed by the president. In exclusive cases of state of emergency the
president may decide to use the armed forces. 


Yushenkov said that the bill regulated the procedure for adopting a
decision to introduce a state of emergency, determined the rights and
duties of citizens and officials, and listed measures to be used in state
of emergency conditions. 


At present the bill is being considered by the Duma committee, the deputy
said. It was also sent to all the entities of legislative initiative.
Yushenkov said the Duma Security Committee had held the preliminary
discussion of the bill. 


Only former Interior Minister and an independent deputy Anatoliy Kulikov
condemned the bill. In his opinion, the bill "doesn't reflect today's
realities". Besides, Yushenkov said, the former minister's main argument
against adopting the bill was the view that the law on a state of emergency
had never been fully applied on the territory of the Soviet Union or Russia
and, hence, its adoption would be "inexpedient". 


*******
#4
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
NINE NATO HOPEFULS SAY READY TO JOIN IN 2002, LOBBY FOR INVITES
19-May-2000 


Foreign ministers from nine eastern Euroepan countries met in the
Lithuanian capital Friday to press their cases to join NATO and declared
they would be ready to join the Atlantic alliance in 2002. 


NATO Secretary General George Robertson voiced support for continued NATO
enlargement, but made no promises and said no decisions would be taken
before 2002. 


"We call upon the members states of NATO to fulfill the promise of the
Washington Summit to build a Europe whole and free," said a statement
adopted by the nine countries. 


"We call upon the member states at the next NATO Summit in 2002 to invite
our democracies to join NATO." 


The document was signed by the foreign ministers from Bulgaria, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, and deputy foreign
ministers from Macedonia and Albania. 


The nine countries stressed that they shared the common values of the
Euro-Atlantic community and their desire to integrate into Euro-Atlantic
institutions emanated from their "readiness to assume a fair share of
responsibility for the common defense and to add our voice to the debate on
our common future." 


Lithuanian Foreign Minister Algirdas Saudargas said the statement marked "a
new beginning in the realising of our goal of full integration into
Euro-Atlantic community." 


The nine countries hope that by banding together they can repeat the
success of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, whose joint efforts at
lobbying for membership succeeded last year. 


Robertson voiced support for enlargement in his opening speech at the
conference, but made no specific promises. 


"We need to continue the process of bringing new members into NATO. This
means keeping our political commitment to the new democracies of Europe so
that they can be full part of safe and prosperous Euro-Atlantic community,"
said Robertson. 


He pledged continued assistance to help hopefuls prepare for NATO
membership, but said no decisions about enlargement would be made before
2002. 


"The Washington summit decided that the next summit meeting will be held no
later than 2002, and also in practice no earlier than 2002, to make a
decision on an invitation to enlargement and that remains," he said. 


Robertson also said the main criteria for inviting new members will be
their readiness for NATO membership, and NATO's readiness for further
enlargement. 


"We also have to take account of the general security situation of the time
and that the decisions taken at the summit meeting in 2002 will have to be
ratified by 19 NATO parliaments," he said. 


The nine countries can be assured of continued US support for enlargement
as they received letters from both the Democratic and Republican Party
candidates endorsing further enlargement. 


Republican candiate George W. Bush said he believes that the enlargement of
NATO should continue and that "it is in America's interest that the new
European democracies become fully integrated into the economic, political
and security institutions of the transatlantic community." 


He said Russia, which strongly opposes NATO enlargement into the former
Soviet bloc, should not be given a veto over the alliance's development. 


US Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic party candidate, said "the issue
of new memberships should be kept at the forefront of the business of
NATO," according to the text of the letter released to conference
participants. 


*******
#5
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
RUSSIA'S NEW FINANCE CHIEF VOWS TAX CUTS, PENSION INDEXATION
19-May-2000 


Russia's new finance chief Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin on Friday
promised deep tax cuts next year but vowed to protect pensioners and state
workers from the effects of inflation. 


Kudrin, a cautious economic liberal from Saint Petersburg, home town of
President Vladimir Putin, was named finance minister Thursday and will
oversee implementation of a new economic strategy for Russia. 


Speaking on the private NTV television channel Kudrin urged deputies in the
State Duma lower house of parliament to approve a radical overhaul of
Russia's punitive tax code before the summer break. 


"I think it is very important before the deputies take their holidays to
vote on the new package of fiscal laws and, in particular, the second part
of the tax code. 


"Everyone hopes, in my view, both the new Duma and the government, that
there will be a big step towards fiscal reform, and to considerably
lowering the tax, economic and fiscal burden, making taxes simpler," he said. 


Tax cuts in the budget for 2001 - discussions on which are due to begin in
June - "will be significant and noticeable," Kudrin said. 


Foreign investors say the Soviet-era tax regime is a brake on investment
and is stifling economic growth. 


However, the 39-year-old finance chief was careful to remember the
country's pensioners and state employees, saying their incomes would rise
"not less than inflation." 


The choice of government line-up is "a great achievement," full of
"like-minded people," said Kudrin, the veteran of five prime ministers
under former president Boris Yeltsin. 


Kudrin also praised his former boss at the finance ministry, the new Prime
Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, as a "moderate liberal" who backed a market
economy. 


"You don't have to persuade him that Russia's ... success will depend on
its ability to organise a civilised economy or inculcate civilised rules in
Russia," he added. 


He denied suggestions that Kasyanov had distanced himself from an economic
plan worked out by the new Economic Development and Commerce Minister
German Gref during his confirmation hearing in parliament. 


Kudrin said the government had great confidence in Gref, who heads an
economic think-tank set up by Putin last December and who will report
directly to the finance minister. 


Some observers had suggested Kasyanov's remarks signalled the start of a
behind the scenes struggle within cabinet for control of economic policy,
as Gref is seen as loyal to Putin rather than the prime minister. 


*******
#6
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
GERMAN GREF: ARCHITECT OF ECONOMIC REFORM PLAN FOR RUSSIA
19-May-2000


A fresh face in the cabinet, moderate liberal German Gref, 36, is the
architect of a blueprint for market reform in Russia who has won a bitter
internal struggle to head a new economic super-ministry. 


Gref, a member of the so-called Saint Petersburg "clan" which is now
stamping its influence on Moscow, will run an economic development and
commerce ministry tasked with implementing a long-term plan for sustainable
growth his institute has been overseeing. 


"His nomination is a very positive signal for the strength of the Saint
Petersburg group of reformers in the new cabinet," said Yaroslav
Lissovolik, an economist from the brokerage house Renaissance Capital. 


Gref was little known until last December, when Vladimir Putin, already the
anointed successor of Boris Yeltsin, picked him to head the Centre for
Strategic Studies, tasked with preparing an ambitious plan for economic
reform. 


His family emigrated from Germany in 1913, when Gref's grandfather, a
language scholar, was invited to Saint Petersburg university. Gref,
however, was born in Kazakhstan, where his entire family was deported by
Stalin during World War II. 


It was in this Central Asian republic that he met his wife, also of German
origin. 


Gref finished law studies in Omsk in 1990, and then obtained a doctorate in
Saint Petersburg. 


He immediately gravitated towards the team of young reformers under the
city's liberal mayor Anatoly Sobchak, becoming a close friend of Vladimir
Putin, who as deputy mayor was also part of the same entourage. 


Between 1992 and 1998, Gref helped to oversee the country's first state
sell-offs, masterminded from Moscow by Anatoly Chubais, the architect of
Russia's crash privatisation programme. 


In 1998, he moved to the Russian capital to the privatisations ministry. 


Since last December, his pudgy bearded face has become a familiar sight in
public. 


The reformist strategy elaborated by Gref has slowly been fleshed out: less
bureaucracy, public spending, taxes and subsidies, no state intervention in
the economy but firm action to ensure respect for the law, and a level
playing field for all. 


The programme has been dubbed as "radical but realistic" by several Russian
economists here. 


Yet Gref is seen as a pragmatist rather than a radical liberal economist. 


Still, the aims of his think-tank's programme are ambitious: sharply
improve the standard of living in Russia, where 50 million live below the
poverty line; and achieve an annual growth rate of 10 percent. 


This objective could clash with Russian political realities and the
established structures of power, Gref admits, a scenario which seems to
suit a man described by one of his friends as "persevering, strong-willed,
frank and direct." 


His primarily Communist critics sometimes accuse him of being hard-headed
and even haughty. 


Gref's nomination followed a major battle in the corridors of power of the
Kremlin and the White House government, and he is likely to face continued
opposition. 


Boris Berezovsky, one of the most influential tycoons under the Boris
Yeltsin era who still has considerable weight, has described him as "a weak
man who does not understand fundamental problems." 


Some analysts suggest that the new prime minister, Mikhail Kasyanov -
viewed as a Berezovsky ally - had unsuccessfully attempted to minimise
Gref's influence and that of the "new elite" from Saint Petersburg, Putin's
home city. 


******


#7
BBC MONITORING
ONE OF LEADERS OF RUSSIA'S UNION OF RIGHT FORCES ON POLITICAL RESHUFFLE
Text of report by Russian Public TV on 19th May 


[Presenter] And here is some more political news. Today [19th May] a
congress is to be held of the movements which make up the all-Russia public
organization Union of Right Forces: these are Russia's Democratic Choice,
the Young Russia movement and New Forces. And tomorrow the inaugural
congress of the Union of Right Forces is starting in the capital. At the
moment, we have one of the leaders of the Right-wingers, Irina Khakamada,
in the studio. She is in a live link-up with our studio. 


Good morning, Irina. 


[Irina Khakamada, deputy leader of the Union of Right Forces faction]. Good
morning. 


[Q] We will start off with something different. [Union of Right Forces
leader] Sergey Kiriyenko has been appointed the president's authorized
represent in the Volga Federal District by a decree of the president. What
impact will that have on the activity of the Union [of Right Forces], and
the combining of a deputy's duties with another paid post is prohibited by
the regulations on the status of a deputy. How can you explain this? 


[A] Naturally, having agreed to take the job of presidential representative
for the Volga District , Sergey Kiriyenko will lose his deputy's mandate in
that case and he is beginning to perform his duties directly in the
executive bodies of power. He does, however, have the right to remain an
ordinary member of the Union of Right Forces and to support us as a
politician who backs our programme and shares our political views. 


[Q] Let's talk about the congress itself, the tasks and targets that you
are setting. 


[A] Our congress is of great significance because the Union of Right Forces
was in fact an election coalition which got together an enormous number of
democratic parties and was able to win at the elections. Now we have to put
our relations as a political organization into shape. The relevant founding
documents have been drawn up, and on Saturday [20th May] the constituent
congress will take place at which we shall approve these documents. We
shall approve everything relating to our leading bodies. Thus, after that
we shall submit the documents to the Justice Ministry to be registered.
After that, we shall work as a political organization. 


[Q] And my last question. The press notes that the internal differences
within the Union of Right Forces have become worse. Moreover, you are
accused of doing away with the democratic principles that you yourself
declared. 


[A] I do not think that we have committed any kind of violations. In actual
fact, it really was an extremely difficult job, because the interests had
to be married of the party, of the legal entities which wanted to present
themselves as new future political organizations and simultaneously meet
the conditions regarding the registration of political organizations. In
this event, natural persons should be the founding ones. We found a
compromise formula, and ultimately the Union of Right Forces as a political
organization will be founded both in an individual capacity as well as the
parties that campaigned in the elections acting as legal entities. 


[Q] Thank you. That was Irina Khakamada, one of the leaders of the Union of
Right Forces. 


******


#8
Russia Struggles To Fill Military
May 19, 2000
By NICK WADHAMS

MOSCOW (AP) - With soldiers dying in rebel ambushes in Chechnya, Russia's 
military is having more trouble than ever filling its ranks, leaving some 
units seriously undermanned. 


Never popular, military service enjoyed a brief surge last fall when Russian 
troops moved into Chechnya and scored a string of victories. 


Eight months later, with the army bogged down in a war against elusive 
guerrillas and suffering mounting losses, the enthusiasm for military service 
has faded. The military says some 2,300 soldiers have been killed in the war, 
but critics say the true figure is at least twice as high. 


Nowhere is that trend more visible than in this spring's draft call-up. Men 
aged 18 to 27 are eligible for two years compulsory military service, with 
the armed forces calling up recruits every spring and fall. 


The number of draft dodgers has doubled since the war began and there are 
growing gaps in the military's ranks, said Col. Gen. Vladislav Putilin, head 
of the military's mobilization department. 


For the first time in four years, the army has been unable to replace all 
soldiers as they leave the army after finishing their tours of duty, Putilin 
said. ``The deficit is about 40 percent of demand,'' he said, speaking on NTV 
television. 


Even last fall, when the Chechen war boosted enlistment, about a third of the 
more than 210,000 men called up got exemptions or deferments on health 
grounds, and 20,000 went into hiding, according to the Defense Ministry. 


To counter the shortage, critics contend the military is approving physically 
and mentally unfit teen-agers to fight, and is targeting high school students 
so they can't get exemptions by enrolling in higher education. 


Tatyana Korovkina said her 17-year-old son Alexei got a draft card telling 
him to attend call-up at the end of June, a day after his 18th birthday. The 
timing means Alexei won't have time to get into a college. 


``They want to get him now so he doesn't get a chance to apply to college,'' 
Korovkina said. 


Military doctors increasingly overlook severe health problems in recruits to 
meet quotas, according to the Soldiers' Mothers Committee. Some doctors 
demand bribes to exempt young men from service even if they are unfit, the 
group said. 


``A mother comes to me with documents that showed her son's kidney wasn't 
functioning properly and he was unfit to serve,'' said Lyudmila Obratsova, 
one of the group's founders. ``The doctor said, 'We won't call him up, but 
that's going to cost you $1,400.''' 


Life in the cash-strapped military is hellish. Hunger and squalid living 
conditions are part of recruits' daily routine along with frequent bullying 
and beatings by older soldiers. Soldiers sometimes beg on the streets. 


President Vladimir Putin has tried to boost the military's image and make 
service more appealing by reviving Soviet-style military training in 
secondary schools. He decreed earlier this year that students 15 and older 
receive combat training and take classes in military history starting in 
September. 


But the plan is not expected to have much impact, with even military 
officials saying it's more likely to turn kids off. 


``These ideas haven't caught on,'' said Col. Oleg Falichev of the military's 
Red Star newspaper. ``With the military so poor off, all this talk of ways to 
militarize society don't have any real foundation.'' 


Some young men have tried to exercise their right to alternative service, but 
efforts to set up such a system have languished in parliament for years. 
Lawmakers fear there would never be enough recruits for the military if they 
approve an alternative service system, said Sergei Sorokin, who leads the 
Movement Against Violence, a private group championing alternative service. 


The lack of enthusiasm was palpable at a recent call-up outside Moscow, where 
some draftees said they agreed with obligatory service but struggled to 
explain why. Others said they'd had no choice. 


Asked if he had tried to dodge the draft, a 19-year-old who would only give 
his first name, Vitaly, said, ``There wasn't any time.'' 


*******


#9
Moscow Times
May 20, 2000 
Children With HIV Face Risk of Neglect 
By Oksana Yablokova
Staff Writer


Against the backdrop of a dangerous rise in HIV and AIDS cases among adults, 
the number of children under 15 carrying the deadly virus remains relatively 
low. But AIDS experts say that due to a lack of medicines and no unified 
state policy, HIV-infected children often find themselves in more dire 
straits than adult patients. 


"Adult patients can be treated with 16 medicines, while for children's 
therapy only five or six medicines are available in Russia," said Yevgeny 
Voronin, chief doctor of the St. Petersburg Infectious Diseases Hospital. 


Together with other AIDS experts, Voronin attended a round-table discussion 
on AIDS among children this week, in the run-up to the solemn holiday 
commemorating AIDS victims to be marked on Sunday. 


According to Health Ministry statistics, 832 children have been infected with 
HIV and 102 of them have died since AIDS was first detected in Russia in 
1987. These children contracted the disease both from HIV-infected mothers 
and through blood transfusions or injections with recycled syringes in 
hospitals. 


Voronin lamented that too many children with HIV fall through the 
bureaucratic cracks because of the absence of a clear-cut state policy. 


He recalled the 270 or so children infected with the human immunodeficiency 
virus through injections with recycled syringes and catheters in hospitals in 
the southern cities of Elista, Rostov and Volgograd in 1988 and 1989. 


Only 155 of them are alive today, Voronin said, and 55 of them receive 
regular treatment in the hospital he heads, where they travel with their 
parents every three months for a two-week round of therapy. 


But besides these 55 children, the clinic also permanently treats 40 
HIV-infected youngsters abandoned by their parents at birth. The fate of 
these children, who have no one to depend on but the state, is unclear, 
Voronin said. 


The cash-strapped Health Ministry, which allocates money for the treatment of 
such children, must also provide them with some basic education allowing them 
to function in society, as no other governmental agency will fund it. 


Galina Pankova, head of the epidemiology department of the Moscow AIDS 
Prevention Center, which treats 78 HIV-infected children, including 25 
abandoned by their parents, said that even healthy children born to 
HIV-infected parents have practically no chances of being adopted. 


Prejudices against people with AIDS are still strong in Russia, Pankova said, 
adding that even orphanage officials find ways not to accept children born to 
HIV-infected mothers - even if they are confirmed healthy. 


Voronin said HIV-infected mothers often give birth to healthy children, but 
many doctors contribute to the growing rate of HIV infection among children 
by refusing to do Cesarean sections, fearing infection themselves. 


"Routine Cesarean sections reduce the risk of infecting the infant by 50 
percent. Doctors need to be given general regulations from the health 
authorities on how to handle such deliveries," Voronin said. 


Pankova said her center now treats patients with Phosfazid, a Russian 
modification of AZT, the world's most common AIDS drug. Phosfazid, licensed 
by health authorities last year, has fewer side effects and remains in the 
body longer than AZT. 


Along with the statistics on children, health officials also released the 
latest overall HIV and AIDS figures this week. Over 10,000 new cases of HIV 
have been registered in the first three months of this year - as compared to 
slightly more than 18,200 in all of 1999. Over 90 percent of those who 
contracted the virus were intravenous drug users, Deputy Health Minister 
Gennady Onishchenko said Monday. 


The new cases bring the total number of HIV cases to 36,133, including 832 
children, the ministry reported. Health officials warn that the actual 
incidence rate of HIV may be 10 times higher, as the country still lacks 
comprehensive diagnostic and treatment programs, and as the majority of those 
with HIV don't know they have contracted the disease. 


Moscow, Kaliningrad, Irkutsk, Krasnodar and Tver remain the most severely 
affected regions and cities. 


*******


#10
Russia: New Government Maintains Links To Oligarchs
By Sophie Lambroschini


Russia's new government is now almost complete, and it looks rather similar 
to the old Yeltsin-era government. RFE/RL's Sophie Lambroschini reports that 
some Russian analysts fear that this continuity of personnel will mean a 
continuation of the same style and policies as before. 


Moscow, 19 May 2000 (RFE/RL) -- "This government is not being formed around a 
unifying idea but, as always, it reflects the importance of not only public 
but behind-the-scenes politics."


That is the complaint lodged on the front page of the Russian daily 
"Kommersant" today. 


Now that President Vladimir Putin's new government, under Prime Minister 
Mikhail Kasyanov, is almost complete, most Russian observers are noting that 
it is little different from its predecessor. Two-thirds of the new 
government's members served in the outgoing government formed a year ago 
under Boris Yeltsin. The most powerful ministers retained their posts, 
including the interior, defense and foreign ministers, and the head of the 
Federal Security Service, or FSB. And people with close ties to the business 
tycoons known as oligarchs are, again, well-represented in the government. 


There are, however, some new faces in the Russian government. The most 
notable among them is think-tank director German Gref, who has been appointed 
to the new post of economic development minister. A native, like Putin, of 
Saint Petersburg, Gref is head of the Center for Strategic Development, an 
institution created by Putin last fall to work out a long-term economic 
strategy for Russia. 


Gref's center has offered an ambitious blueprint that includes a tight budget 
and strict tax and banking reforms. In recent weeks, media reports had 
claimed that Gref's role in developing economic policy was diminishing. And 
new Prime Minister Kasyanov was said to be downplaying the importance of the 
economic blueprint.


But Denis Rodionov, an analyst with the investment bank Brunswick-Warburg, 
says the appointment of Gref is an encouraging sign for the Russian economy. 
Another good sign, he says, is the appointment of Aleksei Kudrin as finance 
minister. 


Other observers, however, point out that both Kudrin and Gref have ties to 
Anatoly Chubais, the powerful head of Russia's electricity monopoly. The 
government also includes many associates of another powerful tycoon -- Boris 
Berezovsky. Railways Minister Nikolai Aksyonenko, Interior Minister Vladimir 
Rushailo, and Kasyanov himself are widely believed to be close to Berezovsky.


Yevgeny Volk is a political analyst with Russia's Heritage Fund. He says the 
inclusion in the government of representatives of different powerful clans is 
a sure sign that the influence of the oligarchs will be as great under Putin 
as it was under Yeltsin. "The appointments that were made were expected, and 
reflect the behind-the-scenes fight for power and, especially, the economic 
positions of the different oligarchs' groups. Seen this way, one can call it 
a coalition government, since representatives of the Berezovsky-Abramovich 
group are included, and the Chubais clan is also present," Volk said.


Yeltsin's tactic of divide and conquer had him playing one clan against the 
other with the president as the arbitrator. While this tactic kept Yeltsin in 
power, it also prevented the divided government from working efficiently.


Volk says Putin seems to be following Yeltsin's example. But he says Putin is 
stronger than his predecessor and will probably have more success in playing 
off the oligarchs against each other.


Other observers, however, say the new government structure marks a departure 
from the Yeltsin past. Analyst Rodionov says the elimination of the post of 
first deputy prime minister may be a sign that Putin actually wants the 
government to stop its internal feuding and work as a unit:


"[Under Yeltsin], there was always a prime minister and, at the same time, a 
very powerful deputy prime minister who created a second center of authority 
-- and struggles occurred between the two ministers and their subordinates. 
The elimination of the office of first deputy prime minister is a positive 
factor, indicating that the government will be more unified."


Political analyst Sergei Markov also notes that this new government under 
Putin will play a much diminished role. Under Yeltsin, prime ministers were 
strong, leading figures -- even if they were changed frequently. Under Putin, 
Markov says, the center of power has clearly shifted toward the presidential 
administration:


"The strategy of this cabinet will not be worked out by the prime minister 
and his allies but by some outside strategic group. In this way, the cabinet 
becomes a coherent enough team of technocrats that will have to play the role 
of an effective mechanism capable of implementing Putin's ambitious 
restructuring plans."


Still, the presence of so many ministers connected to the oligarchs casts 
doubt on Putin's ability or willingness to carry out one key element of his 
reform plan -- to weaken the tycoons' influence on policy. 


*******


#11
Russia minister sets conservative economic policy


RIGA, May 20 (Reuters) - Russia's new government will pursue conservative 
fiscal and macro-economic policies, avoiding budget deficits and cutting 
inflation, a junior minister said on Saturday. 


"The task of the government is to lower inflation to levels below double 
digits, raise foreign exchange reserves and gradually lower interest rates to 
create favourable conditions for investment," Deputy Finance Minister Sergei 
Kolotukhin said. 


Russia would attract $20-25 billion of direct investments a year if the new 
government economic programme is carried out, he told a seminar at the annual 
meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). 


"The practice of non-deficit budgets will be continued," he added. 


The make-up of the new government was completed on Saturday, following this 
month's inauguration of Vladimir Putin as president. 


Russia's economy is growing and tax revenues are healthy, helped by the 
recent rise in oil prices and the rouble devaluation which accompanied its 
1998 financial crash. 


But consumer price inflation was running at 22.5 percent year-on-year in 
March, with the central bank's refinancing rate at 33 percent. 


Kolotukhin also said Russia could not afford the huge amount of foreign debt 
inherited from the former Soviet Union. The government is seeking to 
restructure more than $100 billion of Soviet-era debt but has pledged to meet 
obligations on foreign debt incurred since the collapse of the Soviet Union 
in 1991. 


Alexei Kudrin, the newly appointed finance minister, said on Friday he hoped 
Russia could return to world capital markets in 2001. 


*******


#12
Russia's Rogozin on ABM Treaty, US-Russia Relations: Voices


Washington, May 19 (Bloomberg)
-- The following are comments by Dmitri Rogozin, chairman of the 
Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee. Rogozin met with U.S. Deputy 
Secretary of State Strobe Talbot and members of Congress this week to discuss 
arms control issues. Rogozin spoke to reporters at the Russian Embassy. 


On Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with President Bill Clinton, 
scheduled for next month in Moscow: 


``If no agreements are reached in Moscow on the (Anti- Ballistic Missile) 
issue, there is a threat of a new freeze in bilateral relations.'' 


On Russia's opposition to the U.S. proposal to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic 
Missile Treaty to allow the building of a limited defense missile system: 


``The new Russian Federation and new Duma is committed to following a 
responsible approach... Over the past 6 years, my American counterparts 
blamed the Russian parliament for its inability to consider most important 
treaties including the START II Treaty. Now that the situation has become 
quite the opposite, the ball is on the side of our American partners.'' 


On potential effect of new U.S. missile systems on Russia's nuclear arsenal: 


``As the U.S. gets ready to spend more millions of dollars (to build a 
limited national defense system) -- the deterrent potential of Russia's 
arsenal weakens. A second consequence is China and North Korea, which also 
will feel their nuclear potential being neutralized.'' 


*******


#13
Moscow Times
May 20, 2000 
Remembering Galina 
By Galina Stolyarova 


It has been a year and a half since Galina Starovoitova, the State Duma 
deputy who was a champion of democratic freedom, was struck down by a bullet 
in the stairwell of her St. Petersburg apartment. Her murder - which remains 
unsolved - was a shock to a nation that turned out to mourn the charismatic 
and compassionate woman, Russia's brightest female politician. On the 
occasion of her birthday (on May 17 Starovoitova would have turned 54), 
Galina Stolyarova spoke to the politician's sister, Olga Starovoitova. 


Q: 
How did you feel on Galina's birthday? Do you have any hope that her murder 
will be solved? 


A: 
It was a day of memories and recollections. There were many people with 
flowers at the cemetery and I invited a choir to sing spiritual music by her 
grave. It was more like a real birthday celebration than a day of mourning. 


I often visit my sister's grave, and I feel such great support from the 
ordinary people who gather there. There are always people bringing flowers, 
especially on Sundays. Sometimes there are so many flowers it is difficult to 
approach the grave. I find it encouraging that so many people remember her. 


Unfortunately, no one in the family really believes that Galina's murder will 
be solved quickly. Frankly, we don't even discuss it at home - we try not to 
think about it. 


Q: 
Former President Boris Yeltsin promised to find the killers and took the 
investigation under his personal control. Do you trust these promises? 


A: 
I did believe Yeltsin when he said he'd do his best to find the killers. But 
he had little control over the country by that time. I myself saw Sergei 
Stepashin crying, and this wasn't for the benefit of the reporters. Vladimir 
Putin sent us a condolence telegram last November [on the anniversary of 
Starovoitova's death]. The real question is whether or not their 
investigative efforts are going to be fruitful. I doubt it. After some 
offensive publications appeared in the media speculating that there could be 
some commercial motive behind the murder, I asked the police to publish a 
statement to quell this gossip. I wanted them to confirm that Galina wasn't 
involved in any kind of commercial activity. They know that it is the truth. 
But on May 17 [Galina's birthday], the head of the investigation called me 
and said that since they have not had any breakthroughs in the case, they 
would rather not publish any official statements. That would be premature, he 
said. 


Q: 
What can you say about the effect of Galina's death on the political 
environment? 


A: 
Galina always tried to link the country's democratic forces. Unfortunately, 
these forces [in spite of their promises] never united - even after her 
death. 


Q: 
What do you consider to be her greatest political achievement? 


A: 
We were always proud of Galina. She was such a bright politician who came 
into the political arena through her examination of the ethnic conflicts in 
Armenia and other former Soviet republics. When Yeltsin named her his adviser 
on ethnic issues in 1991, it was perceived as a natural continuation of her 
career. 


During her tenure as Yeltsin's ethnic adviser [1991-1992], there was no 
bloodshed in Russia. She believed this to be her greatest achievement, and I 
agree with her. The bloody scenario came after Yeltsin made Galina go. 


Little by little, Yeltsin paid less and less attention to her advice. He 
phoned less and less and their meetings became sporadic. Finally he stopped 
consulting her altogether, and one day she received an envelope containing 
her letter of resignation. He didn't even bother to meet her or call her 
about it, and this is what she found particularly insulting. 


But she wasn't vindictive at all, nor was she a small-minded person. In an 
interview shortly after her resignation she was asked to name several 
contemporary politicians whom she considered to be above the use of dirty 
tricks. She named Andrei Sakharov, Vaclav Havel and Boris Yeltsin. 


Watching that interview, I silently applauded her and felt very proud. 
Yeltsin is by all means a tragic figure in Russian history, but he was also a 
powerful and important one. 


Q: 
Why was she murdered? What motivation could the killers have had? 


A: 
Our whole family has been considering this question for a long time, but it 
is very complicated. She tried hard to make the country's budget transparent 
and believed legislators should be able to trace where state money goes. 
This, of course, was rather irritating for those on the receiving end of 
improperly directed budgetary funds. 


But Galina was impossible to bribe or to persuade. After she was murdered, 
[literary historian] Dmitry Likhachyov said of her: "She would never 
compromise with rascals. And that is why she was destined to die." At first 
his words gave me the shivers, but in the months that followed I realized 
that he was probably right. 


There are enough corrupt people here - I wouldn't even try to guess who 
ordered the crime. I am also quite sure it is very easy to hire people who 
are ready to kill anyone. 


Q: 
Had she been receiving many threats? 


A: 
Of course. They started back in the fall of 1989 when a group of Azeri people 
called to tell her they would cut her throat, kill her family, set her flat 
on fire, etc. Most of the phone calls were anonymous, but she could guess who 
was hassling her. We didn't pay too much attention to these threats - we 
regarded them as a type of unavoidable political game. 


Looking back through her articles and her references to [former Indian Prime 
Minister] Indira Ghandi's murder, and the threats made to [former Pakistani 
Prime Minister] Benazir Bhutto, I now realize that she was well aware of what 
could happen to her. 


Q: 
Did she ever regret anything about her political career? 


A: 
When the quota for women in the parliament was canceled, the female 
representation in the Duma dropped six times. She often repeated that they 
shouldn't have done that. She knew it was important to change society's 
attitude toward women in politics. This was the only reason she ran for 
president. She was a gambler by nature - smart and tough. She thrived in 
risky situations. But the game of politics was a dangerous one. Just a few 
days after her funeral our mother said that she had gotten in over her head. 


Q: 
Had she ever mentioned to you that she wanted to get out of politics? 


A: 
Yes. There were moments - such as when [Duma Deputy] Albert Makashov went 
unpunished for making his horrible anti-Semitic statements - when she simply 
felt helpless. The best thing that she could do would be to resign, she would 
say. But she never gave up; she kept fighting back. 


Q: 
In 1999 you started a nonprofit organization and museum in honor of your 
sister. How is that developing? 


A: 
We've published two of Galina's books and this year we'll introduce a new 
project that was Galina's brainchild: giving grants to the most talented St. 
Petersburg students in the humanitarian sphere for their work promoting 
tolerance in today's conflict zones. 


Q: 
What have we lost with Galina's death? 


A: 
You know what people tell me? They stopped watching Duma sessions. Many say 
that they are subconsciously looking for her until it finally occurs to them 
that she is not there anymore. It may be good for the state that the Duma is 
not in opposition to the president anymore, but the speeches are losing their 
meaning. 


I think she was an unbeatable polemicist. She was a woman of excellent 
intelligence and remarkable intuition. Many politicians cowardly avoided 
debates with her on television. And they were right to do so because they 
would lose. Someone couldn't beat her with words, so he decided to shoot her 
... 


As for our family, we've lost our leader. Galina carried the uneasy burden of 
decision-making in the family. She was a born leader. Now that job has fallen 
on my shoulders, and I am learning how to be strong. 


*******

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