November 2, 2000   

This Date's Issues:   4615 • 4616

Johnson's Russia List
#4616
2 November 2000
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. BBC Monitoring: Russia seeks to tackle "every day" racism through poster campaign.
2. Itar-Tass: Russia' Putin supports study of political repression documents, says official.
3. Itar-Tass: Cardiovascular diseases kill over a million Russians every year.
4. Bloomberg: Russia Hopes to Speed WTO Membership, Sets 2002 Entry Date.
5. Financial Times (UK): ANDREW JACK and ARKADY OSTROVSKY, Russian summons steps up pressure on two oligarchs.
6. New York Times: Joseph Kahn, Why West's Billions Failed to Give Russia a Robust Economy.
7. Interfax: RUSSIA-FOOD-AID-CRITICISM-GORDEYEV.
8. Al Decie: Response from Russia to "Port native forbidden to leave Russia since July"
9. Bill Mandel: Re: Russophobia etc.
10. The Times (UK): Alice Lagnado, Russians turn to hacking as the new subversion.
11. THE JAMESTOWN FOUNDATION PRISM: Elena Chinyaeva, PUTIN TAKES AIM 
AT THE PRINCIPLE OF NATIONAL SELF-DETERMINATION.
12. The Times (UK): Living under the shadow of death. (Review of NIGHT OF STONE: Death and Memory in Russia by Catherine Merridale)\
13. Moscow Times: Vladimir Kozin, Lessons of the Kursk. 
14. Komsomolskaya Pravda: GOOD IDEA: GIVE PICTURES TO PAY TAXES - PUTIN.]

******

#1
BBC Monitoring
Russia seeks to tackle "every day" racism through poster campaign 
Source: 'Segodnya', Moscow, in Russian 30 Oct 00 

Several thousand posters by 20 artists are to appear on Moscow's streets
today. The powerful social campaign "I Refuse To Hate" has reached the
capital. 

The plan's premise is simple. Extremist feeling is very strong in Russia.
Ethnic enmity is manifested not only in armed conflicts but also on the
most basic everyday level. Only by deliberately turning a blind eye can you
fail to see that xenophobia and anti-Semitism are still around and that our
fellow citizens, some aloud and some under their breath, are eagerly
cursing all Caucasians, anyone from Central Asia, the Chinese, Vietnamese
and Ukrainians. However, this is a worldwide problem. Newspapers write
increasingly often about nationalist feeling in Europe. And even America,
try though it might, only appears politically correct. 

Whereas the West is trying to deal with this somehow, in Russia everything
is just drifting along. In theory the current campaign should bring about
some sort of change. 

The programme was first announced in May at a designers' forum in Sochi. In
early September exhibits of posters were dispatched to Russian cities. The
first was Rostov-na-Donu (6th September). The posters have been to dozens
of Russian cities, including the North Caucasus (an exhibit in Vladikavkaz
opens today). Moscow is the final destination. 

The best forces of Western humanitarian bridgeheads in Russia have been
committed to the project. One of the main organizers is the "Open Society"
institute (Soros Foundation), and also the British Council and Goethe
Institute... 

Only one of the 20 posters is on the Chechen theme and it is almost the
weakest. A further three are abstract antiwar posters. The rest are
designed to inspire religious or racial tolerance in the viewer ... 

The majority of the artists ... ignored the basic principle of special
propaganda taught in military faculties. This proclaims that you should not
address your target's intellect, but play on instinctive fears. However,
the slogan "I Refuse To Hate" is not wild propaganda, although it is
calculated to produce a positive social effect. The organizers are
motivated by the noble but utopian idea that man is naturally wise and good
and that our compatriots will grasp and appreciate the artists' wit rather
than daub swastikas and extremist slogans over the unfortunate posters. 

******

#2
Russia' Putin supports study of political repression documents, says official 
ITAR-TASS 

Moscow, 2nd November: Russian President Vladimir Putin today supported a
proposal to set up an interdepartmental commission for studying materials
related to political repression, the chairman of the commission for
rehabilitation of victims of political repression attached to the Russian
Federation president, Aleksandr Yakovlev, told reporters today. 

According to Yakovlev, the commission may include representatives from the
Internal Affairs Ministry, Federal Security Service, Foreign Intelligence
Service, Supreme Court, prosecutor's office, Defence ministry and archive
services. 

Yakovlev said that 4,047,000 people had been rehabilitated in 12 years, and
that 800,000 of them were still alive. Another 500,000 cases have not been
considered yet. 

****** 

#3
Cardiovascular diseases kill over a million Russians every year 
ITAR-TASS 

Moscow, 2nd November: The Russian government is going to give special care
to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the country to decrease the
incidence of such diseases. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stated
this on Thursday opening a cabinet meeting which discusses measures for the
prevention of arterial hypertension. 

Kasyanov said the government programme adopted last summer gives priority
to the social policy. The core of this policy is health protection, the
premier said. "An ailing person does not care either for politics or for
the economy, concentrating on his or her ailments," he said. 

Kasyanov said the rate of disease in Russia is not lowering and arterial
hypertension, the cause of all cardiovascular diseases, takes the biggest
toll. "Cardiovascular diseases claim over one million lives in Russia every
year," the premier said, pointing to the need for measures to prevent
arterial hypertension. Referring to the example of developed countries, he
said that prevention measures can significantly decrease the incidence of
cardiovascular diseases. 

The Russian Health Ministry told ITAR-TASS that arterial hypertension
affects 30 per cent of Russia's population, or over 40 million people.
Hypertension is also the cause of serious cardiovascular diseases that
account for 55 per cent of the death rate and for 48.8 per cent of cases of
disability. Hypertension has been causing over one million deaths every
year over the past five years. 

The annual economic losses associated with deaths and disability from
arterial hypertension amount to R12bn, while the outlays for the treatment
and rehabilitation of patients make up R22.2bn, ITAR-TASS learnt from the
Health Ministry. 

Functions in the framework of the national programmes for the prevention
and treatment of arterial hypertension will make for significant decrease
in the rate of disease, disability and mortality from the main
complications of hypertension - ischemia of the heart and stroke. 

******

#4
Russia Hopes to Speed WTO Membership, Sets 2002 Entry Date

Geneva, Nov. 2 (Bloomberg)
-- Russia wants to speed up talks on joining the World Trade 
Organization and has set a provisional target date of 2002 for membership, a 
Russian official said. 

``The Russian government aims to complete market access talks with the WTO 
over the next two years,'' said Maxim Medvedkov, deputy minister for economic 
development and trade, in an interview. ``But the accession must be 
commercially viable not just to WTO members, but for Russia as well.'' 

Russia applied to join the Geneva-based trade body in 1993, but its 
application was stalled by the collapse of the economy and sluggish market 
reform. Analysts say it could take several years for Russia to complete the 
entry process. 

The European Union on Monday gave its backing to President Vladimir Putin's 
reform program, promising to forge closer ties in the field of energy and to 
support early membership of the Geneva- based trade body. The 15-nation bloc, 
however, wants trade disputes on issues from steel imports to copyright laws 
to be solved first. 

Russia is holding bilateral talks with 40 WTO countries on import tariffs and 
freer trade in the service industry, said Medvedkov, who is also Russia's 
chief negotiator on WTO issues. 

``We have difficulties connected with making our legislation WTO 
compatible,'' he said. ``The question of agricultural subsidies is also a 
problem.'' 

Russia approved a plan in September to reduce import tariffs an average 10 
percent on everything from furniture to cars to fight corruption and tax 
evasion and help sustain record economic growth. 

The plan, which takes effect at the start of 2001, includes cutting top tax 
rates to 20 percent from 30 percent, excluding sugar and tobacco. The highest 
import duties will be levied on consumer goods, chemicals and equipment; 
antidumping measures and special duties also will be applied to importers to 
protect domestic producers. 

******

#5
Financial Times (UK)
November 2, 2000
Russian summons steps up pressure on two oligarchs 
By ANDREW JACK and ARKADY OSTROVSKY

Russia's general prosecutor yesterday stepped up the pressure on two of the
country's best-known politically influential business "oligarchs" by
summoning them for questioning about alleged criminal business dealings. 

Vladimir Gusinsky, the media magnate, and Boris Berezovsky, the former
close associate of the ex-president, Boris Yeltsin, were both summoned to
appear in Moscow on November 13, with the threat of prison and
international arrest warrants if they failed to show up. 

Both men, who are currently outside Russia, have been the subject of
long-running investigations that have intensified in the last few months,
during a period when they have taken outspoken positions against the
government of President Vladimir Putin. 

Mr Berezovsky was previously accused in relation to alleged embezzlement
from the state airline Aeroflot when Yevgeny Primakov was prime minister,
but the case was subsequently dropped. The general prosecutor's office said
it now had sufficient proof to bring charges of large-scale theft. 

Separately, it accused Mr Gusinsky of "deceit and abuse of trust" and
embezzlement in securing more than Dollars 300m (Pounds 207m) in loans from
Gazprom, the gas monopoly 38 per cent owned by the state, for a web of
companies that were insolvent. 

Both men have denied the allegations in the past and said they are victims
of political manipulation. Their lawyers said they had yet to be formally
notified of the summons for questioning. 

Mr Gusinsky, who was briefly imprisoned in June before being allowed to
leave the country, controls the Media Most group, including the NTV
television station, Segodnya newspaper and Moscow Echo radio station, which
have taken a critical line towards the Kremlin. 

He is at an advanced stage of negotiations for the exchange of shares in
his company for debts owed by his company to Gazprom, while trying to
ensure that he does not lose control. 

Mr Berezovsky has become an outspoken critic of Mr Putin's authoritarian
style of government. 

Mr Putin warned in an interview late last month that unnamed business
magnates were trying to use media to blackmail the state. He warned: "The
state has a cudgel in its hands that you use to hit just once, but on the
head. We haven't used this cudgel yet. We've just brandished it. 

Lilia Shevtsova, an analyst from the Carnegie Moscow Centre, said: "The
cudgel Putin was talking about seems to have come into action. In the
situation where all other political parties are paralysed, NTV has
effectively played the role of an opposition party. Putin takes the
criticism of himself as criticism of the state. He has moved from
intimidation to threats." 

******

#6
New York Times
November 2, 2000
[for personal use only]
Why West's Billions Failed to Give Russia a Robust Economy
By JOSEPH KAHN

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 - Western powers gave tens of billions of dollars in aid
to 
Russia with no comprehensive strategy, and, at least partly as a result, the 
programs failed to bring about the desired capitalist transition there, a 
Congressional study has concluded.

The study, by the nonpartisan General Accounting Office, raises questions 
about what has arguably been the highest foreign policy priority of the 
United States: making sure Russia did not become hostile after the collapse 
of Communism in 1991. Many Clinton administration officials supported a huge 
amount of international aid and a "big bang" approach to change in which 
Russia was encouraged to sell state companies rapidly and overhaul banks as a 
way of making the nation both capitalist and democratic — and of ensuring 
that Communists could never regain control of the economy.

A cumulative $66 billion in aid from the United States, Europe and the 
leading international lending agencies did prevent Communists from returning 
to power and kept the nation from descending into anarchy. But the aid 
programs failed to build robust capitalist institutions or produce sustained 
economic growth in Russia, which produces roughly one-third less now than it 
did a decade ago, the report says.

The accounting office review said donors did not coordinate programs 
sufficiently and tended to distribute money hurriedly.

"While the worst fears of the early transition period, such as anarchy or 
return to Communist rule, have not been realized, Russia's economic decline 
has been more severe and its recovery slower than anticipated," the report 
says.

The report seems likely to offer support for both sides in the continuing 
battle over Russia policy. It gives ammunition to Republican critics who say 
the Clinton administration and the leading aid agencies squandered billions 
in Russia while tolerating widespread corruption. But it suggests that the 
goal of stabilizing a former foe still seems valid and places much of the 
blame for the failure of aid on Russia itself.

Russia has been plagued by corruption, a rebellious Parliament, heavy 
turnover among government ministers and limited grass-roots support for 
capitalist changes. Moreover, a new economic elite prevented many changes 
from taking hold. Local support for change is a prerequisite, the report says.

The report notes that the Group of 7 wealthy nations tried to coordinate 
Western aid strategy in the early 1990's, but adds that the collective effort 
soon dissolved. That left the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and 
individual nations to pursue aid programs largely independently, with varying 
aims and mixed results.

An even bigger failure may have been Western support for a major 
privatization scheme in the mid- 1990's, the report notes. The "loans for 
shares" program put many of the nation's most productive enterprises in the 
hands of a small elite. But analysts say that state assets were effectively 
stolen during that process, and that privatization brought few benefits to 
the overall economy.

James A. Leach, an Iowa Republican who is chairman of the House Banking 
Committee and first asked for the study of Russian aid, said it shows that 
aid was "worse than wasted."

The Clinton administration, which responded to the Congressional report in a 
letter, said the main conclusions were balanced, agreeing that a central 
problem was Russia's own failure to embrace change.

******

#7
RUSSIA-FOOD-AID-CRITICISM-GORDEYEV 
Interfax 

Moscow 2nd November: Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Agriculture Alexey Gordeyev has said he thinks the US central financial
control department's conclusion concerning misdeeds in the distribution of
US food aid last year is related to the US presidential election campaign
and has no serious grounds. 

"US auditors who checked up on the distribution of the US food aid in
Russia last year and the transfer of funds said the programme was
implemented satisfactorily," Gordeyev told Interfax on Thursday. He was
commenting on press reports claiming that some proceeds from the sales of
US food in Russia were not transferred to accounts of the Finance Ministry. 

"There was no major criticism on the part of the US auditors," the deputy
prime minister said. 

"It is senseless" to raise the issue in Russia again, Gordeyev said. He
noted that the criticism was targeted against the ruling party. 

******

#8
From: "Al Decie" <agdecie@hotmail.com>
Subject: Response from Russia to "Port native forbidden to leave Russia
since July"
Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2000 

Dear David:

Thank you for brining to my attention the inclusion in yesterday's JRL the 
article from the Newburyport Daily News about my four month illegal 
detention in Russia.

Below is my letter to the editors at the Daily News. It may also be of 
interest to your readers.

Also, I would very much appreciate any comments, insight and advice from 
your readers. I would be happy to provide them with additional information, 
too. They can reach me by email at AGDecie@hotmail.com.

Best regards,
Al Decie


Dear Sirs and Mesdames:

I would like to thank Dan Hackett and the editors of the Newburyport Daily 
News for publishing, on October 31, an article about my illegal detention in 
Russia. It is most important that Russian authorities are aware of the 
interest and concern of the US government, legislators and people. 
Authorities here need to know that they are expected to adhere to their own 
laws and to international agreements and that they cannot act with impunity.

I would also like to thank all the Daily News readers who have voiced their 
concern and support to my father. I believe that this ordeal has been 
hardest on my father and family in the US. So your support is most 
appreciated.

As Mr. Hackett's article points out, my situation here was never a personal 
income tax issue. If it was, then I would already be home -- poorer but 
free. The illegal seizure of my visa and launching of a tax probe by 
Krasnoyarsk Krai authorities was the culmination of 2 years of harassment by 
a very few local individuals abusing their authority -- e.g., a city council 
representative and a lawyer for a human rights group (the Krasnoyarsk branch 
of the Glasnost Defense Foundation). Difficulties which I have faced in 
Moscow since August have been largely due to the reluctance of the Russian 
government to honor bilateral agreements between the USA and RF. Since 
August, I have fallen into the middle of an eight year debate between the 
Russian and American governments.

I would also like your readers to know that these two years of harassment 
and my current ordeal are not indicative of the general attitude in Russia 
about collaboration with Americans. For five years, I have worked with 
people in cities, towns and villages throughout Siberia. These colleagues, 
including many government officials, have always valued work with Americans 
who are committed to long term equal partnership initiatives. I consider 
myself very lucky to have been able to work with such dedicated caring 
people and hope that the Russian authorities will not prevent me from 
continuing my ties with my Siberian friends and colleagues.

After your article, many of your readers contacted my father and asked how 
they could help. Some have suggested letter writing campaigns and an 
all-city petition. I am grateful for these offers of help and would like to 
encourage your readers to follow through with them. As I have already said, 
Western attention to my situation will help expedite the resolution of it. 
It is important that the American people express their belief that rule of 
Russian and International law be applied in my case and that I be allowed to 
return to the United States without further harm or delay.

In addition to voicing their concern and support to Congressman Tierney's 
Peabody office, I would recommend that your readers contact the Russian 
authorities themselves. Letters and petitions should be directed to the 
following two individuals:

Mr. Gennadi Bukaev
Minister
Ministry of Taxes and Levies of the Russian Federation
23 Neglinnaya Street
Moscow 103381, K-381
Russia
Fax: 7-095-200-4901
E-mail: gns_rf@nalog.rospac.ru

Mr. Igor Ivanov
Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
32/34 Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square
Moscow 121200
Russia
Fax: 7-095-244-3188
E-mail: ministry@mid.ru

Thank you again for publishing the article about my situation. I hope that 
your article and the resonance that it is generating will expedite the 
closure of this ordeal and allow me to return home to my friends and family 
in Newburyport and celebrate with them the Thanksgiving holidays.

Sincerely,
Al Decie
agdecie@hotmail.com

******

#9
Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2000 
From: Bill Mandel <wmmmandel@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Russophobia etc.

In an extremely remote future, when the United States and Russia are 
merely archeological names to our very distant descendants, this date, 
November 1, 2000, will be well remembered.
Forty-three years ago this month, I participated in a symposium 
with two Berkeley professors, a major solid-state physicist and a 
rocket-propulsion expert, on the meaning of the first sputniks, that 
had just gone up. In my autobiography, Saying No To Power, published 
last year, I quote my prepared remarks on that occasion long ago:
"I rejoiced: 'Immortality for mankind; not for each human being, 
of course, but for the race or its successors. This is the meaning of 
the satellites. The whole world should be on holiday, celebrating -- 
and thinking. But instead of immortality, those who shape our thoughts 
-- or try to -- would have us think of death. I have heard the 
president speak twice in the past week in answer to the people's 
clamor for enlightenment....And all I have heard is death: missiles of 
twenty-eight different varieties, bombers, nuclear 'deterrents'.'" 
p.346).
The launching today of the first space station planned for 
continuous habitation and having the purpose of conducting 
experimentation to determine the ways in which humans can live and 
feed and maintain themselves elsewhere than on earth is the greatest 
leap toward immortality for our race in those 43 years. And it is 
essentially a Russian-American endeavor, primarily Russian technology 
and primarily American money. Unless the capacity both countries 
retain for ending all human life is used, both will be remembered in 
the very long run for, above everything else they have done in their 
histories, making immortality for the race possible.

*******

#10
The Times (UK)
OCTOBER 28 2000 
Russians turn to hacking as the new subversion 
FROM ALICE LAGNADO IN MOSCOW 

ST PETERSBURG has in the past decade developed a reputation as a hotbed of
Russian computer hackers. 
Russia’s science capital has become the natural hub of high-tech computer
crime. Dozens of students, teachers and computer specialists hack into
computers, seeing themselves as members of an exciting sub-culture that has
flourished since the fall of Communism. 

Before glasnost and perestroika, those who were unsatisfied with official
Soviet culture turned to samizdat literature and bootleg tapes of Western
pop music. But the Gorbachev era left little to rebel against. 

Today Russia’s hackers, who even have their own magazine titled Khaker,
have created a new underground culture that perhaps offers more exceitement
than passing around banned poetry. The stakes are also high: no labour camp
threatens, but hackers caught by the police face years in grim prisons and
heavy fines. 

The hacking community is peopled by graduates in their twenties who excel
at mathematics and physics, both of which are still very strong in Russia. 

The city also benefits from being near to the Baltic States. Programs are
copied on the blackmarket: the latest Windows pirate always arrives in
Russia months before it appears in the West. Computers are accessible in
universities and increasingly in the home. 

According to the experts, hackers are not the intellectual elite but a
bunch of mischievous people, “computer hooligans” who are also well aware
that hacking is a way to make big money fast. “The vast majority of hackers
are teenagers who get their hands on some hacking software,” Dmitri Leonov,
the founder of the website hackzone.ru and a book on hacking titled
Internet Attack, told the Moscow Times. 

The country’s biggest gas company, Gazprom, is regularly hit by hackers. In
one sensational case Ilya Hoffman, a viola student at the Moscow
Conservatory, was arrested in 1998 on accusations of stealing $98,000
through an online credit card fraud scheme. He is such a good musician that
some have argued that he should be freed so he does not waste his talent. 

Russia’s most famous hacker remains Vladimir Levin, sentenced to three
years in prison by a New York court in 1998 after he was found guilty of
illegally accessing the Citibank computer network from his St Petersburg
computer and transferring $10 million of clients’ money into his own
account in another bank. 

Aleksandr Volevodz, a Moscow prosecutor, said it was a blessing that
computers were not as widespread yet in Russia as they are in Western
Europe and the United States. 

The Russian experience is mirrored in Eastern Europe where bright young
people have become adept at cracking piracy protection codes on commercial
software, partly due to harsh economic conditions. 

******

#11
THE JAMESTOWN FOUNDATION PRISM
A MONTHLY ON THE POST-SOVIET STATES
OCTOBER 2000 Volume VI, Issue 10 Part 1

PUTIN TAKES AIM AT THE PRINCIPLE OF NATIONAL SELF-DETERMINATION
By Elena Chinyaeva
Elena Chinyaeva, who holds a doctorate in modern history from Oxford 
University, is a writer with the leading Russian political weekly 
Kommersant-Vlast.

President Vladimir Putin has used his first year in office to start, among 
other things, a reform of the so-called "asymmetrical" federation which has 
developed in Russia, in which the relationships between the center and the 
provinces are based on bilateral agreements rather than a system of common 
principles. The future of the existing national-territorial division may 
also be revised, because in realpolitik, the principle of national 
self-determination is virtually incompatible with two other basic 
principles of international relations--the sovereignty of the state and the 
inviolability of borders--as well as with the efforts to create an 
international security system, because the interests of states and the 
rights of the individual peoples are difficult to reconcile.

POLITICAL IDEALISM

In early 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson appeared before the U.S. 
Congress with his Celebrated Fourteen Points and Four Principles. 
Nationalities all over the world received his message with varying degree 
of enthusiasm, depending on their historical experiences and political 
ambitions. For a great many of them the declaration of the principle of 
self-determination included in the Fourteen Points sounded like support for 
their long-standing battles for national independence.

World War I opened new prospects for the national movements striving for 
statehood--developments only strengthened by the collapse of the Russian, 
Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. Having seized power in October 1917, 
the Bolsheviks in Russia declared the right of the nations to determine 
their own future, thus stealing the initiative from the Alliance. It was a 
month later that Wilson presented his own formulation of the national 
self-determination principle. This was perceived around the world as a 
turning point in the development of international relations. Since the 
American and French revolutions, the national self-determination principle 
had become almost a synonym of democracy. The victory in World War I of the 
Alliance countries, with their parliamentary political systems, over the 
autocratic regimes of the Axis states was interpreted as the victory of 
democracy and humanism. Never mind the fact that, in the words of historian 
of nationalism Alfred Cobban, "the national principle slowly came to the 
dominant position through force of circumstances rather than as a result of 
deliberate policy of the great powers: New states had already created 
themselves out of the disorder into which the defeated powers fell. All 
that the [Peace] Conference could do was to register accomplished facts and 
delimit the frontiers of the new states."

Thus Wilson's idealism had quite pragmatic roots: He meant to counteract 
the effect of Bolshevik propaganda, keep Russia in the war and launch a 
diplomatic offensive against Germany. However, his perception of the 
relation between the national-self-determination principle and its 
implementation was indeed idealistic: "When I gave utterance to those words 
[that a nation has a right to self-determination] I said them without the 
knowledge that nationalities existed which are coming to us day after day," 
Wilson said. Some of his contemporaries and fellow-statesmen were more 
realistic. Thus, his then Secretary of State Robert Lansing said: "The 
principle of national self-determination is loaded with dynamite. It will 
raise hopes which can never be realized. It will, I fear, cost thousands of 
lives. In the end it is bound to be discredited, to be called the dream of 
an idealist who failed to realize the danger until too late to check those 
who attempt to put the principle in force. What a calamity that the phrase 
was ever uttered! What misery it will cause!"

PRINCIPLE AND REALITY

At the Paris peace conference the victors relied on two criteria in 
attempting to control the process of the creation of new states--the 
dominance of a single language and the results of referenda. The Soviets 
produced their own model.

In practice, it proved impossible to apply the two criteria consistently. 
The establishment of Czechoslovakia showed this. The union of Bohemia, 
Moravia and Silesia--the so called lands of the Czech crown--was justified 
by historic tradition and their unification with Slovakia, which for 
several centuries was a territory of the Hungarian kingdom, was justified 
by the national self-determination principle, because the Slovaks were 
declared to be a branch of the Czechoslovak nation and their language a 
dialect of Czech. Meanwhile, Czechoslovakia acquired Carpathian Ruthenia as 
the result of a referendum conducted not in Ruthenia itself, but among 
Ruthenian immigrants in the United States. Meanwhile, the German population 
of these territories was denied a referendum and the language rights of 
national minorities were ignored. Ironically, the Slovaks at that time were 
perhaps the only large national minority in Europe whose complaints to the 
League of Nations' Minority Commission were not admitted on the grounds 
that the Slovaks were part of the ruling nation.

Inconsistencies in applying the national self-determination principle, 
apart from the peculiarities of the Western powers' international policy, 
resulted in the collapse of Czechoslovakia in 1939, when Hitler annexed the 
Sudetenland, a territory with a largely German population, on the pretext 
of defending the rights of a German minority. The situation was similar in 
other countries. The Poles claimed the southern part of East Prussia on the 
basis that a majority of its population consisted of Polish speakers, but 
did not want to apply the same test to Russian-speaking East Galicia, which 
Poland had historically claimed. Germany claimed Austria, Tyrol, Schleswig 
and the Sudetenland on the basis of language, but objected to it as a test 
for East Prussia. There were many times fewer plebiscites held than might 
have been expected, given that Italy, Romania and France consistently 
opposed their being held. The process of creating new states was 
accompanied by the painful creation of new minorities. Minorities made up 
35 percent of Czechoslovakia's population, 30.4 percent of Poland's and 25 
percent of Romania's. The great powers, for their part, were anxious to 
restrict the right of national self-determination to Europe only, and 
categorically denied it to their own colonies.

In the end, a valid formula for realizing the principle of 
self-determination was not worked out, and diplomatic negotiations became 
the most common way to reach agreement on the issue.

SOVIET FEDERALISM

Having declared that a nation has the right to determine its future and 
even to secede, the Bolshevik government in Russia was confronted by the 
intentions of the many peoples of the former Tsarist empire to put this 
right into practice. Lenin, with his mastery of dialectics declared that 
the nations of the Russian empire should secede in order to be unified. 
According to Leninist ideology, the toiling masses of all nations should 
liberate themselves from the national bourgeoisie and then unify on the 
basis of a proletarian brotherhood. While some national movements led by 
"bourgeois nationalists" were suppressed, Poland, the Baltic states and 
Finland gained independence. Moreover, as a result of the Soviet-Polish war 
of 1920-1921, Poland expanded over the Curzon line, annexing territories of 
White Russia and the Ukraine. These remained in Polish possession until the 
notorious Soviet push into Eastern Europe in 1939-40.

In the Soviet Union's internal politics, the principle of territorial 
autonomy was declared the main means to solve the national question. A 
strange federation emerged as a result, with an arbitrary hierarchy of 
national and autonomous republics and regions. The question of cultural 
development was solved with another ingenious stroke of Bolshevik 
dialectics: Soviet culture was declared proletarian in essence but national 
in form. In fact, it was a federation not of nations, but of proletariats 
of various ethnic origins, and was held together only by the 
political-ideological supremacy of the Communist party. Currently, the 
representatives of a titular nation do not form the majority in either of 
Russia's national republics. Thus, for instance, 75 percent of Tatars live 
outside Tatarstan, where they form a minority, while they are the 
second-largest ethnic community in Moscow, the Russian capital.

THE RIGHTS OF A NATION OR AN INDIVIDUAL?

According to Cobban, the history of the right of self-determination is a 
history of the making of nations and the breaking of states. In practice, 
he says, the process of self-determination, pushing toward disintegration, 
had to be stopped at some point or another. The dynamics of political 
development stresses the need to reconsider static theories: Neither the 
national self-determination principle nor that of national sovereignty is 
absolute, while the nation-state concept could not be regarded as the sole 
basis for political organization. Multinational states must reenter the 
political canon. Both principles should be limited and combined in such a 
way so that each would operate in its own proper field and respect rights 
of individuals.

In the context of national relations and reforming the federation in 
Russia, theories stressing the common interests of peoples populating the 
same territory, such as the Eurasian theory and the idea of 
national-cultural autonomy, are of particular significance. Proponents of 
Eurasianism, including emigre academics of the early 1920s like the 
historian Georgy Vernadsky, the Petr Savitsky and the linguist Nikolai 
Trubetskoy, argued that living on one geographically homogeneous landmass 
facilitates the economic, political and cultural integration of the peoples 
populating it. The unity of a large continental landmass is determined by 
the economic interdependence of neighboring regions. The Eurasians regarded 
an ethnically defined federation as an ideological invention of the 
Bolsheviks, while arguing that an administrative division into provinces 
was more conducive to the cultural and historic unity of the Eurasian 
population.

The cultural autonomy concept developed in the early 20th century by the 
Austrian social-democratic leaders Karl Renner and Otto Bauer allowed for 
the division of nationalities in the spheres of education and culture, with 
the possibility left open for anyone to "sign up" to any nationality 
freely. Nations have to be "states within a state," not a "union of 
states," they argued. Particular national communities would govern their 
matters in education and culture according to their own interests. Above 
that a common state would have a decisive say in matters of economics, 
politics, administration, legality and security.

Grigory Yavlinsky, a leader of one of the right-wing parties in the current 
Russian parliament, has referred to Eurasia sarcastically as Asiopa. A few 
years ago, however, he came up with the idea of a "new federalism" based on 
the horizontal integration of regions on the basis of their economic 
interdependence--an idea which clearly echoed that of the Eurasians. The 
reform of the Russian federation that has been undertaken by President 
Putin is obviously related to the idea of a steady transformation of 
Russia's regions into provinces whose relations to the federal center shall 
be governed by a unified code of laws. The first step towards this goal is 
to revise regional legislations to make it compatible with and subordinated 
to the federal constitution. The status, rights and responsibilities of 
national republics in relation to the center have to be brought in line 
with those of the Russian oblasts in all spheres, from taxation to 
international representation. Such reforms have already begun. Their 
success will depend not only on the federal center's political skills, but 
also on its ability to convince Russians that the national 
self-determination principle is destructive and hostile to the individual.

******

#12
The Times (UK)
NOVEMBER 01 2000 
Living under the shadow of death 

NIGHT OF STONE:Death and Memory in Russia 
By Catherine Merridale
Granta, ££25
ISBN 1 86207 374 0 

Every visitor to Russia must, at some point, have wondered about death.
There has been so much of it, in a century that started with revolution and
then moved from starvation to terror to war to repression, that Russians
have coined a special adjective — “much-suffering” — to describe
themselves. The Soviet state made a tomb of its spiritual centre by
displaying the mummified body of Lenin, its founder, on the square outside
the Kremlin. Lenin is there today, and he still draws an audience —
tourists, suppressing nervous giggles, a few elderly Russians, solemn in
the presence of the dead. Russians sometimes say that their country will be
haunted by its past until his body is buried. Yet no one dares move the
mortal remains of Vladimir Ilich. 

Reminders of death are everywhere. Grand Soviet memorials, eternal flames
or unknown soldier’s tombs or cemeteries of honour mark the passing of
those honoured by the state. But these sentimental confections — municipal
gas, marble, and a scattering of plastic roses — honour only a few of the
people who died in Soviet Russia. 

The rest was secret. Millions of families lost loved ones to the secret
police, to war or hunger, but they did so in silence and shame. To this
day, many cannot find words to tell their stories in a society that has
never really come to terms with its past. In her sensitive study of that
endlessly repeated private pain, Catherine Merridale not only sifted facts
and testimonies but also learned to listen to the silences. 

Merridale charts the connection between Russian culture and its history of
high mortality. Her story starts with pre-revolutionary Orthodox beliefs,
before showing a revolutionary society in which Christianity was
jettisoned. Finally she looks at recent attempts to heal the wounds of the
Soviet past. 

This is partly an account of known totalitarian horrors: bones lost in
gulags, manuscripts burned, massacres written out of history. Yet it is
more. Beautifully and simply written, it is full of extraordinarily vivid
glimpses of the past. Merridale tells how peasants tried to stave off
damnation by slipping bribes of vodka or cash into their coffins. She
reminds us that animals had no souls in the Orthodox world, “though an
exception was sometimes made for bears”. 

Where history tells us that after the 1905 Revolution the Tsar tried to
reassert Imperial control and executions became commonplace, Merridale adds
poignant detail. Children played “death penalty”. There was an epidemic of
teenage suicides. One victim’s school notebook was covered in doodles of
gallows, skulls and crosses. His last note, in elaborate gothic script,
read: “What is life, what is the Ideal?” Merridale takes issue with the
widespread notion that Russians have been brutalised by the accumulation of
tragedies, and grown increasingly violent. Yet she does not shrink from
spelling out the difference between Russia’s two words for “cannibalism”,
for instance, or from saying that many people feel the first, which
translates as “corpse-eating”, might not have been inadmissible for people
starving in Leningrad under Nazi blockade. 

Humility before people who have lived through unimaginable horrors and an
admirable hesitation about rushing to judgement inform this book. The
author’s acceptance, and admiration, of the survival techniques and
endurance of her interlocutors are among the reasons why this enthralling
book so successfully sheds light on what she rightly calls a “beautiful but
tortured culture”. 

******

#13
Moscow Times
November 2, 2000 
Lessons of the Kursk 
By Vladimir Kozin 

Russian political and military authorities continue to speculate that the 
Kursk nuclear submarine was sunk by a collision with a foreign counterpart 
sent to observe Russian naval exercises in the Barents Sea, despite the fact 
that no concrete evidence of this has yet emerged and over the strenuous 
denials of American and NATO officials. Just last week, Admiral Vladimir 
Kuroyedov stated, "I am 80 percent sure that the Kursk collided with another 
submarine." 

Regardless of how the Kursk investigation ends, however, the tragedy once 
again demonstrates the need for immediate international action designed to 
reduce the likelihood of submarine collisions at sea. Moreover, measures need 
to be adopted that would facilitate international cooperation in searching 
for and rescuing missing submarines and their crews. Measures of this type 
have long been in effect with regard to surface vessels and aircraft 
operating from them, and it is inexcusable that the much more dangerous 
sphere of submarine operations remains virtually entirely unregulated. 

According to the Defense Ministry, Soviet and Russian submarines have been 
involved in 11 documented collisions with foreign submarines since 1967. Two 
of the most recent documented cases occurred in the Barents Sea not far from 
where the Kursk now lies. In February 1992, the U.S. Los Angeles-class 
submarine Baton Rouge collided with a Russian counterpart. Likewise, in March 
1993, there was a similar incident involving the American submarine Sturgeon 
and a Russian Delta-3 class strategic submarine. Fortunately, neither of 
these incidents resulted in loss of life or in any significant release of 
radiation into the environment, although either of them easily could have. 

Submarine collisions occur for the simple reason that their movement is 
completely unregulated, and as a result they fairly frequently find 
themselves operating in extremely close quarters. In such instances, they 
enter one another's "blind spots," meaning that they are so close together 
that their normal ranging and detection equipment is unable to function 
properly. At such ranges, submarines are simply unable to "hear" or "see" one 
another. 

Despite the fact that no substantial agreements regulating submarine 
maneuvers exist, there have been significant efforts to begin a dialogue on 
these matters and, to its credit, Russia has played a leading role. In 1993, 
Moscow initiated talks with Washington concerning measures to ensure the 
safety of submarines operating under the sea. The Russian delegation 
developed and presented a draft agreement that would have forbidden 
submarines of either country to approach vessels of the other, based on 
existing agreements concerning surface ships and aircraft that have been in 
force since 1972. 

Unfortunately, this Russian initiative was not supported by the U.S. Navy, 
which felt that it would result in the division of the world's oceans into 
"open" and "closed" zones. 

It would seem high time that the world's naval powers f especially those that 
possess nuclear submarines f returned to this crucial question. They should 
set themselves the goal of reaching an agreement that would regulate the 
ranges patrolled by each nation's submarines. In addition, such an agreement 
should also include mutual obligations not to send submarines into areas 
where other fleets are conducting training exercises. 

In the interests of maritime safety, the Russian-American talks on these 
questions should be immediately resumed, and delegations from Britain, 
France, Japan and other nations should be invited to participate as well. 
Existing agreements designed to prevent incidents at sea that Russia has 
already signed with 12 leading naval powers (mostly NATO members) but which 
are presently limited to regulating surface ships should serve as the basis 
for these talks. 

Moreover, the tragedy of the Kursk has once again focused global attention on 
the numerous problems associated with the location of missing submarines and 
with providing assistance to their crews. 

For Russia, this means that efforts must be made immediately to negotiate 
agreements with all neighboring countries with access to the sea. The goal of 
such agreements should be the establishment of direct lines of communication 
between all the naval authorities that might become involved. Further, formal 
bilateral and multilateral agreements regarding mutual assistance in search 
and rescue efforts should be concluded as soon as possible. Ideally, these 
agreements would also include provisions for joint exercises and maneuvers 
involving a range of search and rescue scenarios. 

Most people do not realize that international cooperation in this area 
remains on the most primitive level. It remains for future agreements even to 
establish an agreed-upon international system of emergency signals for the 
use of submarines in distress and of ships trying to assist them. Russia and 
NATO have yet to even begin the work of standardizing rescue equipment, 
especially the equipment necessary for deep-sea operations. Anyone following 
the Kursk incident will vividly recall how Norwegian divers had to construct 
a special tool on site in order to turn the handle on the Kursk's hatch. 

In order to overcome the language barriers that will be encountered during 
international rescue operations, it will be necessary to develop and publish 
specialized Russian-English/English-Russian dictionaries of technical terms 
relating to submarines and marine-rescue procedures. 

Such practical measures as these, and many more that no doubt will arise 
during the negotiating process, can do much to significantly reduce the 
chances of collisions between submarines during routine patrols and training 
exercises. Moreover, they can also dramatically increase the effectiveness of 
international rescue efforts if, God forbid, another submarine disaster 
occurs. 

Vladimir Kozin is a senior counselor for the Russian Foreign Ministry. He 
contributed this comment, which reflects his personal views, to The Moscow 
Times. 

******

#14
Komsomolskaya Pravda
November 2, 2000
[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]
GOOD IDEA: GIVE PICTURES TO PAY TAXES - PUTIN
By Maxim CHIKIN 

Having enjoyed treasures of Louvre Museum, Russian 
President Vladimir Putin gave an interview to the Komsomolskaya 
Pravda newspaper.

Chikin: How did you like Paris and Louvre in particular?
Putin: Unfortunately, I saw Paris out of the car window. 
It is a beautiful, outstanding city-museum that doubtless 
belongs to the entire humankind. The French can certainly be 
proud of it. My words about Paris are fully applicable to 
Louvre. The history of the humankind is preserved in this 
unique place, it is a source of inspiration for many peoples of 
the world. The way this major museum is run is impressive. I 
discussed this issue with professionals. The French copied from 
the British some taxation rules that are beneficial for major 
museums. For example, some taxes can be paid in works of art.

Chikin: I wish Mr. Piotrovsky heard this...
Putin: This is beneficial for museums! Other issues should 
be considered and tried in Russia. The interesting thing is 
that on the one hand, antiques are preserved, and on the other 
- the museum has been modernized and up-to-date forms of 
interaction between the visitor and exhibits are used. The 
exhibition halls have been adapted to modern requirements. This 
experience is unique and very interesting. The directors of our 
museums keep in touch with their French colleagues. Moreover, 
I've just seen a person with a red scarf and realized that he 
is the director of Louvre. Piotrovsky looks the same. I asked 
whether it was their uniform. Director of Louvre answered 
negatively and added that they copied his manner of getting 
dressed. Anyway, the contacts are sound and we expect this 
sphere of cooperation to become beneficial to both Russia and 
France.
... Putin's visit to France is over. Its major outcome is 
that our relations with France warmed. An agreement was reached 
with regard to future French investments in Russia and 
deliveries of Russian oil, gas and electricity to France. 
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and Gas de France signed a 
protocol on intensifying partnership in different spheres.
Our cooperation will also expand in the spheres of 
advanced technologies, aircraft construction and space.
However, the thawing does not mean switching to a 
relationship on the first name basis.
Vladimir Putin says:
I do not see a need for that. It would neither become a 
hurdle, nor help international cooperation. As for personal 
relations... They are formed between people who keep in touch 
and meet regularly. State leaders meet from time to time... 
There is a trite phrase that there are neither likes nor 
dislikes between states, just interests. We are putting it on 
record today that France takes into account Russia's interests 
and Russia has always taken into consideration the interests of 
France.
Paris.

******

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