Johnson's Russia List #5620 29 December 2001 davidjohnson@erols.com A CDI Project www.cdi.org [Note from David Johnson: 1. AFP: President Putin visits formerly dissident theater. (Taganka) 2. AP: U.S. Helping Cut Chechnya Rebel Aid. 3. Reuters: Putin says Russia's '02 goal better life for people. 4. BBC Monitoring: Russian president pleased with year's results, says everybody must benefit. 5. Interfax: Communists lead latest Russian opinion poll. 6. The Times (UK): Clem Cecil, It's hard to be me, says First Lady of Russia. 7. BBC Monitoring: Russia's first lady urges children to seek happiness within. 8. AP: Yeltsin Says He Led Russia Well. 9. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Sergei Alekseev, RUSSIA AT THE BREAKING POINT. Trust in the regime is essential to overcome mounting economic problems. 10. Reuters: Russia's Putin disbands liberal pardons commission. 11. Financial Times (UK) editorial: Putin plays a weak hand well. 12. Ludmila Foster: telegram to Pasko. 13. Reuters: Russian prosecutor seeks tougher sentence for Pasko. 14. Obshchaya Gazeta: Valentina Voronova, JOURNALISTS TO BE TAUGHT TO LOVE FREEDOM. Primorye law enforcement agencies have found a scapegoat. 15. RIA Novosti: RUSSIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER SUMS UP OUTGOING YEAR. 16. Stringer: SHAMANOV MAY BECOME PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA. 17. Stringer: NAZI PROJECT. 18. Washington Post: Sharon LaFraniere, Cleaning Up Russia's Culture of Corruption. Putin Targeting All Who 'Feed Off' Small Business. 19. BBC Monitoring:Chechen web site says Russian journalists back war to please Kremlin. 20. Joanna Janco: Washington holiday events.] ******* #1 President Putin visits formerly dissident theater December 29, 2001 AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin joined the audience at Moscow's formerly dissident Taganka theater to watch a play devoted to Russia's beloved poet Vladimir Vysotsky. According to the theater's director, Yuri Lyubimov, the ex-KGB colonel "simply decided to come and watch the play," which the KGB frowned upon in Soviet times. Lyubimov, himself a model dissident, denied being surprised by Putin's attendance, saying "it was (Putin's) generation that had listened to Vysotsky and knew his songs," the ITAR-TASS news agency reported. Putin is the first Soviet or Russian ruler to visit the theater, Lyubimov said, adding that the troupe did not receive any special instructions for the performance. "In Soviet times, Politburo members sometimes came to us, and the theater's fate depended on their visits," Lyubimov recalled, adding his relief that those days were over. Vysotsky, dubbed "Russia's Bob Dylan" was himself a prominent actor at the Taganka theater. He died of a heart attack in 1980 at the age of 42, amid allegations that his death was contrived by the KGB. Vysotsky was extremely popular in the former Soviet bloc, and after his death several hundred thousand people accompanied his coffin in an improvised rally at his funeral. ******* #2 U.S. Helping Cut Chechnya Rebel Aid December 28, 2001 By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV MOSCOW (AP) - The U.S. ambassador to Russia said Friday that the United States has taken steps to help cut financial and military support to foreign fighters operating in Russia's breakaway region of Chechnya But Ambassador Alexander Vershbow added that the United States remains concerned about the human rights situation and urged Russia to negotiate a peace deal with Chechen separatists, who have resisted Moscow's attempt to crush the their independence bid. With U.S.-Russian relations bolstered by Moscow's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Washington has tempered its criticism of the Russian war in Chechnya and endorsed Moscow's assertion that followers of Osama bin Laden, the chief suspect for the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States, had links with Chechen rebels. ``We have since Sept. 11 tried to do more to help in stopping the international terrorist dimension of the conflict from growing,'' Vershbow said in an interview Friday on the Echo of Moscow radio. ``We have made some progress in cutting off financial support, military support for the foreign terrorists like Khattab, who are operating there.'' Russian officials have long claimed that Khattab, a Jordanian who uses only one name, is closely linked with bin Laden. Vershbow said it was important to distinguish between foreign terrorists like him and rebels who have championed Chechnya's independence bid. ``Clearly those who have chosen to take up arms against Russian authority can't simply be destroyed by military means, that's proving to be a blind alley,'' Vershbow said. ``We do continue to have concerns about the human rights situation inside Chechnya and abuses that have sometimes been carried out by Russian forces,'' he added. On other issues, Vershbow called on the Russian government to help protect media freedom and voiced concern about a bankruptcy case against the independent TV6 television station. TV6 is led by a group of journalists who left NTV television after it was taken over earlier this year by the state-connected Gazprom natural gas company. NTV's former owner, tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky, accused the Kremlin of ordering the takeover to silence a critical voice - an allegation the government has denied. Gazprom said it was acting to protect its business interests. TV6 journalists and their supporters say a court order to liquidate the station - still pending an appeals decision - was also part of an alleged Kremlin crackdown. Vershbow said Secretary of State Colin Powell conveyed American concern about the fate of TV6 to Russian officials during his visit to Russia earlier this month. ******* #3 Putin says Russia's '02 goal better life for people MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The government's main goal next year should be improving living standards as well as maintaining Russia's economic stability, President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying on Saturday. Putin was quoted by news agencies as saying the government had achieved much in 2001 but economic growth was yet to be translated into improved lives for ordinary Russians, whose average monthly wage is around 3,600 roubles (around $100). "We should make it so that the growth is obvious for every citizen," Putin told the cabinet, according to Interfax news agency. "People are attaching great expectations to the next year and our task is to do our utmost to justify that trust. Our task is to care about improving the lives of citizens." Putin reiterated that economic expansion was likely to stand at 5.2-5.5 percent this year after record growth of 8.3 percent in 2000. "This is not only the result of prices for Russia's traditional exports, but the result of structural changes and better administration," Putin was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass. "This is a result of strengthening domestic industry." He noted that 2002 targets included restructuring natural monopolies which in Russia include gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MO)(GAZPq.L), power grid UES (EESR.RTS) and the railways. When answering viewers' questions on television this week, Putin said the government had failed to achieve its consumer price inflation target. The government has set a 12-14 percent CPI target in the 2001 budget but later revised it to 17-18 percent. The State Statistics Committee said this week the CPI would stand at 18.6-18.9 percent. However, Putin noted the government's success in reducing the country's huge $140 billion foreign debt by $10 billion without an increase in borrowing. The central bank has repaid $2.7 billion early to the International Monetary Fund, with which Russia has no loan programme. The government has repaid its pilot $1 billion Eurobond and serviced interest on other kinds of debt. ($-30.14 roubles) ******* #4 BBC Monitoring Russian president pleased with year's results, says everybody must benefit Source: Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian 1100 gmt 29 Dec 01 [Vesti presenter] Today, on his last working day of the year, [President] Vladimir Putin came to the Government House in order to sum up the work of the cabinet. The president announced that the Russian leadership has managed to demonstrate its concentration and businesslike attitude. Ilya Kanavin reports from the Government House. [Correspondent] All ministers of the Russian government gathered in the large hall near the cabinet of the president in the White House. Vladimir Putin summed up the outgoing year. [Putin] Many things got done during this year and, first of all, the goals and indicators the government set for itself at the beginning of this year have been achieved. [Correspondent] The president said many good things that all ministers, especially those working in the economic sphere, were pleased to hear. [Putin] Again, the budget process went in good rhythm. We serviced state date, both internal and external, on time and in full. This year we have reduced the external state debt by 10bn dollars, without external refinancing. [Correspondent] And this took place not because of high oil prices. The president thought that the government managed to react in a timely manner to foreign political changes. Relations of partnership were created with the Federation Council and the central bank. [Putin] I am confident that the economic growth will enable us to more actively direct resources into the modernization of education, culture, technical re-equipment and fundamental research. And this is a huge and promising resource for our future development. It is our duty to always remember this. [Correspondent] Increased salaries to budget-financed employees have already increased the real income of the population. At present people of Russia have nearly 50 per cent more money on bank accounts than year ago, but this is no reason for complacency. [Putin] I would like remind you what I spoke about at the beginning, and what should be decisive in our work. There are positive changes in our work and I just spoke of them. But we must not forget for a second that far from all citizens of Russia have felt these positive changes in their lives or in the lives of their families. They have been noticed in certain industries and incomes are growing. During the last three years the savings of the population in the banks have grown by 46 per cent. Of course, people could not fail to notice this. But I repeat, far from every family has already felt this in their lives. [Correspondent] When congratulating ministers with the New Year, the president said that one of the main tasks of the coming year was to retain the trust of people that had been built up lately. ******* #5 Communists lead latest Russian opinion poll Interfax Moscow, 29 December: If elections to the Russian State Duma were held next Sunday, the Russian Communist Party led by Gennadiy Zyuganov would get 35 per cent of the vote. Interfax on Saturday [29 December] obtained this information from the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM), which conducted a representative interview poll of 1,600 Russians on 25 December. Meanwhile, sociologists pointed to a decline in the Communist Party's rating of late, as in April 39 per cent of participants in an analogous poll said they were willing to vote for the Communists. The following information cites only answers by Russians definitely planning to vote and who know exactly what parties and blocs they would support. The Unity-All Russia party led by Sergey Shoygu and Yuriy Luzhkov could count on 30 per cent of the votes, while Women of Russia led by Alevtina Fedulova, Yabloko led by Grigoriy Yavlinskiy and the Union of Right Forces (SPS) headed by Boris Nemtsov would gather 6 per cent each. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) headed by Vladimir Zhirinovskiy would obtain 5 per cent of the votes, and Russian National Unity 2 per cent. The Agrarian Party led by Mikhail Lapshin, the Russia movement of Gennadiy Seleznev, the Democratic Party headed by Mikhail Prusak and the United Social Democratic Party of Mikhail Gorbachev would be supported by 1 per cent of voters each. The People's Party led by Gennadiy Raykov has under 1 per cent of supporters now, while the Liberal Russia party organized and sponsored by Boris Berezovskiy and led by Sergey Yushenkov would by unlikely to be supported by anybody. All other parties and movements together would obtain about 1 per cent of the votes, and 5 per cent would vote against all the candidates. ****** #6 The Times (UK) December 29, 2001 It's hard to be me, says First Lady of Russia FROM CLEM CECIL IN MOSCOW LYUDMILA PUTIN stepped firmly into the ranks of world leaders’ wives yesterday with an interview demonstrating her religious faith, her charity work, her devotion to her husband and her recipe for soup. In her first interview to a Russian newspaper, Mrs Putin, 43, also provided glimpses of her home life, admitting that she sometimes argued with her husband even now he was the President and saying that her new role made it “very hard to remain myself”. The whole family are active Russian Orthodox believers. On her birthday, Vladimir Putin, 49, gave her a golden chain and cross. “When I woke up it was lying on the bedside table,” she said. “He had bought it two months earlier in Jerusalem. His self-control and patience always amaze me. When I buy presents I have to give them straight away.” She told Komsomolskaya Pravda: “We go to church about once a month. I don’t like to talk about my faith in public. It is a very personal thing, but I do believe faith can unite people.” When asked if she meant that faith could only unite Orthodox Christians, she replied: “I think that in order to achieve the harmonious and bright future that we all dream about, humanity must unite under one faith. Or at least we must respect the existence of other faiths without war or spite. Russian Orthodoxy advocates first and foremost love and tolerance of your fellow man.” The Putins met 21 years ago when he was a student and she was an air hostess. She used to fly to St Petersburg from her home town of Kaliningrad to meet him for dates. Mr Putin courted his future wife with characteristic caution, proposing to her 3½ years later. They have two daughters, Masha, 16, and Katya, 15. “Vladimir said in his autobiography that he grew up in a loving atmosphere,” Mrs Putin said. “I would add that he was raised with a strong work ethic and we try to instil this in our daughters. A child must be fully occupied in his spare time. For example, our daughters have been taught the violin since they were tiny. “I also worry about the girls’ health, and make sure that all the hard work doesn’t take its toll on them. I have never demanded that they get high marks. I think the main thing is knowledge.” Katya and Masha study at home and a bodyguard joins them when they go out. Mrs Putin emphasises how much her husband loves them, saying that he always goes to say goodnight to them even if he comes home late. She insists that her relationship with him has not changed since he became President. “To me, the President of Russia is first and foremost a husband,” she said. “I have many daily worries, and as a wife and a woman discuss them with Vladimir when he has spare minutes. “It is hard of course — nearly all the President’s time is devoted to work. But when we have a problem to discuss, I tell him what I think and I even argue with him sometimes. However, I value the opinion of my husband and we agree on most things. “I am seen as the ‘female face’ of the country. Onlookers judge my appearance, clothes, what I say and how I receive guests in the same way as they judge the state itself, and the conditions for women in our society. To be honest, in my situation, it is very hard to remain myself. Yet I think this is our main aim in life. Every person has his own cross to carry, and its size depends on how strong the person is.” Mrs Putin also finds time for social work. After she visited a penal colony for female offenders in Mozhaisk, the Russian Duma pardoned ten women and children who were convicted for petty crimes. “My principal aim is to attract the attention of society to the problem of child crime. We need to fight this problem together. People call it a social problem, which it is to a certain extent. But I would like every one of us to take responsibility for it, everybody in the world, not only in Russia.” As to how she dresses, Mrs Putin says she relies on her own intuition. “I try to be true to my own understanding of beauty, fashion and style rather than use stylists,” she said. “I have clothes made for me in Russia, but I am not against buying ready-made items. I don’t follow fashion. I love bright, stylish and unusual clothes.” When visiting the Bushes on their Texas ranch in November, Mrs Putin wore a white sleeveless jumper, covered in speckled feathers, which stood out beside the conventionally dressed Laura Bush. Mrs Putin divulged that she would be following a tradition of reading the horoscopes to decide what to wear on New Year’s Eve. “In general I don’t pay any attention to astrology, but I like to more or less go by the recommended colour to wear on New Year’s Eve,” she said. This year astrologists advise wearing black, red or white. Her own new year prediction was: “I think that Russia and every one of its citizens will feel a new surge of strength and energy.” In the interview she reveals her personal recipe for Ukho, a traditional Russian fish soup. Mrs Putin’s recipe is an international take on a national dish, which includes exotic spices and fruits. ****** #7 BBC Monitoring Russia's first lady urges children to seek happiness within Source: Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian 1100 gmt 28 Dec 01 [Presenter] From Tverskaya Ploshchad, Father Frost set off for the country's main New Year tree in the State Kremlin Palace, where around 6,000 children from every region in Russia have come together. A holiday performance awaited the small guests but first they were welcomed by the Russian president's wife, Lyudmila Putina, who congratulated the children on her own behalf and that of Russia's head of state. Igor Korzhavin reports from the Kremlin: [Correspondent] The main people in the Kremlin today were 5,000 children from various areas of Russia. The country's main New Year tree is in the State Kremlin Palace. The scene of serious state ventures was changed beyond recognition today ... There's a big book on one of the tables for writing requests for Father Frost. [Small girl] I want peace on Earth and in Russia. [Correspondent] And what would you like yourself? [Small girl] For myself. I don't want anything. [Correspondent] The main congratulations were heard in the auditorium itself, however. [Lyudmila Putina, on stage] There are just three days left to the New Year, three days till that magic night when all our wishes come true. As well as the New Year presents on this tree, I'd like to give each of you a little bit of happiness. But sadly, I'm not a fairy. I'm only a human being and I can only tell you that happiness is in each one of us and, so, listen to yourselves and find that happiness in yourselves, give it to those around you, to your friends and relatives and be happy yourselves. I wish you an ocean of happiness in the New Year... ****** #8 Yeltsin Says He Led Russia Well December 28, 2001 MOSCOW (AP) - Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin admitted during a television interview that he made mistakes while leading the country's first post-communist government, but he insisted that he led the nation in the right direction. ``Not every decision of mine was right. Such decisions had to be made for the first time, and they could not have been made without any mistakes,'' Yeltsin told RTR state television's Saturday night news magazine Zerkalo, according to a partial transcript obtained in advance by the Interfax news agency. ``But on the whole Russia took the right path, and it became different.'' Yeltsin also defended his role in the demise of the Soviet Union, something most Russians regret. In December 1991, Yeltsin and the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus signed an accord announcing the end of the one-time superpower. After the attempted coup by Communist hard-liners in August 1991, ``the republics one after another started to declare independence,'' Yeltsin said, according to separate excerpts reported by the ITAR-Tass news agency. ``All of history pointed to the need to change the political regime in the country.'' The former president said the mistakes he made were not strategic errors ``that would have influenced Russia's history,'' according to Interfax. ``There were tactical mistakes in some less significant options, topics and issues.'' Under Yeltsin, Russia lurched painfully through a series of political and financial jolts to the 1998 economic collapse, when many Russians watched their savings disappear overnight - some for the second time in a decade. During the later years of his presidency, Yeltsin was plagued with health problems that frequently kept him away from the Kremlin. Yeltsin resigned as president on Dec. 31, 1999, and has since maintained a fairly low profile in Russia, appearing only occasionally at public functions. His hand-picked successor, Vladimir Putin, continues to enjoy high approval ratings, with many Russians applauding Putin's energetic, businesslike approach - a stark contrast with the later part of Yeltsin's presidency. ****** #9 Nezavisimaya Gazeta December 29, 2001 RUSSIA AT THE BREAKING POINT Trust in the regime is essential to overcome mounting economic problems Author: Sergei Alekseev [from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html] NOTHING THE GOVERNMENT MAY TRY WILL WORK IF SOCIETY REMAINED DISTRUSTFUL. IT IS TRUST IN THE PRESIDENT AND THE GOVERNMENT, AND TRUST IN THEIR POLICIES, THAT WILL DETERMINE RUSSIA'S SUCCESSES AND FAILURES IN FUTURE. AND 2002 IS GOING TO BE DECISIVE FOR THE PRESIDENT. There is reason to assume that 2002 will be a special year. It will be the year when numerous problems accumulated in the past will reach their peak. This primarily concerns the fact that several reforms were initiated all at once - reforms of natural monopolies (tariffs), military reforms (cuts), judicial reforms, housing and utilities (tariffs), education, finances, taxation, pensions, land, and administrative reforms. What does the background to all these processes look like? Is the state ready to handle the huge challenge of economic deregulation? Can the regime protect the policy of free-market reforms it has chosen? State officials' reports leave the impression of real economic growth and confidence in correct nature of the policy pursued by the president... Society is not so confident about that. The major question, that of trust or lack thereof in the government, is going to haunt Russia unless we learn to associate our actions with their consequences. Results of 2002 will eventually depend precisely on how well-founded the decisions made by the authorities are. Some consequences are already visible. The nation's economic prosperity depends heavily on oil prices, and $14-16 per barrel is not going to be the critical price for Russia. It seems that the period when Russia basked in oil dollars is over for good. Even cutting oil production by 150,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of the year is not going to change the global situation. It is not going to happen - for a number of substantial reasons, which Russian politicians and economists do not mention. The cost price of a barrel of oil in the Middle East is $4, but twice or three times that much in Russia. Not to mention the quality of oil. What should Russia do? Undercut rivals or radically change its behavior in the international market? The government is not ready for the latter option - which means that Russia should expect a chain reaction in all major macroeconomic indicators. Nothing the government may try will work if society remained distrustful. It is trust in the president and the government, and trust in their policies, that will determine Russia's successes and failures in future. And 2002 is going to be decisive for the president. ****** #10 Russia's Putin disbands liberal pardons commission MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has dissolved the Pardons Commission, one of the country's most liberal organisations set up under his predecessor Boris Yeltsin. A presidential decree, issued late on Friday, dissolved the commission, set up by Yeltsin in 1992, and ordered the creation instead of commissions in each of Russia's 89 regions under the direction of local governors. It said commissions were to be made up of unpaid members "enjoying the respect of the community and having an impeccable reputation." Governors are to publish the names of prisoners seeking pardons from the head of state. Putin's move followed several days of suggestions from the Kremlin that the existing commission was likely to be disbanded and a meeting on Friday with its chairman, Anatoly Pristavkin. "Yes, the commission in its current form is being dissolved," Pristavkin, a respected author, told ORT television on Friday. "But the president expressed his gratitude to the commission and said he was ready to make use in future of the commission's 10 years of experience." The commission examined requests for a presidential pardon from any prisoner, subject to a number of restrictions, and made recommendations to the head of state. Made up of writers, actors, theatre directors, clerics and other public figures, it earned a reputation for defending liberal values in the often confused moral climate of post-Soviet society. It was also seen as a safeguard against a harsh penal system inherited from the communist era. "In any other country, where leaders and the elite espouse clear values, there is little reason for seeing such decisions as symbols determining the path of development," Mikhail Krasnov of the INDEM think tank wrote in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily. "We so far have no such outlook and therefore moves of this nature give rise to suspicion." Pristavkin was a fervent defender of a moratorium on capital punishment introduced in Russia in 1996, despite overwhelming public opposition, in order to meet the membership requirements of the Council of Europe. Last June, he complained that Putin had reduced to a handful the number of people securing presidential pardons -- compared with thousands issued the previous year. He accused the Justice Ministry, which runs Russia's prisons, of blocking the system. NTV television also reported on Saturday that prisons had begun releasing some of the 23,000 prisoners ordered freed under one of the periodic amnesties ordered by parliament in November. ****** #11 Financial Times (UK) December 28, 2001 Editorial Putin plays a weak hand well Russian president Vladimir Putin has had a good year. At home, the economy is performing better than expected and the president is more popular than ever. Overseas, world events have played into his hands: the anti-terrorism coalition has won Mr Putin a new friend in the White House and a more attractive role on the international stage. Only Chechnya, like a malignant sore, refuses to heal. However, the great work of modernising Russia still looms almost as large as when Mr Putin took over from Boris Yeltsin two years ago. With luck on his side, in the form of high oil prices, Mr Putin has made progress; but he still faces big challenges. First, while he has raised the central government's authority by his personal popularity, he is still far from consolidating his power. The business oligarchs are less prominent in politics now but their economic clout has multiplied with last year's oil boom. Many have become advocates of stability. What they have, they intend to keep. Mr Putin has not seriously challenged these over-mighty subjects. He is aware of the limits of his position. For example, while he succeeded in installing his own man at the top of Gazprom, the gas corporation as a whole remains unreformed. If the future brings a real clash of interests between the Kremlin and the oligarchs it is not certain the Kremlin would win. Mr Putin must prepare by continuing to raise tax takes, strengthening the administration, attacking corruption and backing the rule of law. Beyond the Urals He must maintain pressure on regional governors, who captured excessive power in the Yeltsin years. The president's super-governors have made progress in European Russia. But beyond the Urals, far from Moscow's reach, it is a different story. Next, Mr Putin should press ahead with his often-announced plans for armed forces reform, including ending conscription. Progress here would do much to show Russians that their country is changing for the better. Mr Putin must also implement further market-oriented reform. He has made useful progress, notably with tax. But he has done little to restructure monopolies. Change is coming at UES, the electricity group, but not at Gazprom or at Sberbank, the dominant state bank. These reforms are not ideological luxuries. They are vital to boost growth and cut poverty. A weak hand Then there is Chechnya. Russia has the right to defend itself against armed separatists. But it must acknowledge that peace cannot come without negotiation - whether the west is watching or not. Globally, Mr Putin is playing a weak hand well. He has been forced to swallow President George W. Bush's plans for scrapping the anti-ballistic missile treaty. But he has won promises for further nuclear arms cuts. Mr Putin has bravely sided with the US in the anti-terrorism coalition. He has rightly attempted to convert this partnership into permanent co-operation with Nato. But this strategy has pitched him against some powerful conservatives in the armed forces. He must not over-play his hand. The west must help the Russian president bear his awesome load. It should support economic reform by extending aid - but only when conditions are right. Unconditional support is worse than no support at all. Western governments should treat Russia's security concerns with respect. Russians still want their country to be regarded as a great power. The west should avoid unnecessarily antagonising Moscow, for example over the planned enlargement of Nato. The deed should be done - but done sensitively. However, in dealing with Mr Putin the west should not compromise its principles. Russian democracy is still imperfect. It lacks fully fledged human rights protection, media freedoms and the rule of law. Mr Putin, the ex-KGB man, is not an altruist. Western support should be matched by healthy scepticism. ****** #12 Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 From: Ludmila Foster Subject: telegram to Pasko David: please post on the JRL the prison address of Grogory Pasko so people can send him telegrams of support. He is allowed to get them as long as they do not contain anything connected with his court case. The telegram should be sent "return receipt requested." RUSSIA VLADIVOSTOK SLEDSTVENNYI IZOLYATOR 25/1 GRIGORIYU MIKHAILOVICHU PASKO (By the way, the German government has just officially come out in his support.) Ludmila Foster ****** #13 Russian prosecutor seeks tougher sentence for Pasko VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Dec 29 (Reuters) - A military prosecutor has launched an appealed for a tougher punishment to be imposed on journalist and ex-navy captain Grigory Pasko, saying his four-year jail term for treason is too lenient. "The court excluded without grounds a series of episodes incriminating Grigory Pasko and handed down an excessively lenient sentence," the prosecutor's office in the Pacific Fleet said in comments made public on Saturday. Naval prosecutor Alexander Kondakov advised on Friday that he would try to overturn the sentence imposed when Pasko, a military journalist, was convicted by a military court this week on charges of passing state secrets to Japan. Pasko's lawyers also made known that they were appealing against the verdict. The defence team had expected him to be cleared at his retrial in the Pacific port of Vladivostok -- which has underscored concerns of media freedom in post-Soviet Russia. Human rights groups have expressed outrage at the sentence. A panel of three judges found the ex-navy captain guilty of high treason in the form of espionage and ordered he serve his sentence in a high security prison. The court threw out nine of 10 charges against him but Pasko strongly disputed the verdict. Pasko had been found guilty of a lesser charge after an earlier trial and, though freed under an amnesty, had sought the retrial to prove his innocence. Pasko's defence was built on a Russian law stipulating that information about environmental dangers could not be classified. He was incriminated passing to a Japanese newspaper data on where in the Sea of Japan the navy dumped toxic waste. The Federal Security Service (FSB) domestic intelligence agency, which brought the case, said the principal issue was not of covering up environmental damage, but of punishing an officer who had disclosed secret information. Pasko was arrested in November 1997 by counter-intelligence agents on his return from Japan and spent 20 months in prison before his first trial. The retrial came against the background of various cases by the FSB against ecologists and researchers after Putin, a former FSB chief, became head of state. ******* #14 Obshchaya Gazeta December 27, 2001 - January 9, 2002 JOURNALISTS TO BE TAUGHT TO LOVE FREEDOM Primorye law enforcement agencies have found a scapegoat Author: Valentina Voronova [from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html] JOURNALIST GRIGORY PASKO HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON. BUT THE COURT MANAGED TO PROVE ONLY THAT PASKO HAD INTENDED TO SELL STATE SECRETS TO A JAPANESE SPY. THE MILITARY JUSTICE SYSTEM KEEPS SILENT ABOUT OTHER SCANDALOUS CRIMES THAT HAVE LED TO REAL LOSSES, UNLIKE THE FARFETCHED CASE OF PASKO. The verdict on the case of journalist Grigory Pasko was recited for an hour and a half. The Military Court of the Pacific Fleet brought in a verdict of guilty of high treason by espionage. Although the accusers had proposed ten items of the charge, only one of them was viewed as proven. It was proven that at the request of his Japanese counterpart Pasko participated in a secret meeting of the command of the Pacific Fleet, at which results of combat exercises were summed up. In the opinion of the court, materials that were prepared by Pasko after the meeting and later confiscated by the court contained some information considered the state secret. Although the court came to the conclusion that these materials were not given to the Japanese customer, Pasko was claimed guilty of espionage. The court concluded that the accusations against Pasko of illegal collection of information about the financial situation of the Pacific Fleet, about utilization of submarines and weapons of the fleet, and the social position of Pacific Fleet officers were unfair. The court sentenced Pasko to four years of prison of the strict regime. Since during the preliminary investigation Pasko had spent nearly a year and a half in jail, now he will have to spend in prison only two years and a half. By the decision of the court Pasko was also deprived of the military rank of the "second rank captain in reserve" and all his state rewards. Pasko's lawyers intend to petition the sentence in the Military Board of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The results of the case known worldwide do not seem to be too scandalous at first sight. Preparations for espionage is not yet espionage itself. Pacific Fleet spies, prosecutors, and the court gave this case a scale that it does not deserve. The fact that he "wanted" something does not necessarily mean that he "could" it, and the word "intended" does not mean the same as "betrayed." It seems that Pacific Fleet counterintelligence agents had been longing for some scandalous disclosure. And when the case of Pasko came along, they decided to make the most of it. Meanwhile, not very long ago two aircraft carrying cruisers, the Minsk and the Novorossiisk, disappeared from the Pacific Fleet somewhere. People and media tried to ask law enforcement agencies where these cruisers were and who had arranged this operation, but the local Themis keeps silent. For the past few years arms storages have been exploded for three times in the Primorye Territory. Every time some people died as a result of these explosions, let alone the enormous material losses, but there have not been any press conferences or show trials related to these events. Some newspapers have noted that the command of the Pacific Fleet is involved in housing machinations, but these reports made no sensations either. From our files: Tracing spies is the usual job of regional departments of the Federal Security Service (FSB). In 2001, Russian special services disclosed a number of employees of foreign intelligence services in the Russian Far East. Four of them were expelled from Russia, and twelve of them were forbidden to return for five years. According to the Tomsk regional FSB department, in 2001, 10 employees of foreign intelligence services and 70 foreigners suspected of collaboration with foreign special services visited the Tomsk Region. Eleven of them have been expelled from Russia and three of them have been deprived of the right to visit Russia. Along with anonymous suspicious foreigners, counterintelligence may also boast of disclosers of some notable figures. On February 1, John Edward Tobbin, a US citizen, was arrested in Voronezh. The American was detained at the moment when he was buying drugs. Later the accusation of espionage was claimed invalid. In May, a citizen of China suspected of espionage was arrested in Irkutsk. He had been collecting information about Topol-M and S-400 missile complexes. The court sentenced him to 10 years of prison of the strict regime. On June 9, the Omsk regional FSB department disclosed Elisabeth Sweet, a 39-year-old instructor of economics. The teacher worked within the Civil Education Project and gave her students a task to collect information about budget-forming enterprises of the Omsk Region. On October 31, the Moscow Regional Court claimed Russian citizen Viktor Kalyadin guilty of high treason by espionage and sentenced him to 14 years of prison of the strict regime with confiscation of his property. His two accomplices, Pyotr Ivanov and Alexander Ivanov, were claimed guilty of divulgation of a state secret that has led to serious outcomes and sentenced to prison: Alexander to one year and eight months and Pyotr to one year and two months. Currently, the Krasnoyarsk Territorial Court continues considering the case of physicist Valentin Danilov, Director of the Thermal Physics Center of the Krasnoyarsk State Technical University. FSB has formulated the charge with high treason by espionage according to Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. On December 25, Igor Sutyagin, former director of the Military- Technical Cooperation Sector of the Institute for the US and Canada accused of high treason by espionage, made the final plea in the Kaluga Regional Court. The prosecutor insisted on 14 years for the scholar. (Translated by Kirill Frolov) ****** #15 RIA Novosti Moscow Diary, December 28, 2001 RUSSIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER SUMS UP OUTGOING YEAR We are offering an exclusive interview in which Igor Ivanov, Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, summed up for RIA Novosti the receding year 2001. "We have every reason to regard 2001 as the year when Russia fully rejoined leading figures on the international scene for a direct impact on global developments. We owe this achievement to action proceeding from our respect for universally recognised democratic values, while consistently promoting our national interests - and this is of principled importance. "That approach was exemplified the most graphically by Russian stances as international terrorism attacked the USA, September 11, 2001. As was globally recognised, Russia's clear and unambiguous position enabled the world to form a broad-based anti-terror coalition for concerted action in Afghanistan. "As the result, the world is witnessing developments unprecedented in international relations ever since World War II. Those developments proceed from the human race realising with ever more clarity that no one can meet singlehanded the new threats and challenges of the globalisation era. "Russia played one of the leading parts in the emergence of that stance, taken by the international community. Russia adheres to that stance not only in word but in deed. Putting it in simpler words, we have given up a notorious Cold War motto - 'The more they lose the more we gain.' We have eradicated that principle from our political vocabulary and foreign political activities alike. "Much remains to be done before the new vision firmly establishes in international relations to determine them. Russia was clinging to its active policies on many approaches to provide beneficial conditions for domestic reforms it is carrying on, for social and economic progress, and more reliable national security. "The year 2001 saw Russian progress in all directions. Our progress was quicker in some fields and slower in others, but it was certain everywhere. "A jubilee summit on the 10th establishment anniversary of the Commonwealth of Independent States brought together all CIS countries' leaders for a first time within recent years. That complete attendance spoke for itself. "A great amount of work remains to be done for integration as it is gaining pace. "Russia's contacts are on the upgrade not only with particular European countries but with Euro-Atlantic structures such as the European Union and NATO. They regard Russia as an equal and reliable partner, and it is really coming up as just such a partner - a fact of vital importance. "Our Asian policies are no less dynamic. Contacts with China and India reached the highest level of the recent decades, and acquired a long-term orientation to place them on a firm footing of treaties. An active dialogue is on with Japan and the two Koreas, with Vietnam and other ASEAN countries. This approach is essentially important for Siberia and the Russian Far East as they are integrating into the vast Asian-Pacific area. We are also seeking opportunities for expanding cooperation with countries of Latin America and Africa. "The USA deserves special mention. As we know, there were problems in Russian-American contacts within the new US Administration's initial months. The two countries saw evident attempts to instigate their confrontation. Moscow, however, clearly determined its stance on partnership with Washington, and is clinging to that stance. Russia is eager and practically ready for steady, predictable and constructive contacts with the United States in all fields. President George W. Bush highly appreciates Russian goodwill, as the four latest bilateral summits proved with their achievements. Russian-US relations did not come to a crisis even when the US Administration determined to quit the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, though Russia sees its decision as erroneous. Russia is determined to remain in dialogue with the USA on disarmament and arms limitation, and will work for legal formalisation of tentative future understandings. "As for international conflicts, which tell so badly on current global developments, something new came to Russian politics in that respect, as well. Russia no longer emphasises its contribution to settling particular critical situations. It now concentrates on consolidating international efforts for lasting conflict settlement. That point mainly concerns Afghanistan, which I have already mentioned, the Middle East, the Balkans, and certain other areas. "We were paying special attention to consistent promotion of Russian entrepreneurial interests in other countries - and it has brought practical fruit. Russian business is reappearing in markets of other countries to regain what it has lost. "There is another essential goal, to protect the rights and interests of Russian nationals abroad and of the Russian diaspora. A recent Moscow congress of ethnic Russians highlighted an improvement in that field. Such efforts are merely taking start, and will remain among our top priorities. Wherever he may find himself, every Russian must be sure that his country will stand by him if need be. "To promote and buttress this year's success will be the main target of Russia's foreign policies in the year 2002." ******** #16 Stringer No. 11-12 November-December 2001 SHAMANOV MAY BECOME PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA [from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html] Vladimir Putin's latest actions have shown that his foreign policy is aimed at stabilization of relations with the US. This does not appeal to the military-industrial lobby. Many political schemers trying to find out today if Putin will pass the next presidential election and whether it is worthwhile to invest money in some new "project." As is known, Anatoly Chubais once invested his money in the project called "Putin." Recently his structures conducted a research on who may take the presidential seat in 2004. Among the candidates there are many those whose names are not worth mentioning, but there was also one person who was mentioned both by Chubais and Berezovsky. This is Ulyanovsk Governor Vladimir Shamanov. Although he does not look so great without his military uniform, it is not so difficult to make a new one. This report may sound ridiculous, but we know for sure that Chubais funded Shamanov during the election campaign in the Ulyanovsk Region. Leonid Gozman used to bring money for him. We will not say anymore on this topic so far. ******* #17 Stringer No. 11-12 November-December 2001 NAZI PROJECT [from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html] In 1999, political consultant Gleb Pavlovsky made a project of creating a united nationalist party on the basis of numerous small nationalist parties and organizations, such as Memory led by Dmitry Vasilyev, the People's National Union led by Alexander Ivanov- Sukharevsky, the Congress of Russian Communities led by Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian National Party led by Alexander Fedorov, and Yury Belyaev's National-Republican Party of Russia. Pavlovsky did not intend to heed the Russian National Unity led by Alexander Barkashov because it is too odious. The political consultant wanted to make this nationalist bloc and launch it for the parliamentary election of 1999. The issue of funding for the nationalist bloc was being discussed for half a year. But none of sponsors of the Duma election agreed to fund the dangerous bloc. Pavlovsky's last hope was Chubais: who was actively working on the project called "Putin." According to Pavlovsky's idea, the nationalist bloc could make a good "dressing" for Putin. But Chubais refused to have anything to do with the nationalist idea. However, the idea of a nationalist agency that could arrange a pogrom or a raid if necessary has not died. If there is a youth organization called Going Together - with a database of 5,000 people who can be assembled for a demonstration at any time - why not organize a similar organization able to arrange a pogrom? We have reached the middle level of organizers in our investigation so far. The top level and the chief people behind it have not been disclosed, but this is only a matter of time. ******* #18 Washington Post December 29, 2001 Cleaning Up Russia's Culture of Corruption Putin Targeting All Who 'Feed Off' Small Business By Sharon LaFraniere Washington Post Foreign Service MOSCOW -- Dmitri Velichkin is just the kind of entrepreneur that experts say is key to Russia's economic salvation. In the past five years, he transformed a run-down pavilion that once heralded the feats of Soviet workers into a computer and digital technology business that employed more than 100 people. That is, he was that kind of entrepreneur. Then he ran afoul of the police. Velichkin, 40, said that after he refused to pay a police major a $20,000 bribe in March, the major and three other officers returned with a group of men and took six truckloads worth of computers and computer parts from his storeroom. That was the last he saw of inventory worth $100,000, he said -- and probably the last of his business, at least for now. "Entrepreneurs are not forgiven for such things in Russia," said Velichkin, who managed to get the police major fired but has not been able to retrieve his goods. "Entrepreneurs are expected to pay and to beg. I've been in business for 10 years, and I simply got tired of paying." Suddenly, the Kremlin also seems tired of business being done under the table. As part of his campaign to reform Russia's economy, President Vladimir Putin has declared that corrupt and overlapping bureaucracy is choking the growth of small businesses, which breathed life into other post-communist economies. "Our hope that small business would become the engine of reform and would take its proper place in the economy has not yet come to pass," Putin said earlier this month. He laid the blame squarely on the government, especially on permit-givers, inspectors and regulators "who feed off small business at every stage of its development" and who limit the growth of businesses by "constant extortions." The Kremlin is also worried about other obstacles to small businesses, including high taxes and banks that run oil companies but don't make loans. This year Putin pushed through parliament most of a plan to create a Western-style banking system, although experts question how quickly or vigorously the new rules will be enforced. Putin's finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, also promises new tax measures to help small business. But Putin's biggest challenge, small-business experts say, will be to alter the culture of corruption. Alexander Ioffe, who co-chairs a small-business lobby group, said most small and medium-size businesses pay bribes in one form or another. Instead of simply handing over envelopes of cash, though, they might now be instructed to buy fire extinguishers from a certain firm, or hire a particular company for advice on sanitation control, he said. "There is essentially a state racket at work," said Ioffe, of the Russian Entrepreneurial Organization's Union and who with other lobbyists discussed the problems of small businesses with Putin earlier this month. "The president has sent a signal that the attitude of the government is changing," he said. "But what lies ahead will be very difficult, very painstaking work because it will mean depriving officials who are financially doing pretty well." At issue, many say, is nothing less than the future of the Russian economy. In Poland and Hungary, entrepreneurs rushed to fill the void left when the communist system of state-owned factories and centrally run economies collapsed. Russia was different: Entire industries, from oil fields to nickel mines, passed almost seamlessly from the state into the hands of relatively few barons. The barons have the political muscle to cut through a smothering state bureaucracy. Russia's small-business owners, on the other hand, are at its mercy. Putin's economic adviser, Andrei Illarionov, recently held up a chart on national television depicting the more than 500 steps that are legally required to start a business here. Hundreds more agencies then regulate almost every aspect of business life, he said. Each step in the bureaucratic chain presents an opportunity to extract a fee, a gift or a gratuity from a businessman or woman whose existence depends on government approval. According to government statistics, Russia has fewer small businesses than it had in 1994. That is no doubt an exaggeration, because many businesses hide their existence to avoid taxes. But financial experts say it is nonetheless true that a far smaller percentage of Russia's population is employed in small to medium-size businesses than in Western countries. Alexei Moisseev, a financial analyst for the Renaissance Capital brokerage house, said about 17 percent of Russians work in small business, compared with 54 percent of Americans. Putin calls the state of Russian small business "alarming." Yuri Perepelkin co-owns a Moscow sauna that is so busy that people must make weekend appointments several days in advance. The sauna is open 24 hours a day, advertises on cable television and takes in about $5,500 a month. On paper, though, it is simply a private sauna for other workers in the building, operated by an employee named Perepelkin. The building owner doesn't want Perepelkin to operate officially because the owner would have to follow suit -- and that would mean paying taxes on the rent he collects, Perepelkin said. The tax inspectors apparently haven't caught on yet, but police officers and fire inspectors make regular visits. It's a rare day, said Perepelkin, when the police don't reserve a few free hours at the sauna. He estimates their visits cost his business $200 to $350 a week, depending on how long they stay. The fire inspector comes less often and is more easily dispatched. When he showed up last summer, Perepelkin said, his partner whisked him into his office and gave him $200. "Everything was settled in a matter of minutes," said Perepelkin. Christian Courbois, an American who runs an express mail service in St. Petersburg, said he does not pay bribes -- at least not what he calls bribes. He does pay, he acknowledges, "fines" that go to certain people. And he pays the police department $200 a month to protect his firm from criminals. The firm is equipped with an alarm system, and the police are supposed to come in three minutes if he pushes the panic button. "If you look at it from a Western point of view, you should never have to pay the police to get protection from criminals," he said. "But they've created a whole system to get money out of you, and you don't have a choice." The owner of a toy factory outside Moscow said he once kept a lawyer on staff to negotiate such deals. Then he decided he was a better bargainer himself. Sergei, who asked that his last name not be used, said he gave a sanitation inspector about $200 for a tool that measures air quality, but asked him not to show up again for at least 12 months. He gave the fire inspector $330 to host a dinner for his boss, with the same proviso. A criminal gang that offered protection extorted the most money. Sergei said he gave them $1,000 a month for eight years until he paid people in the government to get rid of them. In the end, though, Sergei said he saves money through graft. Even if he tried to insist on aboveboard dealings, he said, "I would still have to pay. You cannot escape without payment." This is what everyone tells Velichkin, the owner of the computer business. He would have been better off giving the police the $20,000 they demanded than to risk his entire business, which has annual sales of $8 million to $10 million. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has apparently taken the side of the police. An article published this month in the mayor's office newspaper said that Velichkin's inventory was seized because he was selling unlicensed goods. The article accused Velichkin of slandering and threatening honest police officers. But the local prosecutor seems to have sided with Velichkin. He refused to charge the businessman with a crime and instead began a criminal inquiry into the actions of the police. In addition to the police major who was fired, three officers were demoted or disciplined. Nonetheless, Velichkin is all but out of business. His staff of more than 100 is down to seven people, all of whom work on his legal complaints. He figures his business lost about a half-million dollars. Only a fifth of the equipment the police seized is still in the government's warehouse. The rest of it was stolen, according to both Velichkin and the police. What he has salvaged, by standing up to his extorters, is his pride, Velichkin said. "I am not afraid of being poor," he said. "I am afraid of not having respect for myself, of no longer being proud of what I am doing in life." ******** #19 BBC Monitoring Chechen web site says Russian journalists back war to please Kremlin Source: Chechenpress web site, Tbilisi, in Russian 29 Dec 01 29 December, Chechenpress state news agency correspondent L. Vakhidova: One reaches the conclusion from reading and analysing the Russian press that an overwhelming majority of Russian journalists are in favour of the military actions in Chechnya continuing. If during the previous war there were many objective, honourable and decent Russian journalists, since the new Russian president, [Vladimir] Putin crushed all Russia's information structures beneath the FSB [Federal Security Service], no opponents of the Russo-Chechen war now remain. Russian and Chechen parents suffer as a result of the criminally indifferent position adopted by Russian journalists as they lose their sons in this senseless war. Everyone knows what a big role propaganda plays in the world today. Also public opinion among Russians depends on how objectively this propaganda describes the military actions in Chechnya. To be fair, I should say that Russian media like Novaya Gazeta, Gazeta-ru, NTV-ru and Kommersant periodically publish anti-war articles, in which the authors tell their readers about the cruelty of Russian soldiers. [Anna] Politkovskaya particularly impresses with her uncompromising, anti-war articles. Unlike the majority of her colleagues, she is not infected with the virus of chauvinism, which allows her to objectively show the cruel face of war. The article "Armoured mud", written by this journalist, which appeared in the last edition of Novaya Gazeta, openly accused Russian soldiers of carrying out extra-judicial executions, systematic robbery and mass looting. Summing up all this, I would like to say that the continuation of the Russo-Chechen war, and consequently of the brutality of the Russian soldiers, will sooner or later also affect members of the families of these Russian journalists, who today support this criminal war to please the Kremlin. ******* #20 From: Joanna Janco [eurasiaevents@hotmail.com] Sent: Friday, December 28, Subject: Washington holiday events January 6, 2002 Magical RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY, Russia House, 1800 Connecticut Ave., NW Washington, D.C. Organized by The Eurasia Center, Sponsor - Zhitomirska Vodka(ZVodka), complimentary Russian caviar early in evening, Professional Magician Jack Julius performs 9-10 p.m. No RSVP required, from (7:00 p.m.-midnight) Entrance: Women & Members $10, Men $15, Couples $20 Questions: Eurasia@aol.com, or 202-966-8651. January 13, 2002 Celebrate OLD RUSSIAN NEW YEAR, New Russian Restaurant MAXIM, 1725 F St, NW Washington, DC (near White House) Special Russian Banquet style dinner, 6 appetizers, 3 selections of entrees, desert, (wine/vodka/champagne) tea coffee, Plus special entertainment, 8:30 p.m. - midnight, tax and tips included in the fixed price of $75 per person. Questions: Eurasia@aol.com, or 202-966-8651. *******