CDI Russia Weekly-#114

11 August 2000

Edited by David Johnson

Center for Defense Information

1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington DC 20036

phone: 202-332-0600; fax:202-462-4559

djohnson@cdi.org

The CDI Russia Weekly is an e-mail newsletter that carries news and

analysis on all aspects of today's Russia, including political,

economic, social, military, and foreign policy issues. With funding

from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, CDI Russia Weekly is a

project of the Washington-based Center for Defense Information (CDI),

a nonprofit research and education organization.

  CDI Russia Weekly web page (with archive): http://www.cdi.org/russia/

  Visit CDI's web site: http://www.cdi.org

Contents:

  1. Voice of America: MOSCOW BLAST Q&A with Peter Heinlein.

  2. Christian Science Monitor: Scott Peterson, Aftermath of Russia bombing. Putin warned yesterday against assuming Chechen guilt in the blast.

  3. AFP: Muscovites turn to psychologists to deal with deadly blast trauma.

  4. Moscow Times: Sarah Karush, Local Chechens Fear Being Scapegoats, Again.

  5. Interfax: RUSSIAN PRESIDENT GUIDED BY NATIONAL INTERESTS - ORBACHEV.

  6. BBC: Stephen Dalziel, Vladimir Putin's first year.

  7. Vremya Novosti: Svetlana Lolayeva, PUTIN MADE THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE FLAT.

  8. Jamestown Foundation Monitor: BEREZOVSKY UNVEILS HIS "CONSTRUCTIVE" OPPOSITION.

  9. Frankfurter Rundschau: German Daily Assesses Putin's 'Motives' for the War Against Chechnya.

  10. Itar-Tass: RUSSIAN UNITY FACTION LEADER UPBEAT ON RELATIONS WITH US REPUBLICAN PARTY.

  11. Moscow Times: Pavel Felgenhauer, DEFENSE DOSSIER: Divide and Conquer Rebels.

  12. RFE/RL: Don Hill, Russia: Authorities Retreat From Media Freedom.

  13. RFE/RL: Don Hill, Russia: Government Policies Suppress Free Media.

******

#1

Voice of America

August 10, 2000

TITLE=MOSCOW BLAST Q&A

BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN

DATELINE=MOSCOW

INTRO:  VOA Correspondent Peter Heinlein in Moscow did

a telephone interview with VOA NEWS NOW anchors Martin

Secrest and Ray Kouguell in Washington at 3:00AM,EDT,

8/10/2000.  The interview concerned Tuesday's bomb

blast at an underground walkway which killed at least

eight people and injured more than 90 others.

TEXT: 

VOA NEWS NOW - How has the explosion on Tuesday

resulted in increased security in and around Moscow?

HEINLEIN - Security is at the maximum.  Driving into

work this morning (Thursday) I saw several traffic

policemen wearing bulletproof vests which you don't

see very often here in the capital. Also there were

searches of cars on almost every block.  Every

policeman was busy and those who weren't directing

traffic were searching cars, pulling people over at

random.  Of course it is true that they are looking

for people with dark skin, Chechen people are who they

are looking for.  As we passed them you could see that

practically every person stopped (by police) was a

person with dark skin.  A nationwide Russian manhunt

is underway.  They are searching for at least two men

who left a bag in the underground tunnel a few seconds

before the explosion.  They ran out of the tunnel and

were seen driving away.  Last night on Russian

television the Interior Minister held up sketches of

the suspects, two with short dark hair and a third one

who is "fair haired" and is described as a typical

Russian who was apparently driving the car.  So we're

looking now to see what the results of this search

will be.  There were two people arrested yesteday

(Tuesday) , or detained briefly, both of them from the

Caucasus region but they are not being considered as

suspects in the bombing.

VOA NEWS NOW - Is President Vladimir Putin putting an

emphasis on cracking down on this once and for all?

HEINLEIN - Yes, he has spoken out very strongly last

night saying we have to crush the Chechen terrorists

in their lair as he said, take the battle to their

home and crush them once and for all.  At the same

time, Mr. Putin yesterday (Wednesday) seemed to

contradict other officials, including police officials

and the Mayor of Moscow, who said this was definitely

the work of Chechen terrorists.  Mr. Putin said lets

not blame any one nation, because criminals,

terrorists, don't have a nation or a belief.  These

comments were shown on Russian television.  Because

earlier last year, when Mr. Putin took over,  he

himself accused the Chechens of terrorism and was

guilty of some very strong statements branding the

Chechens as a terrorist nation.

VOA NEWS NOW - Then the atmosphere for Chechens in

Moscow is not very good right now , is it?

HEINLEIN - No, that's very true. Last year after the

series of bombings at apartment buildings that killed

nearly 300 people, Chechens were rounded up.  Identity

checks were made and anyone whose documents weren't

perfectly in order was forced to leave the capital.

Tens of thousands left and there is still a tremendous

hostility.  People on the streets of Moscow yesterday

(Wednesday) were saying, "no matter what, we believe

it's the Chechens, we don't care what anybody says, we

are at war."  And some city officials were saying the

same thing that Moscow citizens have to be prepared

because this is a city at war.

*******

#2

Christian Science Monitor

August 10, 2000

Aftermath of Russia bombing

Putin warned yesterday against assuming Chechen guilt in the blast.

By Scott Peterson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

In the wake of a fatal bomb blast here, some Russians are wondering what kind

of democracy they will have after the smoke clears.

The bombing - which some senior Russian politicians are already pinning on

Chechen terrorists seeking revenge for Russia's invasion of their breakaway

republic - has prompted fresh calls for a law-and-order crackdown.

"Moscow is on the frontline of a war, and this war will go on for a long

time, so there is no alternative but to learn to live with it," says Irina

Ladodo, a security specialist at Moscow's Institute of Social and Political

Studies. "We need to impose tough security measures. Probably democracy is

costing Russia too dearly."

Russian police said Wednesday that they had detained two suspects in

connection with the bombing - one Chechen and another from the neighboring

north Caucasus republic of Dagestan - but Russian President Vladimir Putin

cautioned against automatically linking the incident to the war in Chechnya.

Russian troops invaded the breakaway republic 11 months ago, on an

antiterrorist campaign directed by Mr. Putin, to bring law and order after a

series of bomb blasts last year left nearly 300 dead and Russians clamoring

for revenge.

But instead of accusing Putin of not following through on promises of "law

and order," many Muscovites say they want even tougher security measures.

That response is raising new questions about democracy in Russia, while at

the same time the bombing gives an advantage to Moscow's tough mayor, Yuri

Luzhkov, in a local power struggle with Putin.

"Here it is only possible to take a hard line - there is no other way" to

deal with "terrorists," said Tatiana Bakhrova, a young professional who was

among the first to enter Moscow's reopened underground subway terminal

yesterday at Pushkin Square, where a bomb blast Tuesday evening left seven

dead and scores wounded in the heart of Russia's capital.

"If a bombing like this has happened, a harder line should be taken," she

said, after gingerly stepping over the 18-inch-wide impact crater in the

near-darkness of the subway underpass.

Ms. Bakhrova stopped short of pointing the finger at Chechens, however, who

were vilified in Moscow last year in the hysteria that followed the first

bombings. But she said that Chechens "should be sent back to live in their

district," and punished if found responsible.

Moscow security forces have been on heightened alert in recent weeks, and

Putin personally took control of the investigation into the bombing.

Russian forces control much of Chechnya, except for tracts of mountains in

the south. They have declared "victory," but guerrillas inflict casualties

almost daily in ambush and bomb attacks, and have threatened a suicide

bombing campaign.

On August 6, 1996, rebels captured the Chechen capital, Grozny, in the first

Chechen war. The date is considered independence day by the guerrillas and is

always marked by anti-Russian rhetoric. Secret caches of weapons and

explosives have been reportedly found in recent weeks.

A second bomb in the vicinity of Tuesday's blast was discovered and defused,

while Interfax news agency reported that on Wednesday a bag of TNT was

discovered at a Moscow railway terminal. Wednesday also marked exactly one

year since Putin was appointed Russia's acting prime minister.

Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov denied any Chechen involvement in Tuesday's

blast, though Mayor Luzhkov almost immediately pronounced an "obvious Chechen

connection." Witness testimony "shows...it was 100 percent Chechnya,"

declared Luzhkov, who has fought to maintain tough security measures,

including unconstitutional restrictions that have been used selectively on

ethnic Caucasians in Moscow.

In a Putin move that analysts say is aimed at curbing Luzhkov's power - in

line with a broader national attempt to rein in all independent forces, such

as wealthy oligarchs and powerful local politicians - a Kremlin official,

just hours before the Tuesday blast, had called for Moscow to adhere to the

law and become an "open" city.

Under Luzhkov 's watch last year, thousands of ethnic Caucasians were rounded

up and their papers examined. At one point, officials announced the arrest of

20,000 "suspects" in the bomb blasts.

But in the aftermath of the latest blast, Luzhkov 's tough stance seems to be

what many Russians want to hear - a result that could temporarily foil any

Putin attempt to trim the mayor's power.

"One Russian characteristic is lack of discipline, and that makes it

difficult for us," says Lydia Petrovna, a medical doctor who traveled to work

by subway yesterday despite the increased tension. "There should be more

measures. I hope Putin can do it. We voted for him to do it."

But Putin may be finding that campaigning on a "law and order" ticket is

easier than implementing the policy. Police yesterday were reported to be

conducting blanket checks of basements and cellars, and were inspecting most

trucks that entered the city.

"It's very difficult to organize, because to prevent such attacks, you must

turn every Muscovite into a policeman," said police officer Andrei Zhukov,

who finally let pedestrians back into the blackened Pushkin Square subway

underpass. "It's difficult to deal with terrorism, and it's impossible to

intensify our work," says Mr. Zhukov. "We are already pushed to the limit,

working 12 hours a day, seven days a week."

Some Russians voiced skepticism about a Chechen connection, and one liberal

radio station conducted a telephone poll that found that more than 3 out of 5

Muscovites blamed Chechens for the blast - an expression of doubt that a year

ago, in the post bombing anti-Chechen panic, would have been unthinkable.

"It's a mistake to tie everything to Chechnya. We should check and check 100

times before we blame them," says Galina Grigoryevna, a newspaper vendor a

few steps away from Pushkin station."Possibly it was meant to imitate Chechen

actions, as a cover for the war," she says. "The tough measures are a

constant lie from the authorities - I have a lot of doubts about whether the

Chechens were involved."

******

#3

Muscovites turn to psychologists to deal with deadly blast trauma

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (AFP) -

Muscovites, a hardened breed used to political turmoil and economic

uncertainty, are turning to psychologists in the hundreds to come to grips

with a jarring bomb blast that killed eight and injured nearly 100.

Tatyana Dmitriyeva, a former Russian health minister and current director of

the Serbskiy psychological institute, said that Tuesday's central-Moscow

explosion has deeply scarred the city.

"Some 200 people have come to us over the first day, and we think that this

is only the start because people usually start coming en masse on the third

day," Dmitriyeva told NTV television on Thursday.

"People are in shock over the first two days, still not able to understand

what has happened or what awaits them," she said.

"On the second, third, fourth days, people start beginning to understand, and

need help from the outside."

With few rules governing Russian television news coverage, gruesome footage

of the blast victims has filled screens across the country since the blast.

Some show bloodied victims screaming in agony, their clothes ripped in shreds

from the ferocity of a blast that tore through a central Moscow underpass in

the midst of evening rush hour.

Other uncensored footage show doctors covering charred bodies, their faces no

longer recognizable, while other battered victims stretch on the ground

nearby, with bruised hands and feet shaking violently in fright.

The blast struck in the very heart of Moscow, underneath the picturesque

Pushkin Square, a common gathering point overlooking the main thoroughfare

leading to the Kremlin.

Police have since urged Muscovites to be vigilant, and a sense of tension has

enveloped the city since the blast.

Just as last autumn, when two apartment block bombings attributed to Chechen

rebels killed 211, residents are again taking shifts to guard entrances to

their buildings' basements to avert new blasts at night.

Police are conducting blanket security checks while hundreds of people have

lined up outside hospitals where the burn victims are being treated to donate

blood.

"My wife passed through that underpass only five minutes before the

explosion," one unidentified man donating blood told Russian television. "It

could have happened to any of us."

Tensions are rising because of a wave of false bomb threats that have forced

police to evacuate banks, metro and train stations.

Fourteen such calls were placed to Moscow police by midday Thursday.

*******

#4

Moscow Times

August 10, 2000

Local Chechens Fear Being Scapegoats, Again

By Sarah Karush

Staff Writer

When Raisa Nozhuyeva heard about the explosion that tore through the Pushkin

Square underpass, she felt a pang of fear for her two sons.

Not that they were anywhere near the blast; they were sitting right next to

her. Nozhuyeva had a different concern: that she and her sons f recent

refugees from Grozny f would be turned into scapegoats by angry Moscow

authorities.

Chechens in Moscow well remember the aftermath of last September's apartment

house bombings, when they were forced to re-register with the police and were

subject to constant document checks and searches. Officials kicked Chechen

children out of school if their parents lacked Moscow registration. Nervous

landlords evicted them. And, according to human rights organizations, police

planted drugs and weapons on dozens of innocent Chechens in order to

incriminate them.

That crackdown was formally kicked off by Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who

called for re-registration and a crackdown on "guests of the capital"

immediately after the apartment house bombings.

So many Chechens had a sense of dÎjÈ vu Tuesday when, mere hours after the

explosion, Luzhkov declared that Chechens were behind it f a conclusion

investigators have yet to reach f and Deputy Mayor Alexander Muzikansky said

that Muscovites should understand they are "living in the capital of a

country at war" and act accordingly.

Chechen women waiting Wednesday at Civil Assistance, an advocacy group that

provides legal aid to internal refugees, said they feared a new wave of

harassment following the latest tragedy. Employees of the organization said

the crowd of refugees packed into the narrow hallways was much thinner than

usual f a fact they attributed to people's fear of moving about the city with

police vigilance stepped up in the wake of the bombing.

"I have two sons, one 30 and the other 27, and when we heard about this

explosion, they both said, 'That's it, now we can't go in the metro or ride

the bus,'" Nozhuyeva said.

Raisa Murtayeva, who arrived from Grozny three weeks ago, concurred.

"Right now, our men, who are not guilty of anything, cannot go outside or go

anywhere in Moscow," she said. "What rights do Chechens have? If you're a

Chechen, you're automatically bad."

Svetlana Gannushkina, co-chairwoman of Civil Assistance, accused Luzhkov of

trying to fuel ethnic hatred with his comments that there was "a Chechen

trace" in Tuesday's explosion.

"If our mayor has such a great sense of smell, he needs to work at a perfume

factory instead of governing the city. What he said yesterday is a crime

before humanity. He is using a human tragedy to evoke hatred for people who

are just as innocent as the rest," she said.

Gannushkina said there had been no evidence of a crackdown just yet f save

for unconfirmed information from one refugee who said his ill wife was kicked

out of the hospital for being Chechen f but she feared the worst.

Moscow police stepped up their presence on city streets Wednesday with

Operation Whirlwind. Given the results of last year's Operation Whirlwind,

that can't be good news for Chechens.

According to a recent Memorial report on ethnic discrimination in Moscow last

fall, many ethnic Chechens, Ingush and Dagestanis had narcotics or weapons

planted on them during police searches. Together, Memorial and Civil

Assistance registered 51 such cases; the names of those people are included

in an appendix to the report. Gannushkina said there were likely many more

people who didn't turn to them for help.

Gannushkina said the nature of the cases indicates they were likely

falsified.

"It just doesn't happen that all of a sudden all these Chechens put identical

packages of a very small amount of drugs in their pockets," she said. "And

it's also strange that these Chechens didn't leave these drugs at home when

they came to the police station themselves to re-register."

The wave of such arrests ended as quickly as it began in mid-December when

the panic over the bombings died down, the Memorial report said.

But Gannushkina said Tuesday that those cases are still coming to trial, and

so far, no acquittals have been delivered and none of the police officers who

she says planted the evidence have been brought to justice. Some of the

accused have been sent to prison; others have received suspended sentences.

Meanwhile, a Sept. 21 decree of the Moscow education committee prohibiting

the children of unregistered non-Muscovites from attending school has not

been canceled.

"My grandson has already missed a year of school," Nozhuyeva said.

Lack of registration also prevented people from obtaining passports for

international travel and from getting married last fall, according to the

Memorial report. Employers and landlords also routinely discriminate against

unregistered people.

Moscow's registration requirement contradicts the Constitution, which

guarantees freedom of movement. President Vladimir Putin has pledged to bring

regional legislation in line with federal law, and prosecutors had said they

were examining Moscow's registration system in that context.

Mariana Khasuyeva, also from Grozny, said the latest explosion would likely

renew support for registration among native Muscovites.

"It's quite possible that yesterday's explosion is connected to this problem.

Someone is interested in registration not being canceled," she said.

Nationalists did not hesitate to exploit the explosion to fuel anti-Chechen

sentiment.

Members of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party unfurled a banner

Tuesday evening on Pushkin Square that read: "The only good chichik is a dead

chichik," using an invented epithet that apparently referred to Chechens or

other dark-skinned people.

The Chechens interviewed Wednesday at Civil Assistance emphasized that they

were horrified by the bombing and were themselves removed from politics,

forced to come to Moscow after their lives were shattered by the war.

Murtayeva said she had been waiting out the war in Ingushetia, but poor

conditions there forced her back to Grozny, where she found her apartment

destroyed.

"I decided to come here f maybe I'll at least get some temporary work, maybe

my child will look at the world normally," she said. "When he hears a plane,

he starts shaking nervously. I try to tell him, 'Here, those kinds of planes

don't fly. Here, there are only passenger planes.'"

******

#5

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT GUIDED BY NATIONAL INTERESTS - GORBACHEV

Interfax

Moscow, 10th August: "Russian President Vladimir Putin is being guided by

Russia's national interests, not by the interests of a clan," former Soviet

president and leader of the Social-Democratic Party Mikhail Gorbachev said

following a two-hour meeting with Putin on Thursday.

He reaffirmed his and his party's support for the policy pursued by Putin.

Quoting Putin, Gorbachev said that "Russia is in fact a social-democratic

state which does not want to return to the past".

He said that the talks had mostly dealt with the problem of the State Council

and that in his and Putin's opinion the future State Council must help

promote the development of the state. "I would give real content to the State

Council, although it is a little too bulky. The State Council must be compact

and must reflect the interests of the regions. It must resemble the German

Bundesrat," Gorbachev said.

Their discussion of political parties was rather substantive, Gorbachev said.

In the opinion of both sides, the democratic processes must be based on

"large and serious parties", he said, adding that he would be much honoured

to join the work of establishing such a party system. All allegations that

the president is building a dictatorship are "unfair", he said.

Among other problems discussed was the reorganization of the system of

authority, Gorbachev continued. "I support Putin's efforts to strengthen

order and responsibility," Gorbachev said, noting that "regionalism is

threatening to lead to the country's disintegration".

"The shock suffered by the nation as a result of the blast in Moscow's

Pushkin Square" was also discussed, Gorbachev said. "I definitely support the

president in that terrorism must be combated resolutely and that people must

be rid of the threat of terrorism," Gorbachev said. "There was a substantive

and well-meaning discussion about the press," he said, noting that Putin has

a democratic position regarding the press and needs responsible journalists.

*****

#6

BBC

9 August 2000

Vladimir Putin's first year

By Russian Affairs analyst Stephen Dalziel

It was exactly a year ago that Vladimir Putin was thrust into the public

spotlight as Russia's prime minister.

The then president, Boris Yeltsin, made it clear straight away that he

expected Mr Putin to be his successor.

"Vladimir who?" was many people's reaction. Vladimir Putin was a secret

policeman - the head of the Federal Security Service - not a politician.

And yet one year on, the latest opinion poll among Russians gives Mr Putin an

approval rating of more than 70%.

Election victory

The previously unknown leader's popularity leapt enormously after he took

responsibility for a renewed offensive against Chechnya in September.

Unlike the war of 1994 to 1996, this one started well, and had not lost

public support when Mr Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned on New Year's Eve.

As prime minister, Mr Putin assumed the duties of acting president.

He was duly elected president in March, without even the need for a second

round of voting.

Regions reined in

Since then, Mr Putin has tried to show that he wants Russia to follow a new

path, away from the brutal and corrupt form of capitalism of the Yeltsin

years.

 He has successfully introduced through parliament plans to restrict the

powers of the upper chamber, and with it, pulled control over Russia's

regions back to Moscow.

And only on Monday he signed into law a new tax code, which it is hoped will

bring in more resources for the federal budget.

So far, Mr Putin's story has been one of almost unbroken success. His biggest

problem may be to keep the momentum going.

******

#7

Vremya Novosti

August 9, 2000

[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]

PUTIN MADE THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE FLAT

By Svetlana LOLAYEVA

    

     It is easy to appraise Vladimir Putin's achievements over

the past year: he has become the first. In less than 100 days

of his presidency he has made the maximum of what was possible

to become not merely the first, that is, the first among

presidents, which Boris Yeltsin actually was, but the one and

only first.

     After the March 26 elections, politicians who lost to him

mournfully said, either really feeling so or only pretending,

that Putin's heritage was very uneasy. In addition to a huge

country with a swiftly aging and poor population, an economy in

decay, corruption, a serious crime situation, the Caucasus war

and a 158-billion-dollar external debt, he inherited Yeltsin's

elite. The population has not become any richer yet and crime

statistics have not improved. The war goes on and bureaucratic

officials continue to steal. The debts do not grow but they do

not reduce either. An economic miracle stopped being promised

when the elections were over. But Putin has solved the problem

of the elite in a historically short span of time. He actually

did not sack anyone. All are staying in their places: even

governors are allowed to sit for some time in their senatorial

seats in Moscow before they will have to retire to their

respective regions. The change of elites has been done

differently: new bodies and centers of power have been created

(and probably will continue to be created) in lieu of the old

ones. No one has cancelled the division of Russia into regions

and republics (at least, thus far). Each of the 89 constituent

territories, including Chechnya, has its president and

governor. On top of all that districts have been created, and

presidential envoys have been appointed there.

     That these new structures of power are gaining strength is

borne out by the fact that regional elites move from

gubernatorial structures to plenipotentiary offices. In other

words, a new frame is put on the old system, which has become

loose. Those inside by definition become less important than

those outside. The stripping of parliamentary authority from

governors under the new procedure of forming the Federation

Council and deprivation of them of economic independence, which

will be the result of the newly adopted Tax Code are logical

steps towards completing the construction of the framework of

power.

     No one has disbanded any political parties or tried to

hurt Duma politicians. However, the Duma deputies became

devaluated quicker than others. Their depreciation was made by

a more simple method: the Duma was converted into a machine to

rubberstamp the decisions taken in the upper echelon of power.

The renewed Federation Council will fulfil the same utilitarian

functions.

This actually is the end to parliamentary and public politics.

The people who have made their names by speeches from

parliamentary rostrums - from Gennady Zyuganov to Vladimir

Zhirinovsky and from Vladimir Ryzhkov to Grigory Yavlinsky -

feel lost now. But the evening out of this sector of the

political lawn is not over yet. The Kremlin intends to get a

law on political parties adopted. This law will make it

possible not only to more toughly regulate the activities of

parties but also make the results of the elections more

predictable by reducing the number of election participants to

the minimum. This means that the parliamentary machine will

work smoothly.

     The problem of one of the elite sections - oligarchs - has

been solved in a no less easy but more scandalous way. A

three-day stay in the Butyrka prison for one, several criminal-

tax cases against some others, and the capitalists who only

yesterday seemed to be omnipotent are quite satisfied with the

creation for them of a council on private enterprise headed by

the Prime Minister. Now the majority of them will be permitted

"to influence" the state only in that council.

     The main enigma is how Putin has managed to overcome all

the political monsters so easily and in such a simple manner.

Maybe, it happened because Yeltsin's kingdom proved to be a

mirage with a faked economy, faked elite and faked business.

This is why like Alexander Pushkin's Commandore, Yeltsin has

taken away with him all his partners, both friends and foes.

     The same happened nine years ago but in a slightly

different situation. At that time Yeltsin replaced Mikhail

Gorbachev, which followed by a complete change of the elite. If

during the time allotted him Putin is unable to do anything

with the exception of a change of personalities and scenery,

history will repeat itself. His kingdom will also melt away as

a mirage.

    

******

#8

Jamestown Foundation Monitor

August 10, 2000

BEREZOVSKY UNVEILS HIS "CONSTRUCTIVE" OPPOSITION. Boris Berezovsky, the

tycoon who recently resigned from the State Duma and has become a vocal

critic of President Vladimir Putin's efforts to centralize power, has

formally launched a "constructive opposition" to the Kremlin's policies. In

a statement published yesterday, Berezovsky and eight other well-known

public figures said Russia stood before the choice of creating either a

democratic or an authoritarian state. They warned that Putin's "completely

understandable and natural striving" to halt the state's disintegration and

to build a more "effective and responsible" government was unleashing the

traditional authoritarian tendencies of "ruling bureaucratic circles."

"Under threat," the signatories wrote, "are the main achievements of the

last decade: the free press, free entrepreneurship and, most important,

free thought, a spirit of independence." Besides Berezovsky, they included

former deputy Kremlin administration chief Igor Shabdurasulov, who is

slated to head a new holding made up of Berezovsky-controlled media; Otto

Latsis, a veteran journalist with Novye Izvestia, a Berezovsky-controlled

newspaper; filmmaker Stanislav Govorukhin, who is State Duma deputy and a

member of Fatherland-All Russia, the coalition headed by Moscow Mayor Yuri

Luzhkov and former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov; and Vasily Aksyenov,

the well-known emigre writer who teaches at George Mason University. There

were no governors among the signatories, despite the fact that Berezovsky

has reportedly been trying to recruit many of them into his new movement

(Izvestia, August 9). Govorukhin's presence among the signatories was

interesting, given that Berezovsky is widely believed to have been behind

Primakov's ouster as prime minister last year and that Luzhkov has

frequently denounced Berezovsky. Aksyenov's presence among the signatories

was interesting, given that he has publicly supported the Kremlin's

military campaign in Chechnya, which Putin has led and which has been the

main source for the head of state's continued popularity.

The reaction to the launching of Berezovsky's movement broke down along

predictable ideological lines. Irina Khakamada, a State Duma deputy speaker

and a leader of the Union of Right-Wing Forces, said Berezovsky had "the

complete right to create any opposition to the current administration" and

that the movement would "rely on values accepted in a democratic society."

On the other side of the spectrum, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said

the new movement had "no prospects whatsoever" and denounced Berezovsky for

having done everything possible "to prolong the political life of Boris

Yeltsin." Aleksandr Shokhin, a member of the People's Deputy faction in the

State Duma, said he doubted the expediency of creating a new political

movement for defending the idea of civil society, although he added that

the idea itself should be discussed and efforts to limit authoritarianism

should be supported (Russian agencies, August 10).

*******

#9

German Daily Assesses Putin's 'Motives' for the War Against Chechnya 

Frankfurt/Main's Frankfurter Rundschau

9 August 2000

[translation for personal use only]

Commentary by Karl Grobe: "One Year Putin, One Year War"

   On his first days on the job in the topmost

Russian government office, Vladimir Putin expressed confidence: Two weeks

would be enough to restore peace in Dagestan; a major offensive would

"wipe out the bandits," if necessary they would also be bombed in

Chechnya. Now, a year later, no stone is left unturned. This phrase

applies literally to the Chechnyan settlements and metaphorically to all

of Russia.

    On August 7 of last year, guerillas of the Chechen Shamil Bassayev

and the Arabian Shattab occupied a few villages in the Dagestan

mountains. On August 9, President Boris Yeltsin appointed the almost

unknown secret service agent Putin to be head of government. The guerilla

action escalated into the second Russian-Chechen war since 1994. The new

head of government was first acting president after Yeltsin's early

withdrawal, then elected president. The war was his vehicle to gain power

and to transform the Russian state into an authoritarian one, and soon

one that was barely federalist any longer.

    Putin conducted the war with different justifications: As a sort of

police action against "the bandits"; as a battle to preserve national

unity and holy historical borders; as a defensive action against

"international terrorism"; as a defense of Europe against a supposedly

concerted attack by fundamentalists. The justification changed according

to the situation and the public. Nothing of it was the full truth, and

quite a bit was less than half the truth. The motives were, and are,

deeper. The actions have become an independent, systematic abuse of human

rights and the appearance of an extermination campaign against a people.

The now-compliant press, which was still attentive and critical during

the first Chechen war, is squirming, keeping silent, justifying.

    The motive of preserving the integrity of the state and eliminating

rampant corruption has yet to be accomplished; but it entails out-and-out

silence about the methods. The fact that the majority of Chechens no

longer want anything to do with the Russian state cannot be attributed to

chauvinistic incitement (which may have played a role in later stages),

but rather to cruel historical experience. The Russian colonization and

Sovietization of the Northern Caucasus, and the resistance to it, amount

to a century and a half of cruelty and inhumanity, forced deportation and

oppression. This was interrupted by only a few decades of economic

development that was done more for Russia's benefit and destroyed

Chechnya's traditional social order until it arose again in the brutality

of the lawless war and only now has moved from a cultural context to

ethnic unity. The result has been an unprepared Chechen nation defined by

violence: tragically and of necessity.

    That does not mean much to those who helped Putin to take power, nor

to Putin himself. At most there are new arguments presented, firm

prejudices like after the attacks on the Moscow apartment houses that

without evidence were ascribed to the "blacks," the Chechens. It gave the

military the opportunity to show its strength after two lost wars in

Afghanistan and the Caucasus: Still without the desired result after a

year, and with no clear prospect for an end. The fact that ultimately

massive pipeline interests obviously outweighed the right of small

peoples to autonomy that is enshrined in the Russian constitution itself

is one reason for the war that is seldom cited publicly.

    Russia's constitution has changed in parallel with the conduct of the

war, both the legal constitution and the intellectual one. Putin, elected

as an unknown but strong man, supported by a party organization that was

elected without question but is faithful to him, has stood the state's

order on its head: On the president's head, whose supreme power Yeltsin,

for a variety of reasons, was unable to fully exploit as it was

stipulated. He pulled a governor-general structure over the federal

structure. He castrated the first parliamentary chamber, the Federation

Council. He tamed the parties. He "vertically strengthened" the legal

system, which means he redirected it from the top down. He gave public

opinion a role similar to that of the "transmission belt" of earlier

decades. The society changed from a civil one into an authoritarian one.

The state is strong.

    After ten years of chaos and pirate capitalism, shameless enrichment

and shameful impoverishment, and disintegration of social structures from

health to education, Russia certainly needs more order. But the fact that

it is created by means of the extermination of a province which in many

respects was a caricature of the entire country, and by the persecution

of its inhabitants, and the fact that this is choking the civil society:

That is a high price to pay, an outrageously high one.

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#10

RUSSIAN UNITY FACTION LEADER UPBEAT ON RELATIONS WITH US REPUBLICAN PARTY

ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 10th August: Boris Gryzlov, leader of the State Duma Unity faction,

today expressed satisfaction with the results of the visit which a party

delegation had just paid to the USA to attend a Republican Party convention.

He told a news conference at the ITAR-TASS agency that the expectations of

the Unity delegation members had been fully met.

"It was much easier for us to reach agreement with representatives of the US

Republican Party than with representatives of some parties in Russia,"

Gryzlov said. He said the two parties had managed to build a kind of a bridge

between themselves, which could serve as a channel for productive talks.

Gryzlov said the delegation had held a total of 30 meetings, all of which had

been held in a friendly atmosphere. "Prominent members of the US Republican

Party adhere to positions which perfectly suit us, in particular this refers

to their position on Chechnya," he went on to say. They formulated their

position as non-interference in our affairs, Gryzlov said.

The issue of setting up an antiballistic missile system was also discussed.

The Republicans believe that the setting up of the ABM system is inevitable,

but they would like to build it in cooperation with Russia, he said. In their

opinion, the exchange of technologies between the two countries would make it

possible to create a strong shield over the two states.

The Unity party delegation also discussed the trade regime between the two

countries, including the issue of Russia joining the World Trade

Organization. If the Republicans come to power they will contribute towards

introducing a most-favoured nation regime in trade with Russia, Boris Gryzlov

said.

On the whole, a new pattern of interparty cooperation has been established,

Gryzlov said summing up the results of the trip.

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#11

Moscow Times

August 10, 2000

DEFENSE DOSSIER: Divide and Conquer Rebels

By Pavel Felgenhauer

The bomb that exploded in the passage under Pushkin Square in central Moscow

this week, killing and wounding dozens of innocent civilians, may be only the

beginning of a wave of terrorism that could engulf the country in the future.

For almost a year, most of the nation was living in peace while Chechnya was

gutted by violence, but such a situation could not last forever.

The Moscow authorities were quick to blame Chechen rebels for the bombing at

Pushkin Square. But some skeptics say this latest bombing was specially

organized, possibly by some fraction of the security services, to induce the

public to back any future authoritarian actions by the Kremlin in exactly the

same way a series of apartment block bombings last September created massive

public support for the invasion of Chechnya.

During previous years, the security services have been up to many dirty

tricks, but are they actually the culprits this time? Most likely not.

Recent polls show that President Vladimir Putin has an approval rating near

80 percent; additional terrorist attacks could hardly make him more popular.

It seems that in today's society, Putin can accomplish any political coup

without bloody provocations.

The attack at Pushkin Square was clearly aimed at civilians, and such actions

in the past have not been standard practice of the mainstream Chechen

resistance that has often used terrorist tactics, but at the same time has

aimed its bombs at military targets. The Chechen president and rebel leader,

Aslan Maskhadov, has announced that his forces were not involved in this

attack. But the Chechen resistance is splintered into many groups, including

radicals who do not report to Maskhadov at all.

In fact, federal forces have been doing their best to undermine Maskhadov's

authority and splinter the resistance as much as possible. Russian generals

time and again have insisted that the Chechen rebels have been broken up into

small groups and lack centralized control. The Russian military command did

not hide its glee when it recently reported alleged armed clashes between

Chechen rebel groups. Apparently, federal authorities have hoped a

disintegrated resistance movement will soon cause the rebels' demise.

Instead, relentless Russian attacks may have created an ideal breeding ground

for fanatical terrorists.

In the Palestinian national movement, military setbacks and ensuing political

splintering helped in the past to create some of the most ferocious terrorist

groups in world history. The same may be happening today in Chechnya: As

Maskhadov and other mainstream warlords who historically have disapproved of

the use of extreme terrorist tactics lose credence and lose control, fanatics

may be breaking loose.

During the last year, thousands of Chechens have been the objects of

indiscriminate Russian bombardments, victims of torture, rape, arbitrary

arrest and extortion by Russian troops. Many have scores to settle, and some

may be ready to kill any Russians f including innocent civilians f in revenge

attacks.

The authorities have named their operation in Chechnya "anti-terrorist," but

in the end their actions may help create terrorism instead of eradicating it.

Russian security services and police are badly trained, undisciplined and

notoriously corrupt. If the nation is in fact being attacked today by

dedicated terrorists, the result may be disastrous. Most government and

public buildings in Moscow, including military headquarters, do not have

security fences and are today at the mercy of any fanatic who might be

planning a terrorist attack.

A year ago, most Chechens disagreed with the radical warlords that invaded

Dagestan and provoked the present war. Maskhadov offered Moscow talks and the

possibility of joint action against the extremists f offers that were

rejected by Putin out of hand.

It would seem that today Moscow should reverse its Chechen policy and try to

reestablish contact with Maskhadov and other rebel leaders who are ready to

renounce indiscriminate terrorism. Instead of trying to beat the Chechens

into splinter groups, Moscow should be helping Maskhadov to establish

centralized command within the rebel movement.

The pro-Moscow proxies the Kremlin is promoting as leaders in Chechnya cannot

control the situation nor overtake the rebels. Only by playing moderates

against radicals within the rebel movement itself can Moscow hope to reverse

the growing tide of terrorism and find a workable political solution for

Chechnya.

Pavel Felgenhauer is an independent, Moscow-based defense analyst.

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#12

Russia: Authorities Retreat From Media Freedom

By Don Hill

Many organizations that monitor the press around the world are condemning the

government of President Vladimir Putin for what they consider its suppression

of independent media and voices of dissent. In this first of a two-part

series, RFE/RL correspondent Don Hill talks to media analysts about Russia's

retreat from a free press.

Prague, 10 August 2000 (RFE/RL) -- In recent months, international free-press

advocates have accumulated a long list of grievances against the government

of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

High on the list are murders of four prominent journalists in Russia so far

this year. There is also the detention and prosecution of Radio Free

Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky, who angered the

authorities with his critical reporting of Russia's military campaign in

Chechnya.

Then there was the high-profile brief arrest and detention two months ago of

Vladimir Gusinsky, head of Russia's Media-MOST group, which includes NTV

television and other independent media. When prosecutors late last month

dropped the fraud charges against Gusinsky as abruptly as they brought them,

the episode seemed to make no sense. But for some international press-freedom

monitors, Gusinsky's arrest was part of a systematic attempt to silence

independent media.

The situation in Russia so alarmed the Vienna-based International Press

Institute, known as the IPI, that it placed the country on its watchlist of

countries deemed to be moving away from -- rather than toward -- democratic

practices. IPI Director Johann Fritz told our correspondent:

"Because of all of these incidents and increased interference by governmental

authorities, the IPI board has put Russia on the watchlist for free-media

development. That means governments that are trying to turn the clock back on

already-achieved freedom of expression."

Some of the criticism of the Putin government's policy toward the media also

comes from within Russia itself. The country's Union of Journalists says that

Russia's federal and local governments now control 80 percent of the nation's

news outlets. Last month, the union issued what it called a press freedom

"Enemies List." The list placed Press Minister Mikhail Lesin as Enemy Number

One. Enemy Number Three is the man who appointed him, Vladimir Putin.

Press freedom watchdogs criticize many nations other than Russia and other

former communist states. The IPI's World Press Review reports, for example,

that Turkey continues to imprison more journalists than any other country.

Last year was, in the IPI's phrase, "a bleak year for media freedom"

worldwide. Also, the organization says that autocratic leaders who have been

squashing broadcasters and newspapers may be encouraged by lack of strong

reaction from Western governments.

Article 19 of the United Nations' landmark Universal Declaration of Human

Rights says flatly: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and

expression." In a speech recently to a U.S. audience, however, IPI Director

Fritz said that, by one count, only one out of every five people in the world

lives under totally free press conditions. Fritz went on to say that, since

the UN declaration was issued in 1948, international accords have diluted

what he calls Article 19's "clear commitment to press freedom."

The 1950 European Convention on Human Rights -- a fundamental document of the

Council of Europe, which now has Russia and 40 other members across the

continent-- allowed exceptions to total press freedom for the defense of

territorial integrity, confidentiality, and the authority of the judiciary. A

1966 UN civil rights covenant added exceptions for regulations to protect

national security, people's reputations and public order and morals. These

stipulations, as Fritz puts it, "provided non-democratic and totalitarian

regimes with a blueprint for the enactment of press control."

The IPI director says that he is not suggesting that the government

signatories to the later caveats deliberately weakened Article 19. Nor, he

says, did they seek to enable Russia to suppress its independent media:

"I believe that the Western governments did not intentionally dilute Article

19 in this case, but, as I said, they fell into a trap of political

development there [in Russia]."

Robert Coalson, a program director of the Moscow-based National Press

Institute, agrees with Fritz that there is a broader political basis for

Russia's press clampdown. We'll hear more from both media monitors in the

second part of our series.

******

#13

Russia: Government Policies Suppress Free Media

By Don Hill

Many organizations that monitor the press around the world are condemning the

government of President Vladimir Putin for what they consider its suppression

of independent media and voices of dissent in Russia. In this second of a

two-part series, RFE/RL correspondent Don Hill reports on the political basis

for Russia's retreat from a free press.

Prague, 10 August 2000 (RFE/RL) -- International Press Institute Director

Johann Fritz says that Russian leaders' heightened suppression this year of

press and broadcast media is part of a broader campaign to impose law and

order after a decade of corruption and license.

Fritz told RFE/RL in a telephone interview from Vienna:

"The Putin government obviously [wants] to run a law-and-order course. And in

the minds of many politicians, the media should be a tool to achieve this

task. Like in the old days. when Stalin called the press 'a striking-weapon

of the Communist Party,' they have not yet understood the functioning of a

free press in a free and democratic society."

Robert Coalson, a program director for the Moscow-based National Press

Institute, or NPI, concurs. He told our correspondent that he is concerned

that Putin's reasoning will lead astray Western governments and investors.

"I think that he [Putin] believes that the West will be satisfied if he, for

example, is able to cooperate with the West on issues of mutual security or

arms control or anti-terrorism and presents a good investment climate here in

Russia and a stable society. The West will settle for these things rather

than push Putin to really establish an open society, a democratic political

stem here."

Both Coalson and Fritz say this would be a misguided policy for the West.

Fritz says that sustained economic development in Russia is impossible, as he

put it, "without the free flow of economic and financial information." He

says news outlets must have the right to expose corruption and criticize poor

management of public projects.

Coalson said this:

"The absence of a free press here [in Russia] is one of the main reasons that

corruption is so bad on both the local and national levels. It's also one of

the main reasons that the public is so cynical and so disenchanted with the

political process overall and not engaged in what is going on."

Coalson says that Western institutions will be cheating Russians if the West

willingly trades away freedom for temporary order.

"You shouldn't betray the Russian people by giving [them] the sense that the

political system they have now is a democracy."

For his part, the IPI's Fritz says that the West has an obligation to protest

publicly and often against Russia's course.

But, he adds, the protests should take the form of demands for positive

alternatives.

Since taking over as president, Putin has made public statements affirming

his commitment to a free press in Russia. At the same time, says his critics,

he has presided over a government that evidently has dedicated itself to

controlling all news outlets.

But Fritz says that to attack Putin directly would be counterproductive. He

proposes, instead, three positive actions that the West should urge on

Russia. The first is the adoption of a reformed press law stripped of clauses

that allow the suppression of news media. The second proposed action is the

setting up of legal guarantees of freedom of expression and access to

information. And the third is the assurance of financial and logistical

support to publishers and broadcast stations.

Finally, Fritz says, the West should continue to battle for ways to bring

training and education to Russia's journalism corps.

"I think honest and objective journalism needs professionalism, and the media

in the provinces [that is, Russian regions] have the greatest need in that

respect. But, also, publishers will have to learn greater concern for the

public interest and the common good."

Fritz also suggested that recent history supports the notion that Russia can

be influenced by sufficient pressure from the West.

"The [State] Duma, for example, ratified Russian membership in the European

Convention on Human Rights when the World Bank and other organizations

[showed that they were] becoming aware that press freedom and human rights

should be preconditions for aid and support."

But the NPI's Coalson was pessimistic about prospects of Western institutions

and governments uniting in a strong stand on press freedom in Russia. In

Coalson's words: "It's never happened in the past, and the opportunities to

do so [then] were much greater."

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