February 9, 2001   

This Date's Issues:   5082 • 5083

Johnson's Russia List
#5083
9 February 2001
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. strana.ru: Poll: almost a quarter of Russians make love any time of the day.
2. RIA: RUSSIANS SEE THEIR INCOMES GROW.
3. RIA: INVESTMENT IN RUSSIA GROWS.
4. Vremya MN: Vladimir Skosyrev, WHAT MAKES CIA DIRECTOR CONCERNED ABOUT RUSSIA.
5. strana.ru: Yabloko deputies criticize statement by CIA Director. (Lukin and Arbatov)
6. Moscow Times: Boris Kagarlitsky, It Just Looks Like Foreign Policy.
7. The Guardian (UK): Ian Traynor, Russians left out in the cold. Political opportunism and infrastructural neglect have left Siberians shivering during one of the coldest winters in decades.
8. Sarah Lindemann: Russian Pop Cultural Update.
9. Vlad Ivanenko: Re: 5080/Andrew Miller on anti-American sentiment.
10. Dmitri Mitin: re:5074-Anti-American Pop Music. A response from a Russian.
11. The Economist (UK): Russia and Chechnya. No end of war in sight. The Russians are facing a stalemate in Chechnya; they may eventually have to negotiate with the rebels.
12. Segodnya: Avtandil Tsuladze, 66% OF RUSSIANS APPROVE OF PUTIN'S ACTIVITY.
13. Obshchaya Gazeta: Yuliya Ignatyeva, The Age of Freedom of Conscience is Nowhere to be Seen ('Refusal of Registration, Militia Pressure Drives Nontraditional Religions Underground, Communists 'wish to protect the Orthodox Church')]

*******

#1
strana.ru
February 8, 2001
Poll: almost a quarter of Russians make love any time of the day
 
For almost a quarter of Russians (23%) it makes no difference at what time of
the day they make love. The proportion of those who prefer to make love at
night or in the evening is 12% and 10% respectively. Three percent see the
morning as the most acceptable time and only 2% would do it in the daytime.

The data have been obtained by the monitoring.ru group of sociologists in the
course of an all-Russia representative poll of 1,600 respondents residing in
more than 100 populated localities in all seven Federal Districts, according
to Interfax.

Notably, a half of Russians (50%) refused to answer so intimate a question.

Participants in the poll, who live in cities numbering from 300 thousand to
one million inhabitants, refer to the time of the day as being unimportant
for "this thing" more often than on the whole in the rest of Russia. Country
dwellers refused to reply more often than respondents residing in cities
numbering upwards of one million or from 300 thousand to one million
inhabitants.

Men are more disinclined to see the time of the day as important while women
are less willing respondents.

The number of respondents who say that the time of the day does not matter
tends to grow progressively down the age scale, the view being particularly
pronounced in the 18 to 24 age group. Respondents in the 25 to 34, 35 to 44,
and 45 to 59 age groups favor the evening and the night over daytime more
often than older people.

People with a high education and income level tend to regard the time of the
day as unimportant or choose the evening more often than participants in the
poll, who enjoy lower education and income levels.

*******

#2
RUSSIANS SEE THEIR INCOMES GROW

MOSCOW, FEBRUARY 8 /from RIA NOVOSTI's Nadezhda Anisimova/ - According to the
Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry, actual currency incomes of
Russian individuals increased by 9.1 percent in 2000, as against 1999, with
the wages going up 22.5 percent, reports the ministry. Such an increase in
individual earnings was possible thanks to a raise of wages and welfare
payments, as well as thanks to the government's partially meeting its wage
arrears.

The ministry notes, however, that in spite of this notable increase, the
average incomes are still about 20 percent lower than they were before the
1998 financial crisis. The government will now have to pay all the back wages
to the public sector. According to the Ministry of Economic Development and
Trade, the total amount of back wages was 31.7 bln roubles as of late
December, 2000. In the Russian industrial sector, it stood at 25.74 bln
roubles, in the social sphere, 5 bln roubles, and 0.95 bln in other fields.

The ministry reports that the situation with pension payments improved in
2000. Their adjustment to the inflation rate brought them up, by December,
2000, to 821 roubles, or 57.6 percent of the 1999 level. In the meantime,
corporate nonpayments to the State Pension Fund are building up. These
amounted to 151.6 bln roubles as of January 1, 2001, in comparison with 139.6
bln as of January 1, 2000.

*******

#3
INVESTMENT IN RUSSIA GROWS

MOSCOW, FEBRUARY 8, RIA NOVOSTI -- By preliminary estimates of the Russian
Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, investments from all finance
sources in 2000 amounted to 1.17 trillion roubles (one US dollar
approximately equals 28 roubles), increasing by 17.7 percent from 1999.

Such intensive investment was due to a stronger financial state of Russian
companies.

The year 2000 provided better conditions for investment than 1999. Experts
believe, however, that the current level of investment is not high enough for
renovating the production base of the Russian economy.

In 2000, the volume of foreign investment was between 10.3 and 10.5 billion
dollars, showing an 8 to 10-percent increase from 1999. Most of foreign
investment fell on the share of trade and public catering /1.59 billion
dollars/, as well as on the food industry's /1.26 billion dollars/. At the
same time, the fuel industry, which holds the greatest promise for domestic
investors, got as little as 424 million dollars.

*******

#4
Vremya MN
February 9, 2001
[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]
WHAT MAKES CIA DIRECTOR CONCERNED ABOUT RUSSIA
By Vladimir SKOSYREV
    
     A policeman is always a policeman. Paraphrasing this
American proverb we can say that a spy is always a spy.
Therefore, it is not surprising that CIA Director George Tenet
depicted Russia as a country posing a threat to the United
States' national security. Tenet made a report to the U.S.
Senate intelligence committee.
    
     Tenet should be given his due for avoiding cliches of the
Cold War era. However, he is still apprehensive and
dissatisfied with Moscow's policy. The CIA chief compiled a
long list of accusations against the Kremlin. First of all,
[Russian President Vladimir] Putin wants to revive certain
Soviet attributes including a strong and centralized power as
well as a stable and predictable society, according to Tenet.
Moreover, Putin aims at increasing Russia's arms export.
     These accusations sound strange, to say the least. Isn't
the U.S. political system characterized by strong power and
stability? Isn't the United States the world leader in arms
export? Or, what is allowed to the Jupiter is not allowed to
the bull?
     However, the section of the report in which Russia was
accused of supplying ballistic missile technologies to Iran,
India, China and Libya sounds serious. We asked Konstantin
Makiyenko, an expert of the Analytical Center for Strategies
and Technologies, to comment on these statements. China and the
Korean People's Democratic Republic are the frontrunners in
selling missile technologies to the Middle East, Makiyenko said.
There are no objective reports to confirm Russia's alleged
supplies of technologies to the above-mentioned countries.
     It was in the fifties that ballistic missiles began to be
put into operation. The United States prioritized an
unrealistic task of barring developing countries from acquiring
these technologies.
     Nevertheless it would be unfair to assess Tenet's report
as totally biased against Russia. Some of his comments are
true. For instance, Tenet noted that "violations of some
Russians' civil rights" sometimes go with the strengthening of
power. He hit the mark here.
     The problem is that in conclusion Tenet advises to step up
pressure against Russia. If the Bush Administration embarks on
this course, it will be counter-productive. It will be of no
help to those Russians who criticize the Kremlin and defend the
freedom of the press.
    
******

#5
strana.ru
February 8, 2001
Yabloko deputies criticize statement by CIA Director
 
Representatives from the Yabloko faction in the State Duma are perplexed and
alarmed by the statement made by CIA Director George Tenet in the U.S. Senate.

The head of the CIA maintains that the revival of Russia's political,
economic and military potential poses a certain threat to the national
interests of the United States.

Commenting such a claim, Duma Deputy Speaker Vladimir Lukin (Yabloko) and
former Russian ambassador to the U.S. emphasized that he personally does not
think the United States and Russia have serious opposite interests. "Yes, we
have different interests, but I see no major opposite interests," he declared.

Lukin believes that a strong but not aggressive Russia should be in America's
interests because Russia could balance off certain tendencies dangerous for
the Americans, for example, the revival of East Asian world, certain
processes in Europe and so on.

The former ambassador considers that the CIA Director's statement is not so
much of an analytical as it is of a specific political nature because many in
the United States now are irritated by the spokes that Russia has been
putting in its foreign policy lately when needed and not needed.

Another representative from the Yabloko faction, deputy chairman of the
Duma's defense committee, Alexei Arbatov considers that the whole question
concerns what Tenet understands as America's interests.

If it concerns America's attainment of world hegemony, then a strong Russia
will be seen by Americans as a threat to their national interests, just as
well as a unified Europe, or strong China, Japan, India and several other
major countries, the deputy emphasized.

Arbatov also believes that the present system in Russia has not yet fully
defined itself and that it is in the process of transformation. The country's
leadership has not fully determined its policy and that is why statements
like the one Tenet made are extremely harmful since they tend to shove
authority in the direction opposite to democracy, in the direction of
authoritarianism.

Such statements play into the hands, first of all, of reactionaries,
conservatives, militarists and chauvinists in our country, Arbatov emphasized.

******

#6
Moscow Times
www.themoscowtimes.com
February 9, 2001
It Just Looks Like Foreign Policy
By Boris Kagarlitsky  

As long as President Vladimir Putin keeps flitting off to America, Europe
and Asia practically every week, analysts will be busy trying to interpret
and explain the new directions of Russia's foreign policy. He visited North
Korea? That signals a return to totalitarianism. Putin's in France? That
means Russia is "playing the European card." England? We must be putting a
new emphasis on our Atlantic connections. In reality, the very quantity and
frequency of the president's state visits testify to the total absence of
any Russian foreign policy at all.

Experts know that serious preparation for any state visit demands anywhere
from several months to several years of work by low-level diplomats,
depending on the complexity of the issues involved. Normally, one summit
meeting is prepared by as many as a dozen preparatory visits by the foreign
minister. What we have seen over the last year is exactly the opposite (if
one doesn't count the foreign minister's trips abroad as a member of the
royal suite).

Obviously, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has no time for independent work.
He is too busy carrying Putin's suitcases. Nonetheless, the president has
the temerity to criticize the Foreign Ministry for not coming up with a
coherent foreign-policy strategy!

When is the ministry supposed to find time to develop strategy? The
president's incessant trips have reduced it to nothing more than a travel
agency.

On the other hand, it would be a mistake to think that there is no method
to all this madness. You just have to look for it not in the sphere of
foreign relations, but in the realm of domestic politics. In a word, the
president's travels are dictated by the needs of Kremlin propaganda.

The authorities are seeking to create the image of a new dynamic government
that is taking a leading role on the world stage. How better to do that
than by constantly showing Putin against the background of some
high-profile summit meeting? The value of any state visit lies exclusively
in the amount of coverage it generates.

That (and not any authoritarian tendency) dictated, for instance, Putin's
visits to North Korea and Cuba. After all, so few people go to Pyongyang
that that trip guaranteed a flood of news coverage both here and abroad.
And Castro is such an expert image-maker himself that there was no doubt
that he would arrange Putin's visit for maximum propaganda effect.

Of course, the Moscow intelligentsia is going to shout "Totalitarianism!"
but that's OK. The more publicity, the more attention the government gets.
It's like the discussion of the national anthem: The point isn't the
substance of the discussion, but the fact that a lively, serious discussion
is taking place.

Liberal commentators love to warn against the dangers of returning to a
Soviet foreign policy. Russia today just doesn't have the resources to be a
superpower and play by the same rules that the Soviet Union played by, they
love to point out. Do they really think the Kremlin doesn't know this?

The Kremlin today doesn't intend to play the role of superpower. It doesn't
intend to play any international role. Its attention is focused exclusively
on domestic matters. And that is why it is expending such efforts to create
the illusion of a lively foreign policy.

The only state agency working properly these days is the propaganda
service. It dictates all else, including the work of the Foreign Ministry.
To the pundits on the left and the right, I have just one thing to say.
Russia does not have the resources to be a superpower. But this doesn't
mean that it cannot have an independent foreign policy. The analysts are
telling us the we must be either a master or a slave. I say that we can
play the role of a free actor, independent and responsible for its own
actions.

Boris Kagarlitsky is a Moscow-based sociologist.

******

#7
The Guardian (UK)
9 February 2001
Russians left out in the cold
Political opportunism and infrastructural neglect have left Siberians
shivering during one of the coldest winters in decades.
Ian Traynor in Moscow (ian.traynor@guardian.co.uk)

A fashionable doomsday scenario has been doing the rounds in Moscow for the
past year as Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, struggles to impose an
order of sorts on the legacy of chaos he inherited from Boris Yeltsin.

Despite television towers burning, submarines sinking, bombs in Moscow, war
in the south, Russians were told they had not seen anything yet. Forget the
millennium bug - look forward to the 2003 emergency. The "apocalypse ahead"
punditry came from MPs, Kremlin officials, economists and sociologists.

Ordinary Russians could be forgiven for not wanting to get out of bed in
the morning. For in 2003, they were told, various factors of economic,
demographic and infrastructural decline would combine at critical mass to
turn Russia into one big disaster zone.

Thus, exactly a year ago, Mikhail Delyagin, director of Moscow's Institute
of Globalisation Problems, waxed profoundly pessimistic: ''Two negative
effects will overlap in 2003. The first will be the peak of repayment on
debts and the second, the depreciation of fixed assets, will reach a level
beyond which lies the mass collapse of all life-support systems.

"The state has not stopped to ponder these problems yet. I don't see any
acceptable prospects for Russia. We are heading for a liberal dictatorship,
greater degradation of the population, the emigration of the healthy part
of society and the inability to handle the 2003 crisis.''

Chilling stuff. But the long-suffering millions of Siberia and Russia's far
east, shivering in the most severe winter for decades, could be forgiven
for believing that 2003 has dawned two years early.

Temperatures in Siberia and the far east have dropped at times to lower
than -60C (-76F) in recent weeks and temperatures of -40C (-40F) or -50C
(-58F) have been common. But Russia's ramshackle and heavily corrupt
electricity and energy sectors have failed to rise to the challenge,
meaning that thousands of homes, factories and schools are going unheated
in what is reckoned to be the worst winter since the second world war.

Protesters have been marching, blocking strategic roads around Vladivostok
and complaining loudly while the politicians in Moscow and in the regions,
and the managers of the electricity industry pass the buck and blame one
another.

The world's biggest natural gas producer, its second biggest oil producer,
a country that produces more coal than it consumes is this year unable to
keep its citizens heated.

The problem is that the impact of years of neglect, corruption and lack of
investment in the electricity infrastructure is coming home to roost and
the system is breaking down. Anatoly Chubais, the free market zealot who
heads the national electricity grid, is using the crisis to push for
radical restructuring of the industry. Crooked regional leaders have been
failing to lay in fuel supplies for the winter, siphoning off budget funds
earmarked for electricity bills, then blaming Moscow for the suffering
while diverting the money.

And the Kremlin seems to see the whole affair not so much as an energy
crisis as a political opportunity. As a result, the Russian government
suffered its first casualty under Mr Putin this week when Alexander Gavrin,
the energy minister, was fired. But more significantly, the Kremlin also
blackmailed the tyrannical far eastern governor, Yevgeniy Nazdratenko, into
resigning.

>From the start of the protests a couple of months ago, it was clear that Mr
Putin would use the wretched state of affairs to make political capital.
His regional envoy, Konstantin Pulikovsky, announced: ''This not an energy
crisis, it's a crisis of political legitimacy.''

The Kremlin then started drawing up a dossier on the life and times of Mr
Nazdratenko. Selective leaks began appearing in the press. Its full
publication would have been unedifying. Then on the day Mr Nazdratenko was
scheduled to make the long haul from Vladivostok to Moscow to discuss the
crisis, he instead checked into hospital pleading heart trouble.

Mr Nazdratenko is notorious for his iron rule of the past seven years,
regularly thumbing his nose at Moscow, snuffing out opposition locally,
harassing the press and having his cronies take over local businesses.
People opposing him have been bombed. Andrew Fox, a British honorary consul
in the far east, fled the region 18 months ago after what he described as
threats to his life from Mr Nazdratenko's clique unless he surrendered his
stake in a local shipping company.

Now, at least for the time being, Mr Nazdratenko has gone and few will shed
any tears for his passing. But he did not jump. He was pushed - by Mr
Putin. Armed with its dossier, the Kremlin was threatening to launch a
criminal investigation against Mr Nazdratenko unless he went. Conveniently,
a new law has just come into force enabling Mr Putin to suspend any elected
regional governor who is being investigated for criminal misdeeds.

Mr Chubais could be next in line as Mr Putin signalled when he also blamed
the management of the electricity utility for the blackouts, though Moscow
commentators expect his deputies rather than Mr Chubais himself to carry
the can.

But if Mr Putin is winning his cold war, the people of the far east are
still freezing.

******

#8
From: "Sarah C. Lindemann" <echo@mail.nsk.ru>
Subject: Russian Pop Cultural Update
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001

Dear David,
Attached is my response to a couple of recent articles about culture.
Best wishes,
Sarah

Pop Culture in Russia...An Update by Sarah Lindemann

In response to recent JRL articles I would like to offer the following
Russian pop culture update.  First of all, let's clarify our terms.  Rock
and pop are not inter-changeable words. Rock is rock and pop is pop.  If we
want to analyze the music scene today we would also have to add rap and hip
hop (and all subcategories within). I am not sure if there is an official
category for "hate music" (in the past most of this fell into the
categories of skin head music in Europe and punk in the US) but it is
certainly more appropriate a title than what Yuri Zarakhovich referred to
as "pop music" in his inaccurate and inflammatory article "Anti-American
pop music is all the rage in Russia" (from Time Europe Daily/JRL #5074).
Yes, there probably are some groups spitting out anti-American sentiments
in Russia just as there are groups in America that espouse racism, fascism
and other forms of hate.  Since I have lived in Russia for the last 9 years
I know more about what is going on here than in America but I would say
that it is probably about as transcendent here as there, meaning it isn't a
significant social factor.  Okay, with the possible exception of Eminem in
America depending on how you feel about him.   I do not mean to imply that
the existence of these groups on any level isn't disturbing and doesn't
represent an important wake-up call to reach out to the disenfranchised.
However, nothing I have seen or heard in Russia, and I travel a lot, has
given me the slightest indication  that the majority of Russians share the
sentiments expressed by hate singers any more than do the majority of
Americans. 

In any case, it is as inaccurate to say that anti-American musical
sentiments are all the rage in Russia as it is to refer to ravings of hate
as pop music.   For those who are interested I will offer the latest
musical and other cultural news from Russia.  In doing so I will also
dispel the equally absurd statement made by Andrew Miller (JRL #5080)
"Russian society generally operates to exclude most American culture and
information..." 

The top 20 countdown on Russian MTV last Sunday included the following:
Ivanish International at #1 (as pop as they come singing about love and
girls), #2 was Eminem's Stan, #3 Brittany Spears "I'm Stronger", other top
10 included the Backstreet Boys (on and on about the shape of their
hearts), Tatoo (a Russian teenage female duo singing about their lesbian
relationship), Mymi Troll (the Far Eastern native current king of
intellectual rock), Five (this British boy group remake of Queens  epic "We
Will Rock You" - undoubtedly the most revolutionary song in the top 20),
Alsy (London based Russian daughter of oligarch in her US label debut song
about what you need to know before you love her).  The more Russian
oriented Myz TV has a wider play list of Russian music and more heavy US
stuff like Limp Bizkit (My Generation - now this is scary) and less
Brittany. 

In addition to the so far one hit wonders Tatoo, the other major
breakthrough Russian hitmakers in 2000 were Zemfira (a great rock talent
who sings mostly about love, her song "Do You Want?" was the number 1 MTV
video of 2000), Detsel (an adorable teenage rapper whose big hit was a very
funny song and video about having a party while his parents were at the
dacha and whose musical gurus are the Russian rapper Shef whose has a big
song about loving New York and Bob Marley) and a gay guy, Oscar whose
stunning black and white video of a beautiful ballad 'Between You and Me"
stayed at the top for a long time. 

Another trend I have noticed that gives lie to the anti-American music fad
idea is that many of the top pop and rock people here have videos that
include footage of trips to America.  This appears to be a sign of having
made it.  The location is usually New York (Pyki Verx) or LA (Larrisa
Dolina) but the squarer than square Phillip Kirkorev displayed his Vegas
victory tour.   

As for American cultural isolation, pretty anything in American music is
available here.  Lately I picked up some Phillip Glass, Patti Smith and
Barbara Streisand's New Year live concert but have successfully been
resisting the temptation to go for "Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Greatest Hits".   The one thing missing so far is no Broadway shows.  

Enough about music.  You get the idea, if someone here is trying to exclude
access to American culture they are doing a very bad job of it.  For better
or worse the same is true about TV.  I am yearning for Seinfeld to appear
but no such luck.  We do have  "Friends", "Candid Camera" with Suzanne
Somers, "MASH", "Baywatch" and that earlier Michel Hasselhoff show where
the car talks, "Ally McBeal", "Charles in Charge" the list goes on and on
and most of this isn't cable.   I even stumbled onto  "Diva's On Ice" the
other day.  As you can see most of it is junk. Occasionally there is
something interesting and useful such as a recent documentary about a
successful substance abuse program in Florida.

I won't even get into listing the movies.  You name it, it has been shown
on TV here.   -40 outside, I live in Novosibirsk, one does tend to spend a
fair amount of time inside.  I usually stick to videos.  Recently I opted
for "Henry Fool" and the documentary "Kurt and Courtney" at the video store
over "Coyote Ugly" despite the glowing review offered by the sales clerk.
I did venture out to the movie theatre on Saturday egged on by a Russian
friend to see "People X".  This same friend dragged me to "The Grinch That
Stole Christmas" a couple of weeks ago.  Another Russian friend just told
me about an alternative movie theatre that is showing movies like "Virgin
Suicides", "Dancer in the Dark" and "East is East".  Yeah, we are about 6
months behind the theatres in the US but when the cost is 20r as opposed to
$8.50 for a ticket the wait is worth it.  No popcorn and that is a bummer. 

The point is, even if I wanted to avoid American pop culture it would be
virtually impossible in Siberia. We are drowning in it.  I would have to
stop working on my community school program because even kids in villages I
visit are fans of Brittany, never turn on the TV or radio, stay out of
stores (New York Pizza located at the shopping center cranks out nothing
but American pop), not set foot in a bus or taxi and avoid newsstands  as
Madonna is gracing the cover of the most recent edition of Russian ELLE
magazine.   Now no one wants to get into a discussion here about capitalism
in Russia but there are some elements that are operating pretty much as
they do in America. If no Russians were interested in seeing or buying this
stuff it wouldn't be around.   What is sad is that so few Americans get a
chance to see or hear some of the great Russian artists and Russians don't
get much exposure to more interesting forms of American culture. Still more
so than Americans get Russian,  "Liza and Barishnikov on Broadway" was on
TV last week. 

In closing, I would like to add that when I first moved here in 92 a
pirated US video was a big event.  Sometimes I miss those days but I guess
this is what would be considered progress in the 21st century by some
people.  Where is this relentless flood of  pop culture leading in Russia
or America? Who knows? Based on a phone survey of my young, culturally hip
Russian friends I do know that Alexander Nepomnyashchy and the Cultural
Revolution are not a part of the deluge.  They had never heard of them or
any other popular anti-American singers.   Maybe we will in the future.  If
they are as talented as Eminem then there may be something there worth
paying attention to. 

*****

#9
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001
From: Vlad Ivanenko <vivanenk@uwo.ca>
Subject: Re: 5080-11 Andrew Miller on anti-American sentiment

I take an effort to reply to Andrew Miller on his rather unchallenging
appeal by two counts. First, he appears to be seriously distressed with
his personal experience in Russia. Second, in spite of all bashing out
that Miller has unleashed on the residents of that country, my impression
is that he actually cares about this world. The last quality is not so
common to go unanswered.

The main essence of the message is to suggest that 'good' and 'evil' can
be identified among ethnical lines. This ludicrous proposition does not
deserve much attention. If Miller wants to hear directly that 'to kill a
Yankee' slogan is not shared by all Russians, he can hear it from me. If
he is interested in the general attitude, I am sure that any VTsIOM
sociological survey would report that the local population would disagree
with the song that he resents by a large margin (certainly, the wording of
the question would matter a lot). Moreover, Miller lived for four years in
Russia and could answer his question without any survey just asking how
many times his life was in danger there. Of course, this test may be
dismissed on the basis that a Pennsylvanian is not a Yankee in the strict
sense, so the song does not apply.

The song reminds me of what my fellow students used to sing while in
kolkhoz: We take pickets and smash faces of local punks. In reality all
happened quite opposite albeit not that grave. So such a song could be
indicative of weakness. If the group that Miller refers to would start
singing 'Kill babushkas', I would worry for their sanity much more.

The actual problem appears to lie in misperception of both cultures.
Russians do not realize that, in order to be respected, its government and
business leaders should be assertive and independent while complying with
a few well-defined rules of the game. Being a part of hierarchy does not
pay. It has been documented elsewhere that Eltsin came to the US as a
provincial suitor looking for favors. He was obsessed with G-8 membership
as if it was a ticket to Politburo. Certainly, such a behavior earned
Russia nothing more but disrespect.

But the other side should also beware of what happens if the provincial
suitor is turned down in a humiliating manner. He would consider it as a
conspiracy, an attempt of his enemies to drive him out. Then no rules are
valid for him but the desire to unite with the enemies of his former
master and to save his position at all cost.

This is how I see the unfolding story. Certainly, a person who keeps
sacred the Western style of doing things would readily misinterpret
Russian behavior as, first, of losers and, second, of revanchists. I think
that such an interpretation is dangerous and leads to a military conflict
in the end. It appears to me that the potentiality of a war is ignored at
the moment in both countries. The Russian side tends to believe that there
is a conspiracy against it and, as a result, it does not pay to mount an
effective PR campaign: when we are strong again, we will be respected
irrespective of anything else. The American side is lured by a false sense
of military superiority into pro-active stance: if we press hard enough,
nobody can stand on our way. This is effectively a chicken game that is
played right now.

Vlad Ivanenko, Economics,
Univ. of Western Ontario

*******

#10
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001
From: "Dmitri Mitin" <dmmitin@hotmail.com>
Subject: re:5074-Anti-American Pop Music. A response from a Russian

Hi, Andrew! I guess you attained your goal of provoking the Russian JRL
readers into some response regarding anti-americanism in pop-culture. Well,
at least I feel like responding to some of the points you make.

First of all, your argument about "Russian society operating to exclude most
American culture and info" is not very convincing. Actually, it does not
hold water at all! Can't you see a log in your eye? It is the American
society that is especially exclusive and self-centered. I hate
generalizations, but it's probably safe to claim that an average American
knows very little about the world beyond his immediate surroundings. I've
taught polsci at Purdue University and, let me tell you, the level of
knowledge of students about foreign countries is quite appalling.(In no way
do I deny here that there are lots of bright students; I am talking about an
average one.) The American ethnocentrism is also reflected in the amazing
dearth of information about foreign developments in local media. Had it not
been for the latest internet technologies that allow access to foreign
sources and specialized research sites, it would have been very difficult to
learn what's happening elsewhere. CNN is a good example of a successful news
delivery model for domestic consumption: just recycle insignificant but
catchy headlines (OJ; brothers Menendes; Clinton's affair, and the list can
go on)without boring in-depth analysis. Incidentally, sports and Hollywood
get more coverage than foreign affairs. I don't wnat to be defensive here
but I would maintain that Russians understand and accept American culture to
a much greater extent than Americans understand any other culture.

This brings me to a second, very related, point. Just as my peers, I grew up
listening to American and British music. I knew whole soundtracks by heart
and playing foreign songs on guitar was quite a popular move for teenagers.
These days Russians listen to Britney, try to rap and punk, and I saw Kurt
Cobain fans hanging out on Arbat. The movie theaters are inundated with
Hollywood stuff: both quality movies and junk. American pop-culture is
everywhere. My rhetorical question, of course, would be how much of a
Russian, or any other, influence seeps to North America. As you yourself
indicate with the example from NYPD Blue, much of the impression about
Russians is created by exploiting cheap but popular stereotypes. Don't even
get me started on Red Dawn, Red Heat, Rocky, etc. which still regularly run
on the cable and portray Russians as complete imbeciles and Neanderthals.
But I guess it does not bother you as much as the lyrics of the Russian
singer in question...

Well, then let's get down to your main point: a certain level of
anti-americanism (but, let's be frank, how widespread really is it?) in
Russian pop. I do not want to start a debate here on the effects of media on
our attitudes. I am convinced, however, that it is counterproductive to
escalate every isolated incident into a major crisis. Having spent several
years in Russia, do you really believe that anti-american sentiments are
strong there? I doubt the songs of this particular individual are

representative of the Russian culture, just as I would never base my opinion
on Americans solely on what I could hear at a KKK gathering I once
witnessed. Maybe it  is a good indicator then that the Russian public does
not take Zhirinovsky's lunacies seriously. It's not because Russians are
completely desensitized, but because such provocations no longer strike the
right cord with them.  However, if Zhirinovsky's empty talk instills fear in
American public and establishment(I am not sure if the latter is the case),
then maybe Americans should themselves be a little more sensitive about
Russian fears of, let's say, NATO expansion, which is an actual and not
hypothetical development.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Americans seem to be so convinced in the
superiority of their values that,at times, this leaves little room for
dialogue or maneuvering.It is very symptomatic that you place the whole
responsibility for existing misunderstandings on the Russian side while,
it'd seem to me, the blame should be divided equally.

As to the anti-American lyrics, my advice is to take it easy. After all,
when the "Red Dawn" is on I just switch the channel and don't lose my sleep
over it. Besides, after even Eminem gets Grammys for his songs nothing can
seem dangerous.

******

#11
The Economist (UK)
February 10-16, 2001
Russia and Chechnya
No end of war in sight
The Russians are facing a stalemate in Chechnya; they may eventually have
to negotiate with the rebels

IT WAS typical that, within days of President Vladimir Putin's announcement
last week that a large portion of Russian troops in Chechnya would start
withdrawing, a top general flatly contradicted him. For the Russians are
not just hideously bogged down there militarily, with little prospect of an
early peaceful settlement; their entire strategy, civil and diplomatic
included, is a mess. No sooner has one plan been proclaimed than another
seems to take its place. Though Mr Putin last month tapped his old friend
Nikolai Patrushev, head of the FSB, as the home-based part of the old KGB
is now known, to take overall charge of Chechnya, the administration of the
rebel republic is still a muddle. Russian politicians have complained
bitterly that, with some nine central ministries and agencies involved,
nobody knows who is responsible for what.

Chechnya may be small on the Russian Federation's map. But the scale of the
Chechen problem, if only in humanitarian terms, remains immense. Set
against other civil conflicts to Russia's west in Europe, such as the ones
in Spain's Basque region (where about 800 people have died violently over
30-plus years) or in Northern Ireland (3,000-odd in about the same period),
the degree of bloodshed and devastation in Chechnya is many times
greater-and looks set to stay that way for the foreseeable future. Russian
public support for this second post-Soviet war in Chechnya, though high
when Mr Putin launched it in October 1999 when he was prime minister, is
declining. If the guerrillas keep going for another few years, the Russians
may yet have to face another ignominious settlement on Chechen terms-not
unlike the one they signed in 1996.
 
If you accept the Russians' own figures, more than 15,000 fighters (2,700
of their own men and about 13,000 Chechen guerrillas) have been killed
since the second war began 15 months ago, and that does not include the
thousands of civilians who have died. Unofficial lobbies, such as the
Russian Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, put their boys' body-count at 6,500.

In any event, the killing rate has dropped since the Russians took back the
main towns, including the capital, Grozny, last March. But recent reports
show clearly that the war is far from over. Since fighting picked up again
this winter, when the Russians hoped to take advantage of the harsh
conditions for the guerrillas, about 20 of their servicemen have been
getting killed every week-picked off by snipers, blown up by home-made
mines, hit by rockets fired at vehicles and checkpoints.

Mr Patrushev says there are 5,000 active Chechen fighters (contradicting a
figure of 1,500 given by the Kremlin's spokesman a few days before), down
from 25,000 at the start of the current war. About 80,000 Russian
servicemen (half of them from the regular army) are trying to contain them.
The idea, unless the generals stymie it, is to halve that figure, and to
fortify some 200 village outposts mainly across the southern half the
country.

The latest Russian plan, for which the FSB thinks it is well suited, is to
assassinate the three key rebel leaders: Aslan Maskhadov, rebel Chechnya's
president; Shamil Basaev, its most fearsome guerrilla; and a Jordanian
Islamic zealot known only as Khattab, whose global network provides much
cash.

The Russians have three broad aims in Chechnya, and a fourth more distant
and fuzzy one. First, they want to give the impression that they are
"re-Chechenising" the place-that is to say, putting Chechens back in charge
of the civil administration. Second, they want to contain the rebels
militarily, since they realise privately that hopes of outright victory in
the near future are dim. Third, they want to prevent outsiders from seeing
what is really going on, by controlling the flow of news far more tightly
than before, so that they can act without restraint against the rebels and
the civilians who are suspected of sustaining them. The fourth aim, less
openly advocated for the moment, is to dangle the prospect of negotiation
through intermediaries, such as liberals in the Russian Duma.

Creating a Chechen administration is proving hard, but attempts to set up
civil courts, for instance, are being made. Akhmad Kadyrov, a former mufti
of Chechnya who is nominally in charge, is holed up in the Russians' civil
headquarters at Gudermes, his life in constant danger when he sallies out;
Grozny, under the mayoralty of a convicted embezzler, Bislan Gantamirov,
who is building up his own militia (already heavily infiltrated by rebels),
is still too much of a wreck to function as a capital. Few towns have
electricity; water is delivered, if at all, in lorries. There are no
regular flights to Grozny. The real Russian hub in Chechnya is Khankala, a
military encampment, replete with airport, housing 20,000-odd troops just
east of Grozny.

The population of Chechnya, 1.3m ten years ago, has halved. Of the 400,000
non-Chechens who used to live there, all but 20,000 have gone. Some 300,000
Chechens have fled, many of them west to Ingushetia. According to the
Russians, a third of the Chechens who have stayed are homeless.

Nowhere is safe, especially south of the Terek river. Kidnapping continues
apace. Since 1999, the Russians say that more than 400 people have been
nabbed; nearly 60 foreigners have been victims since the mid-1990s. Ransoms
vary from $30,000 to $300,000. In one respect, this suits the Russians:
nosey foreigners, from such outfits as Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch, have been forced to stay away. This month, a doughty American
doctor from Médecins Sans Frontières was handed back after a three-week
ordeal; no one is sure who actually grabbed him. One bold human-rights
group still collating information on the spot is Memorial, a Russian
organisation based in Moscow.

The Russian government takes journalists on occasional helicopter-borne
tours. The only outsiders who consort with the rebels usually get in by
bribing Russian officers, including those from the FSB: $1,000 is the going
rate. Those recently there say the rebels still move easily through the
ruins of all the main towns, Grozny included, and still buy most of their
weapons and ammunition from the Russians.

While Mr Putin and his old friends from the KGB act tough, a handful of
influential liberals in Moscow, including Boris Nemtsov, leader of the
Union of Right Forces, is exploring the possibility of peace-with the tacit
backing, they hint, of the Kremlin. Chechnya, Mr Nemtsov says, must remain
part of Russia, though he sounds pointedly vague about its final status.
But he acknowledges that Mr Maskhadov, not Mr Kadyrov, is still the man
with whom a deal must be done-though the rebels' own unity is fragile. In
time, President Putin may be forced, reluctantly, to agree.

*******

#12
Segodnya
February 9, 2001
[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]
66% OF RUSSIANS APPROVE OF PUTIN'S ACTIVITY
By Avtandil TSULADZE
    
     A presentation of the Monitoring.ru group was held in the
Central House of Journalists on February 8. Monitoring.ru is a
merger between social research companies (NISPI, AIST, ARPI and
Monitoring.ru), an investment firm (Meridian Capital
Management), a consulting business (PRIMANN), design studios
(Artyomy Lebedev's holding) and software developers (Context
Co). Thus Russian sociologists bid for expanding their activity.
Opportunities for this are abundant. Monitoring.ru director
general Andrei Milekhin noted that Russia accounted for just 1%
of the business-related sociologic research in Europe.
Therefore, Russian sociologists have plenty of room for
expansion.
     When current politicians are discussed, Vladimir Putin is
beyond comparison. A total of 66% of Russians have approved of
the Russian president's work. Putin's popularity rating stood
at 58% in early November 2000. Thus, support for the president
has strengthened. The number of opponents has remained at the
unchanged 11%. It looks like the same group that has weighty
reasons to disapprove of the president. The undecided join the
ranks of Putin's supporters.
     However, these figures fail to reflect a politician's
popularity as a person. According to Monitoring.ru, 42%
approved of Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov's work in January.
Just 13% of the respondents negatively assessed Kasyanov and
45% were in doubt. Although Kasyanov is not a political figure,
none of the current Russian politicians can even dream about
such sky-high ratings (naturally, except for the president). A
strong support for the prime minister's activity seems to
indicate that the population is relatively content with
Russia's economic situation and relative political stability.
     It does not mean that Russians are prospering. Most of
those polled gave rational assessments of the domestic economy.
Some 30% of the respondents said that economy would stabilize
at least ten years later. A total of 21% of those polled
believe that the stabilization process will take five to ten
years and 12% expect it to take three to five years. Just 6% of
resolute optimists expect the economy to stabilize a year to
three years later. A large number of pessimists, 12%, do not
think that stability is possible. Some 18% were in doubt.
     Russians are not fully satisfied by the authorities.
However, they put up with this state of affairs because they
remember worse times. Thus Putin's support base is in effect
quite shaky. Given the growing negative tendencies in the
Russian economy, we can say that the ground slipping away from
under the president's feet. As the public politics kicked the
bucket with Putin's coming in power, the economic situation
became the main criteria for assessing the country's leadership.
    
*******

#13
'Refusal of Registration, Militia Pressure Drives Nontraditional
Religions Underground, Communists 'wish to protect the Orthodox Church' 

Obshchaya Gazeta
January 25, 2001
[translation for personal use only]
Article by Yuliya Ignatyeva: "The Age of Freedom of Conscience is
Nowhere to be Seen"

The state is driving tens of thousands of believers underground.

The period for re-registering religious organizations active on the
territory of Russia expired on 31 December last year.   In practice this
measure is leading to a division of all believers into "sheep" and
"goats", depending upon the state of relations between their confessions
and the authorities.

Communists in Support of the True Faith

Re-registration is conducted in accordance with the Law on Freedom of
Conscience and Religious Associations that was passed in 1997.  
Co-chairman of the Slavonic Legal Center Anatoliy Pchelintsev has called
this document "the worst kind of legal rubbish".    He told Obshchaya
Gazeta: "The draft law that we had prepared could have emerged as a most
democratic and legally correct document.   But the Communist chairman of
the State Duma profile committee Zorkaltsev suddenly disbanded the
working group and presented the deputies with another text.   It is no
secret that this version had been prepared by the Moscow Patriarchate
with the active participation of Metropolitan Kirill".

The draft was passed but the President returned it to the State Duma with
amendments.   The removal of obvious legal flaws from the draft law had
failed to improve its substance.   The followers of various churches
began to hold meetings in the towns and the leaders of 60 Orthodox
communities not subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow
Patriarchate [ROC MP] announced that the draft was discriminatory.  
However nobody had tried to make any secret of this.   Communist deputy
Yuriy Belov spoke frankly when attempting to persuade his colleagues to
vote "in favor", saying that "the invasion of diverse sects is an
invasion directed against the ROC.   And as Communists we wish to protect
the Orthodox Church".

The authors of the law quite simply deceived the leaders of a number of
large confessions, having obtained their signatures in support of the
draft law in return for a promise that their amendments would be taken
into consideration.   The deputies obtained the signatures but there is
no trace of the amendments.   Zhirinovskiy was the most energetic and
dutiful campaigner and received written thanks from Aleksey II himself.  
Yet the Patriarch ordered that Father Superior Veniamin, a teacher at the
St. Petersburg Ecclesiastical Academy, should be removed from his post
after he send a note to the presidential administration criticizing the
draft law.

Since it came into force the Law has been studied by the Constitutional
Court on two occasions (a unique case!).   The Court was extremely
cautious in its assessments, unlike the conclusions of those independent
legal experts who described our law "On Freedom of Conscience" as
antidemocratic.   On the basis of their expert examination the United
States introduced the Schmidt Amendment on restricting investments in the
Russian economy.

The New Martyrs

No sooner had the law entered into force in 1997 than the Militia - as
though following orders - began to exert pressure on the followers of
so-called "non-traditional" religions.   The directors of cinemas and
houses of culture were forced to tear up rental agreements with
Protestant organizations.   Churches in Orthodox parishes that did not
fall under the jurisdiction of the ROC were transferred en masse to the
ownership of the Moscow Patriarchate or the state.   Legal proceedings
were frequently preceded by outrageous scenes reminiscent of "demolition
in the Chinese quarter".

The situation had become so bad for the Magadan division of the "Word of
Life" church that 600 believers - driven by the taunts and mockery of the
authorities - decided to emigrate to the United States.   During a trial
initiated by the oblast procuracy it emerged that secret video cameras
had been used to film divine services and gold from the mines had been
planted on parishioners, and the main witnesses for the plaintiff proved
to be a mental case and an alcoholic.

One further tale typical of the period occurred in Belgorod Oblast and
involved the Holy Trinity congregation of the ROC Abroad.   A militia
detachment inspired by the presence of Myagkov, a priest from the
Belgorod eparchy of the ROC MP, drove the believers out of the church,
stole church valuables and arrested the senior priest Katunin and his
wife.   The beating that Katunin received at the militia station caused
him to have a heart attack.   It would be interesting to know how the
victorious co-religionists feel in the church today?

Practice has shown that the practice of refusing registration is far more
effective than militia raids when it comes to protecting the interests of
those religions that are in favor with the authorities.   These are the
preliminary figures: 6,000 local organizations of various confessions -
that is 30 percent of the total - have been refused the status of
juridical persons and are thus subject to abolition under current law.  
Dissenters may take the matter to court.

A License to Pray

At the present time this very issue is a particular concern of the Moscow
division of the Salvation Army - the largest Protestant confession.   The
Salvation Army has been helping 800 Moscow social institutions and
looking after homeless people living at railway stations.   Nevertheless
the Moscow Justice Department, followed by the Presnenskiy Rayon Court
and the Moscow City Court, has deemed the Salvation Army to be a
militarized organization.   The disciples of this church carry no weapons
and do not indulge in military training.   Their guilt is founded
entirely on the fact that they wear a uniform similar to that of civilian
pilots and that they have military titles.

Although the Moscow City Court session took place as far back as 28
November the judges have still not presented the parties with the
official text of the decision, thereby depriving the Salvation Army of
the opportunity to appeal.   It is difficult to say what is more in
evidence here - politics or petty tyranny - but the unpleasant
consequences for the authorities are already plain to see.   The devotees
of our Femida have provoked uproar around the whole world: the Western
media and the World Council of Churches are unstinting in their
vociferous pronouncements on the "conquerors" of the Salvation Army.  
Incidentally, we are no strangers to scandals.   In 1999 the Moscow
authorities refused to register the Anglican Church.   The English Queen
was shocked and the British Foreign Office dispatched an angry diplomatic
note to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, whereupon the community
was granted registration.

Our officials and court officers frequently demonstrate complete and
utter ignorance of legal matters.   The situation is so bad that it
verges on the ridiculous: in Cheboksary they tried to close a community
of Pentacostalists because the believers "offered up prayers for healing,
although they did not hold a medical license".   And what of the
three-day pilgrimage made six months ago by Orthodox believers to the
curative relics of Saint Panteleymon?

It is true that recently legal practice has begun to change.   Last year
the lawyers from the Slavonic Legal Center managed to achieve a number of
victories.   This is the story of one such triumph.   The Orthodox priest
Korotayev presented the justice administration with a cassette showing a
Pentacostalist liturgy in the Kirov Christian Center.   Although their
investigations went no further than simply watching this amateur video,
psychiatric experts stated that the liturgy "might be detrimental to
health".   The justice administration imposed a ban on the center's
activities and the matter duly went to court, but Department of Health
chief psychiatrist Bagayev merely confirmed "a mild trance-like effect ".

He stated that, far from being detrimental to health, this was
characteristic of all divine services and was also typical of rock
concerts.   It transpired that the video recording had been made
illegally.   A hidden camera had been used to tape not only the divine
service but also the confessions of the parishioners, and the film had
been shown on local television.   Ultimately even Procurator Kolotova
refused to support the justice department and in making his ruling Judge
Kakhalin defended the rights of the believers.    Two similar stories
occurred in Kostroma in November 2000.   The activities of Orthodox
fathers who also happened to be amateur filmmakers led to legal
investigations that culminated in rulings in favor of the Kostroma
Christian Center and the "Church of Grace".

The local structures of the Ministry of Justice are duty-bound to guard
citizens' legal rights and react instantaneously to any "signs" of
activity - however questionable - on the part of "sectarians".   The
public employs this confusing term to describe all those who are not
adherents of the ROC, Islam, Judaism or Buddhism.   Meanwhile, the
Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has accumulated a large
number of documents that are headed straight for the procurator's office.
  But since the actors filling the minor roles here hail from the
"traditional" religions, officials are continuing to exhibit
pseudo-political correctness and pseudo-patriotism.

*******

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