May 4, 2001 

This Date's Issues:   5237

Johnson's Russia List
#5237
4 May 2001
davidjohnson@erols.com

[Note from David Johnson:
1. Washington Times: Dimitri Simes and Paul Saunders, Understanding Russia.
2. strana.ru: Well-to-do people more numerous in Russia.
3. Cato Policy Analysis: Geoffrey Forden, Reducing a Common Danger: Improving Russia's Early-Warning System.
4. Reuters: Gusinsky urges West to set 'red lines' for Russia.
5. The Guardian (UK): Jessica Hodgson, Russian writer warns of attacks on press freedom. (Anna Politkovskaya)
6. The Times (UK): Alice Lagnado, 'Tsarist guards' patrol Moscow. (Druzhniki)
7. Reuters: Putin sees good basis for security dialogue with US.
8. Los Angeles Times: John Daniszewski, Russia, China Gear Up for Pact to Seal 'Strategic Partnership.'
9. Itar-Tass: US ignorance of Chechen situation may be wilful - Russian rights envoy.
10. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Milrad Fatullayev, PEOPLE DYING WITHOUT A WAR. War in Chechnya continues, though official terminology denies it. The public seems to have become used to the situation in Chechnya.
11. strana.ru: Taxes on natural resources will be criterion for testing incorruptibility of Duma deputies.
12. The Wall Street Journal Europe: Ed Ward, Future Perfect. (re art exhibit Full Speed Ahead: the Russian Avant-Garde, 1910-1934)
13. WPS Monitoring Agency: POLITICAL FORECASTS. PUTIN AND THE OLIGARCHS; OR, SOME CONSEQUENCES OF THE NTV AFFAIR.]

*******

#1
Washington Times
May 4, 2001
Understanding Russia
By Dimitri K. Simes and Paul J. Saunders
Dimitri K. Simes is president of the Nixon Center; Paul J. Saunders is its
director. They have just returned from meetings with senior Russian
officials in Moscow as participants in a Nixon Center delegation.

Though President George W. Bush´s commitment to national missile
defense will doubtless provoke controversy in both the United States and
Russia, his administration´s clarity on this issue may well contribute to a
new beginning in relations between Washington and Moscow.

There is no doubt that a new beginning is necessary. The
international environment has changed dramatically since 1992. Russia is no
longer a superpower and did not evolve into a Western-style democracy.

Critics who argued that the Bush administration was inviting trouble
with Moscow by failing to give the Kremlin sufficient attention in its
first three months in office have been proven wrong. Ending the pretense
that a diminished Russia deserved special treatment because of its former
glory was an essential precondition of renewed and realistic dialogue. The
administration´s expulsion of 50 Russian diplomats in the wake of the
Hanssen spy affair was a timely demonstration that the United States would
not be deterred from taking steps to protect American security.

In fact, while some commentators especially former Clinton
administration officials decried the Bush team´s "mismanagement" of ties
with Russia, reaction in Moscow suggests that the new administration´s
calculated diplomatic gamble is starting to pay off. The White House
succeeded in getting Russia´s attention and after provoking predictable
anger in communicating new realities with which Russian President Vladimir
Putin must come to terms. Whatever his preferences, Mr. Putin seems to be a
pragmatist capable of understanding the dynamics of the U.S.-Russian
relationship.

The Bush administration is right to reach out to Moscow now that new
parameters for the relationship are beginning to take shape. Though its
economy remains troubled, Russia is not as irrelevant as is often assumed.
In fact, the Russian economy is growing while inflation remains under
control. And while Russia´s official GDP remains on the level of Holland´s,
up to 40 percent of the economy may be hidden as a result of deliberate
underreporting. Statistics could also change quickly if Mr. Putin succeeds
in implementing the changes he has promised in corporate governance,
banking, and judicial reform. Though the seriousness of his intent is not
yet clear, simply reducing the risks of investment in Russia could sharply
increase the market capitalization of many key firms, especially in the
energy sector, by cutting the de facto penalties applied to their share
prices by investors.

Internationally, America´s rocky relationship with China should
remind us of the dangerous role Russia could play in any of a number of
anti-U.S. coalitions. Fortunately, most Russian officials and politicians
realize that Moscow needs Washington more than it needs Beijing. They also
recognize that potentially China may well be a greater danger to Russia
than to the United States and that Russia cannot hope to rejoin Europe, and
regain international influence, if it is locked in conflict with America.

Nevertheless, Russia´s willingness to accommodate the United States
is not bottomless. If pushed too hard, the Kremlin could turn to Beijing
despite the costs to its own long-term interests. Moscow is, after all,
strapped for cash that China can still provide in return for advanced
weapons that could do harm to U.S. interests. Even a short-lived tactical
alliance between Russia and China could have unpredictable and undesirable
consequences.

If America is willing to become the "humble nation" President Bush has
described and gives up on trying to turn Russians into Jeffersonian
democrats overnight, the United States can probably deal with Russia on
reasonably favorable terms. Importantly, Russian officials appear more
flexible on many key issues in private conversations than their public
statements imply. On missile defense, for example, so long as Moscow
continues to believe that deployment is inevitable and that attempts to
split the United States and Europe will not succeed, Washington should be
able to modify or even abrogate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty without
serious damage to the relationship. NATO enlargement is probably also
achievable without confrontation, especially if NATO shows restraint in
moving forces and infrastructure into the Baltic States. As one senior
American diplomat in Moscow put it to us, the United States can probably
have both missile defense and NATO enlargement without trouble from Russia,
just not at the same time.

Movement on these two issues is possible in part because the Bush
administration´s new approach to Russia has contributed to a russian
appreciation that Moscow is not the center of the universe and that many
American decisions are driven by other considerations. As a result, Moscow
is more able to accept even what it does not like because U.S. actions are
not seen as inherently hostile. Dispensing with sentimentality clears the air.

The problem of proliferation will be harder to solve, especially since
Russia so desperately needs the money raised by its arms and technology
sales. Still, if Washington is prepared to be tough but discriminating – by
reacting severely to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or other
sensitive technologies (especially to China and Iran), and being more
flexible in our approach to Russian sales of older weapons systems –
cooperation is likely possible here as well. Discussions will be difficult,
however.

Russia cannot be a strategic partner of the United States for the
foreseeable future. Its national interests – not to mention the status of
its democracy and its economy – preclude an intimate friendship. But Russia
remains an important country and the Bush administration is correct to
explore areas of possible cooperation while firmly promoting American
interests and values.

********

#2
strana.ru
May 3, 2001
Well-to-do people more numerous in Russia
03.05.01. 15:13

According to preliminary data, 10% of the more well-to-do population
accounted, in the first quarter of 2001, for one-third of the overall money
earnings, while 10% of the less wealthy population for only 2.4%, RF State
Statistical Committee reports.

These figures are little different from the indicators for the same period in
2000, when the more well-to-do groups accounted for 33.7% of the overall
incomes and the poorer sectors for 2.4%.

The share of the population enjoying per capita monthly earnings of up to 500
rubles declined in the first quarter of 2001 by comparison with the same
period a year ago from 7.7% to 3.3%, whereas the share of those earning over
4,000 rubles a month grew from 5.3% to 11.8%.

*******

#3
Executive Summary
Cato Policy Analysis
www.cato.org
No. 399 May 3, 2001
Reducing a Common Danger: Improving Russia's Early-Warning System
by Geoffrey Forden
Geoffrey Forden is a senior research fellow with the Security Studies Program
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Executive Summary

During the past 20 years the world has survived at least four false alerts
for nuclear war. Each time, space-based early-warning systems played a major
role. In three of the four false alerts, two involving U.S. forces and one
Russian forces, reliable space-based sensors assured leaders that they were
not under attack when other systems indicated that nuclear annihilation was
imminent. In the fourth, in 1983, a relatively new Soviet satellite system
falsely indicated that the United States was launching a nuclear attack. All
four cases show the importance of both sides' having reliable space-based
early-warning systems.

Because of that need, Russia's continuing economic difficulties pose a clear
and increasing danger to itself, the world at large, and the United States in
particular. Russia no longer has the working fleet of early-warning
satellites that reassured its leaders that they were not under attack during
the most recent false alert—in 1995 when a scientific research rocket
launched from Norway was, for a short time, mistaken for a U.S. nuclear
launch. With decaying satellites, the possibility exists that, if a false
alert occurs again, Russia might launch its nuclear-tipped missiles.

The Bush administration could help Russia obtain and maintain an effective,
economic, and reliable space-based early-warning system in both the short and
the long term. Such assistance would improve U.S. security by helping to
prevent Russia from mistakenly launching a nuclear attack. The primary
measure initiated by the Clinton administration—the Joint Data Exchange
Center—is inherently ineffective because the Russians may not believe U.S.
early-warning data. Instead, U.S. assistance should be focused on helping
Russia to improve its own space-based system. Only then will the Russians
have confidence that no U.S. launches have occurred.

Joint early-warning centers can, however, have a stabilizing influence on the
tensions among China, India, and Pakistan. New nuclear states run a
substantial risk that their nuclear weapons may accidentally explode, perhaps
triggering an inadvertent nuclear war. In that case, joint centers—
supplying information from the sensors of nations not involved in the conflict (Russia
and the United States)—might prevent a tragic accident from escalating
into a regional nuclear war.

*******

#4
Gusinsky urges West to set 'red lines' for Russia
By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) - Embattled Moscow media magnate Vladimir
Gusinsky, honored by Americans as his nemesis -- Russian President Vladimir
Putin -- was named one of the 10 worst enemies of the press, urged Western
leaders on Thursday to set "red lines" for Russian behavior.

"It is very important that during the dialogues that the Western leaders and
the U.S. leaders have with the Russian leaders ... certain red lines should
be drawn, and beyond these lines one cannot go if one wants to live in a
civilized world," Gusinsky told the National Press Club.

"This is the free press, this is human rights, and it is many, many other
things that have to happen in Russia for it to be able to call it a civilized
country," he added.

Gusinsky, a leading critic of Putin, recently lost a battle with a Russian
state-dominated gas firm for control of NTV Television, Russia's most
important news source outside of Kremlin control. The takeover fight sparked
international concern about press freedom in Russia. Gusinsky has also fought
Russian fraud and money-laundering allegations.

He stopped short of advocating the ouster of Russia from the elite cadre of
leading industrial nations, known as the Group of Eight.

"It's not my decision, it's the decision of the G7 countries, or
G7-and-a-half. ... But I would like to repeat ... that a country that does
not honor the basic principles of existence in the civilized world has major
problems," he said.

He added that the new administration of President George W. Bush was
"starting to define where the red lines are."

FIGHT WITH KREMLIN

NTV was recently taken over by Gazprom, to which Gusinsky's Media-Most group
had pledged shares as security for millions of dollars in loans.

Spain's High Court last month turned down Russia's request for Gusinsky's
extradition for alleged fraud offenses, saying his actions were not crimes in
Spain.

But Russian prosecutors announced new charges of money laundering and said
they would request a new warrant for his arrest through Interpol.

National Press Club President Dick Ryan, introducing Gusinsky, said, "Some
argue the (NTV) takeover is merely a business move, (while) others believe
the Gazprom coup threatens Russian democracy."

Two weeks ago, the National Press Club, in a letter to Russia's ambassador in
Washington, protested the NTV takeover and made the case that "Russian
democracy cannot survive without a press free from government control," he
said.

Ryan noted that while Gusinsky was being celebrated in Washington, Putin was
named by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists among its "Ten
Worst Enemies of the Press for 2001."

Gusinsky called the Russian charges "politically motivated" and evidence the
Kremlin was "using the system of justice to fight against their opponents."

HOSTED AT CONGRESSIONAL BREAKFAST

Earlier, he was hosted at a breakfast sponsored by the Congressional Human
Rights Caucus to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said Russia had moved backward from
democracy but had not yet returned to dictatorship.

"There is no respect for freedom of the press ... for private property ...
for law, independent justice and independent courts ... (or) for human
rights," he added.

Gusinsky praised the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which
guarantees press freedoms, and said it was only in the past few years that he
realized how important it was to the evolution of American society.

Gusinsky said he could probably return to Russia, "but that would be a
one-way journey" since he faced charges.

He said he would try to help 300 NTV journalists who left the station after
the Gazprom takeover to create another television company and would also try
to launch a new journal.

Gusinsky had been negotiating with CNN founder Ted Turner to sell his
interest in NTV, but said he could not discuss the deal for legal reasons. He
said the Russian government had done all it could to thwart the deal because
it knew it could not control Turner.

********

#5
The Guardian (UK)
3 May 2001
Russian writer warns of attacks on press freedom
By Jessica Hodgson

A Russian journalist who was captured by the military while reporting from
behind Chechen lines has warned that restrictions on press freedom in Russia
are reverting to cold war levels.

Anna Politkovskaya, who works for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, said
it was "very important" for journalists in Britain and the west to show their
solidarity with journalists in Russia and put pressure on the government.

She warned that pressures on journalists operating within the Russian
federation were reverting to levels last experienced during the cold war.

After going behind rebel lines in Chechnya, Ms Politkovskaya was captured by
the Russian army, who tortured her and subjected her to a series of harrowing
intimidations.

Her captors told her it was "time to pay" for her reports on Chechnya.

Ms Politkovskaya said when she was released and returned home to in Moscow,
she turned on the television to see a newsreader denouncing her as "an enemy
of the country".

"It's horrific to hear these things and to hear them reverting to the
terminology of the 70s," she said.

Ms Politkovskaya, who is to meet the prime minister, Tony Blair, later this
week, said she wanted to ask him why he was the "number one friend" of the
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who has been responsible for clampdowns on
the media.

"Whether this question of extinguishing freedom of speech has ever been
discussed between Mr Blair and Mr Putin, I would like to know," she said,
adding: "If Blair is a democrat, how can he not discuss it?"

The war between the Russian federation and Chechen rebels has already claimed
several journalist victims.

Last weekend French journalist Brice Fleutiaux, who was captured by Chechen
rebels, committed suicide. Another journalist, Andrei Babitsky, last year was
kidnapped behind enemy lines and held for over a month.

*******

#6
The Times (UK)
4 May 2001
'Tsarist guards' patrol Moscow
FROM ALICE LAGNADO IN MOSCOW

MOSCOW is reviving the Tsarist-era druzhiniki, the gangs of stern Russians
patrolling the streets to ensure that youngsters behave.
Those who swear, drink or fight in public risk being arrested by
plainclothes men and women wearing armbands bearing Moscow’s coat of arms
and then taken to the local police station.

The druzhiniki, then known as Voluntary Guards, were invented in 1881 by
Tsar Alexander III. They remained through the Soviet era, although by the
time of Brezhnev’s rule in the 1970s most Russians enlisted to serve
registered at the police station and then went off shopping or to the cinema.

The movement, which recalls an era of order that many Russians remember
with nostalgia, does not receive formal sanction from the Government.
Vyacheslav Kharlamov, 44, a computer engineer, has made it his mission to
revive the movement. He is campaigning for federal laws to regulate it and
to protect its members from incidents such as injury on the job.
“Law-abiding people should help our law enforcement organs,” Mr Kharlamov
said.

Modern druzhiniki work a four-hour shift once a week, walking the streets
or assisting police at football matches or rock concerts. The only payment
is free travel on city transport. Many are unemployed, middle-aged
Russians; some are over 70.

Under communism, Moscow was one of the safest places in the world. The
shift to a crime-ridden modern city has shocked many older citizens.

*******

#7
Putin sees good basis for security dialogue with US
By Andrei Shukshin

MOSCOW, May 4 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he
saw Tuesday's speech on defence policy by U.S. President George W. Bush as a
good basis for dialogue on international security.

In his speech, Bush outlined plans to go ahead with a National Missile System
opposed by Moscow. But he promised to consult allies and other nuclear
nations and refrain from unilaterally leaving the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile
pact which Moscow sees as a cornerstone of arms control.

Putin noted Bush wanted to consult allies and others and had also made clear
the United States did not consider Russia an adversary or enemy.

"In my opinion this creates a good basis for a positive dialogue," Putin told
reporters after talks with Uzbek President Islam Karimov in the Kremlin. "We
will see in the future what the result of the dialogue would be."

A U.S. delegation is expected to visit Moscow next week to discuss the
proposed anti-missile defence plan.

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is scheduled to visit Washington on May 18, and
Putin is likely to meet Bush before a summit in July of the Group of Eight
leading industrial nations.

"I cannot but agree with President Bush that the world is changing very fast
amd new threats can emerge. I also agree that we must think about it and
agree that we should meet this with well thought-out actions," Putin said.

But he said any efforts to improve international security should be guided by
two principles.

"Firstly, one should not destroy the existing international security system,
and secondly we should act together," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview published on Friday
he wanted to examine ways to cooperate with Russia on anti-missile defence.

Powell reiterated in the interview with Interfax news agency that the United
States would take into account Russia's security concerns when drafting its
National Missile Defence (NMD) plan.

The interview was published exclusively by the daily newspaper Izvestia in
its Friday edition.

Russia says ducking limitations imposed by ABM would destroy the existing
nuclear balance, fuelling a new arms race and threatening its national
security.

"The president of the United States has already said that we will take into
account Russia's concerns about how our defence system would affect its
deterrence potential," Powell said.

"I am going to examine the possibilities for cooperating with Russia on
anti-missile defence."

********

#8
Los Angeles Times
May 4, 2001
Russia, China Gear Up for Pact to Seal 'Strategic Partnership'
By JOHN DANISZEWSKI, Times Staff Writer

MOSCOW--At a time when Sino-U.S. relations are going through a rocky
phase, Russia and China are preparing to boost their "strategic partnership"
by signing a treaty of friendship and cooperation.

After a four-day visit during which he met with Russian President
Vladimir V. Putin and other high-ranking officials, Chinese Foreign Minister
Tang Jiaxuan flew home Tuesday carrying the draft accord in his briefcase.
Barring unforeseen events, Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin are to
sign the treaty at a Moscow summit in July.

The treaty will be the first full-fledged pact between Beijing and
Moscow since a 1950 accord between the People's Republic and the Soviet Union
was allowed to lapse in 1979 at China's request.

Both countries are being careful to stress that their aim is not to
re-create the military alliance embraced by Mao Tse-tung and Josef Stalin at
the height of the Cold War. They also insist that the treaty is not directed
against any country.

Yet officials on both sides acknowledge that they see the relationship
as a counterweight to the United States' status as the world's only
superpower.

"We are talking about two great countries interacting, and that
interaction can influence the rest of the world," said Vladimir S. Myasnikov,
a senior analyst and head of the Russian-Chinese section of Russia's Far East
Institute.

Stalin treated Mao as a junior partner in the 1950s. But China's
ascendant economy and military strength today mean that Moscow and Beijing
are looking at each other much more as equals.

"We find a common language with our Chinese colleagues on practically
all major international issues," said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Alexander Losyukov.

Russia strongly supports China's view that Taiwan must never be allowed
to declare independence. China backs up Russia in its criticism of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization's eastward expansion. Both countries condemn
U.S. behavior on a host of issues, ranging from enforcement of the "no-fly"
zones in Iraq to President Bush's proposal to scrap the 1972 Antiballistic
Missile Treaty and build a new national missile defense.

"In international relations, you should talk about a polycentric world,
where there are a lot of focal points of power and influence," Myasnikov
said. "Since both Russia and China subscribe to that vision, it is easy for
us to understand each other."

One big irritant that has largely disappeared is the Sino-Russian border
dispute.

After a decade of work by geographers poring over documents dating back
to the 17th century, and then demarcating their common frontier, Russia and
China are close to solving the argument that brought them to the brink of war
in 1969.

The new treaty is expected to end the dispute once and for all,
Myasnikov said. It should also include sections on political and economic
ties, and measures to regulate cultural and people-to-people contacts.

Both countries also have become active in a new multilateral association
in Asia known as the Shanghai Five, which is due to meet later this month,
with both Putin and Jiang attending.

Besides Russia and China, the group consists of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan
and Kyrgyzstan. Myasnikov said there are suggestions that Pakistan,
Uzbekistan and Mongolia could join soon.

Besides working to build confidence along their borders, the members
also aim to spur economic development in Central Asia and to act as a bulwark
against the threats of instability, terrorism, drug trafficking and crime,
Myasnikov said.

Analyst Liliya F. Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank
viewed Moscow's recent moves toward Beijing--at least in part--as a message
to the Bush administration.

"The Kremlin is sending Washington a warning that if there is no change
for the better in relations between Moscow and Washington--now at their
coolest in years--Russia is quite ready to strike a closer alliance with
Beijing," she said.

*******

#9
US ignorance of Chechen situation may be wilful - Russian rights envoy
ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 4 May: The United States is possibly poorly informed of what the
Russian authorities are doing in Chechnya to protect human rights there.

This opinion was expressed in an interview with ITAR-TASS on Friday [4 May]
by the Russian president's representative on human rights in Chechnya,
Vladimir Kalamanov, commenting on the Friday statement by US State Secretary
Colin Powell on the situation in the republic, published by the Russian
newspaper Izvestiya.

Turning to Powell's allegation that a culture of impunity has developed in
Chechnya, Kalamanov noted that "the US concern is possible to some extent".
According to the human rights activist, the situation in Chechnya is not to
the liking of Russia either in many respects. However, questions, put forth
by the United States, "have been resolved or under solution".

To confirm his words, Kalamanov stated that many non-government
organizations, including those in the human-rights sphere, have been
operating in Chechnya with active support from the Russian authorities, and a
joint working group of deputies of the Russian State Duma and the PACE was
set up to control the situation with human rights.

Besides, he continued, all the latest crimes "are under strict control of the
prosecutor's office and of our bureau". Along with the prosecutor's office,
the Russian president's representative established a working group to
investigate all wrongdoings and a single data bank is being formed on all
appeals by local population, which, as Kalamanov believes, points to openness
of the federal centre on such questions.

Kalamanov noted that the text of a resolution on Chechnya, recently adopted
by the UN Human Rights Commission, appeared under the US influence. "I was
present during the preparation of the draft resolution and saw another
document," he continued. "Either the American delegation is insufficiently
informed of what Russia is doing in Chechnya, although openness of our work
with European organizations bars [eliminates] any doubts concerning the
truthfulness of the information coming by these channels, or some US
representatives do not want to see what is happening in real fact," Kalamanov
concluded.

********

#10
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
May 4, 2001,
PEOPLE DYING WITHOUT A WAR
War in Chechnya continues, though official terminology denies it
The public seems to have become used to the situation in Chechnya
Author: Milrad Fatullayev
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
FIGHTING IN CHECHNYA STILL CONTINUES. EXPLOSIONS, AUTOMATIC RIFLE
FIRE, SEARCH OPERATIONS IN VILLAGES, AND DEATHS - SEPARATIST
GUERRILLAS, FEDERAL TROOPS, AND CIVILIANS. THE FEDERAL FORCES SAY THE MILITARY PART OF THE OPERATION IS OVER, BUT EVERYONE KNOWS THIS ISN'T TRUE.

According to the Russian military, battles near the village of
Komsomolskoye in the Urus-Martan district last May completed the
military part of the operation in Chechnya.

But battles in Chechnya are still happening, at least once a
month. In late April some local fighting was reported in the vicinity
of Argun and in the Lenin district of Grozny. Several servicemen were
killed and more than ten were wounded. The federal forces were on the
defensive on both occasions. Servicemen of the united federal group
have been targets for guerrilla snipers every night for the past year.
According to the PR department of the Defense Ministry, shooting at
checkpoints, quarters of units, cars, and military hardware is
reported up to 100 times a day, all over Chechnya. Two-thirds of these
incidents take place in Grozny.

Analysis of reports from Chechnya gives the inescapable
impression that the military is omitting something. For example, daily
reports say that 27 guerrillas were killed in clashes and skirmishes
between January and May this year. Monthly reports from the same
sources state that 77 guerrillas were killed in January alone.
Besides, analysis indicates that guerrillas have remained active in
Chechnya. Even the military admitted as much in early May. Federal
Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev repeated the same old phrase
about "5,000 guerrillas in Chechnya, about 1,500 of whom are hard-
liners." According to the military, this year the guerrillas have
organized 36 terrorist acts (plus two in Turkey), killed 28
servicemen, wounded 53, blown up 8 armored vehicles, and two railroad
echelons. Their tactics are constantly changing, new equipment is
brought into play. These days, guerrillas often use mines with heat
sensors. They explode whenever anyone even approaches. In the Chechnya
operation overall, 15,000 guerrillas and 2,728 federal servicemen have
been killed.

Civilians remain hostages of the war. The military prosecutor's
office is investigating 800 criminal charges against servicemen of the
united federal group.

Anti-Russian rallies in various districts and in Grozny (in some
cases, the railroad was blocked) are a response from civilians to the
military's actions. Reports indicate that 18 people were unlawfully
detained in the quarters of the 22nd Internal Troops Brigade. All
these people were obviously beaten, and held in a dry pool. During the
May 1 celebrations, over 20 complaints were forwarded to the Chechen
prosecutor's office by relatives of missing Chechens. An investigation
into mass graves is underway. Two mass graves have been discovered so
far, with the remains of 16 and 48 people.

And fighting in Chechnya still continues. Explosions, automatic
rifle fire, search operations in villages... A major special operation
was conducted on May 3. Fifteen guerrillas were killed and 20 arrested
in the Argun canyon. In the first four days of May, four federal
troopers were killed and at least 46 were wounded. Four civilians were
wounded as well. These are reports from the front, no doubt about it.

There are no exact data on civilian casualties. According to the
Defense Ministry, at least 30 civilians have been killed in the first
four months of this year. We can add to the list 15 civilians murdered
by separatists for what they call collaboration with the federal
authorities. The murder of teacher Akhmed Tovbulatov in the village of
Valerik is the latest such killing.

*******

#11
strana.ru
May 4, 2001
Taxes on natural resources will be criterion for testing incorruptibility
of Duma deputies

The government plans to send the completed draft of the 2002 budget to the
State Duma already on August 1. However, the budget calculations must be
based on existing parameters of tax laws. That is why the government will
most likely try to have the majority of new tax laws adopted before the
lawmakers go on their summer vacations.

The efficient tax reform can be regarded as one of the most important
achievements of the Mikhail Kasyanov government. By lowering and simplifying
taxes, the government has been able to collect more money for the budget than
in previous years. Liberalization of taxation has proven its effectiveness,
and therefore, it is only natural that the government wants to continue
moving in that direction. The basic principles of the continuing tax reform
are the following: "taxation of natural resources, not labor," "reducing tax
rates," "simplifying collection of taxes."

The fact that the Duma deputies have seen the obvious successes of
liberalizing taxation will most likely ensure the Duma's support for the
government's Tax Code (new chapters and amendments). In particular, the
matter at hand here concerns the draft bills on taxation of enterprises'
profits and taxes on the use of natural resources.

Besides that, by the end of the Duma's spring session the government may also
table draft bills on taxation within the framework of production sharing
agreements. And last but not least, it should not be excluded that the
government may decide to radically change the regressive scale of the social
tax, which in the final count will only increase the overall sum of taxes
collected.

Yet, it would be folly to think that the passage of tax bills through the
State Duma is akin to a Sunday promenade. Exempting production from taxation
and shifting the main tax burden to natural resources will most likely
encounter strong opposition on the part of the powerful lobby of raw
materials exporters and regional administrations. The exporters that today
are skimming off the cream from usage of natural resources will hardly take
an indifferent attitude towards the new system of taxation on natural
resources. The exporters may have on their side the governors that today can
by themselves (and not always on an unselfish basis) regulate the taxes paid
by companies extracting mineral resources.

There have been numerous instances of campaigns aimed at putting pressure on
the government: scandals around fishing quota auctions, transfer prices,
auctioning access to export of pipes - this is by far the incomplete list of
instances when the federal authorities went against the interests of
companies or regional bosses.

It is highly unlikely that the new taxes on extraction of natural resources
will be endorsed by the deputies without such skirmishes. More sooner than
not the government will have to use in the Duma arguments that are just as
strong as the influence of the raw materials lobby on the deputies.

*******

#12
The Wall Street Journal Europe
May 4, 2001
Leisure & Arts
Future Perfect
By ED WARD

Hamburg

One day recently, I found myself lusting after a teapot. Now, I don't even
drink tea, but this wasn't any teapot: It was a Suprematist teapot, designed
in 1918 by Kasimir Malevitch for the State Porcelain Works in St. Petersburg,
Russia, all blocks and dramatic angles, and next to it was a Suprematist
teacup, which looked like one of those joke "half a cup, please" cups you can
buy in novelty shops.

I was at an exhibition at Hamburg's Museum for Arts and Crafts, entitled
"Full Speed Ahead: the Russian Avant-Garde, 1910-1934," which is running
through June 10, and my mind was being blown at regular intervals, so
teapot-lust was merely a symptom. There were hundreds of objects and artworks
on display, many of which hadn't been seen outside -- or, probably, inside --
Russia for decades.

I don't think I've ever seen such an outpouring of Utopianism as what's on
display here. Think about it: One of the world's most backward nations had
undergone a revolution and adopted an untried political and economic system
which, its theorists claimed, would provide true equality and riches for all.
Art was no longer going to be made for its own sake, but would be integrated
into everyday reality, and the masses, exposed to it, would be inspired to
live better lives. Fortunately for the Revolution, there were plenty of young
Russian avant-garde artists out there with the most advanced visual ideas of
the time, ready to put their theory into practice for the new state. Besides
Malevitch, there were Vassily Kandinsky, Vladimir Tatlin, Ivan Puni, Natan
Altman, Georgi and Vladimir Stenberg, El Lissitsky, Varvara Stefanova,
Vladimir Mayakowsky, Gustav Kluzis, Raisa Rait, Natalia Danko and the
greatest polymath of them all, Alexander Rodschenko, just to name a few.

Many of these people had been pushing the boundaries before the Revolution,
starting with the two 1915 Futurist exhibitions, "Tramway W" and "0.10," in
St. Petersburg. Lyubov Popova, Ivan Klyun and Rodschenko were all the way
into total abstraction by the time of the Revolution, and when urged to make
their work accessible to all, they used the discoveries they'd already made
about proportion, color and space for their design work. Furthermore, they
influenced many others: The Stenberg brothers' film posters, for instance,
and Sergei Tchekhonin's dishes reflect this. As does the architecture: It was
deemed necessary to have kiosks to sell books, magazines and newspapers for
the masses to read, and there are a dozen designs here for them, next to more
famous works like Lissitsky's unbuilt Lenin Tribune tower and Tatlin's
Monument for the Third International.

But the new style had to pervade everything, and that's where "Full Speed
Ahead" really shines: postcards showing sports, and the uniforms for the
players; Rodschenko's designs for Proletarskaya caramel wrappers and
Mayakovsky's for Red Army Star bonbons; book covers for metalworking manuals
and Harlem Renaissance novels; stage sets for plays by everyone from
Chesterton to Mayakovsky. There are remarkable textile designs which seem
abstract from a distance, but close-up show wheat harvests, airplanes,
windmills, construction cranes, a subway moving through a tunnel and the Red
Army picking cotton.

(Looking at these, I was seized by a most un-Communist thought: Someone
should reprint these designs and start making clothing out of them. I'd buy a
couple of shirts, for a start.)

As for the peasants, who had latterly been living in a medieval society only
to be thrust into this new Utopia, they could be brought up to speed courtesy
of the national telegraph agency ROSTA, which hired Mayakovsky, Rait and
others to make "ROSTA Windows," big, comic book-like sets of panels, which
explained, with humorous drawings and simple rhymes, how their lives would
improve under the new system. Industrial workers in one of the
Rodschenko-designed worker's clubs could play chess with Natalia Danko's
chessmen, the red (whose pawns were harvesting wheat with a smile) versus the
white (whose king had a death's head and whose pawns were workers wrapped in
chains).

We all know how this would-be Utopia ended abruptly, of course, and "Full
Speed Ahead" doesn't flinch from the denouement. The Powers That Be decided
in the late 1920s that the Soviet Union was still underindustrialized, and
maybe the propaganda was still a little too artsy. Gently at first, but
increasingly ham-fistedly, the designs turned to what we now know as
Socialist Realism, and in 1934, the First All-Union Congress of Soviet
Writers made it the party line. One has only to compare Natalia Danko's early
'20s figurines of workers and activists to Isidor Fric-Char's clunky "On the
Southern Front Before the Battle" to see how things decayed, not to mention
the sudden ascendancy of a central leadership figure on posters that had
formerly emphasized the efforts of the masses.

That central leadership figure, of course, was Stalin, a shrewd thug from the
backwaters of Georgia, and certainly not any kind of Moscow artsy
intellectual. In the darkened gallery showing Socialist Realism's beginnings,
I had a pervasive feeling of loss, a sadness that all the cool stuff I'd just
been seeing had been tossed on the scrap heap of history. Fortunately, a lot
of it was preserved, and this remarkable exhibition puts an incredible amount
of it in one place. Designers and graphic artists should feel an obligation
to see "Full Speed Ahead," but the rest of us, too, will be spellbound.

*******

#13
WPS Monitoring Agency
www.wps.ru
POLITICAL FORECASTS
PUTIN AND THE OLIGARCHS; 
OR, SOME CONSEQUENCES OF THE NTV AFFAIR


"Are You For Putin or Berezovsky?" is the title of an article by
Andrei Piontkovsky in "Novaya Gazeta", discussing whether it is
acceptable, in pursuit of one's goals, to form an alliance with those
who have "somewhat different principles and priorities, including
ethical principles".

A simpler way of putting the question, says Piontkovsky, is: can
freedom of speech use Berezovsky's money? Piontkovsky writes: "For
some time now, the devil has been running some kind of strange test on
the Russia focus group, offering it one choice after another: Lenin or
Kornilov, Stalin or Trotsky, Stalin or Hitler, Yeltsin or Zyuganov,
Putin or Berezovsky. Each time, we choose the lesser evil, or what we
think is the lesser evil. And each time we pay a higher price."
Actually, under such circumstances Russian society has no real choice.

Now that the operation aimed at ensuring Putin's succession to
Yeltsin has been concluded, its main players are engaged in a dispute
over world-views. "Putin's version of the Russian idea means all power
to the special services and the oligarchs who are close to them.
Berezovsky's version of the Russian idea means all power to the
oligarchs and the special services which protect them... The former
says: You should thank our regime, which protects you from the
people's anger with its bayonets, jails, and PR strategies. The latter
replies: We should hire ourselves a regime to protect us from the
people's anger with its bayonets, jails, and PR strategies." For
everyone other than the participants, there is very little difference
in outcome.

Of course, the key figures think otherwise. Boris Berezovsky has
been interviewed by Natalia Golitsyna, a Radio Liberty correspondent,
for the "Obshchaya Gazeta" newspaper. He says he is currently seeking
a way to continue reforms in Russia.

Berezovsky considers that over the past year, Russia has taken
numerous steps away from the path of reform. He believes that the most
significant of these has been Putin's strengthening of the state power
hierarchy, which really means "destroying the previous democratic
structure of the state in Russia". The next step, says Berezovsky, is
likely to be "the destruction of liberties created over the past
decade", the main ones being freedom of speech and a free press.

But over the past decade Russia has gained "a critical mass of
free and independent people". Still, Berezovsky had some doubts about
whether these people were ready to make a decisive statement about
their views - for example, to rally in protest. However, it turned out
that these doubts were groundless. The NTV affair has shown that these
people are determined.

"Putin's approval rating is said to be 80%, or even 80%," says
Berezovsky. "But I keep trying to figure out whether these 80-90% will
rally in the streets or not." He reaches the sad conclusion that they
probably won't. Then again, this isn't all that important: "We know
that the direction of historical development is determined not by 90%
of the population, but one percent, or two percent, or five percent at
most." These are the ideas Berezovsky will discuss in an article he is
now working on, about "Russia's strategic objectives".

It is worth noting that Berezovsky has already managed to express
his opinion of the Kremlin's policies, repeatedly and unambiguously.
For example, "Ekspert" magazine quotes from a Berezovsky interview on
the Grani.ru website: "I believe that the Russian regime has abolished
all boundaries for its own actions. There are no boundaries, in my
view. In fact, the takeover of NTV is another Rubicon. The only
boundary they haven't yet crossed is outright murder. And I believe
that very soon they will be doing even that."

"Ekspert" notes that Berezovsky became involved in the NTV
dispute two months ago, declaring that he had started talks, through
his financial advisers, with Credit Suisse First Boston - about buying
out Media-Most's $262 million debt. He also offered the NTV network a
$50 million loan. However, Vladimir Gusinsky refused this gift from
his "sworn friend" (as "Ekspert" puts it), apparently relying on
reaching an agreement with Ted Turner.

Nevertheless, once the scandal was in full swing, Berezovsky
proposed a new idea - cheaper than settling all of Gusinsky's debts,
but still expensive: merging the TNT channel (the initial intended
destination of NTV's top journalists) with the TV-6 network, of which
Berezovsky owns 75%. However, it became clear that TNT could follow in
the footsteps of NTV - it could go bankrupt along with the whole of
Media-Most. Therefore, Berezovsky's third proposal - "everyone should
go over to TV-6" - was accepted.

Hence, says "Ekspert" magazine, Berezovsky has emerged a clear
winner from the NTV affair. Firstly, he has gained a reputation for
defending freedom of speech. Moreover, he has increased the value of
his company in a cost-effective way (since "salaries for former NTV
journalists don't add up to nearly as much as a merger between
companies would have cost"). According to "Ekspert", even the former
executives of TV-6, pushed aside by the arrival of Yevgeny Kiselev's
team from NTV, consider that the addition of so many highly skilled
journalists represents a real expansion of the resources of TV-6.

"Ekspert" considers that it's still too early to predict the
future of TV-6. "Berezovsky could choose to mount an all-out attack on
the Russian government, and primarily President Putin, down to the
last journalist." (True, Berezovsky hasn't done much of this in the
past, "allowing Gusinsky to take the lead".) Or he could choose to
"separate his abovementioned opinions as an individual and a citizen
from his position as the owner of a Russian television channel", and
confine himself to "objective criticism".

This is especially relevant, given that the regime's actions
against Berezovsky's present ally have already shown it is capable of
being consistent in its intentions - new charges have been issued
against Vladimir Gusinsky, money-laundering this time, and he is once
again wanted by Interpol.

Why is the regime focusing on Gusinsky? Vitaly Portnikov, a Radio
Liberty correspondent, takes up this question in an article for the
"Vedomosti" newspaper: "When the Gusinsky case was just beginning,
there was a lot of talk about keeping all the oligarchs equidistant
from government. Now there's no mention of any other oligarchs - but
Gusinsky is being made more and more equidistant..." He's already lost
the NTV network; the "Segodnya" newspaper has been shut down; and
there has been a total change of personnel at "Itogi" magazine.
Someone else is now president of the Russian Jewish Congress. "What
more can Gusinsky do against the Kremlin? What media outlets or levers
of influence remain in his hands? Although I'm no great admirer of
Gusinsky's talents, I still can't make any sense of this absurd hunt,"
says Portnikov.

Meanwhile, yet another "devil incarnate" - Boris Berezovsky - is,
unlike the ever-harassed Gusinsky, completely free to take action:
change the board of directors at TV-6, or bring in Kiselev's team from
NTV (Yasen Nikolaevich Zasursky, dean of journalism at Moscow State
University, is quoted in "Obshchaya Gazeta" as saying that Berezovsky
treated the existing team at TV-6 "like a slaveowner").

Berezovsky uses every opportunity to stress that he has no
intention of relinquishing his media holdings. And the General
Prosecutor's Office even alleges that Berezovsky was behind Nikolai
Glushkov's escape attempt! Despite all this, Portnikov notes that
Berezovsky is "as free as Pavel Borodin" - he has not been charged
with anything, he is not being harassed, and he is not wanted by
Interpol.

Portnikov suggests two possible explanations for this. On the one
hand, the regime - "not Putin, but other influential people" - might
consider that it's still possible to reach an agreement with the
former oligarch. On the other hand, the regime "almost instinctively
senses" that it can't handle Berezovsky.

Therefore, since the regime simply doesn't have any other targets
who are as widely loathed as Berezovsky and Gusinsky, the role of
"leading embezzler, money-launderer, corrupt person and Lucifer" will
continue to be assigned to Gusinsky. And this automatically guarantees
that in the West he will become a symbol of defending free speech.

"The remnants of NTV's former glory are in the hands of a person
who specializes in stealing everything that isn't nailed down and
making a profit from his collection," says "Novoe Vremya" magazine.

Berezovsky has never concealed that he sees the media as an
important political tool. So Yevgeny Kiselev's team from NTV has come
to the right place. "Of course, it is slightly embarrassing that some
of the top NTV journalists used to take delight in describing how
Berezovsky stole from Aeroflot." But let bygones be bygones. One thing
is clear: "Berezovsky has managed to gain something from the ashes of
the NTV scandal." The value of his gains is another matter.

According to "Novoe Vremya", "LUKoil's long-standing wish to
purchase the rest of Berezovsky's media empire has become
irresistible:. Berezovsky himself insists that he has no intention of
selling any of his media assets. Could he be trying to get the best
price?

Meanwhile, the regime has some "special arguments" to "sway its
sworn friend toward a mutually favorable deal". Two of Berezovsky's
allies - Nikolai Glushkov and Sergei Dorenko - were involved in some
unpleasant incidents just as the NTV scandal was at its height, with
NTV journalists going over to TV-6.

Some less radical combat techniques are also being used. The Duma
recently passed a bill in the first reading which will amend media
laws to bar foreigners from owning over 50% of shares in any Russian
media company.

Analysts consulted by the "Vedomosti" newspaper said this
intimidation attempt could be aimed at Ted Turner and his intention to
buy a stake in NTV. "Ten years ago, Turner was also scared off by such
a move," says Andrei Richter, head of the Law and Media Center. "When
Turner wanted to increase his stake in TV-6, he was shown three bills,
two of which restricted foreign ownership in television and radio,
while the third banned foreign ownership altogether in electronic
media." Turner abandoned his intentions at that time.

"Vedomosti" considers that there could be some truth in this
theory; the passage of the bill was obviously well-organized, with all
Duma factions apart from Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces voting
in favor. Representatives of the Kremlin and the Cabinet declined to
comment on the innovations, despite being invited to address the Duma
by Deputy Speaker Irina Khakamada. The Presidential Administration -
which, according to "Vedomosti", keeps a close watch on legislative
activity and conducts legal analysis of it - declared in this case
that it hadn't had time to prepare a position on the issue. The
opinion of the Duma majority was expressed by Pavel Kovalenko of the
Unity faction: "Owning a 49.9% stake is quite enough to do business.
But if the foreigners are coming in to push their own line, they must
be prevented from doing so."

Mikhail Fedotov, secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists,
considers that this amendment "is like a locked gate in the middle of
an open field", which can easily be bypassed.

Indeed, no foriegn company intends to curtail its business
activity, having invested substantial resources in it. According to
"Vedomosti", there are over 50 regional media outlets alone with
foreign shareholders. If this bill becomes law, "they will all have to
amend their charters, and this will distract them from important
business, at the very least," says Roman Petrenko, CEO of the STS
television channel, of which 75% belongs to American investors.

"Vedomosti" considers that there's yet another target of this
amendment, and everyone knows who it is: Vladimir Gusinsky again. The
bill says that people with dual citizenship cannot be founders of
media companies in Russia. Obviously, apart from Gusinsky with his
Israeli passport, this is also aimed at citizens of the United States
and other countries. In reality, only citizens of Uzbekistan and
Tadjikistan will be hurt by the new law, since Russia has an agreement
on dual citizenship with these countries. Dual citizenship with other
countries simply isn't recognized under Russian law. "Gusinsky and
Berezovsky can be the founders of media companies as long as they
don't become citizens of Uzbekistan or Tadjikistan. These amendments
to media laws are utter nonsense," says Boris Nadezhdin, Duma deputy
and lawyer.

Berezovsky and Gusinsky, the two oligarchs under fire, are considered
capable of anything - even the most extreme actions. For example, the
media and the public were duly impressed by Berezovsky's famous open
letter containing the promise that "you will choose the next president
yourselves". However, this hasn't prevented people from harboring the
usual suspicions about the cunning duo.

The "Rossiia" newspaper recently reported that "the apparent
surrender of Gusinsky and Berezovsky, who have lost all business and
media influence in Russia, is just an illusion. What they're actually
doing is reconnaissance in preparation for making a comeback to power
in the Kremlin."

According to "Rossiia", a frantic search is underway for a
suitable candidate for the next presidential election. Moreover, a
preliminary choice has already been made: Vladimir Shamanov, now
governor of the Ulianov region.

Despite failing with Alexander Lebed, Berezovsky has not given up
the plan to raise another brave general to the top in federal politics
- this is an image which should be understandable and acceptable for
millions of Russian voters. It is said that Shamanov was picked out as
far back as last autumn; he is popular not only among the oligarchs,
but also among the so-called "nationalist patriots". However, real
work on Shamanov's image began with his attendance at the trial of
Colonel Budanov, according to "Rossiia".

"Is it just a coincidence that Shamanov was getting so much media
coverage across Russia during the NTV crisis? This is a purely
rhetorical question, and impossible to prove one way or the other. But
the facts remain: the media owned by Berezovsky and Gusinsky, NTV most
of all, were promoting Shamanov."

"Rossiia" says that Shamanov's own consent to such promotion was
not sought. And "Rossiia" does not maintain that Shamanov is the final
choice of the oligarchs; it only notes that "irrespective of any
particular details, the oligarchs are not abandoning their efforts to
influence Russian politics".

The "Vek" weekly also notes that Governor Shamanov of the Ulianov
region has been getting an unusual amount of media coverage recently.

"It is said that Shamanov has changed. He has acquired a taste
for power... It is said that even such well-known Russian patriots as
Gusinsky and Berezovsky have plans for Shamanov. It is said that even
Alekperov and Voloshin wouldn't mind playing the 'charismatic general'
card." Of course, "Vek" immediately qualifies this by saying that it's
all very reminiscent of an arranged marriage, without the knowledge or
consent of those involved.

Besides, Vladimir Shamanov himself loses no opportunity to
declare his support for Vladimir Putin: "I support him totally. Not by
words alone, but through real action in the Ulianov region. There are
rumors that I'm thinking of the presidency. No, I have no such plans.
I can say with confidence that in four years' time I will run for re-
election as governor of the Ulianov region."

The "Vek" article is entitled "Playing With Shamanov". It must be
admitted that its references not only to Berezovsky and Gusinsky, but
also to Alexander Voloshin, head of the Presidential Administration,
and Vagit Alekperov, with LUKoil behind him, are very significant.

Alekperov heads the list of the most influential people in
Russian business, as published recently by "Kommersant-Dengi"
magazine.

According to the magazine's analysts, Alekperov controls $7.5
billion in capital. Next on the list is Vladimir Bogdanov ($5.75
billion), Rem Vyakhirev ($5.556 billion), Viktor Chernomyrdin ($5.556
billion), and Vladimir Potanin ($4.886 billion). The final member of
the top ten is Roman Abramovich, controlling $1.884 billion.

At present, the financial decision-makers on this list - with a
few exceptions like Roman Abramovich and Alexander Khloponin - don't
have any personal political ambitions, says "Kommersant-Dengi". They
prefer to invest in "charismatic figures" and political movements.
"But already we can make a prediction: over the next ten to fifteen
years, many of those on the list will aspire to high government
office. Sooner or later, the power of big money will be transformed
into power as such."

The "Vremya MN" newspaper reports the results of a poll done by
the Public Opinion Foundation, which indicates that President Putin's
approval rating fell from 45-46% to 42% in April, while his trust
rating fell to 37%. The drop is even more dramatic in Moscow: only a
third of Muscovite respondents would be prepared to vote for Putin,
and only 25% trust him.

The Public Opinion Foundation considers that the main reasons for
the drop are the NTV scandal and the lack of any noticeable progress
in Chechnya. Thus, a strong PR campaign would suffice to lift the
president's rating once again, according to the Public Opinion
Foundation's analysts.

However, Dmitrii Shusharin, author of the "Vremya MN" article,
disagrees. Shusharin points out that April events included the
president's annual address to the Federal Assembly, which set out what
are considered to be the government's long-term economic and social
policies. Besides, the two pro-government parties, Unity and
Fatherland, announced a merger - as a result of which a strong pro-
government bloc formed in the Duma.

If the president's rating is still dropping against the
background of all these events, we should be talking of long-term
erroneous strategies rather than one-off setbacks for the Kremlin. Of
course, says Shusharin, the president's rating will probably be pulled
up again this time. "But what next - will this continue until the next
election, at which Putin can't as yet be guaranteed a victory? Or will
the regime find new allies, a new way of communicating with the
nation? Most importantly, will it gain a clear understanding of its
goals and objectives - its mission, so to speak?" "Vremya MN" has no
doubts that we will soon get an answer to these questions. There's
still time.

********

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