[Second Issue of the Day]

#6
Vremya Novostei
September 20, 2001
THE DUMA AGAINST CARPET BOMBING
The lower house of parliament discusses the latest developments
Author: Viktor Khamrayev
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

THE DUMA MET BEHIND CLOSED DOORS YESTERDAY TO DISCUSS THE TERRORIST
ATTACKS AND RUSSIA'S RESPONSE. ATTITUDES AMONG DUMA MEMBERS VARY; SOME
WANT TO GIVE FULL SUPPORT TO THE UNITED STATES, WHILE OTHERS SEEK
ADVANTAGES FOR RUSSIA, AND VLADIMIR ZHIRINOVSKY WANTS TO SUPPORT THE
TALIBAN.

Yesterday the Duma failed to formulate its attitude toward
international terrorism (the resolution is expected today). The
parliamentarians succeeded in adopting a resolution in support of
President Putin's actions.

Passage of an anti-terrorism resolution was prevented by 18
amendments submitted by various factions. Chairman of the
International Committee Dmitry Rogozin said the committee needed more
time to consider them. No information on the contents of the
amendments is available at this point, because the Duma met behind
closed doors yesterday.

Duma Chairman Gennadi Seleznev ascribes the decision to hold the
meeting behind closed doors to the fact that "we have a lot of
deputies here who speak forcefully, and they should not stir up Russia
and the whole world..."

Judging by what Duma deputies were saying after the meeting, they
are particularly concerned about the possibility of Russia's
involvement in the American retaliatory strikes. Leaders of virtually
all factions object to carpet bombing in general, and Russia's
involvement in operations of this sort in particular. Vladimir Pekhtin
of the Unity faction denounces calls for "a war of the North versus
the South, or a new crusade" which he says can be heard "in the West
and sometimes even in Russia". Communist leader Gennadi Zyuganov
advised the executive branch to concentrate on finding a solution in
Chechnya, which he described as Russia's contribution to the global
battle against international terrorism.

Since Russian parliamentarians are completely in the dark about
the US president's true intentions, all their attempts to understand
what place Russia is going to take in the future battle were
eventually restricted to seeking a position which will yield maximal
advantages for Russia.

Union of Right Forces leader Boris Nemtsov considers that Russia
should stand up for "Europe and America" in order not to miss its
chance of becoming a developed nation. He says that otherwise Russia
will be left "entirely on its own facing debts in the West, the
Taliban in the South, and China in the East."

Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the LDPR is confident that Russia will
become a great power again only if it supports the Taliban and makes
an alliance with the Arab world.

 
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