Johnson's Russia List
#6188
16 April 2002
davidjohnson@erols.com
A CDI Project
www.cdi.org
[Note from David Johnson:
1. AP: Russia Starts Kids' Health Checks.
2. Reuters: Russian raids must end before Chechen talks-OSCE.
3. Luba Schwartzman: ORT Review.
4. strana.ru: Michael Stedman, Flagship Investment Points to "Historical"
Turn in Retail Sector Growth, Says Real Estate Research.
5. Kommersant: Nikolai Vardul, THE PRESIDENT WILL ADDRESS THE NATION ON
THURSDAY.
6. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Lidiya Andrusenko, NO SOAP OPERAS AT THE STATE'S
EXPENSE. By autumn, the Cabinet may have a plan for privatizing state-owned
media.
7. Versty: Yuri Malenkov, RUSSIA FACES MIND-BOGGLING PROBLEMS AT THIS
STAGE.
8. Izvestiya: Cooperation With America Over Russian Taliban in Guantanamo
'Unprecedented'
9. Marcus Warren: Re Davis/Ware JRL 6187/6.
10. Financial Times (UK): Rafael Behr, 'Empress' seeks former glory:
Russia's second-largest city is looking to Vladimir Putin, one of its
favourite sons, to help restore its clout.
11. RFE/RL: Valentinas Mite, Belarus: Sixteen Years Later, Chornobyl
Legacy Lives On.
12. Chicago Tribune: Usha Lee McFarling, Eskimo way of life in peril as
Arctic warms, ice melts.
13. The Chronicle of Higher Education: Brock Read, Russian Students Go
Online to Experience American Political Science.
14. Wall Street Journal letter: Igor Kostikov, The Rot in Russia.
15. Wall Street Journal letter: Andrey Skurikhin, Russia Fails to Protect
Property Rights.
16. Moscow Times: Valeria Korchagina, Yeltsin Hunts for Fountain of Youth.
14. Los Angeles Times: Maura Reynolds, Moscow OKs U.S. Poultry. Imports:
Products from four states and 14 companies remain banned because of diseases,
Russia says.]
******
#1
Russia Starts Kids' Health Checks
April 15, 2002
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
MOSCOW (AP) - The government began a campaign Monday to conduct medical
checkups on all of Russia's 33.5 million children, an ambitious effort
intended to find out what is behind a dramatic decline in pediatric health
and determine how to reverse the trend.
In Soviet times, about half the country's newborn children were considered
healthy, but that number has shrunk to just 30 percent now, said Deputy
Health Minister Olga Sharapova.
An average Russian 18-year-old has allergies and two or three other
illnesses, most of them in the intestines and nervous systems, Sharapova told
a news conference, and every third conscript is pronounced unfit for military
service for health reasons.
The Health Ministry's nationwide checkup campaign is scheduled to be
completed in December. The results will be used to help the Cabinet reform
the nation's cash-strapped pediatric health system.
Russia's post-Soviet economic decline, the sharpest ever experienced by an
industrialized nation, has triggered a severe demographic crisis. The
population has plunged by 4.3 million since the 1991 Soviet breakup, to about
144 million.
Russia's infant mortality rate reached a peak of 20 deaths per 1,000 births
in 1993, then dropped to 14.7 per 1,000 births last year - still twice as
high as in the United States, where seven in 1,000 infants died before their
first birthday in 2000.
State funding for health care has increased in recent years as the economy
has improved, but the public health system has continued to crumble. Its
deterioration, combined with widespread poverty, has left more and more women
with illnesses that affect their newborn children.
``The main cause for the decline in children's health is the extremely high
number of sick women,'' Sharapova said. ``A sick mother can't deliver a
healthy child.''
She said the increase in sexual activity among teen-agers and children has
led to more sexually transmitted diseases among mothers and their babies.
``Children begin sexual life as early as 14 or 12 years of age, and that
increases the number of sexually transmitted diseases affecting
reproduction.''
In separate comments to the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets, Sharapova said that
as Russia opened up, the collapse of rigid Soviet-era social controls and the
proliferation of explicit TV programs and publications had triggered a
``sexual revolution.''
The number of births to women younger than 15 reached a peak of 3,303 in 1994
before decreasing to 2,500 in 2000.
``The absence of elementary knowledge and skills leads to venereal disease,
unwanted pregnancies and abortions,'' Sharapova said.
Russia's abortion rate in the world's highest, with two of three pregnancies
ending in abortion.
Russia's chief pediatrician, Alexander Tsaregorodtsev, said Monday that the
increase in the number of illnesses among older children could be explained
in part by the advent of more efficient testing methods, such as ultrasound,
that were rare in Soviet times.
``We have yet to figure out whether we have a rise in illnesses or just
better diagnostics,'' he said.
*******
#2
INTERVIEW-Russian raids must end before Chechen talks-OSCE
By Clara Ferreira-Marques
MOSCOW, April 16 (Reuters) - Russian troops must curb unregulated security
sweeps in Chechen villages before peace talks to end a 30-month conflict in
the rebel region can take place, the head of the OSCE mission in Chechnya
said.
Jorma Inki told Reuters that house-to-house searches to flush out rebel
fighters are dissuading thousands of refugees from returning home and
preventing them from choosing peace negotiators who alone could help find a
political solution.
Moscow has sat down for talks with Chechen rebels only once in almost three
years of military operations in the province.
"Now, if somebody tries to hold elections, to create some kind of
constitution and legislation, it is not enough, because the political
infrastructure is lacking," said Inki.
"There has to be this infrastructure, otherwise they would be just fake
elections," he said at the Moscow office of the Organisation for Security
and Co-operation in Europe.
He said the main reason that 150,000 refugees remained in tent cities in
neighbouring Ingushetia was unregulated "zachistki" or mopping-up
operations, which both human rights groups and the international community
have condemned.
"These mass screenings are one of the main obstacles to the return of IDPs
(internally displaced persons)," Inki said. "Their main reason for not
returning is not economic, rather they are afraid for their family members."
But Inki says the role of the OSCE, which acted as mediator in talks to end
the first 1994-96 war in Chechnya, is not to point accusing fingers.
"Whenever I see anything I should discuss with local officials, I do it in
a constructive way," Inki said. "I do not try to lead them through massive
criticism to a position where there is mental deadlock."
MILITARY RULES
The 55-nation OSCE was excluded from Chechnya during much of the second
campaign which began in 1999, returning to the region only in June 2001,
three years after violence and lawlessness forced it to pull out.
Inki welcomed the move by Russia's top soldier in the region, General
Vladimir Moltenskoi, to issue guidelines on how troops should conduct
themselves with civilians when hunting down rebel fighters.
"The new order on how screenings should be done is just one step in a
better direction, moreover, it is a military directive," he said.
Under new military rules, soldiers on sweep operations will have to show
their faces, label their armoured cars and publish lists of those detained
to reduce accusations of abuses and disappearances.
Akhmed Zakayev, an envoy of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, met Carla
del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the U.N. Yugoslav war crimes tribunal,
last month to propose setting up a similar court to try Russian soldiers.
Inki said setting up such courts would be counter-productive.
"If there are crimes, one should punish those that have committed them, but
according to local law. I don't see any need for specific tribunals."
Russia, which returned to Chechnya in 1999, has been accused by the United
States of using "overwhelming force" in the region, though criticism of its
tactics has been muted since September 11 and the start of the U.S.-led war
on terrorism.
Moscow says its troops now control most of the mountainous region, but they
are constantly subject to rebel attacks.
******
#3
ORT Review
www.ortv.ru
Compiled by Luba Schwartzman (luba7@bu.edu)
Research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and
Policy
at Boston University
HEADLINES,
Monday, April 15, 2002
- Croatian President Stipe Mesic will visit Moscow on Tuesday. He will
meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, State Duma Chairman Gennady
Seleznev and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexii II. Like President Putin,
Mesic spent many years practicing eastern martial arts.
- President Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder discussed the
recent talks in Weimar and a number of current international issues over
the telephone last night. They also agreed to meet at the Russia-NATO
summit in late May.
- The increase in attacks by Moscow skinheads is becoming a foreign
affairs problem for Russian authorities. Diplomats form Azerbaijan,
Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan, Tajikistan, and Georgia have officially
notified Russia of their concern with the situation.
- A military truck hit a landmine on the outskirts of the Shamil-Hutor
settlement in Chechnya's Vedeno region. Five military servicemen died,
including the lieutenant colonel of the local military commandant's
office.
- President Putin met with Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, and with
Railways Minister Gennady Fadeev.
- Gubernatorial elections were held in the Lipetsk and the Pensk oblasts.
Incumbents won in both regions. Lipetsk Oblast Governor Oleg Korolev
received over 70% of the votes. Pensk Oblast Governor Vasily Bochkarev
got more than half of the votes, 28,000 more than his challenger, State
Duma Deputy (Communist) Viktor Iliukhin. The elections have been approved
by the Central Electoral Commission.
- Abkhazia has accused Georgia of illegally transferring forces to the
Kodori Gorge.. Georgia was only allowed to keep border troops in the
region, but Abkhaz authorities estimate that there are about 700 Georgian
troops in Kodori. Abkhaz Vice President Valery Arshba announced that if
the Georgian troops are not withdrawn within the next two weeks, Abkhaz
forces will be deployed to the region.
- The ban on imports of American poultry runs out today; the US has
complied with all of Russia's demands. Deliveries will be strictly
controlled in the future.
- A major rebel arms cache, possibly belonging to Shamil Basaev's troops,
was discovered near Vedeno.
- In the Nozhai-Yurt region, a rebel base large enough for 70-80 fighters
has been destroyed.
- Upcoming land reforms and relations with Belarus were discussed at the
Cabinet meeting chaired by President Putin.
- A nationwide medical check-up for children will begin today and run
through December 15th.
*******
#4
strana.ru
April 15, 2002
Flagship Investment Points to "Historical" Turn in Retail Sector Growth, Says
Real Estate Research
Why the market's a compelling opportunity for big name newcomers
By Michael Stedman
Accelerating consumer demand and a stable, growing economy puts Moscow's
retail sector on course for continued strong expansion this year and next,
real estate experts predict in a new report.
Last year will likely be noted as "an historical turning point in the
evolution of a modern retail sector in the Russian economy," their survey
claimed.
Rents becoming firmer, low vacancy rates and significant investment flows in
the development pipeline from both foreign and Russian capital sources were
all evidence of a bullish scene, said property services advisor Noble Gibbons
in its 2002 annual market review.
The report pointed to robust shopping center development and "flagship
investments" from big market names Metro, IKEA, Auchan and Spar among
retailers seeing Russia "and especially Moscow as a compelling opportunity as
income growth has shifted demand to higher quality consumer goods and food
products."
High discretionary spending was cited as a key component of further growth as
Russian buyers spent 80 percent of their income on retail consumer goods and
services and only nine per cent on obligatory payments, the researchers said.
Moscow was the fulcrum of retail development, given salaries three times
higher than the Russian average, and luxury high-fashion houses such as
Givenchy, Chanel and Brioni sold more in the Russian capital than anywhere
else in the world, the report observed.
But even now, Moscow's currently-available space inventory was found to lag
significantly behind mature markets, evident pointers to what still lies
ahead.
The capital had just 40 square meters of retail space for every 1,000
Muscovites compared with 400 square meters in Paris, 275 in London, 210 in
Berlin, 140 in Prague, 259 in Warsaw and 146 in Bucharest, the property firm
said.
Moscow's government was reported to have ambitious plans to increase shopping
center floor space to 280 square meters per 1,000 citizens by the year 2010.
Prime high street rents were given as $1,500 to $3,000 per square meter per
year on the central Tverskaya, Old Arbat, New Arbat, Stoleshnikov and
Kuznetsky Most. "Retail corridors" such as Leninsky, Leningradsky and
Kutuzovsky prospects were quoted as varying from $300 to $1,500 per square
meter per year.
"Rents for prime locations are expected to grow in the short term due to the
lack of supply and high demand from tenants competing for flagship sites,"
the report noted.
******
#5
Kommersant
April 16, 2002
THE PRESIDENT WILL ADDRESS THE NATION ON THURSDAY
Author: Nikolai Vardul
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
ACCORDING TO PRESIDENTIAL ECONOMIC ADVISOR ANDREI ILLARIONOV,
REDUCING TAXES AND BUREAUCRACY IS THE MAJOR FORMULA FOR ECONOMIC
GROWTH. WHY DON'T HERMAN GREF AND MIKHAIL KASIANOV FORMULATE THEIR
POLICY IN A SIMILARLY CLEAR AND COHERENT MANNER?
AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S MEETING WITH KEY CABINET MINISTERS YESTERDAY,
NEWS AGENCIES REPORTED THAT PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN WILL DELIVER HIS
ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE FEDERAL ASSEMBLY ON APRIL 18 (IN SOME OTHER
COUNTRIES, THIS IS CALLED AN ADDRESS TO THE NATION). AMONG OTHER
THINGS, THIS MEANS THAT THE DISPUTE BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND THE
CABINET ON THE RATE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH IS FINALLY OVER.
President Vladimir Putin will address the Federal Assembly on April 18
On April 8, the president reprimanded the Cabinet for not being
ambitious enough in setting targets for its development programs. What
he meant was that the Cabinet's plans would not enable Russia to catch
up even with the least developed European Union states (thanks to
presidential economic advisor Andrei Illarionov, this is usually a
reference to Portugal). Faster growth immediately became the top issue
on the Russian political agenda, and consequently of the presidential
address.
On April 12, the Cabinet did its best to rise to the challenge:
an expanded board of the Economic Development Ministry met with the
prime ninister and deputy prime ministers to discuss faster rates.
Boosting figures in the development programs is easy. Answering the
question of how economic growth may be speeded up is not.
Right now, the Cabinet doesn't have too many ideas about what a
policy of economic growth should be. The ideas it has have been
borrowed from the Kremlin. That is why the Cabinet's response was not
particularly convincing. Economic Development Minister Herman Gref
merely listed the structural reforms which he said would ensure faster
growth in 2004 than at present (for some reason, the minister did not
give exact figures). Predictably enough, the list was topped by
reorganization of natural monopolies and reforms to housing and
utilities.
Illarionov described these reforms as a priority over a year ago.
His reasoning is fairly simple: the level of state spending included
in the federal budget year after year is ruining the national economy.
Illarionov once accused Anatoly Chubais and the International Monetary
Fund of pursuing a "socialist policy" in their emphasis on budget
revenues in general and collection of taxes in particular. According
to Illarionov, this policy was based on the unwarranted importance
given to the role of the state in the economy. Reduction of state
spending (and Illarionov ambitiously intends to cut state spending by
1% of the GDP, or 100 billion rubles) will enable the state to cut
taxes by the same amount. According to Illarionov, reducing taxes and
bureaucracy is the major formula for economic growth.
Why don't Gref and Prime Minister Mikhail Kasianov formulate
their policy in a similarly clear and coherent manner? Why do they
always hide their meaning behind phrases like "second-order reforms"
and so on? Illarionov's ideas are so obvious. Most likely, the Cabinet
is in no hurry to take responsibility for unpopular policies. It is
common knowledge, after all, that voters will not be enthusiastic
about drastic cuts in state spending - and the presidential and
parliamentary elections are on the horizon.
The president will take the initiative on April 18. Reforms to
housing and utilities, natural monopolies, and the state apparatus
will apparently be mentioned; but their impact on the budget -
reduction of state spending - is not going to be emphasized. A lower
ruble exchange rate (Illarionov's other idea) may be mentioned as one
method of achieving faster growth, especially since former Central
Bank chief Viktor Geraschenko is now out of the picture.
As for sharing responsibility for unpopular policies, that is
still in the future.
*******
#6
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
April 16, 2002
NO SOAP OPERAS AT THE STATE'S EXPENSE
By autumn, the Cabinet may have a plan for privatizing state-owned media
Author: Lidiya Andrusenko
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
THE MEDIA MINISTER HAS ANNOUNCED THAT A NEW LAW ON THE MEDIA IS
UNDER DEVELOPMENT. MOREOVER, THE STATE INTENDS TO SELL STATE-OWNED
NEWS MEDIA, AND STOP COMPETING WITH PRIVATE COMPANIES. ESSENTIALLY,
BOTH IDEAS ARE REVOLUTIONARY.
Russian state officials tend to make the most stunning statements
on domestic policy during their visits to the West. Media Minister
Mikhail Lesin's recent visit to the United States was no exception to
the rule.
The Washington Times published an article headlined "Mikhail
Lesin: Russia To Sell State-Owned Media" - which was immediately
viewed as a sensation. Firstly, Lesin announced that a new law on the
media was under development. Secondly, the state intends to sell
state-owned news media, and stop competing with private companies.
Essentially, both ideas are revolutionary. The current law on the
media was written in 1990. It is already outdate, but is nevertheless
viewed as almost the only Russian legislation in line with
international democratic standards.
The amendments the Media Ministry is now working on seem to
pertain only to normalization of relations between media owners and
founders. In other words, the authors of the new legislation are
aiming to safeguard the media from conflicts between owners. In
principle, however, this noble idea may pose a serious threat to the
media if the new law or drastic amendments require re-registration of
the media. Observers do not rule out the possibility that media
outlets in opposition to the regime - or those the Kremlin has reason
to dislike - could be purged. Lesin himself indirectly confirms that
such a danger exists. He said specifically that the state should
restrict quantitative growth of media outlets, because the market may
fail to support them all. There are two ways of achieving this: by
administrative methods, or real competition. Moreover, Lesin made it
quite clear that the state must prevent the major media outlets from
being dominated by political parties or wealthy tycoons promoting
their own interests.
As for deregulation of the media industry, Lesin announced that
the decision has not been made yet, and may only be announced this
autumn. Essentially, this means that the regime has understood the
need to make the media industry private - while being aware at the
same time that it may fail to find enough money in the budget to
maintain state-owned media. Autumn is also when the Cabinet will
submit next year's draft budget to the Duma.
State officials know all too well that state-owned media cannot
compete with private media. Aleksei Volin of the Cabinet staff says:
"They are the most toothless and pitiful in terms of content."
According to Volin, the state-owned media are in trouble. Allegedly
dependent on budget subsidies, they are supposed to have priority in
obtaining information - but this conflicts with the law on the media
and the Constitution, demanding equality of all forms of ownership.
The conclusion is simple, or so Volin believes: hiring a dozen
expensive PR specialists is cheaper and more effective than
maintaining a single TV channel. It has finally dawned on the
government that it is pointless for it to fund screening of Santa
Barbara and similar soap operas; it would be much more logical to
order social, news, and educational programs and distribute them among
various channels, depending on their ratings. The idea is attractive,
of course, but what if the state orders lower the ratings of popular
programs? After all, it's common knowledge that a program's ratings
depend on its independence - or at least the illusion of independence
- from the state.
*******
#7
Versty
No. 42
April 2002
[translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only]
RUSSIA FACES MIND-BOGGLING PROBLEMS AT THIS STAGE
President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation is
getting ready to address the Federal Assembly. However, this
country has too little time for solving its key problems.
Professor Yuri MALENKOV from St. Petersburg's State University,
who holds a D. Sc. (Econ.) degree, has this to say.
A scientific analysis shows only too clearly that a
critical period for preventing loss of control over society
totals no more than four consecutive years. However, Russian
society has been existing without any clear-cut strategic
national-development guidelines for many years in a row.
All strategic aspects had been disregarded for quite a
while; nonetheless, the Russian leadership has recently made
some moves toward creating a favourable economic environment.
Easy- term taxation, which is one of the world's lowest, is
being introduced. Some measures aiming to scale down
bureaucratization and to enhance the responsibility of hitherto
uncontrollable federal agencies have been implemented.
Financial processes and the rouble's exchange rate have been
stabilized; political conflicts have become less acute. A slow,
but, unfortunately, belated, economic recovery has set in.
An acute socio-economic "time trouble," which is the
salient feature of the present-day Russian situation, is not
being comprehended by our powers-that-be in real earnest.
This country has virtually run out of time for solving
problems, which threaten the attainment of progress, as well as
the entire existence of Russia and society alike.
What do we expect from the presidential address in the
context of the current Russian situation?
First of all, the state-of-the-nation address should deal
with the relevant strategies being chosen by the national
leadership for coping with various super-factors (threats),
whose list includes the following factors:
1. The fast-paced depreciation of industrial, transport,
power-industry and communications-network fixed assets and
equipment and their subsequent removal from the economic sphere.
This process, which tends to accelerate with every passing
year, is assuming nearly disastrous proportions. Labour
productivity and competitiveness are impaired as a result,
serving to upset the overall economic balance. This is
highlighted by convulsions now plaguing the Far Eastern power
grid, large-scale accidents and deteriorating personnel
aptitudes. Hence the following main conclusion - what we need
is a powerful influx of investment for retooling the economy
and for overhauling the entire infrastructure. Current
favourable opportunities for doing this are being used on a
very small scale nowadays. This can be explained by the
following main obstacles:
-- lack of skilled top managers conforming to foreign
corporate managerial standards;
-- the existence of a powerful bureaucratic establishment;
-- corruption;
-- rampant crime;
-- contradictory, inadequate and often unjust legislation.
So, what else threatens Russia?
2. A combination of society's demographic recession (i.e.
a sharp birth-rate decline and a decline in the number of young
people, who are supposed to replace retiring workers) with the
additional removal of unprecedentedly large able-bodied
population categories, i.e. drug addicts, AIDS victims,
alcoholics, mentally disturbed persons, crime victims and
people with congenital defects, from the production and
consumption sphere. As a matter of fact, tens of millions of
people will be affected by these factors within the next few
years, thus failing to engage in socially useful labour.
Moreover, tremendous budgetary appropriations will have to be
spent on treating them.
This would hit the economy real hard. It would become well-nigh
impossible to manage this country's human resources and to
restore society, after their share reaches 20 percent of the
entire Russian population. Meanwhile the bulk of the federal
budget would be spent on efforts to cope with such consequences.
Some prominent planners hope that Russia will manage to attract
human resources from other post-Soviet republics. But such
hopes are absolutely illusory because this country lacks
federal-budget appropriations. Where will the Government find
$100 billion for accommodating and employing 10 million
families?
At the same time, the nationwide personnel structure
continues to deteriorate; the same can be said about personnel
aptitudes, discipline, as well as declining education standards
and quality. All this serves to increase chances for
large-scale emergency situations, which destabilize the
economy, many times over. Worn-out and accident-prone
production facilities would thus be run by unskilled workers
suffering from hopelessly inadequate wages and lax discipline;
consequently, all kinds of emergencies and disasters would
become distinctly possible and even inevitable.
3. The threat of a criminalized public mentality, the cult
of violence, eroding moral values, as well as a decline in
society's overall culture and education standards.
4. A rapid increase in emergency situations and disasters
entailing numerous casualties and major economic losses.
5. The all-out deterioration of the global economic
situation's factors, unstable global fuel and energy prices, a
heavy economic burden being exerted by foreign debts on the
Russian economy and lack of substantial financial reserves.
6. A rapidly deteriorating geo-political situation,
rampant international terrorism, the danger of large-scale
armed conflicts along the Russian Federation's southern
perimeter, the need for additional sizeable budgetary
expenditures in conditions of inadequate resources.
7. Greater bureaucracy and corruption, sub-standard
managerial and business ethics, the degradation of personnel,
managerial systems and methods, slow-poke innovation activity,
as well as stagnation inside federal and business spheres.
The President of Russia, who has found himself in the same
contradictory situation as Russia, largely resembles a doctor,
who must do his best in order to save the patient. But, first
of all, we need a strategy for coping with key super-factors,
i.e.
threats, and for tackling vital problems on the basis of
effective measures. Society would like the President to set
forth precisely this strategy in his state-of-the-nation
address.
******
#8
Cooperation With America Over Russian Taliban in Guantanamo 'Unprecedented'
Izvestiya
12 April 2002
Interview with Sergey Fridinskiy, deputy general prosecutor for the
Southern Federal District, by Yelena Stroiteleva; place and date not
given: "Sergey Fridinskiy: This Cooperation Is Unprecedented"
Sergey Fridinskiy, Russian deputy general
prosecutor for the Southern Federal District, commented to Izvestiya's
own correspondent in Rostov on the situation concerning the Russian
Taliban in Guantanamo.
[Stroiteleva] Will America help us further?
[Fridinskiy] Our cooperation with the U.S. side has not ended with
one trip by an investigator. We will soon be sending to the United
States an instruction on legal aid with a request that the circumstances
connected with the participation of our citizens in combat operations on
the side of the Taliban be clarified.
[Stroiteleva] Is there a possibility of their being dispatched
temporarily onto Russian territory?
[Fridinskiy] This is ruled out. As regards extradition, we can raise
this question only when sufficient proof has been gathered in order to
institute criminal proceedings against our Taliban.
[Stroiteleva] What further action will the United States take against
the prisoners?
[Fridinskiy] The citizens of around 30 countries are being held in
Guantanamo. It will be difficult for the U.S. side to deal with them on
its own and ensure that criminal proceedings are lawfully instituted
against them. Take, for example, the question of how to establish their
identity. It seems to me that the United States will be clearly forced
to turn to those countries whose citizens are being held at the base.
The cooperation that has begun from our side shows that the Americans are
going down this road.
[Stroiteleva] What practical importance does the evidence of the
Russian Taliban have for the Russian law enforcement organs?
[[Fridinskiy] Of course their evidence is important, and we will
check it. But I would like to mention something else. This is the first
time that such a case is being investigated. Such close cooperation with
the Americans is also unprecedented. If positive experience is acquired,
the work of the law enforcement organs in Russia and in other countries
will be made easier. We will be able to combat terrorism not separately
but jointly, at the international level. This also concerns the
investigation of other cases -- for example, the nonreturn of currency
earnings from abroad. After all, it is very often the case that, in
spite of the existence of agreements on legal aid, differences in
countries' legislation systems do not make it possible to implement
investigative actions that are essential in order to establish the truth.
*******
#9
From: "Marcus Warren"
Subject: Re Davis/Ware JRL 6187/6
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002
Positively my last words on the subject
Yeltsin was very much in office when he condemned the Clinton missile
strikes on al-Qa'eda bases (insofar as he ever was and indeed anyone was
running Russia immediately after the August 98 Crash).
Russian officials frequently consider out loud or "do not rule out"
options. The talk of air strikes (in May 2000) appeared to be aimed partly
at warning the Taliban away from the Tajik border. In this it had some
success apparently. What more Russian air strikes could have achieved is
debatable.
As Mr Ware points out, Russian air strikes and artillery bombardment
have been v effective in devastating Grozny. Beyond securing the border with
Dagestan, Russia's military campaign (on its own territory) appears to have
been much less successful in stopping terrorism. Inside Chechnya the
warlords are still at large and the killings continue and there is the
threat of spillover into Georgia too.
Perhaps the West should have been more proactive in working with Russia
earlier. But as Mr Davis illustrates, the US was fairly involved in holding
the line in Central Asia as it was. In retrospect - and we are all the wiser
now - an even better strategy would have been leaning more heavily on
Pakistan or cooperating with the Northern Alliance. What did Russia have to
offer besides bluff over air strikes? Troops on the ground? Intelligence? A
replay of the storming of Amin's palace? I think not.
I am against Russophobia too. But let's not embrace a romantic
Russia-centrism which ascribes to Moscow a strategic reach it doesn't have
any more. Putin doesn't.
My apologies to Ira Straus for misspelling his surname first time round.
Marcus Warren
Moscow Correspondent
The Daily Telegraph
*******
#10
Financial Times (UK)
15 April 2002
'Empress' seeks former glory: Russia's second-largest city is looking to
Vladimir Putin, one of its favourite sons, to help restore its clout
By RAFAEL BEHR
Received wisdom dictates that natives of St Petersburg are more European in
outlook and cooler of temperament than their counterparts in rival Moscow.
Whether or not this is true of Vladimir Putin, the city is pleased to count
Russia's president as one of its own. Mr Putin is clearly attached to his
home town, whose cadres he has systematically plundered to staff his
administration. It is the closest the city has come to real power since Lenin
moved the capital to Moscow.
Alongside Petersburg-born economic liberals in Moscow since the early days of
Boris Yetsin's presidency, Mr Putin has recruited faces from his career in St
Petersburg city hall and the Leningrad KGB. Strategic appointees include
Sergei Ivanov, defence minister, Sergei Mironov, speaker of parliament's
upper chamber and, from April, Sergei Ignatiev, head of the Central Bank of
Russia.
But Russia's second-largest city still comes a distant second to Moscow in
economic clout. Petersburg's 4.5m inhabitants see the 300th anniversary next
year of the city's creation - on an autocratic whim of Peter the Great - as a
test of the exported elite's commitment to their alma mater.
Inconveniently for Mr Putin, the city is run by Vladimir Yakovlev. In 1996,
Mr Yakovlev defected from the administration of the then mayor, Anatoly
Sobchak, and defeated him in gubernatorial elections. Mr Putin was a close
ally of Sobchak and his protege. He famously accused Mr Yakovlev of
indirectly hastening his former boss's death in March 2000.
The same year, Mr Yakovlev was re-elected with 72 per cent of the vote,
despite clear signals from the Kremlin that it wanted a new governor in St
Petersburg. A vendetta in the northern capital was widely forecast.
These days Mr Putin is represented in the city by Viktor Cherkessov, a
Leningrad KGB comrade of Mr Putin and his presidential envoy for north-west
Russia. But so far, Mr Cherkessov has not clashed conspicuously with Mr
Yakovlev. Three of Mr Yakovlev's deputies have come under corruption
investigations in recent months, but the motives for the local prosecutors'
new-found zeal is unclear.
"We do not feel the influence of Cherkessov," says Mikhail Gorny of
Petersburg's Strategia think-tank. "Yakovlev in his own right will never go
against Putin, so the initiative will come from Putin, but for now he has no
need to do this. Maybe in a year things will heat up again."
Next year Russia holds parliamentary elections. The following year Mr
Yakovlev is expected to seek a third term as governor and Mr Putin a second
term as president. Both men are taking a personal interest in a successful
300th birthday party.
"The opinion of Vladimir Putin is that the best way to celebrate is to
improve the lives of people in the city," enthuses Alexander Zapesotsky,
rector of the St Petersburg University of Humanities and Social Sciences.
"Our governor thinks the same, and in this they are working together."
Mr Zapesotsky is a sharp-suited academic and impresario whose office is
adorned with pictures of himself entertaining Russian stars alongside
students from his university. Mr Yakovlev has given him the task of creating
a Dollars 25m fund of domestic and foreign sponsorship for the celebrations.
The city, says Mr Zapesotsky, offers fast-track processing of investors'
planning proposals in return.
But in addition to the festivities, the authorities want to restore crumbling
facades, fill pot-holes and give voters some civic pride. Under Mr Yakovlev,
the local economy has recovered from the 1998 national economic crisis.
Foreign investment in the city last year was Dollars 1.7bn, up 14 per cent
from 2000. But Petersburg is in a state of disrepair.
Moreover, pensioners and veterans make up around one-third of the population,
putting a strain on the Dollars 2bn annual local budget. To restore the
dowager empress city to its former glory, Mr Yakovlev has had to look for
federal funds. The largest and highest profile schemes connected to the 300th
anniversary, such as building a ring road and strengthening flood defences,
depend on Moscow. "The more federal money the city uses, the more limited is
local power," says Mikhail Gorny.
Since 2000, St Petersburg has followed the national trend for humble
unanimity behind the hugely popular president. In the parliamentary elections
in 1999, Mr Yakovlev was prominent in the All Russia-Fatherland movement that
unsuccessfully challenged the pro-Putin Unity party. The factions have now
merged into one broad pro-Putin party - Fatherland and Unity - and Mr
Yakovlev sits on its supreme council.
"The Governor has enough political sense not to steal the limelight from the
president," says Yuri Solonin, chairman of the party's St Petersburg wing, of
the 300th anniversary. "His best option is to put himself in a position of
solidarity, which is what he is doing."
For the time being there is no obvious challenger to Mr Yakovlev, who leads
opinion polls and is popular among the ageing public sector workers whose
jobs he pledged to protect in his election campaign - apparently with some
success.
But Petersburgers want their city to equal Moscow, and for this they look to
Mr Putin. The president's portrait is widely on sale in the city. "Of course,
we are very proud he is from here," says Tatiana, a shop attendant. "He does
not drink and he speaks foreign languages."
Meanwhile, Petersburg's liberal intelligentsia complains - discreetly - of a
growing cult of deference to the city's favourite son. They are awaiting
clarification next year as to whether Mr Putin represents the city's fabled
western moderation or the whimsical autocracy of its founder.
******
#11
Belarus: Sixteen Years Later, Chornobyl Legacy Lives On
By Valentinas Mite
Sixteen years have passed since the Chornobyl nuclear-power-plant disaster --
considered history's worst nuclear accident -- but the event is still
affecting the lives of millions of people in Belarus. It is Belarus, not
Ukraine, that received the majority of the nuclear fallout and continues to
bear the greatest burden in recovering from the accident. How do Belarusian
scientists and politicians view the present situation? And how does Belarus's
increasing isolation from the Western world affect its ability to cope with
the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster?
Prague, 15 April 2002 (RFE/RL) -- Nearly 25 percent of Belarus is
contaminated by radioactivity -- the grim legacy of the Chornobyl
nuclear-power-plant disaster in April 1986. To this day, a
1,700-square-kilometer zone remains completely evacuated, surrounded by
barbed wire and under police guard. But the contamination spreads far beyond
the containment zone. In a country of 10 million, one out of every five
residents has been affected by the accident. Belarusian scientists say the
country received 70 percent of the fallout from the Chornobyl accident.
Vincuk Viacorka heads the Belarusian Popular Front opposition group, which
for the past several years has organized protest rallies to mark the 26 April
anniversary of the Chornobyl accident. He says that nearly 140,000
Belarusians continue to live in territories where radiation levels top 15
curies of cesium per square kilometer. (In Europe, the average radiation
level is less than 1 curie per square kilometer.) Russia and Ukraine have
both evacuated residents from such areas long ago. As many as 12,000 people
are projected to develop thyroid cancer over the coming years, the majority
of whom will be Belarusians.
The result is a continuing humanitarian crisis that is set to grow even more
dire as Belarus further isolates itself from the West and international
sources of aid.
Some critics within Belarus say the West, in focusing on the country's poor
democracy-building record, have allowed badly needed aid and other forms of
support to dwindle. But Viacorka argues that the Belarusian government itself
hinders help coming from abroad. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka passed
legislation requiring the registration of all humanitarian organizations
operating in Belarus.
Two years ago, Jurij Bandazheuski, the rector of the medical institute in
Gomel -- a city located several kilometers from the radioactive zone -- was
accused of bribery and jailed. Human-rights groups say no evidence was
presented during the trial of the prominent scientist, who at the time of his
arrest was investigating the incidence of cancer in contaminated areas. They
continue to demand his release.
Viacorka said that since Lukashenka consolidated his power in 1996 --
launching a constitutional referendum to expand his powers and extend his
term in office without an election -- the authorities have softened control
of high-contamination regions. People are not prohibited from settling in
radioactive zones, and in some regions the state has even encouraged
agricultural activity.
"The production of food continues. It means that grain and meat are produced
in the contaminated areas. The products are used by the entire Belarusian
population," Viacorka said.
Ruza Goncharova, a professor with the Belarusian Academy of Sciences, has
been investigating the country's radioactive regions since 1986. She said
radioactivity levels in many food products violate Belarusian safety
standards, which are already lower than safety standards in Russia and
Ukraine. Moreover, she says, food produced in contaminated areas is given no
special packaging or labels to warn consumers of its origin.
Goncharova said she is opposed to any food being produced in the contaminated
areas. But she said there must be ways for people living in such regions to
earn a living, and that it is the government's responsibility to stimulate
economic activity without putting the health of the entire country at risk --
a sentiment echoed recently by United Nations Undersecretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs Kenzo Oshima, who appealed to the international
community to move from simply supplying humanitarian aid to supporting what
he called "social development."
Goncharova told RFE/RL: "We must create good living conditions for people who
live in the contaminated regions such as those created in Japan [after the
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]. But it doesn't happen. I think there
should be no active agricultural activity here. The entire economy needs a
new profile. It's a pity no one is working in this direction. What is even
more strange is that they started cultivating rape [a plant used for fodder
and for the production of rapeseed oil] here."
Goncharova said Belarusian authorities apply a double standard in dealing
with the country's contaminated regions -- appealing to the West for help
while assuring residents the situation is under control and that many of the
radioactive zones are now safe to live in.
Viktor Kornijenko, a Chornobyl activist living in Gomel, says many of
Belarus's contaminated zones are becoming newly populated by refugees from
the former Soviet republics. Many of these immigrants enter the country
illegally, but the Belarusian authorities often turn a blind eye as long as
they are living in the radioactive zones. He said, "For those people, the
problem of radiation doesn't seem as serious as war, and they think they have
practically found a paradise on earth here." Some refugees, he adds, have
even settled within the 1,700-square-kilometer containment zone.
Stanislau Shuskevich, the former chairman of the Belarus parliament and now
the leader of the Social Democratic Party, says new settlers in the
contaminated areas -- the majority of whom are from Russia's North Caucasus
region or the Central Asian states -- are adding up to a very serious
problem.
"There are buildings still standing in the Chornobyl radioactive zone. Some
people from troubled areas in the former Soviet Union do not want to put
themselves and their children at deadly risk [at home] anymore. So they
prefer staying in the radioactive zone to dying from the bullets of some
bandits or gunmen or dying in the process of introducing so-called
constitutional order at home," Shuskevich said.
But Slavomir Antonovic, the spokesman for the Belarusian State Committee for
Chornobyl, said such newcomers are not the government's main concern. He
said, "Belarus first must help its own population living in the contaminated
regions, and only later on start thinking about those who arrive from other
countries."
Antonovic also blamed the West's preoccupation with Belarus's political
situation for calling attention away from the plight of Chornobyl victims. He
says there has been a sharp decrease in Western humanitarian aid in recent
years, and that many state programs in affected regions are in danger of
being canceled.
Shuskevich, however, put it a slightly different way, saying, "Belarus is
considered to be an undemocratic state that violates human rights, and that
is the main reason why the country is not able to get more funds."
*******
#12
Chicago Tribune
April 14, 2002
Eskimo way of life in peril as Arctic warms, ice melts
By Usha Lee McFarling. Special to the Tribune. Usha Lee McFarling is a staff
writer for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune newspaper
YANRAKYNNOT, Russia -- The native elders have no explanation. Scientists are
perplexed as well. The icy realm of the Eskimo--the tundra and ice of Russia,
Alaska, Canada and Greenland--has started to thaw.
Strange portents are everywhere.
Thunder and lightning, once rare, have become commonplace. An eerie warm wind
now blows from the south. Hunters who prided themselves on their ability to
read the sky say they no longer can predict the sudden blizzards. "The
Earth," one hunter concluded, "is turning faster."
In recent years, seabirds have washed up dead by the thousands, and deformed
seal pups have become common. Whales appear sick and undernourished. The
walrus, a mainstay of the local diet, is becoming scarce, as are tundra
rabbits.
The elders, who keep thousands of years of history and legend without ever
writing it down, have long told children this story: If the ice that freezes
thick over the sea each winter breaks up before summer, the entire village
could perish.
The children always laughed.
But last winter, when schoolteacher Zoya Telpina looked from her kitchen
window toward the Bering Sea, she saw something she had never seen in her 38
years: The dark swell of the open ocean. Water where there had always been
ice.
What the residents of the Arctic are reporting fits convincingly with
powerful computer models, satellite images and recently declassified ice
measurements taken by Russian submarines.
In the last century, parts of the Arctic have warmed by 10 degrees
Fahrenheit--10 times the global average. Sea ice covers 15 percent less of
the Arctic Ocean than it did 20 years ago, and that ice has thinned from an
average of 10 feet to less than 6.
A group of scientists who spent a year aboard an icebreaker concluded that
the year-round sea ice that sustains marine mammals and those who hunt them
could vanish in 50 years.
The U.S. Navy, already planning for an ice-free Arctic, is exploring ways to
defend the previously ice-clogged Northwest Passage from attack by sea.
In their search for information about the changes, Western scientists are
turning to native sources they once disparaged. In a rare convergence of
science and folklore, a group of scientists is mining the memories of native
elders, counting animal pelts collected by hunters and documenting the
collective knowledge of entire villages.
The subsistence hunters of Chukotka live in small villages without pickup
trucks or snowmobiles, without supply ships or supermarkets. They have 19th
Century harpoons, small boats and limited fuel.
These villagers, almost entirely dependent on the icy sea for their food, may
be witnessing the demise of their ancient way of life.
Caleb Pungowiyi, an Eskimo who works with scientists to record the
observations of his elders and peers, put it this way: "When this Earth
starts to be destroyed, we feel it."
Scientists are only beginning to catch up with native observations on many
aspects of the Arctic environment, such as tundra vegetation. They are
monitoring a tree line advancing north as the Arctic warms. And scientists
from Russia, Delaware and Ohio have just started a large-scale project to
study the permafrost as it thaws.
It is unclear whether the changing climate will let them finish their work.
With scientists still debating the trajectory of change in the Arctic, the
fate of the Siberian Eskimo remains as uncertain as the Arctic ice in late
spring.
Hunters with tiny boats and little fuel must now go much farther out to sea
for food. Sometimes they return empty-handed. Sometimes they return with prey
unusual for the season, or fish native to warmer waters. Sometimes, when the
seas are rough, they do not return at all.
The hunters willingly talk about the many changes they see around them. But
they don't spend much time worrying about climate change.
For the moment, they have more pressing concerns: gathering enough ammunition
for the spring hunt and stretching their supply of whale meat.
******
#13
The Chronicle of Higher Education
April 19, 2002
Russian Students Go Online to Experience American Political Science
By BROCK READ
"The Soviet Union may have disappeared into history 10 years ago," says
Coit D. Blacker, deputy director of Stanford University's Institute for
International Studies, but "the damage inflicted upon the social sciences
and humanities in Russia was profound." Through a Stanford program, Mr.
Blacker and his colleagues are attempting to repair some of the damage --
by giving Russian students a taste of an American political-science classroom.
Last fall, the university's Initiative on Distance Learning, a branch of
Mr. Blacker's institute, introduced the first in a three-year series of
political-science courses delivered to Russian universities through
CD-ROM's and online learning. The initial offering, "International Security
in a Changing World," was taught by Mr. Blacker and a team of Stanford
political scientists.
The university is offering a second course this quarter: "International
Environmental Politics," led by Ronald Mitchell, an associate professor of
political science at the University of Oregon and former visiting scholar
at Stanford. Like its predecessor, the course is taught to students at four
Russian institutions: Petrozavodsk State University, Southern Ural State
University, Ural State University, and Yaroslavl State University.
Stanford pays to develop and produce the courses, which are free to Russian
students. The Russian universities, however, may soon add small course
fees, "to make sure that the students who sign into the course take it
seriously," says Mr. Blacker.
In the courses, every student receives a CD-ROM containing video recordings
of English-language lectures in Stanford classes. The lectures are given by
a variety of speakers, including each course's professor, other Stanford
faculty members, and outside specialists.
After viewing each lecture, the Russian students meet with professors at
their institutions to review important themes. They then participate in
weekly online chat sessions with their peers at all four universities and
with Stanford graduate students who act as teaching assistants.
Occasionally, professors or guest speakers who appear on the CD-ROM take
part in the chats.
Students interact further through a bulletin board on which they post short
weekly assignments reacting to the lectures and to English and Russian
reading assignments. They also take midterm and final examinations.
Sixty students participated in the international-security course last
quarter.
Katherine Kuhns, managing director of the Initiative on Distance Learning,
credits the Russian professors who publicized the course and screened
students for ensuring that participants could complete the course.
Responsibilities Are Split
The only prerequisites for the courses are competence in English and an
interest in political science. The students who enrolled in the
international-security class -- including political-science majors,
journalists, psychologists, and law students -- "were already the cream of
the crop," Ms. Kuhns says.
The collaboration among professors at the universities extends beyond the
screening process. Grading duties are split between Stanford's teaching
staff and Russian instructors, and the hometown professors help their
students surmount problems with the language barrier. "Dialogue [between
the sites] is integral to the learning process," says Ms. Kuhns. The local
professors, she adds, "are our eyes and ears on the ground."
The Stanford professors, meanwhile, must take into account the "steep
learning curve" that Mr. Blacker says Russian students face in trying to
adapt to American ways of teaching social science. Russian instruction in
the field "tends to be just a recitation of the facts," he says.
In taping the lectures, the program developers at Stanford made a point of
including scenes of interaction between professors and students. "We took a
camera crew into the classroom," says Ms. Kuhns, "and tried as much as
possible to capture the setting."
Larichev Alexander, a law student at Petrozavodsk State University, wrote
in a review of the course that exposure to a new learning environment
helped him "destroy old inner stereotypes."
"Stanford coordinators should know that the view on the issues they
introduced was completely different from what I as an ordinary Russian
citizen had," he wrote.
Mr. Blacker says that the Russian students learned the ins and outs of
critical discussion quite quickly. "We were astounded at the increase in
quality between the first set of essays and the last set of essays"
submitted to the class bulletin board, he says.
"We've been gratified at the response to the initiative from the Russian
universities, faculties, and students," says Mr. Blacker. In fact, Stanford
is in the process of expanding the program to include more courses and
institutions. Next year, a third course -- "Democracy, Civil Society, and
Terrorism" -- will be added to the curriculum, and seven universities will
participate. By the 2003-4 academic year, four courses will be offered to
10 institutions.
Stanford will then re-evaluate the program. Mr. Blacker hopes it will
expand to other republics of the former Soviet Union. One way of ensuring
the project's future, he adds, is to develop what he calls "an offset
strategy," in which Stanford offers the course at cost to Western students.
"If we can continue to identify and secure support, I hope and expect that
[the program] will continue to grow beyond the first three years," he says.
******
#14
Wall Street Journal
April 16, 2002
letter
The Rot in Russia
What appeared as an opinion article by Boris Nemtsov, a member of the
Russian parliament who leads the Union of Right Forces political party, was
completely disingenuous and false ("Mr. Putin: Stop the Rot," April 5). The
article only purports to be a defense of property rights in Russia . In
reality it is nothing more than an artificial pretext for repeating untrue
claims of favoritism against the Federal Commission for the Securities
Market (FCSM), our country's securities industry watchdog, of which I am
chairman.
Mr. Nemtsov cites "persistent allegations in the Russian press" as the
take-off point for his criticisms. In fact, neither have those
"allegations" been in any way persistent, nor have they appeared in what
anyone could call real press reports. The shameless fakery of which Mr.
Nemtsov is guilty is testified to by the fact that his supposed opinion
piece is built upon only isolated published reports that were planted as
obvious public relations ploys by a financial company -- Pallada Asset
Management -- haplessly seeking advantage in a legal battle with the FCSM
that they ultimately lost on all judicial levels.
Indeed, the op-ed probably in no way even reflects an opinion held by Mr.
Nemtsov, who to my knowledge possesses no personal view of either the FCSM
or myself. Rather, the parliamentarian is more likely merely reciting words
put in his mouth by his main patron, Unified Energy Systems, a major
Russian public company. In a real press report broadcast recently in Moscow
Mr. Nemtsov himself could not deny what everyone in Russia knows, which is
that UES is bankrolling his political party and presidential ambitions. At
the same time, the company has a specific interest in attacking the FCSM in
advance of its upcoming restructuring, which requires FCSM approval. UES
management is also widely known to have long-standing personal ties with
Pallada.
It is regrettable that unscrupulous Russian figures have managed to
manipulate a prestigious Western newspaper in the same deeply cynical
fashion as they do their own country's media on a routine basis. Sadder yet
is the spectacle of a politician attempting to undermine effective market
supervision under the hypocritical guise of protecting property rights,
which is a genuine and true policy of the Putin Administration and the FCSM.
Igor V. Kostikov
Chairman
Russian Federal Commission for the Securities Market
Moscow
*******
#15
Wall Street Journal
April 16, 2002
letter
Russia Fails to Protect Property Rights
Mr. Nemtsov is absolutely right in his criticism of Russia's failure to
protect property rights.
Our company, SPI Spirits, makes and supplies Stolichnaya vodka for some 150
countries. The company was legally privatized in Russia in the early 1990s
and later sold to its present private owners who rescued it from
near-bankruptcy by investing tens of millions of dollars. SPI and its
partners are also the legal owners of the Stolichnaya trademark in the 150
countries.
Now that SPI is a successful company, the Russian government is attempting
to renationalize it -- to take it back. Numerous Russian courts have
declared SPI the legal owner of the company, yet the government chooses --
in its arrogance and continuing police-state mentality -- to ignore its own
courts. Customs officials have been ordered to block shipments despite
court injunctions to the contrary; employees have been threatened, and
distributors in a number of countries have been intimidated by Russian
government officials. SPI will continue to fight for its legal rights.
At the same time, the rest of the world should recognize that Russia still
has a long way to go before it is ready to be seriously considered for
membership in the World Trade Organization, a membership it desperately
wants but whose guidelines for ethical commercial conduct it doesn't seem
willing to embrace.
Andrey Skurikhin
President, SPI Spirits-Russia
Moscow
*******
#16
Moscow Times
April 16, 2002
Yeltsin Hunts for Fountain of Youth
By Valeria Korchagina
Staff Writer
Boris Yeltsin, once reviled as a power-hungry tyrant, says these days he is
looking for only one thing -- a fountain of youth.
Yeltsin, who underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery and suffered bouts of
illness during his second term as president, is vacationing with his wife,
Naina, in and around the North Caucasus town of Mineralniye Vody.
Asked by an RTR reporter Sunday if he was visiting the region's mountain
springs and spas for medical treatments, Yeltsin replied proudly, "I have
nothing to cure. I'm fine, but it's for prevention and getting younger. I
need to start thinking about getting younger, after all I'm already 71."
Looking visibly relaxed and jovial, he then announced the birth of his
sixth grandchild, Masha, to his younger daughter Tatyana Dyachenko and
former chief of staff Valentin Yumashev.
"Our family increased yesterday. A granddaughter. Tatyana had Mashenka,"
Yeltsin said at the mountain spa of Pyatigorsk.
Masha was born six months after Dyachenko, 42, married her third husband,
Yumashev, 44. Both parents have children from previous marriages and
Yumashev is also a grandfather. Dyachenko's other children are Boris, 19,
and Gleb, 6.
Yeltsin has another granddaughter named Masha, the 18-year-old child of his
older daughter, Yelena Okulova.
Yeltsin, who was known during his presidency to have a fondness for
drinking, has rarely been seen in public since his abrupt resignation on
Dec. 31, 1999. He celebrated his 70th birthday in a hospital, where he was
recovering from the flu. Later in the year he vacationed in China, where he
reportedly sought traditional Chinese medical treatments.
Naina Yeltsin recently told the media that her husband has been taking
better care of his health since his retirement.
If Boris Yeltsin's radiant features were any judge Sunday, retirement is
treating him well. RTR showed him walking around Pyatigorsk, chatting with
the locals and enjoying the region's Narzan mineral water.
"Narzan is an excellent water, tasty and healthy," he said.
Naina Yeltsin showed up her husband, an avid fisherman, by catching a trout
in the mountain springs.
The couple appeared to be enjoying the vacation despite spells of bad
weather, including snowfall.
"Do you know what was he doing when big wet snowflakes were falling?" Naina
Yeltsin asked the RTR reporter.
It turned out that Boris Yeltsin stayed outdoors reading a magazine while
the snowflakes landed on the pages.
"I am from the Urals, I am used to the snow," Yeltsin roared, adding,
however, that it would be nice when spring finally arrives and flowers
start to bloom.
The Yeltsins started their vacation at the beginning of the month and they
are due to return to Moscow next week, at the same time Dyachenko and the
new baby are to be discharged from a London hospital and return home.
*******
#17
Los Angeles Times
April 16, 2002
Moscow OKs U.S. Poultry
Imports: Products from four states and 14 companies remain banned because
of diseases, Russia says.
By MAURA REYNOLDS, TIMES STAFF WRITER
MOSCOW -- Russia partially lifted a ban on U.S.-produced poultry Monday,
formally ending a nasty trade dispute that has clouded relations in advance
of a presidential summit next month.
But the Agriculture Ministry said poultry from four states and 14
producers, about 25% of pre-embargo imports, will still be excluded, making
it unlikely that the largest U.S. export to Russia will fully rebound in
the near future.
"It may take some time to get back to where we were, if we ever do," Toby
Moore, president of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, said by
telephone from his office in Georgia. "The image of U.S. poultry has been
harmed deeply." Russia announced the ban on U.S.-produced chicken and
turkey in early March, on the heels of the Bush administration's imposition
of heavy tariffs on imported steel from Russia and other countries.
Russian officials deny that the chicken ban was imposed as retaliation.
They have complained that American poultry violates Russian standards for
hygiene and additives, including antibiotics.
On March 31, Russian and U.S. negotiators reached agreement on new
standards for U.S. poultry. The United States says that in the last two
weeks, it has made changes in testing and documentation to comply with the
new standards, leading to the Russian announcement Monday.
Poultry from the four excluded states--North Carolina, Virginia,
Pennsylvania and Maine--has still been found to be infected with "avian
influenza," Russia's Agriculture Ministry said. Poultry from the 14
excluded companies has been found to contain salmonella, it said. It did
not release a list of the companies.
"The Agriculture Ministry notes that at the present time, there are
effectively two separate standards of veterinary control in the United
States. One, which requires strict adherence to all medical norms and
necessary standards, is used for the internal U.S. market. The other,
extremely liberal with only half-hearted enforcement, is applied to
exports, including those intended for Russia," the ministry said.
American chicken has been popular in Russia since the first Bush
administration, when the drumsticks earned the nickname "Bush legs." At the
time, American tastes had swung in favor of white breast meat, leaving
chicken producers with a surplus of legs. Russians preferred dark leg meat,
and U.S. poultry became a $640-million-a-year export to Russia.
The frozen legs, sold for about 65 cents a pound in Moscow, are especially
popular with pensioners, who can afford few other kinds of meat. Before the
embargo, Russia bought more than half of all the chicken exported from the
United States.
Russian producers have been trying to break into the U.S. market share, so
far unsuccessfully. They accuse the United States of selling the chicken
legs at prices so low that local producers can't compete.
That is the same complaint U.S. steelmakers aim at Russian steel producers.
The tariffs have hit Russia hard because steel is one of the few
manufactured products in which the country is internationally competitive.
Russian Economics Minister German O. Gref is in Washington this week to
discuss the dispute.
Viktor A. Kremenyuk, deputy director of the USA-Canada Institute in Moscow,
said Russian complaints about poultry disease and antibiotics are just
excuses for protectionism: "The chicken scandal was designed by Russian
poultry breeders with a sole purpose of boosting market prices for poultry."
However, he said, the timing was arranged for maximum political advantage.
Anti-Americanism is on the rise in Russia, exacerbated by the U.S. war on
terrorism and by the Olympics judging and drug scandals that hurt Russia's
standing in Salt Lake City. After the steel tariffs, U.S. poultry has
become a popular target of discontent.
President Bush is scheduled to visit Russia on May 23 to meet with
President Vladimir V. Putin.
Sergei L. Loiko of The Times' Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.
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