Johnson's Russia List
#6398
12 August 2002
davidjohnson@erols.com
A CDI Project
www.cdi.org
[Contents:
1. Washington Post: Peter Baker, Russia Ousting Dozens Of Peace Corps
Workers. Volunteers 'Not Qualified,' Official Says.
2. Argumenty I Fakty: THE UNSINKABLES. The young people of Russia in
search of new and old values.(interview with Yury Levada)
3. Vek: RUSSIANS WILL VOTE FOR THE ONE WHO SAVES THEM FROM FEAR.
Voters in 2004 will differ from the voters who supported Putin in 2000.
(interview with Yekaterina Yegorova)
4. Novye Izvestia: Igor Vandenko, CONTROLABLE MEASURES FOR THE
CONTROLLABLE DUMA. The new law on elections doesn't allow a variety of
choice.
5. Trud: Vyacheslav Nikonov, WHAT ABOUT CONSOLIDATION? Giving some
thought to reducing the number of Russia's regions.
6. EastWest Institute Russian Regional Report: Robert Orttung,
THE KOZAK COMMISSION ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT: THE VIEW FROM THE NORTH-WEST.
7. Interfax: Russian investments abroad still top foreign investments
in Russia.
8. Dow Jones: Russian 1st Half Inward Investment Up 25.2% On Year To
$8.4 Billion.
9. Moscow Times: Lyuba Pronina, U.S.: Russia Remains World No. 2 in Arms.
10. Russia Business List: Ben Aris, Russia and Iraq.
11. Business Week: Paul Starobin, Money to Burn...Putin. Tycoon Boris
Berezovsky funds a smear campaign.
12. The Guardian (UK): Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, Email from Volgograd.
13. Wall Street Journal: Stephanie Horvath, Caviar Industry Fights
Efforts To Add Fish to Endangered List.
14. Reuters: Pornography case brings Russian writer fame.(Sorokin)
15. Newsday: Former Russian prisoner writing book about experience.
(John Tobin)
16. AP: Peace Corps Cancels Russia Class.]
********
#1
Washington Post
August 12, 2002
Russia Ousting Dozens Of Peace Corps Workers
Volunteers 'Not Qualified,' Official Says
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Foreign Service
MOSCOW, Aug. 11 -- Despite warmer relations with the United States, the
Russian government has moved to kick out dozens of Peace Corps workers in a
decision that could severely hinder the program's operations here and
prevent new volunteers from coming.
The Foreign Ministry has not renewed visas for 30 of 64 volunteers seeking
documents for a second year of service in Russia, meaning they will be
recalled to the United States, according to the agency. As a result, the
next Peace Corps class, which is scheduled to arrive soon, has been cut in
half and might be canceled altogether.
"Unless visas come through, Peace Corps will have to make a decision
whether the new class will be sent or not, and fairly soon," said Jeff Hay,
the acting country director here.
Hay said the Russian government has given no reason for the visa denials.
Several officials contacted in the Foreign Ministry said they knew nothing
about them and could not comment.
However, the situation appeared to reflect long-brewing resentment over the
presence of a U.S. aid program initially designed to help developing
countries. While many communities across this vast country welcome the
Peace Corps volunteers, some officials grumble that Russia is treated as if
it were simply another impoverished Third World backwater and that the
American volunteers are ill-prepared for their assignments in this former
superpower.
"They were going around the world teaching people how to wash their hands
and things like that," said Pavel Sedalev, a specialist at the Education
Ministry who helps coordinate the Peace Corps program here. "But in Russia,
we're not a developing country. We have a certain level of culture."
Sedalev said the volunteers come with no training to teach English or
business development, their two primary aims in Russia. "They're absolutely
not qualified," he said. "It's one thing to send them to Africa where they
need to teach at schools there. It's another thing to send them to Russia
where we have special programs. We have to educate them about our teaching
methods."
The Peace Corps sent its first volunteers to Russia in 1992 after the
collapse of the Soviet Union. Nearly all of them at first were former
businessmen and businesswomen who worked as consultants in the Volga area
as Russians adapted to a capitalist economy.
By the late 1990s, though, in consultation with the Russians, the Peace
Corps switched its mission primarily to English-language instruction,
keeping a smaller business education component.
The program ran into visa problems last year as well, when visas for 10
volunteers were not renewed. But that came at a time of heightened tensions
between Russia and the United States, shortly after both sides expelled 50
diplomats in a row over espionage. Since then, the two countries have grown
much closer in an alliance forged in the aftermath of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
The Foreign Ministry this summer denied visas to 17 volunteers in the Far
East who for a time were left stranded in China waiting for renewals that
never came. Another 13 in western Russia have not received visas, and they
plan to leave for the United States in the next few days. Because of delays
caused by the dispute, the next class of 122 volunteers has been cut back
to 62, and they might not be able to come either.
Hay, the acting country director, said that volunteers all have bachelor's
degrees and many have teaching or tutoring experience. He added that he has
not heard many complaints from the Russians about their preparedness and
noted that the Peace Corps program here is tailored to Russia's needs.
"The program in Russia is very different than the one in Africa," he said.
"Certainly they're not teaching anyone to wash their hands. . . . There
hasn't been a complaint from the field."
Some Russians who have worked with the Peace Corps volunteers expressed
dismay at the trouble. "Their reputation is excellent," said Ilfat
Nurgaleyev, deputy to the international connections minister in the
province of Udmurtiya, where some volunteers have taught in local schools.
"Everybody's happy about their work and preparing requests to invite new
volunteers."
Yet he, too, acknowledged unhappiness over the lack of training. "The only
thing some people said was [that the volunteers are] not really specialists
and they're not really effective. . . . They were just language carriers.
We would like to have real professionals here."
A former Peace Corps volunteer here said the Russians had a legitimate
grievance. "I put myself in that camp -- I was in a business education
program. What was I doing in the business education program?" said Jynks
Burton, who was among those whose visas were not renewed last year. "I
don't know anything about business."
Burton, who remained in Russia and found a job by obtaining a visa
independently, said the Peace Corps had not served its volunteers well by
sending them here unprepared and not addressing the Russian concerns.
"Russia is not a place you can send people with no experience and expect
them to be successful," she said.
*******
#2
Argumenty I Fakty
August 7, 2002
THE UNSINKABLES
The young people of Russia in search of new and old values
Author: Vyacheslav Kostikov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
A LOOK AT RESULTS OF THE LATEST OPINION POLLS. MOST RUSSIAN CITIZENS
ARE STILL EXPECTING CRISES, BUT THE YOUNGER GENERATION IS MORE
CHEERFUL, AND THERE IS A SWING TOWARD TRADITIONAL VALUES. PRESIDENT
PUTIN'S POPULARITY RATING IS AS HIGH AS EVER.
An interview with Yury Levada, Director of the National Public
Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), on the results of the latest polls.
Question: What is the public mood like this summer?
Yury Levada: The situation is not simple. Of course, the
instability of Yeltsin's time is over but the present stability is
still very fragile. This causes fears and expectations of August
"exacerbation". Now people are talking about a possibility of another
default, although there are no obvious indicators for this.
Question: Are many people so pessimistic?
Levada: The younger generation makes me happy: after a short
intoxication with "advertisement capitalism" of fantastic careers,
easy money, and resorts, the real values are returning, such as
education, work, and family. Eighty percent of young married people
are dreaming of not buying a Mercedes Benz car, but of giving good
education to their children. People want to work but not on a market.
They want to earn good money, while in Russia most workers are
underpaid.
Question: Can this be the reason for the extremism among young
people - the popularity of skinhead gangs and neo-Nazi swastikas?
Levada: The younger generation is not immune to the Soviet past,
and they are unable to appreciate that experience. Those who are 20-22
now were eight to ten when the USSR broke up. All stories about
GULAGs, mental asylums for political dissidents, the leadership of the
Communist Party, restrictions on going abroad are abstract old jokes
and they hardly understand their meaning. It is amazing, but 12-14% of
young people think favorably of communism. Unfortunately, lately this
number has grown. Zyuganov is also a character of a difficult to
understand old joke and not a scary person. The youth lack social
education and are inclined to believe bright and beautiful slogans. It
is the issue of the next elections: these 12% may get lost in the
election slogans.
Question: Unfortunately, the past decade of reforms has destroyed
the trust to the power....
Levada: The trust for Vladimir Putin should not deceive the
authorities. People consider the president beyond the term
"authorities". The Russians trust Mikhail Kasyanov much less than
Putin. According to the latest research, the government's trust rating
is minus 18%.
Question: How do you calculate the percentage points?
Levada: We minus negative percentage points from the positive
ones and have the "pure" percentage. For instance, 73% of respondents
approve of Putin's actions and 20% of people are negative of him.
Overall, this makes +53%. Kasyanov has only +5%.
Question: Why does Kasyanov have +5% if the government has minus
18%?
Levada: It is an effect of the president's light. Besides,
Kasyanov is shown on television almost every day, which also
contributes to the people's opinion. Moreover, both are very positive
compared to Yeltsin.
Question: According to VTsIOM researches, what are the people's
major claims to the government?
Levada: The government is not concerned about the people, there
are no stable prices, the economy does not grow, the corruption is not
fought, people are not protected in the streets.
Question: How do people estimate regional governors?
Levada: Regardless of the press, overall the estimations are
positive. Governors are closer and easier to understand for the
people. While presidential envoys are estimated as "unnecessary
people".
Question: If the government is so unpopular, perhaps it is time
to shout like in 1917, "Down with ministers!"
Levada: The paradox is that no one wants to overthrow government.
Question: What about the communist party, fighters against the
"anti-people's regime", Zyuganov and Shandybin?
Levada: The Communist Party is no longer the "protest engine".
Question: Does that mean there is not a party in Russia which
protects people's interests?
Levada: There will not be such a party in the near future? No one
believes slogans saying "We control wages and pensions!" or "Do not
lost hope!", especially taking into account present price growth. The
current party construction is an attempt to imitate the Communist
Party, "the party of power", and its "subordinates". Two prior
attempts have failed, this one is the third. However, so far it has
not been a success. According to July research, the potential
electorate of the United Russia is 29%, mostly due to its closeness to
the administrative resource.
Question: Do you think they can overrun the communists?
Levada: In July their popularity rating was equal to the
communists'. It is not because the United Russia did something, but
because the Communist Party leadership is at a loss and is acting
inadequately. The scandal with Selezenv has seriously affected the
Communist Party: it has lost 7% of supporters since February.
Question: Are there any signs of Putin's "corrosion"?
Levada: Not a single one! After the Kursk submarine disaster,
Putin's popularity rating slightly fell. However at present it does
not depend on any events. For instance, Putin's foreign policy: about
50% of the public does not approve of his "pro-Americanism" and
believe that he is letting Bush get away with too much. At the same
time, it does not affect the president's image in the least! The
people want to have at least one hero in this country. According to
our polls, Putin is the hero of hope - and hope is always the last
thing to die. Most people say, "We have no one else to rely on...."
(Translated by Arina Yevtikhova )
*******
#3
Vek
August 5, 2002
RUSSIANS WILL VOTE FOR THE ONE WHO SAVES THEM FROM FEAR
Voters in 2004 will differ from the voters who supported Putin in 2000
Author: Larissa Aidinova
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
THE PRESIDENT'S POPULARITY RATING HAS NOT CHANGED FOR A VERY LONG
TIME. HOWEVER, IT IS DOUBTFUL THAT SUCH GREAT CONFIDENCE IS A BIG
ADVANTAGE - THERE ARE PROBABLY MORE DISADVANTAGES IN THIS POSITION.
THERE ARE STILL TWO YEARS UNTIL THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION - TIME
ENOUGH FOR DISENCHANTMENT.
An interview with Yekaterina Yegorova, Ph.D. (Politics), an
author of the Russian concept of political leadership, a consultant in
many election campaigns.
Yekaterina Yegorova: There is a risk that Russians may become
disenchanted with the president before the elections. Currently it is
a crucial moment: the level of pessimism in the public mood is
decreasing and the level of responsibility for one's own life is
increasing.
Question: How has the nature of the electorate changed?
Yegorova: Voters in 2004 will greatly differ from the voters who
supported Putin in 2000. In 2000 the people felt danger and considered
Putin to be a savior or a rescuer, or a magician, who would quickly do
something to the country which would cardinally change their lives.
Now the electorate is wiser and the people realize that the president
is not a magician and he must not be the one. He must be intelligent,
well-organized, and self-confident.
I think the main result of Putin's two-year activity is increase
of Russia's status - the world began respecting the country again.
Question: Respect and respectability are not very respected in
Russia.
Yegorova: Yes, no one gave attention to this as long as there
were no issues with this. As soon as Russia's positions in the world
has staggered, it greatly affected the public opinion. The feeling
that we are no one and others do not take us into account turned to be
very painful. The people feel that if the country is respected and
taken into account, this brings investments, the industry starts
developing, entrepreneurs and employees are more confident. Otherwise,
the country does not have future.
It has become calmer in Russia. I cannot say that there is a
national reconciliation, but overall ideological fights have left our
life as well as ideological terms. Another result of Putin's two-year
presidency is that none of election candidates speaks the ideology
language any longer.
Question: New parties are in a hurry looking for a new ideology
which would help them either to win over new voters or to deprive
their rivals of their voters.
Yegorova: The ideology has almost died in the country. An average
Russian can be attracted only by concrete things which could change
the current life for better.
Question: Still, it is very difficult to image that by 2004 there
may be an alternative for Putin presidential contender, although the
press mentions some names rather often.
Yegorova: In fact, there are few claims to the present president.
He is trying to do his best, he meets expectations.
Kasyanov is a wrong person for presenting to the electorate
nationwide. I mean only the image, how the public opinion accepts a
person. The people think he is too aristocratic, selfish, a nobleman.
He is rather a representative than a father of the nation and a man
close to the people.
Yavlinsky many times participated in the presidential election
and the results were rather indicative. As for Zyuganov, he is a very
uninteresting leader, the electorate of the party is dying.
Question: These are opinions of the people. And what are opinions
of the elite? It is clear that the elite's opinions about Putin's
actions greatly vary.
Yegorova: Recently we held a research among the elite and their
opinions really vary. At the same time, when asked who they would like
to see instead Putin as a president, they are perplexed and cannot
answer this question. The situation is still the same: the bench of
odd players is empty.
Question: Will Russians vote with their hearts or their heads at
the next parliamentary and presidential elections?
Yegorova: We must forget about voting with our hearts, we should
vote only with our heads - or fears.
Question: What do you mean by "fears"?
Yegorova: If we are afraid of something - for instance,
instability or confrontation - and if we believe a certain person can
be our rescuer or savior, we should vote for the one who saves us from
this fear.
(Translated by Arina Yevtikhova )
*******
#4
Novye Izvestia
August 10, 2002
CONTROLABLE MEASURES FOR THE CONTROLLABLE DUMA
The new law on elections doesn't allow a variety of choice
Author: Igor Vandenko
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
A LOOK AT THE NEW PRESIDENTIAL BILL ON PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS: SOME
SAY IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. THE BASIC GOAL OF THE NEW BILL ON DUMA
ELECTIONS IS EASILY COMPREHENSIBLE: TO MAKE THE ELECTIONS AS
CONTROLLABLE AS POSSIBLE BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSIONS (IN OTHER WORDS,
BY THE KREMLIN).
The Duma election campaign is about to begin, and the rules of
the upcoming contest have not been formally announced yet. However,
just "formally," since the concept of the new presidential law on the
Duma elections deputies of the lower house adopted at the end of the
latest session only requires to be passed in the second or third
reading in autumn. So there's good reason to discuss the quality of
this 315-page document, in the lead-up to elections. The basic goal of
the new bill on Duma elections is easily comprehensible: to make the
elections as controllable as possible by the electoral commissions (in
other words, by the Kremlin). The explanation given is simple: to
struggle any deviations from the standards. No need to mention,
however, that the logic succession beginning from the "controllable
elections" might only have a single ending - controllable parliament.
There are so many ways to solve this problem in the law. In compliance
with the new law, it is proposed to preserve the combined electoral
system, when 50% of Duma deputies will be elected in electoral
districts and another 50% - in accord with the party rosters in strict
proportions to the number of the vote obtained with the 5% go-barrier
retained. The terms of admitting federal lists of candidates to
distribution of deputy mandates and the conditions of recognizing a
candidate as elected in single-mandate districts were remained
unchanged. At the same time, it is impossible to disregard a series of
innovations, prepared solely for this bill and quite often
unconstitutional and in violation of the framework law on basic
suffrage guarantees...
Hence, only political parties with branches in at least 50% of
Russian regions, or electoral blocs having at least one political
party in their structure, are able to propose lists of candidates for
the elections. The law doesn't envisage nomination of candidates for
non-party groups of voters, which is the direct violation of the
constitution, since the latter declares equal rights for party and
non-party citizens of Russia. Moreover, at least three organizations
are required to form an electoral bloc. These restrictions seriously
narrow the circle of potential collective contenders for deputy seats.
In the case of the electoral bill, the new legislative norms are
likely to be used to create reliable obstacles to promotion, for
instance, election contenders for the governing party (it shouldn't be
forgotten that in compliance with the new law on the parties, only
federal, i.e. controllable party structures are legitimate). Moreover,
the new presidential law on the elections makes non-party candidates
certain to lose against party candidates in single-mandate districts.
In accord with the new law, the parties and blocs represented in the
current Duma will be relieved of the need to pass the official
procedures to be registered for the elections. The new bill proposes
to expand the declaration of income and assets for candidates. In
particular, the candidates will be obliged to report about their bank
accounts and securities. It is hard to tell whether this information
will be useful for the ordinary voter, but extra information about
well-to-do citizens will be of use to the authorities. A pioneering
measure was proposed in relation to the media: to bridle any
recalcitrant media outlets. It is mainly proposed to punish the media
for illegal campaign advertising. Under the current bill, any material
published by the media during the election campaign might be
considered as such. In a word, the law on elections doesn't provide
for a variety of choice.
(Translated by Andrei Ryabochkin)
*******
#5
Trud
August 10, 2002
WHAT ABOUT CONSOLIDATION?
Giving some thought to reducing the number of Russia's regions
Author: Vyacheslav Nikonov, President of the Politics foundation
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
IT IS NECESSARY TO MERGE SOME RUSSIAN REGIONS. THIS PROCESS COULD BE
LONG AND DIFFICULT; BUT RUSSIA HAS TOO MANY REGIONS, AND IT MUST BE
DONE. ALL THE CURRENT REGIONS ARE NAMED IN THE CONSTITUTION, WHICH
MEANS CONSOLIDATION WILL REQUIRE AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION.
Leonid Drachevskii, presidential envoy for the Siberian federal
district, considers it necessary to support consolidation of
territories. Drachevskii has obviously favored a contender for the
Taimyr governorship - Alexander Khloponin, the incumbent governor, who
has been consistent in promoting the idea of consolidating the
Krasnoyarsk territory with the Taimyr and Evenk autonomous
territories. Drachevskii's statement seems to have far-reaching
implications: the Kremlin seems to be ripe to tackle the long-awaited
consolidation of regions. Russia's present political structure is not
justified by either scientific or practical points of view; it is an
intricate combination of orders issued by Russian emperors, Communist
ethnic policy, and the spontaneous disintegration of the USSR. The
larger the number of regions, the more complicate it is to control
them, which raises the probability of separatist moods and local
outrage; the harder it is to ensure unity of Russia's economic area.
This is not the burden for local budgets alone. Since the majority of
regions are detrimental and subsidized from the center, each of us is
sponsoring a superfluous army of state officials around Russia by
paying federal taxes. The problem of consolidation is especially acute
for compound regions. As a rule, leaders of the regions which can
swallow up other regions want to consolidate. Those, which can be
swallowed, are flatly opposing. The national republics don't wish to
consolidate. The legal background is unclear yet. All the current
regions are named in the constitution, which means consolidation will
require amending the constitution. It is necessary to consolidate
territories - taking the consequences into consideration, rather than
using crude methods and taking advantage of the political situation.
(Translated by Andrei Ryabochkin)
*******
#6
EastWest Institute Russian Regional Report
(Vol. 7, No. 25, 12 August 2002)
SPECIAL REPORT: LENINGRAD OBLAST
Robert Orttung
THE KOZAK COMMISSION ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT: THE VIEW FROM THE NORTH-WEST.
Ultimately, the Kozak Commission report on dividing responsibilities
between the federal, regional, and local levels of government should
provide a blueprint for redefining the organization of the Russian state
and its relationship with society. It will outline future amendments to
hundreds of federal laws that will have to be changed in the coming years.
One of the most controversial issues so far has been who will control
Russia's natural resources. The newspaper Vedomosti caused a scandal when
it reported that the Kozak Commission wanted to nationalize Russia's
resources under federal control, but government officials quickly denied
that such a plan actually existed.
Local government officials are particularly interested in the final
content of the report. In a meeting on 8 August, for example, the mayor of
Kirishi (Leningrad Oblast) made clear that the current situation is
intolerable. The federal government is dumping an increasing number of
responsibilities on local government, while reducing financial support.
Local governments now face 6.5 trillion rubles worth of responsibilities at
a time when there is only 2.6 trillion rubles in the budget for them,
according to one estimate reported at a meeting of local government
officials from the Central and North West Federal Okrugs in Petrozavodsk
(Izvestiya, 10 August). The Kirishi government has particular difficulty
supporting the local branches of the police and fire departments, which are
supposed to be backed by the federal government. It also has problems
providing federally mandated benefits to veterans.
The Kozak Commission was supposed to issue its report at the
beginning of the summer. However, the work has not been completed and the
commission has not made available any preliminary texts. Several newspapers
have obtained differing drafts of the commission's overall concept, but it
is not clear if they contain official policies or just proposals (see, for
example, Kommersant, 28 May 2002, and Izvestiya.ru, 25 July 2002,
http://click.topica.com/maaatJAaaS8tQa3Gd7tb/
According to one local government official in St. Petersburg, the
Kozak Commission is planning a major recentralization of power in the
country. Now, this official said, the commission is sending out trial
balloons to various local government officials to determine just how
negative their reaction will be. The commission will presumably gauge its
policies according to the response that it receives.
The key issue is financing for local government. In order to
operate independently of federal and regional influence, local government
must have stable and predictable sources of income. Under current
conditions, it does not have such income because Russia's tax laws are
always changing.
Formally, local government is not part of the Russian state, which
the constitution defines as the federal and regional governments. In line
with the European Charter, Russia's local governments are separate from the
state and do not fit into the "power vertical" that Putin is creating. In
practice, however, local government is largely subordinate to the federal
and regional authorities.
The way that the tax system is structured will be crucial in
determining the future of Russia's local government. If local government is
assigned the income from reliably collectable taxes, it will be able to
able to develop autonomously. If it must continue to rely on subsidies from
regional governments, it will always be dependent on the policies of
regional officials. Naturally, local government officials want their own
sources of income, meaning the assignment of taxes specifically for the
local level. Just as logically, regional officials would like to ensure
that local officials remain dependent on their good will for financial
support, and therefore would prefer to continue handing out subsidies.
Kozak's plans for local government in Russia will likely draw
heavily on his earlier experience in Petersburg, according to Nina Shubina,
who handles relations with local government for Governor Vladimir
Yakovlev's administration. This experience suggests that Russia's local
governments will ultimately have a small set of responsibilities and only
limited amounts of financing.
Before moving to Moscow, Kozak developed the local government
system for St. Petersburg. In the city, there are 111 local government
councils. These local governments deal with a limited set of issues (24 in
all) ranging from handling emergency situations to installing metal doors
in apartment houses. Their funding accounts for about 2 percent of the
city's consolidated budget. Rafgat Altynbaev, the chairman of the
Federation Council Committee on local government argues that local
government will only become a reality when it controls 30-35 percent of the
country's revenues, not the 5-7 percent it controls now on average
(Izvestiya, 9 July). (Moscow and St. Petersburg are exceptions among
Russia's 89 regions since they are cities with oblast status. Usually,
local government refers to city or agricultural raion governments within an
oblast. In Moscow and Petersburg, it refers to sub-city units.)
In Kirishi, local officials admit that they have very little
influence on the federal government beyond the work of sympathetic deputies
in the State Duma. They believe that the only way to increase the power of
local government is faster democratization of society. Kirishi officials
said that the most important thing is that people gain a sense that they
can solve their problems themselves. From this view, the problem is one of
mentality.
American social scientists point out that levels of social activity
are often determined by the amount of information available on a given
situation. In Kirishi, the media is largely funded by the local government,
which is heavily dependent on the refinery. As a result, it will be
difficult to gain independent information about current conditions in the
city.
********
#7
Russian investments abroad still top foreign investments in Russia
MOSCOW. Aug 12 (Interfax) - Russian investments abroad came to $10.046
billion in the first half of 2002, still over and above the amount invested
from abroad into Russia, which totaled $8.368 billion, the State Statistics
Committee said on Monday.
Russian investments in other countries have exceeded investments in
Russia itself for a number of years. However the Russian investments abroad
are not cumulative, but tend to be short-term in nature, while foreign
investments in Russia tend to be long-term and have a more lasting impact
on the economy.
By the end of June, 2002 only a third ($3.809 million) of the money
invested by Russia abroad during the first half of 2002 actually remained
abroad, however the stock of foreign investments in Russia's own economy
was $38.15 billion at the end of the half.
Cumulative Russian investments abroad at the end of the first half of
2002 were $2.414 billion, which included $159 million in portfolio
investments and $1.236 billion in other investments. Most of the overall
figure had accumulated in Belarus ($581 million) and Iran ($576 million).
During the half, the biggest new investments abroad were $5.556 billion in
the economy of the United States and $2.136 billion in Cyprus.
Russian investments abroad grew by 54.9% year-on-year in the first half
of 2002.
********
#8
Russian 1st Half Inward Investment Up 25.2% On Year To $8.4 Billion
August 12, 2002
MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- Foreign investment into Russia rose 25.2% to $8.4
billion in the first half of 2002 from a year earlier, Russian State
Statistics Committee, Goskomstat, reported Monday.
These figures don't include bank lending or investments generated in Russia
and reinvested.
Russian companies have accumulated $38.1 billion of foreign investments as
of July 1.
Of the total inward investment, some 48.7% came in the form of direct
investment, 47.5% in the form of trade financing and other loans from
international financial institutions and only 3.8% as portfolio investment.
The biggest sources of investment were Germany, which spent $1.63 billion
and the U.K. with $906 million. U.S. investment totaled $554 million.
Investment from Cyprus, the traditional home for Russian citizens' offshore
accounts, totaled $1.12 billion in the first half. A further $645 million
came from Luxembourg and $355 million from Switzerland, two other favored
tax havens.
However, these were offset by the outflow of $2.1 billion in funds to
Cyprus and another $702 million to the British Virgin Islands.
Agency Web Site: http://www.goskomstat.ru
*******
#9
Moscow Times
August 12, 2002
U.S.: Russia Remains World No. 2 in Arms
By Lyuba Pronina
Staff Writer
When it comes to selling arms, Russia holds a firm second place
after the United States, according to a new report by the U.S. Congressional
Research Service.
In 2001, Russia secured $5.8 billion in arms deals, about half of the $12.1
billion signed by the United States, according to the report titled
"Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1994-2001," a copy of
which was obtained by The Moscow Times.
Russia does not release annual figures on arms deals.
However, Andrei Belyaninov, head of state arms trader Rosoboronexport, said
in July that Russia ranks in third or fourth place.
The country signed more than 1,300 contracts last year, according to
Rosoboronexport deputy director Viktor Komardin.
The U.S. report, which has been released annually for the past 20 years,
tracks global arms deals with a primary focus on deliveries to developing
countries.
The report said Russia last year sealed $5.7 billion worth of arms deals to
developing countries, while the United States inked $7 billion. Since 1998,
Russia has signed deals worth $19.8 billion, or 22.6 percent of all sales to
developing countries, while the United States has $35.7 billion, or 40.8
percent.
The 2001 figures for worldwide sales showed a drop from the previous year
amid a global economic downturn. The report said Russia clinched deals worth
$8.4 billion in 2000, while the United States had $18.9 billion.
Overall, $26.4 billion in deals were struck in 2001, compared to $40 billion
the previous year, the report said. The figure is close to an eight-year low
of $25.4 billion seen in 1997.
France came in third place with $2.9 billion, followed by Germany with $1
billion, China with $600,000 and Britain with $400,000.
While coming in second in the number of contracts signed, the report ranks
Russia third in deliveries. In 2001, Russia delivered arms worth $3.6
billion, of which $3.4 billion went to developing nations. The United States
made deliveries worth $9.7 billion ($6 billion to developing nations), and
Britain $4 billion.
The report cites a number of big contracts signed in 2001, among them a $700
million deal for delivery and licensed production of T-90C battle tanks to
India, a deal worth more than $1.5 billion for nearly 40 Su-30MKK fighters
and $400 million worth of S-300PMU2 air defense systems to China, MiG-29s for
Myanmar and Yemen, and a $600 million deal with South Korea to deliver
helicopters and other military equipment in exchange for Russian debt.
Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies
and Technologies think tank, said the report's figures for contracts were
close to his center's estimates of $5.6 billion, while deliveries were just
$100 million short of the official government figure, which is $3.7 billion.
The report does raise some questions that it does not answer. For example, it
increased 2000 contracts to $8.4 billion, from $7.7 billion in last year's
report.
Some analysts said last year that the sum was inflated by $1.5 billion to $2
billion.
"Every single year, it is revised from scratch," Richard Grimmett, the author
of the report, said by telephone from Washington.
"Individual numbers are based on information at the time the report is
prepared."
He said the upgrade to $8.4 billion may in part account for deals signed with
Iran that only later came to light. He said Russia is Iran's main arms
supplier, winning $900 million of the $1.2 billion in deals Tehran has signed
since 1998.
Grimmett would not elaborate on the deals but stressed he had access to U.S.
government information unavailable to the general public.
Russia's arms trade with Iran remains a sticking point with the United
States, especially after Russia said in 2000 that it was bailing out of a
1995 agreement that obliged Russia to end military and technical cooperation
with Tehran.
Rosoboronexport chief Belyaninov said in July that Russia was complying with
international regulations and had only concluded one aircraft deal with Iran.
It was a $150 million deal for delivery of Mi-17 helicopters, according to
media reports.
Makiyenko called the $900 million in deals with Iran unrealistic.
"Every American author has to mention Iran in his report, just like in the
Soviet times we had to quote Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels," Makiyenko said.
"There were reports that the Iranians would like the Igla shoulder-carried,
anti-aircraft missile systems, but there haven't been contracts yet," he said.
While cagey about deals, Russia has had no qualms about trumpeting its
surging bottom line. President Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that
arms revenues hit a 10-year high in 2001, with Russia raking in $4.4 billion.
Belyaninov said Rosoboronexport's revenues exceeded $2 billion in the first
half of 2002 and predicted the $4 billion mark would be passed by the end of
the year.
*******
#10
From: Ben Aris <benaris@online.ru>
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002
Reply-To: RusBizList@yahoogroups.com
Russia Business List
#369
8/8/02
1. Russia and Iraq
NewsBase
Wednesday, August 7, 2002
By Ben Aris in Moscow
Russia is looking forward to a war in Iraq. By doing nothing Russian oil
companies could walk away with up to $40bn in oil deals, say experts.
Russia and Iraq are old friends. Russia's former Prime Minister Yevgeny
Primakov is an Arabist and a personal friend of Saddam Hussein's. He lobbied
against Gorbachev and Yeltsin in the 1980s for closer ties and in Soviet
times Iraq relied on the USSR for most of its heavy engineering and arms.
Abbas Khalaf the Iraq ambassador to Russia said in July : "All our economic
infrastructure, energy industry, defence industry, agriculture and 98 per
cent of our military equipment are of Russian origin. If the sanctions are
lifted, Iraq would have no choice except close cooperation with Russia."
Russian oil companies are certainly keen to take Khalaf up on the offer.
Earlier this year Slavneft said that it had signed cooperation deals with
Baghdad, but the new management said more recently that it was having second
thoughts. However, LUKoil, Russia's largest oil company, and several other
state-owned oil companies will be more than happy to go in Slavneft's place.
The prize on offer is reserves of an estimated 200bn barrels of oil - second
only to Saudi Arabia and double Russia's 96bn barrels.
Andrei Ryabov, an analyst with Carnegie Endowment says: "Over the last two
years Russia's oil companies have rapidly boosted oil production, but they
have already come to the point where they are investing in other countries
around them. LUKoil in particular is looking to the Middle East."
The Kremlin is also keen to cement ties with the Middle East through
economic means. As time passes it becomes clearer that energy lies at the
heart of Putin's recovery plans for Russia and international energy is being
used as his main international relations tool.
Sarah Mendelson, an analyst with Centre for Strategic and International
Studies in Washington says: "Oil dominates as the post-Soviet instrument of
foreign policy. A deal is being cut between Washington and Moscow. The White
House is trying to persuade the Kremlin that this will be in Russia's
economic interests to stand aside."
Ryabov predicts that Russia will protest against American aggression until
the point when force is used. After this it will roll over and accept the
deals offer to placate it. Some experts estimate that Russia will earn up to
$40bn in oil-related contracts.
Thanks to its strong ties with Iraq Russia also wins if there is no military
action. Having backed its friends against those nasty American's Iraq will
naturally turn to Moscow for help in rebuilding its tattered economy -
especially now that Russian oil companies are doing so well for themselves.
"Russia is in a win win situation as it can take a free ride. If it
complains about military actions the US will dangle free access to oil deals
as a sop. If there is no military action and sanctions are lifted then
Russia will be offered oil deals because its good relations with Iraq," says
Mendelson.
These good relations are founded on something a little more solid that just
longevity. Since the end of the Gulf War in 1991 Iraq has been cut off from
the outside world. However, Hussein has managed to maintain one of the
largest and most sophisticated armies in the region. Although he has not
been able to buy new systems - and the American weapon development has come
a long way in ten years - he has been able to keep his armies in working
order through a steady stream of smuggled spare parts and munitions.
Pavel Felgenhauer, a well-respected Russian military analyst in Moscow said:
"Sanction busting has been continuous and widespread. If the sanctions were
water tight then the Iraqi arm would be on the same level as Zaire's army:
no pants and only a few working Kalashnikovs."
Since sanctions were imposed Russia has become one of Iraq's few business
partners. Russian companies already dominate Iraq's limited oil export trade
under the UN oil-for-food programme, which has seen trade turnover between
the two countries treble in the last year to $6 billion.
It seems that all the countries of the former Soviet Union have been accused
of supplying Iraq with arms - and some of them probably have. Belarus earned
a rebuke from the US State Department earlier this year for selling arms to
unsavoury customers.
However, whether the arms are going to Iraq with official government
sanction or not, they are going. The path of illicit arms deliveries has
been worn smooth by the conflicts in the Balkans.
Officers in the Russian or other armies moonlight as arms dealers. Contracts
are signed that deliver - on paper at least - arms to central European
countries which are then shipped to Africa or South America. In reality
these arms are flown or trucked to Jordan where they are taken to Baghdad
over land. The $1bn a year business is paid for by illicit sanction-busting
oil exports out by the same route.
What is not clear is if the Kremlin approves the trade in arms with Iraq or
simply turns a blind eye. The Russian government is trying to walk a
tightrope between cooperating with the US-lead war on terrorism campaign on
one side and protecting its interests in the Middle East on the other.
Happily for the Kremlin, this is one of those rare occasions when just
standing still is probably the best thing to do.
*******
#11
Business Week
August 26, 2002
Money to Burn...Putin
Tycoon Boris Berezovsky funds a smear campaign
By Paul Starobin in London
Say this for the energetic Russian tycoon-turned-politician Boris
Berezovsky: He's not one for half measures. Now living in Britain, he says
he's planning to spend $100 million of his fortune--which he pegs at $1.5
billion to $2 billion--on a political campaign to brand Russian President
Vladimir V. Putin as a murderous dictator. "Putin is trying to build an
authoritarian regime in Russia," Berezovsky says. "I am using my financial
resources to create an opposition." He outlines the project between bites
of penne pasta at Sartoria on London's Savile Row, just down the street
from his office. As was his habit in Moscow, he's accompanied by
bodyguards. He's sipping an $80 bottle of Chardonnay; they're on apple juice.
For Berezovksy, Russia's celebrity oligarch, this new venture amounts to
Act Three of a turbulent odyssey. His get-Putin plan seems improbable, but
it should not be dismissed. After all, a public reared on Soviet lies is
vulnerable to Berezovsky's core message that an arrogant state is capable
of heinous actions. And democracy-building is typically a messy process in
which muckrakers, even rogues, for their own reasons, challenge the state.
"It doesn't really matter if Berezovsky is a saint or a sinner if what he
is doing can encourage more democratic development in Russia," says Blair
A. Ruble, director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies in
Washington.
Berezovsky's saga embodies the bizarre character of post-Soviet Russia. In
Act One, he used his skills as a mathematician to get rich fast, was nearly
killed by a car bomb, bankrolled Boris Yeltsin's 1996 presidential
reelection, and created a business empire that stretched from TV network
ORT to national airline Aeroflot. Then he became a player in the enfeebled
Yeltsin's Kremlin, a kind of puppet master in an alcohol-saturated court.
The curtain came down after a sober ex-KGB colonel, Vladimir V. Putin,
became President and told biznessmen like Berezovsky to butt out of
politics. Putin then pressured Berezovsky to sell pieces of his empire.
Berezovsky claims to have lost $800 million in the process. Stung, he
became a Putin critic--and found himself wanted by prosecutors probing an
alleged embezzlement at Aeroflot. In late 2000, he fled to Britain.
Thus began Act Three: the oligarch in exile. His anti-Putin campaign goes
for the jugular. Its centerpiece is a documentary alleging that Russian FSB
security service officials, with Putin's likely knowledge, were behind a
1999 series of apartment bombings in Moscow. Offering no hard proof, the
film, titled Assassination of Russia, insinuates that Putin used the
bombings, widely blamed on Chechen terrorists, as a pretext for a war
against Chechnya, a conflict that established his can-do credentials. No
Russian TV station has agreed to show it, so Berezovsky's new Liberal
Russia political party is arranging for private screenings. Meanwhile, his
New York-based International Foundation for Civil Liberties offers legal
assistance to the kin of Russian sailors drowned in the Kursk submarine.
The families may appeal a prosecutor's decision that found no criminal
culpability in the Kursk sinking.
The Kremlin belittles Berezovsky's efforts. "He is trying to avoid the
destiny of a forgotten tycoon," says a Putin aide. An FSB spokesman says:
"Berezovsky's stupid accusations have nothing to do with reality." But even
though Berezovsky remains highly unpopular in Russia, he is tapping deep
suspicions. More than 40% of Russians say it is likely that the secret
services are linked to the bombings. "He sensed the dangerous aspects of
Putin's activities earlier than anyone else," says Alexei Simonov,
president of the Moscow-based Glasnost Defense Foundation.
Simonov's group has a grant from Berezovsky to provide legal assistance to
journalists such as Grigory Pasko, convicted of treason for taking notes at
a meeting of naval commanders. "I sense in him very good intentions," says
Yelena Bonner, the widow of dissident Andrei Sakharov and a fierce critic
herself of Putin. She accepted $3 million from Berezovsky's foundation for
the Sakharov Museum in Moscow. A Berezovsky aide admits some anti-Putin
activists spurn assistance as "dirty money." But with millions to spend,
Berezovsky has staying power. So keep to your seat: Boris Berezovsky, Act
Three, is just beginning.
******
#12
The Guardian (UK)
12 August 2002
Email from Volgograd
Benjamin Wegg-Prosser @Volgograd
Cultured Muscovites and western expats share an uneasy coexistence where
each tolerates the other. They share little common ground except when it
comes to anything outside Moscow, at which point they speak as one. When
they discovered my destination was Volgograd, scene of the battle of
Stalingrad (it was renamed following Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin),
their dismissive response was universal: "Why are you going there?"
The answer, naturally, was 1,000km south of Moscow on the banks of the
Volga. The city is a Soviet planner's dream, but at its heart lie some of
the answers to Russia's renewal. Since the Luftwaffe destroyed the city in
September 1942, it has been completely rebuilt. You would hardly know from
first impressions that this was the site of the greatest battle in human
history, a decisive victory in the war against Hitler.
But it requires only a little attention to see the war's legacy oozing from
every pore. The Soviet authorities were smart like that: desperate for
symbols and stories to bind the new nation, they created in Stalingrad a
glorious history to inspire their people. Despite the fall of communism,
that legacy lives on. Vladimir Putin's new regime is just as anxious to
create narratives to maintain a common identity. Which is why the Red
Army's triumphs from 1941 to 1945 have been preserved, with the emphasis
shifted deftly from communism to Russian nationalism.
A 10-minute ride in a trolleybus from the centre of town takes you to the
biggest icon of them all. A statue of Mother Russia sits atop the Manaev
Kurgan. This hill, the city's highest point, is now the site of the world's
largest war memorial. Mother Russia is 72m high and dominates the skyline -
locals take great pleasure in pointing out that she is taller than the
Statue of Liberty. The vast concrete warrior completes a series of
ceremonial avenues, reliefs and fountains. The army still guards the Soviet
hall of remembrance.
Yet despite the political capital that successive regimes have made from
this history, few in Russia recognise its current economic potential.
Everyone I met was astonished to see my copy of Anthony Beevor's weighty
tome dedicated to the battle which topped the bestseller lists in Britain.
They were even more surprised to see me using the battle plans of the
Nazis' September 1942 offensive as a street map - albeit unsuccessfully.
Russia's admirable modesty has encouraged its citizens to shun the idea
that they should be making more of their history. Most Russians were
brought up at school to be civil engineers, not civic sales reps. The
education system is first-class in many respects: 72% of students are
reported to achieve the equivalent of a British undergraduate degree. But
it still reflects the demands of Soviet planning rather than western
commercial creativity. It is expertise in subjects like finance, economics,
marketing and media studies that the economy now needs to make the most of
its history.
There should be no shame in turning heritage into an industry. Though for a
town which made its name defending a tractor factory, and is still home to
one of Russia's largest, it will take some time before they can take pride
in their tourism.
In the short term, more could be done by Volgograd's city government. Yet
typical Russian problems persist: the administration is said to be riddled
with corruption - they've spent 10 years trying (and failing) to build a
new bridge across the river. The central government in Moscow has recently
turned its attention to the city, paying for repairs to the crumbling
airport and filling in the biggest potholes in time for the 60th
anniversary of the battle next February.
The Soviet Union created a nation through tales of smashing capitalism.
Russia will now only thrive if its own capitalists realise that history can
also provide a path to riches. Only then will Muscovites recognise that
there is something worthwhile in Volgograd.
*******
#13
Wall Street Journal
August 12, 2002
Caviar Industry Fights Efforts To Add Fish to Endangered List
By STEPHANIE M. HORVATH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON -- The caviar industry is gearing up to fight U.S. efforts to
list the beluga sturgeon as an endangered species, convinced the move
spells extinction here for its most famous product.
Acting on a petition from a coalition of environmental groups, the Fish and
Wildlife Service plans to protect the fish by adding it to the endangered
species list. If the proposed addition takes effect, it would be illegal to
import or export the fish or its products in the U.S., including the roe
harvested to produce the pricey beluga caviar.
The U.S. makes up about 80% of the world's beluga caviar market, and
imported an estimated $20 million (€20.6 million) of all types of caviar in
2001. So putting the sturgeon on the U.S. endangered species list should
relieve the overfishing in the Caspian Sea that has badly depleted stocks
there, officials say.
The International Caviar Importers Association, a group of 11 caviar
companies, are complaining it will be their profits that would be depleted,
and they are hiring a lawyer and reaching out to their distributors to
contest the action. The industry will have a chance to lobby the federal
agency during the proposal's comment period, which is set to end Oct. 29.
Some in the industry argue that the move will actually hurt the beluga
sturgeon's chances of survival. "It won't stop harvesting and won't stop
consumption," said Dale Sherrow, owner of Seattle Caviar Co., a caviar
distributor in Seattle. "The marketing will continue, just not in the U.S."
The beluga sturgeon is already protected under international law by the
Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and
Fauna, a treaty that controls trade in rare wildlife. The convention
regulates the beluga sturgeon trade by requiring exporters to have permits
to ensure that the fish is properly harvested. But because of enforcement
problems in the Caspian Region, where the fish is a mainstay of the local
economy, the Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that illegal trade in
beluga sturgeon is six to 10 times the legal trade.
Environmental groups have been pressing the issue for more than a year. In
December 2000, a group calling itself Caviar Emptor, representing the
Natural Resources Defense Council, the Wildlife Conservation Society and
Sea Web, an ocean awareness organization, petitioned the Fish and Wildlife
Service to list the beluga sturgeon as endangered. NRDC recently filed a
lawsuit to force the agency to respond to the petition.
"We were very encouraged by the service's proposal but, of course, it's
only a proposal and needs to be finalized," said Lisa Speer, a senior
policy analyst for the NRDC.
Though the beluga sturgeon is found only in the Caspian, U.S. officials can
take action in this country if they see a problem. There are already 561
foreign species listed as endangered or threatened, including the
chimpanzee, found in west and central Africa, Brazil's three-toed sloth,
and the snow leopard, found in central Asia. All trade of endangered
species in the U.S. is prohibited.
Ms. Speer said the U.S. accounted for 80% of total caviar exports from the
Caspian Sea and eliminating that demand would reduce some of the pressure
on the fish. "Eliminating U.S. consumption will we believe have an impact
both in eliminating demand for caviar and setting an example for other
countries," she said.
She also notes that two other species found in the Caspian, the Russian and
stellate sturgeons, are harvested to produce caviar, so a ban on beluga
wouldn't ruin the region economically. Still, because the beluga roe brings
much higher prices -- between $50 and $125 an ounce -- it is that species
feeling the most pressure.
Many importers argue that listing the beluga sturgeon would be
counterproductive, driving its caviar to other countries and creating a
black market for it here. Beefing up enforcement of regulations would be
the best protection for the fish, said Eve Vega, executive director of
Petrossian Paris, a Paris-based caviar importer. With a ban here, "you're
only going to hurt the legal market," she said.
Not everyone in the caviar industry is ready to take political action. Some
agree the beluga sturgeon is in danger and that labeling it as endangered
could save it. Richard Hall, caviar manager for Browne Trading Co., a
caviar and seafood distributor in Portland, Maine, said beluga caviar makes
up only 10% of his caviar sales and that caviar sales are only about 1% to
2% of its total profits. "I don't think it's going to hurt the industry,"
he said. "There's other caviar out there."
Hossein Aimani, however, deals in much larger numbers. The owner of
Paramount Caviar, a distributor in Long Island City, N.Y., said about 15%
to 20% of his profit come from the sales of beluga caviar of which he sold
about a ton last year. He said he would rather see a reduction in the
amount of beluga sturgeon caught and that a ban on beluga caviar would
"affect business badly." If the fish is added to the list, Mr. Aimani said
he will have to educate his customers about other kinds of caviar.
*******
#14
FEATURE-Pornography case brings Russian writer fame
By Gleb Bryanski
MOSCOW, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Is a fictitious sexual encounter between two
former Soviet leaders pornography or acceptable new Russian literature?
Judges in a Moscow court, in the first hearing of its kind in Russia, are
deciding the strength of the case against writer Vladimir Sorokin. But in
one sense he's already won.
Little-read a few months ago, with virtually no following in serious
literary circles, Sorokin is now the most talked-about author in the
country that gave the world Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.
The notoriety he has gained from the case centring on his work "Goluboye
Salo" (Blue Lard) have sent sales of his books soaring at bookstalls and
shops across Russia.
The key to this spectacular rise to fame is a lawsuit filed by a
pro-Kremlin youth group Moving Together, which accuses Sorokin of
distributing pornography. If found guilty, he could face up to two years in
prison.
Blue Lard, published in 1999, is a futuristic fantasy. Filled with
parodies, word play and outright obscenity, it features clones of Russian
writers and historical figures who engage in often perverse sex, described
in vivid detail.
One scene, found particularly offensive by the Moscow prosecutors who
called Sorokin to court, has the clone of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
seducing that of his predecessor, Josef Stalin.
Opinions on Sorokin's worth as a writer vary. Some people admire his adroit
use of language. But everyone concedes he is no literary giant.
ACTION "ORGANISED BY THE KREMLIN"
Sorokin, a stammering, softly spoken 47-year-old with bushy grey hair and a
goatee beard, seems an unlikely figure to be at the centre of a cause
celebre over literary freedom.
But he has quickly tagged himself the victim of Soviet-style literary
censorship and says the legal action against him has been orchestrated by
the Kremlin.
"This is an attempt to take us back, an attempt to control culture and
literature," Sorokin said. "For the first time in Russia, writers had a
chance to write what they wanted, and now it is over.
"Yes, my books have a lot of tough scenes that can make you sick but take a
look around at what is happening in reality. People do terrible things
here. It's the writer's duty not to walk past," Sorokin told Reuters at his
central Moscow apartment.
In truth, he probably owes much of his sudden fame to the thirst in
post-Soviet Russia for sexually explicit material. Pornography has
mushroomed and "skin" magazines and risque literature, banned in Soviet
times, are readily available in Russia, with no age limitation.
All the same, at least one Moscow-based freedom of speech watchdog is
championing Sorokin's cause, drawing comparisons with landmark "obscenity
trials" in the West.
SOROKIN CRITICS UNMOVED BY SURGE IN FAME
Leaders of Moving Together are unperturbed by the fact that their pursuit
of Sorokin has led to a surge in his popularity.
"What Sorokin sells is irrelevant. I do not care about the circulation of
his books," said Vasily Yakemenko, a 31-year-old former businessman who
heads the movement.
"As soon as one so-called writer suffers for pornographic writings,
according to the law, all others will understand that it not permissible to
scoff at tradition. If all it takes for them to understand is to jail
Sorokin, I do not think that it is a very big price," Yakemenko told Reuters.
Outside the Moscow headquarters of Moving Together stands a giant cardboard
toilet, labelled "A memorial to Vladimir Sorokin."
Strapping youths in white shirts and black trousers thoroughly check
visitors' identity cards.
The group's leaders said the movement was founded two years ago to support
President Vladimir Putin in his drive to instil higher standards in
Russia's youth.
But the organisation made its name with its fierce public campaign against
Sorokin, launched after the writer signed a contract to write a libretto
for an opera to be staged at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre.
In June, the movement's members held a ritualistic destruction of his books
outside the theatre and handed parliamentary deputies brochures with
selected extracts from his books.
And it's not over yet, says Yakemenko.
SAD RUSSIAN TRADITION
Writers' lives have always been difficult in Russia. In Tsarist times
Fyodor Dostoyevsky was pardoned for his revolutionary activities only
seconds before he was to be executed. Leo Tolstoy was excommunicated by the
Russian Orthodox Church.
After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, scores of Russian writers were exiled
to Stalin's gulags. Two of the Soviet Union's Nobel prize laureates, Boris
Pasternak and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, came to blows with the hardline
communist rulers.
Sorokin sees himself as part of this Russian tradition.
"It is a very sad tendency. They (the Kremlin) check the Russian arts
community for endurance, to see how far we can bend," he said.
Unlike his predecessors, though, Sorokin has the backing of many
high-ranking officials. In court he was flanked by top defence lawyers and
even as he walked into court, prosecutors asked him for an autograph.
"My lawyers told me we will win the case," he said. "But I know that I live
in a country where everything is possible."
Despite the Moving Together crusade and a fierce public debate, some say
the case is simply too weak.
Alexei Simonov, head of the freedom of speech watchdog the Glasnost
Foundation compared Sorokin's case with 1964 U.S. Supreme Court hearings on
Henry Miller's book "Tropic of Cancer." The Supreme Court ruled in favour
of Miller saying his works were not pornographic.
"The charges brought by prosecutors are impossible to prove and absurd. It
looks like the prosecutors have a lot of free time," he told Reuters.
"You can put Sorokin on trial for bad taste, but there are no laws against
that."
*******
#15
Newsday
August 11, 2002
Former Russian prisoner writing book about experience
RIDGEFIELD, Conn. -- Former Russian prisoner-turned-Ridgefield plumber John
Tobin is writing a book about his six months in a Voronezh prison.
Tobin, 25, has lined up Luke Janklow of Janklow & Nesbit Associates in New
York City, to publish his tale of intrigue, The News-Times of Danbury
reported.
"Very few people have heard about my day-to-day existence in the prison,"
Tobin said.
He was arrested Jan. 26, 2001, outside a nightclub in Voronezh, Russia, 300
miles south of Moscow. Tobin was there as a Fulbright scholar.
He was convicted the following April on marijuana possession charges and
sentenced to 37 months in prison. A higher court later overturned the
distribution conviction on appeal and reduced his sentence to one year. He
was released early, in August 2001.
Tobin maintained his innocence the entire time, saying that Russian
authorities planted marijuana on him because he refused to spy for them.
His case gained widespread attention after the Federal Security Service,
the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, accused him of being an aspiring
spy. It cited as evidence his attendance at the U.S. Defense Language
Institute in Monterey, California, and a military intelligence training
center in Fort Huachaca, Arizona.
U.S. Rep. James Maloney, D-Conn., took up Tobin's case, and President Bush
appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the student.
Tobin returned to his hometown of Ridgefield Aug. 8, 2001.
Tobin said some of his book will be personal narrative, describing in
detail harrowing scenarios like a car chase in which secret police pursued
him.
Other chapters will be more like essays examining the solidarity and
hierarchy among prisoners in Russian prisons over the decades, he said.
"I was the only person in the prison who could have tea at 3 p.m. with the
Mafia criminal authority and then go have dinner with the warden," he said.
And neither harbored me ill will."
He said one chapter will contrast American and Russian media coverage of
his case.
"Some chapters do read like a spy novel, like John LeCarre," he said. "And
other ones are dry. Like reading 'Moby Dick' and getting to the chapter on
the whale, if you want to flip through it, I would not be offended."
Tobin said writing has been a part-time venture, and that he's not close to
finishing.
Currently, he has a day job as a plumber working with his uncle.
********
#16
Peace Corps Cancels Russia Class
August 12, 2002
By JIM HEINTZ
MOSCOW (AP) - The U.S. Peace Corps program has canceled plans to send a new
batch of volunteers to Russia this year because the government is refusing,
without explanation, to issue visas, the program's acting director for the
country said Monday.
Hay said he has received no explanation from Russian authorities for the
refusal. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry's operative affairs division
said the ministry would have no comment.
The Peace Corps, which has had volunteers in Russia since 1992, had planned
to send 62 new volunteers for two-year stints this fall, but has now
abandoned the plans, Hay said. The program opened in Russia a year after
the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In addition, 30 of the 64 volunteers who were halfway through their service
periods have been refused visa extensions for another year, he said.
Seventeen of the volunteers had been waiting in China for extensions, but
have returned to the United States. Thirteen others, who were working in
western Russia, will depart by Aug. 21, Hay said.
Peace Corps volunteers previously had problems with Russian visas, but
those difficulties were attributed to bureaucratic snags.
This time, ``I think it's bureaucratic, but I'm not sure it's
inefficiency,'' Hay said.
He noted that over the past year a number of newspaper articles had
criticized Peace Corps workers as unqualified for their duties - primarily
teaching English - and called the criticism ``outrageous.''
Some of the volunteers refused visa extensions have extensive experience
and ``it's hard for us to discern a pattern'' as to why some are being
rejected, Hay said.
The volunteers whose extensions were approved will stay in their posts.
The Peace Corps was founded by the U.S. government in 1961 to help poor and
developing countries improve education, health and agriculture and to
promote better relations between the United States and countries that were
often suspicious of its intentions.
The Soviet Union was active in much of the Third World at the same time and
the appearance of Peace Corps workers in Russia was seen by some as an
embarrassing reminder of the Soviet system's collapse.
*******
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