#8 - JRL 6525
Vremya MN
October 31, 2002
PRESIDENT'S GIFT TO THE YABLOKO PARTY
The Moscow hostage drama will postpone negotiations in Chechnya
Author: Andrei Kolesnikov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

GRIGORY YAVLINSKY - AS LEADER OF A RIGHT-WING LIBERAL OPPOSITION PARTY - CANNOT BE HAPPY ABOUT THE PRESIDENT ALL BUT "INSTITUTIONALIZING" YABLOKO WITH HIS PRAISE, LISTING IT AMONG OTHER PRO-PRESIDENTIAL MOVEMENTS. THIS MOVE BY PUTIN ACTUALLY WEAKENED YABLOKO'S POSITION AS AN OPPOSITIONIST STRUCTURE.

President Vladimir Putin has thanked Yabloko leader Grigori Yavlinsky, saying he had not used his participation in the theater hostage-taking in Moscow for self-promotion. The Yabloko leader was clearly tense during the audience, while the president was anything but - quite at ease and relaxed. The addressee of the short TV broadcast is clear. He is Boris Nemtsov and, more broadly, all of the Union of Right Forces.

Some might have even entertained the thought that Yavlinsky was in line for an appointment to some position of power. It is common knowledge, however, that this is what Yavlinsky fears most. Clever of him: any such position (like heading Gosstroi, with the status of a deputy prime minister and the dubious honor of carrying out unpopular reforms in housing and utilites) would kill any politician's popularity rating.

Moreover, Yavlinsky - as leader of a right-wing liberal opposition party - could not be happy over the fact that the president has all but "institutionalized" Yabloko with his praise, listing it among other pro-presidential movements. This move on Putin's part actually weakened Yabloko's position as an oppositionist structure.

It is too early yet to make guesses on who the president will support in the next parliamentary election. If, however, the public whipping of negotiators from the Union of Right Forces executed in so dainty a manner is the only political conclusion drawn by the regime, then we will have to admit that the Kremlin's political technologists are somewhat shallow.

It isn't hard to predict what the regime will do now: it will boost spending on security structures, raise funding for secret services to almost-Soviet levels, and transform the national security concept into an instrument of propaganda harassment. These conclusions are more or less harmless. Something else counts: the drama in Moscow is a perfect excuse for postponing negotiations with Chechen leaders, at least with those who control over a hundred men each. It means postponing a peaceful resolution to the crisis. The situation will remain in suspense until the next terrorist attack.

The list of problems is actually longer than that. The regime has deliberately avoided preventing racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-Caucasus tendencies. It will never even entertain this thought now. All xenophobic episodes will be reacted to in this manner: and what did you expect, the people is to be understood.

Mass racism is in store for Russia, and this political threat is worse than undercover battles within the triangle formed by the presidential administration, Yabloko, and the Union of Right Forces. The Moscow drama is over. Forget it. The people returns to TV screen that have taught it indifference. Politicians are returning to the usual bickering among themselves. The agenda includes new rumors on reorganization of the government, appointment of a single deputy premier, and "perfection" of the federal legislation by the Bashkir model. All this are different matters altogether...