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gazeta.ru
November 6, 2002
Liberals divided after ultimatum to Putin
Yelena Rudneva, Artyom Vernidoub
The public commission formed by the Union of Rightist Forces for an independent inquiry into the storming of the 'Nord-Ost' musical theatre in Moscow has completed its work. It has been announced that the results of the inquiry will be made public in a week unless Vladimir Putin takes an interest in the commission’s conclusions. The president has perceived that gesture as an ultimatum and his response to ultimatums is well known.
In addition to the deputies from the SPS, the commission was comprised of doctors, journalists from medical publications, and Sunday Times journalist Mark Franchetti, who interviewed Movsar Barayev.
In order to thoroughly examine the circumstances surrounding the special operation to liberate the hostages in the early hours of Saturday, October 26, Boris Nemtsov even bought videotapes from all the television companies and film crews that reported from Dubrovka Street during the standoff.
Altogether, the commission had three sessions. None of those gatherings was open for the press, despite claims from journalists that if the inquiry is public, the public must have access to it.
In the absence of the press it took the deputies, doctors and newsmen a week to make certain conclusions and to forward the results of their inquiry to the Kremlin.
''The videotapes and the data provided by the experts invited to the sessions give us the right to say that there were numerous flaws in the cooperation between the those leading the operation,'' the deputy chief of the SPS faction Boris Nadezhdin told the press on Tuesday.
''The results of the commission’s work are already on the president’s desk. It has been agreed with Boris Nemtsov that the results of the commission’s work will be submitted to the president, first of all. We hope that after the president studies that information, some legal procedure will be launched, i.e. a judicial investigation.''
Thus, it transpires that the results of the SPS-led inquiry will remain closed to the public if the presidential administration takes an interest in the conclusions made by the commission.
If the Kremlin does not, then Nadezdhin has threatened to make the conclusions public next week. So far, Gazeta.Ru has failed to find out from the deputies, who exactly their materials expose.
The rightists would not utter a word on the matter. To all appearances, the public snub that Vladimir Putin directed at Boris Nemtsov has had an effect on them.
When the president met Grigory Yavlinsky in the Kremlin last week, he lauded the Yabloko leader for his conduct during the tragic events in Moscow. Yavlinsky was among those whom the hostage-takers invited to act as a negotiator on behalf of the authorities. Yavlinsky spent several hours in talks with the rebels, and after he re-emerged from the captured building he did not utter a single word to the press.
Putin thanked him for not trying to take advantage of the situation and to boost his personal ratings. ''Unlike many others you did not turn the situation into a personal PR-stunt.''
It was clear to everyone that the president’s comments were directed at the SPS, and that it was connected with their initiative to launch a parliamentary probe. (The lower house rejected the proposal). Nemtsov’s colleagues also understood that, but came to their own conclusions: ''It’s just that the rating of the SPS according to reports dated October 28 jumped two-fold to 10 per cent,'' Nadezhdin explained on Tuesday. ''While Yabloko‘s [rating] grew only slightly, from 7 per cent to 7.5, and that’s why Yavlinsky was invited to the Kremlin.''
The rivalry between the two liberal parties is likely to evolve into a public scandal on November 13, when the State Duma is scheduled to review draft resolutions concerning the hostage crisis and its aftermath.
The SPS and Yabloko have both drawn up resolutions and have been exchanging mutual accusations, charging that the other has written the document with the help of the Kremlin.
''The SPS’s draft not only does not call for an investigation into the true cause of the hostages’ deaths, but proclaims that this subject should be closed altogether,'' the deputy chairman of the Yabloko faction Sergei Ivanenko said last week.
''For me those allegations are like water off a duck’s back,'' Boris Nemtsov told Gazeta.Ru.
''After such exchanges it is difficult to talk of uniting,'' summed up Boris Nadezhdin. ''The question of nominating a single presidential candidate will be closed. There is almost no desire left to be friends with Yabloko. Although, we are of the same breed, there is no other way for us.''
As Gazeta.Ru has learnt, it is not without reason that Yabloko and SPS are jealous of each other in their relations with the Kremlin.
After the Nord-Ost crisis, according to Gazeta.Ru’s interlocutors, those in the presidential chambers who have be growing more and more exasperated with Nemtsov will make sure the president’s doors stay shut to him.
As a consequence, the draft military reform, in which Nemtsov had managed to rouse Putin’s interest, may suffer. On the other hand, in the past two weeks the Kremlin’s sympathy for Yavlinsky has been growing.
The first evidence of that was the rumour about Yavlinsky’s possible appointment to chairman of the State Construction Committee. Yabloko refuted those reports as a dirty trick by SPS. However, according to Gazeta.Ru sources Yavlinsky did receive such an offer, and he went to great pains to wriggle out of it.
The second sign of that sympathy is Yavlinsky’s frequent visits to the Kremlin of late and Putin’s personal gratitude to him for his role in the Nord-Ost drama. Also, on Monday this week the president received the entire Yabloko faction in the Kremlin. The subject of their discussion has remained secret.
It could be that Yavlinsky, just like Nemtsov in his time, has managed to rouse Putin’s interest in a plan for a peace settlement in Chechnya.
In light of the latest statements by the defence minister on suspending troop withdrawals from the republic, the president must be deeply concerned over the situation in Chechnya.
At the same time, Putin may just be showing interest in Yavlinsky’s peace proposal in order to put the SPS in their place. Since having held just two meetings with Yabloko’s activists Putin has completely destroyed the plans of Nemtsov and Anatoly Chubais to absorb Yavlinsky’s party into the SPS in the run up to the State Duma elections.
One of the possible reasons why he has done that is the rightists’ categorical demand that the president respond to the conclusions of the public commission investigating the circumstances of the Nord-Ost attack. Nemtsov has apparently forgotten how Putin hates it when somebody presents ultimatums to him.
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