#2 - JRL 7275
The Observer (UK)
August 3, 2003
Smashy and Nicey pull the strings to support Putin
Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
One is the friendly face of law and order, never missing an opportunity to sport a sharp, tailored suit on TV and reassure Russians that they can sleep safely at night.
The other is Russia's most popular Minister, overseeing every mishap from cats stuck up trees to protecting from nuclear war. He is regularly pictured flying to disaster scenes, ensuring the needy get blankets. Together they aspire to be the Smashy and Nicey of Russian politics.
Boris Gryzlov, leader of the pro-Putin party United Russia and the Minister of the Interior, runs the police and, since last week, the fight against 'terrorists' in Chechnya. The other is the party's co-chairman and Minister for Emergency Situations, Sergei Shoigu. They hold the key to Vladimir Putin's second term.
But behind their endless photo-opportunities lies what opposition MPs say is a sinister abuse of their status as Russia edges closer towards vital elections in December. With the typically dirty campaign tactics of Russian elections surfacing yet again, opposition MPs and legal experts are furious at Gryzlov and Shoigu using their prominent positions to sell United Russia.
They say the pair's presentation of themselves as leader and chairman of the party as well as Ministers at press conferences to announce good news is hugely immoral, if not illegal.
Vadim Prokhorov, a legal expert with ties to opposition parties, said they were exploiting their positions as Ministers, together with the inadequacies and loopholes of legislation. 'Our legislation is not suited to normal competition between parties. There is a very easy question here: why is one party always on the screen, while the others cannot even buy airtime?'
It is rare for any of Putin's cabinet to find themselves in the public eye, but Gryzlov has been the focus of news bulletins all week. On Friday he said his Ministry had recovered $1 billion from economic crime in the past six months. On Thursday he said police had uncovered a record heroin haul in Moscow. The day before he was pictured in a sparkling suit at a military base as his Ministry took charge of the anti-terrorism operation in Chechnya.
Shoigu, the face of state help in times of disaster, remains the second most popular politician after Putin.
His mastery reached new heights last week at the remote religious town of Sarov, where thousands of Orthodox Christians - with Putin - flocked to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the canonisation of St Seraphim. Shoigu's Ministry provided tents for the pilgrims. As the generous spread was shown on TV, the anchor said the tents had been provided by the Ministry with the help of United Russia.
But the pair's goals do not stop a little competitive tension emerging, perhaps as Gryzlov seems to be getting most of the airtime.
Control over Russia's fire service, responsible for the hugely corruptible job of giving out fire safety certificates to every building in Russia, switched from Gryzlov to Shoigu recently, depriving the Ministry of the Interior of its massive budgets. Adding to the tensions, Gryzlov's police recently arrested Shoigu's security chief, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Ganeev, on suspicion of being part of a gang fabricating criminal cases and demanding bribes to drop them.
Driving the pair, analysts say, is the desire for a half to two-thirds parliamentary majority for United Russia, a massive mandate that could let the pro-Putin faction even change the Constitution. It would greatly ease Putin's re-election next spring.
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