#3 - JRL 7276
NOVAYA GAZETA DIGEST
No. 56, Monday, August 4, 2003
Translated by Luba Schwartzman
ISSUE THEME – Last week, Novaya Gazeta columnist Zoya Eroshok attended a seminar. The speaker was Yukos Director Boris Khodorovsky. Passions have been raging about this enterprise for a month now. Searches, arrests, interrogations, trials, retrials… Someone’s ready to be dancing on the coffin… Someone’s frightened… Someone’s sick and tired… The President keeps quiet – at best one gets from him half words-half grimaces. Prosecutors reprimand the Prime Minister on television. It’s impossible to understand what’s going on. Perhaps that’s why the author of “Don’t Want to be a Victim of History” found it necessary to publish selections from Khodorovsky’s recent speech (prepared for publication in Novaya Gazeta). These are a few thoughts about big business and its public and social responsibility.
NOTORIOUS CASE – Investigators are using psychotropic substances and hypnosis to get dirt on the Yukos management. Anna Levina and Yekaterina Ivanova continue the theme in “Untruth Serum.” On July 31, Aleksei Pichugin’s lawyers gathered journalists at Interfax. Their defendant took back his confessions from the July 14 interrogation. The defense believes -- with good reason -- that Pichugin may have incriminated himself under the influence of psychotropic drugs. Will Pichugin’s repudiation be accepted? It should be, according to the law. But no one will be surprised if his testimony soon appears among case materials. The medical statement asserts that Pichugin was not under the influence of any substances. Official Representative of the General Prosecutor’s Office, Natalya Vishnyakova, declared that the medical examination was conducted according to the Criminal Code, in the presence of lawyers. But the lawyers told journalists that they were not invited to the examination.
SPECIAL REPORT – In Grozny, 500 tons of oil are being illegally extracted every day. Gulya Hairullinna writes about “The Holes” -- an area of the Zavodsky region of Grozny. A long time ago this area housed a bulk oil terminal of a major Chechen chemical complex. For dozens of years, oil seeped into the ground, which acted as a sponge, soaking up “black gold.” The “condensator” is one of the most carefully guarded places in the city. It’s considered a big mystery. Some say that the “condensator” is 1,000 meters deep – this would mean that about 500 tons of oil are extracted every day – or 200,000 tons a year. This is why there are mysterious columns protected by Army oil trucks commuting daily through Chechnya.
DETAILS – “Putin Completed Military Reform in Russia,” by Novaya Gazeta columnist Pavel Felgenhauer. Last week, at a Kremlin meeting, President Vladimir Putin told the high command that “the reorganization of the law enforcement structures has been completed and no additional modifications will be required.” Putin added that it’s time to “finish talking” and begin the technical re-equipment of the Armed Forces, the improvement of combat readiness, etc. According to military men in the State Duma Defense Committee, the cost of supporting the “power bloc” per capita is twice as high today as in Soviet times, since we inherited the entire bloc and only half the population and economic potential. Putin believes that there is no reason to change this wonderful situation. Four years ago he became Prime Minister, and then President – obviously he wasn’t wasting time, but rather drafting the strategic plan of reforms that now only need to be implemented.
ALSO IN THE ISSUE:
:: Architector Shchusev won another bid – “Last Days of Hotel Moscow,” by Yelena Racheva.
:: Russians buy some Warner Brothers – “ Big Shopping for Good Movies,” by Nadezhda Prusenkova.
:: “Did Sholokhov Begin Writing ‘And Quiet Flows the Don’ at the Age of Seven?” by Andrei Markov and Svetlana Markova.
:: “Humans are Heavier than Air” – columnist Yelena Racheva participated in the World Cup of Parachuting.
Contact Information for Novaya Gazeta:
(095) 923-9485
www.novayagazeta.ru
Aug. 4, 2003:
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