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Edited by David Johnson
| ISSUE #56 | July 9, 1999 |
| ISSUE #56 | July 9, 1999 |
#1 RUSSIA, US SCHOLARS TRY TO FIND LIFE ON MARS MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) - Specialists of the Paleontology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and their American counterparts from the NASA institute of astro-biology evidently seriously intend, by joint efforts, to get a reply to the following question: "Is there any life on Mars?" The new scientific field, called "bacterial paleontology" helps, on the basis of explorations of fragments of Martian meteorites, to assert with certainty that there was life outside the Earth. The director of the Paleontology Institute Alexei Rozanov told Itar-Tass on Thursday that "petrified nana-bacteria, aged about 600 million years, which were found in fragments of Martian meteorites, are surprisingly similar to present-day terrestrial bacteria". To corroborate his words, he showed photographs, graphically demonstrating similarity between ancient Martian micro-organisms and similar terrestrial bacteria. The interest in bacterial paleontology has turned to be so great that NASA specialists suggested establishing a joint institute to develop precisely this scientific field. Besides, American researchers are interested in Russian explorations of bacteria, capable of being in anabiosis in perma-frost conditions for a long time. Three directors will be in charge of the future institute: one from the Russian side and two from the American. NASA plans to appropriate funds for this project.
#4 Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 From: helmer@glasnet.ru (John Helmer) >From The Moscow Tribune, July 9 THE BIG AMERICAN DIFFERENCE >From John Helmer in Moscow "I never did understand the difference between a cannon and a culverin," Russia's Empress Catherine the Great once said to one of her generals. "There is a big difference," he replied, "which I will now explain to Your Majesty. The cannon, you see, is one thing, while the culverin is quite another." "Ah," said Catherine. "Now I get it." When President Bill Clinton is replaced next year -- as more certainly than President Boris Yeltsin he will be -- there may be a profound change in United States policy towards Russia. But then again there may be no difference but the words. George Bush Jr. has signalled what may happen by retaining Condoleeza Rice, an academic and former National Security Council expert on Russia, as his advisor. She recently announced what amounts to a cautious but strong departure from Clinton policy towards Moscow. For the first time in American politics, there is an acknowledgement that corruption inside the Kremlin is the single most important problem facing Russia. Regarding the Russian presidential election, Rice said: "I would just like to see the Russians find someone who is not corrupt, who is not on the take personally." The evidence of Russian presidential straw-polls -- most notably, ex-prime minister Yevgeny Primakov's continuing popularity as a presidential candidate in the election scheduled for June 2000 -- has become a buzzword in American electioneering. Of course, it's too late to save Primakov from the Clinton Administration's encouragement of his overthrow, though perhaps not too late to encourage his return to politics. What was wrong with Clinton's policy in Russia, according to Rice, was that it was "too involved in Russian internal politics, trying to prop up Yeltsin." It remains to be seen how much candidate Bush makes of Clinton's and his successor, Vice President Albert Gore's vulnerability to several charges Rice suggests she has the evidence to sustain: -- That Clinton and Gore conspired to corrupt the Russian presidency by secret funding arrangements that personally and collectively benefitted the President, his close aides, and officials. It is now known this corruption extended to stealing International Monetary Fund loans. It is also suspected that Clinton, Gore, and their subordinates suppressed or ignored warnings and evidence of this corruption from U.S. intelligence and other sources. -- That Clinton and Gore, on the particular advice of Strobe Talbott, conspired to topple the Russian parliament in March and again in September of 1993; and the Russian government between September 1998 and May 1999. -- That Clinton and Gore intend to further threaten Russia by expanding Albania in the direction of Greece, Serbia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria; by toppling the Milosevic regime in Serbia; and by intensifying the pressure on Russia's borders from NATO-associated neighbors, and within Russia's borders from covertly financed, pseudo-Islamic "liberation" organizations. Despite the hints from Rice, Governor Bush isn't likely to go as far as to blame Clinton and Gore for criminalizing the Russian state. But Rice's advice so far is for Bush to attack the Clinton-Gore strategy of further NATO expansion that intensifies Russia's isolation. Rice is already acknowledging that the Clinton-Gore policy has directly caused a sharp rise in anti-Americanism among Russians. Perhaps candidate Bush will publicly see in the new assertiveness of Russia's military leadership the same cause. Rice has also hinted that the Clinton-Gore policy of backing corruption in the name of reform will end, if Bush wins the U.S. election. "Real economic reform," according to Rice, might take "a generation. It seems to me that things are so broken now, the ability to do anything for the long term of the economy looks to be lacking." That's a real slap in the face of those erstwhile reformers, the young Russian courtiers of Washington, like former chief ministers Yegor Gaidar, Anatoly Chubais, Boris Nemtsov, Boris Fyodorov, and Sergei Kirienko. When an influential voice in the entourage of a popular American candidate starts his presidential campaign off with an attack on every asset the Clinton Administration thought it had created in Moscow, a serious political change could be in the wind. And even if presidential campaign talk in the U.S. can never be quite so serious, the threat from Rice and the Bush candidacy is that Kremlin fundraisers may not be able to count on American or I.M.F. money for their presidential race, as they did in 1996. No Washington payoffs -- now that would be a revolution in Russian politics!
#5 Newsday 7 July 1999 [for personal use only] House Is Wrong on Russian Weapons By Laura Beers. Laura Beers is a research assistant at the Center for Defense Information. (lbeers@cdi.org) WHILE PRESIDENTS Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin are striving to heal the growing rift between their two nations and to move forward on the crucial issue of nuclear disarmament, members of the House of Representatives are bent on undermining U.S.-Russian cooperation on chemical weapons disarmament. The House has sent a message to the Russians by cutting funding to the joint U.S.-Russian program to destroy Russia's stockpile. The intended message was that the United States will not continue to shoulder the bulk of the expenses for Russia's chemical-weapons destruction program while the Russians increase their defense budget, pursue diplomatic policies hostile to the United States and continue plans to build a new tactical nuclear missil e system. The actual message sent to the world by such a decision is that some members of the House are so intent on punishing the Russians that they would endanger national security and risk the environmental and proliferation threat of leaving a 44,000-ton chemical weapons stockpile to decay on Russian soil. Or, worse, such a stockpile could make its way out of Russia into the hands of terrorist groups and rogue nations. Without continued U.S. funding, the Russians will likely be forced to withdraw from the Chemical Weapons Convention, the international agreement that binds the Russians to destroy their chemical weapons stockpile. Opposition to chemical weapons destruction in the Russian parliament runs high. Without an international mandate to destroy their stockpile, the Russians will probably rest content to let their chemical weapons linger untended in poorly guarded, minimum security facilities. Opportunities for Russian organized crime or former Soviet scientists to smuggle such weapons out of the country abound. The only way to ensure that these weapons do not cross Russian borders is to guarantee the demilitarization and destruction of the Russian stockpile. Realistically, the only way to make that guarantee is through an infusion of American dollars into the Russian destruction program. By singling out U.S. funding to the Russian program, the House is not teaching the Russians a lesson, but endangering U.S. and international security. If funding for the destruction program is not restored to the defense budget when the House and Senate go into conference next month, it will mark the end of a four-year history of cooperation between the United States and Russia in chemical-weapons destruction. Since the United States began working with the Russians to combat the proliferation threat, the United States has committed nearly $200 million towards the creation of destruction facilities on Russian soil. Last fall, a joint American-Russian committee officially chose Shchuchye, Siberia, as the site of a future facility that, when completed, would be capable of destroying stockpiles of sarin nerve gas. This year, the Defense Department requested more than $130 million through the Chemical Weapons Destruction Support Program to fund security enhancements at chemical-warfare storage sites in Russia and to begin construction of the facility in Siberia. While the Senate authorized and then appropriated the full Pentagon request, the House authorized less than $25 million for the support program. In addition to cutting funding, the House legislation provided that no funds were to used for the planning, design or construction of a chemical- weapons destruction facility in Russia. The House bill would halt one of the most successful U.S.-Russian threat reduction programs. Admittedly, U.S.-led initiatives to curb Russian weapons proliferation and the brain drain of former Soviet scientists have not all been successful. A recent General Accounting Office audit of the Department of Energy's initiative to engage former Soviet weapons scientists in peaceful commercial research demonstrated the importance of close management and oversight in administering bilateral programs. However, no such claims of mismanagement have been laid against the chemical weapons destruction program.
#6 NTV Says Presence of Russians in FRY 'Speaks Volumes' NTV July 7, 1999 [translation for personal use only] Correspondent Sergey Gaponov, reporting from Pristina] Cell phones have not been working in Pristina for two days now. The reason is simple: Russian air force military transport planes are landing on the Slatina runway and the air has been cleansed of interference. This is a disaster for foreign journalists working in the province. They can't phone their editors or families to say they are alive and well. It is not clear if the situation will remain this way for as long as military planes are landing at Slatina. Today Russian group commander Gen Yevtukhovich conducted a reconnaissance of the area and settlements where paratroops are supposed to be based. It is not known when Airborne Troops subunits will move out to (?Srebica), (?Metrovica) and (?Orekhovac). Officers say no earlier than the start of next week. This is shown indirectly by how thoroughly the soldiers are developing their barracks in Slatina. By the way, many of those who flew into Kosovo yesterday were warned that conditions here are almost as bad as in Chechnya, so the paratroops were surprised when they were brought into an almost-undamaged three-storey barracks left by the Serb army and were told they were going to live there. Planes yesterday delivered to Slatina food that is supposed to last several weeks. The medical and sanitary unit is being gradually equipped, and these women will work in it. Those who came here with the first column from Bosnia remember home more often when they look at them, but say they will follow orders. They will stay here as long as they have to, and help everyone who needs help. [Begin recording of uncaptioned Russian soldiers] Well really we are not for the Serbs or the Albanians, if you want to look at it that way. In spirit we are for the Serbs of course, but if Albanians are in trouble we will go and find out is to blame, who is right. [end recording] [Correspondent] But the paratroops say they are upset that they have to give up the position they worked so hard to win. The soldiers say the British are in charge at the airport today. However, despite everything, the soldiers and officers think the very presence of the Russian peacekeeping contingent speaks volumes - even if just that Russia remains a country without which no important issue of world politics can be solved. [Video shows troops in barracks and on the base, the female medical personnel, vehicles]
#7 STRATFOR.COM www.stratfor.com Global Intelligence Update July 9, 1999 Job Security for John LeCarre Summary: Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB, announced on July 8 that U.S. citizen Justine Hamilton had been caught spying in the Voronezh region in late June. On July 1, Russia expelled Lt. Col. Peter Hoffman, assistant military attache at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, also apparently for espionage. These expulsions come on the heels of the expulsion from the U.S. of a Russian UN official caught spying in April. That espionage has been and continues to be actively pursued by both countries is no surprise. What is unusual is that, despite the efforts of U.S. and Russian government officials to keep the incidents low key, the FSB seems intent on publicizing them. With spy scandals, military maneuvers, and arms transfers, Russia's hardliners are sending a signal to the West that if it refuses to treat Russia as a friend, Russia can and will behave as a foe. Analysis: Russian intelligence officials announced on July 8 that U.S. citizen Justine Hamilton had been caught spying on industrial facilities in the Voronezh region in June. Actual details of the incident vary. Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio reported that Hamilton, a Russian language specialist, was working as an official representative of the state of Kansas in the region when she collected "information which constituted a state secret." Ekho Moskvy said Hamilton had "displayed an active interest in the region's industrial potential." The Associated Press carried a slightly different story, citing a Federal Security Service (FSB) spokesman as stating that Hamilton, 25, had been part of a Kansas-based university exchange program since January 1998. Hamilton was reportedly summoned to the regional FSB headquarters on June 21, where she admitted to collecting material from the region's defense factories, as well as passing economic and political information to the CIA. The FSB spokesman said Hamilton departed Russia on June 23, when her visa expired, and will not be allowed back in the country. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow reportedly would neither confirm nor deny the story. This report comes only a week after Lt. Col. Peter Hoffman, assistant military attache at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, was deemed persona non grata by the Russian foreign ministry and ordered to leave the country. Hoffman had a week earlier received word from the foreign ministry that his presence in Russia was "undesirable." Hoffman's expulsion from Russia was reportedly seen in Washington as retaliation for the May 1 expulsion from the U.S. of a Russian UN official, who had been caught red-handed in April attempting to obtain classified information. The U.S. late last year also refused to allow a Russian agent to reenter the country when he attempted to return to the Russian Embassy following a vacation. It seems only appropriate that, with Russian "Bear" bombers carrying out missions near Iceland for the first time in a decade, we should also see a return of the spy game. Not, of course, that the spy game ever went away, but it hasn't been as public and political as this in quite some time. According to U.S. officials, Russia has dramatically increased its espionage activity over the last six months, and has clamped down on contacts between current and former Russian military personnel and Western diplomats. Additionally, while Washington has attempted to downplay the recent incidents in an apparent effort to avoid further straining relations, Russia seems to be politicizing them. The initial request that Hoffman leave Russia coincided with Russian military flights near the Norwegian and Icelandic coasts and, in hindsight, with the Hamilton case. His expulsion also reportedly violated the unwritten rules of espionage, which reject retaliation for cases in which spies are caught red-handed -- as was the case with Russia's UN official. This latest announcement, coming weeks after the reported incident, also appears political in nature. First with last December's Operation Desert Fox in Iraq, and reinforced with Operation Allied Force in Kosovo, Washington has made it plain that it does not consider Russian concerns to be a factor standing in the way of the U.S. and NATO's agenda. Moscow is understandably perturbed, and of the belief that if Washington will not behave as a friend, then it can only be considered a foe. Thus the resurgence of espionage and, more to the point, the public manner in which the issue is being handled. Fundamentally these arrests change little, except perhaps to invigorate the careers of spy novelists like John LeCarre, who in the post-Cold War world have had to resort to tales of Panamanian intrigue. There always has been and always will be espionage carried out by the U.S. against Russia and by Russia against the U.S. But the symbolism is important. The military exercises, the severance of relations with NATO, the surge in arms sales, the expulsion of alleged spies -- all are reminders of what could be if the West chooses to continue behaving as if Russian interests are insignificant. They also raise the cost of reconciliation for both the West and for Russia's pro-Western faction. The Russian military and security services' newfound belligerence is a lever against both NATO and the Yeltsin government. Russia's hardliners are not ready to kiss and make up. They are not ready to return to the status quo ante, if that means letting things quiet down to Russian impotence circa November 1998. The FSB and the Russian military are just passing on a little reminder of how things were, as a warning of how they could be.
#8 Moscow Times July 9, 1999 President Soothes, Warns His Generals Even as he congratulated the general who led the dash to the Pristina airport, President Boris Yeltsin reminded top military leaders Thursday to avoid confrontation with NATO and the United States. Yeltsin told a gathering of generals and other military commanders at the Kremlin that relations with NATO and the United States "are a very sensitive, delicate and difficult issue'' but that he would not allow Russia to isolate itself from the West. "Each one of you must pursue one policy, the policy of the president. We won't have any outright quarrels with NATO but we won't flirt either. We will be following what NATO is doing and will be working out our tactics together,'' he said. The president's remarks amounted to a stern reminder to the more hard-line military commanders, who favor a tougher line against the West, to follow civilian leadership. Yeltsin has strongly criticized NATO for attacking Yugoslavia, but he insists that Moscow must retain reasonable relations with the West without becoming subservient. But Yeltsin mixed his message by singling out for special attention General Viktor Zavarzin, who led 200 paratroopers from Bosnia to seize the airport in the Kosovo capital. The move, wildly popular in nationalist circles, caused consternation in NATO and raised concerns about a more aggressive Russian stance. Shaking Zavarzin's hand, Yeltsin said that "we must decorate Russian soldiers for Kosovo." Yeltsin has scrupulously courted the generals, including handing out more generals' stars f Zavarzin got one in Pristina f and promises of more money for the cash-strapped military. The Pristina airport incident raised questions about the extent of the lame-duck president's control over the military. Some political and military leaders claim that Russia is under threat of NATO attack as the alliance expands into Eastern Europe. The NATO offensive against Yugoslavia prompted calls from some commanders for Russian aid to Belgrade. More recently, Russian commanders have argued with NATO over the terms under which Russian troops will operate as peacekeepers in Kosovo. The latest dispute last week centered on demands for a larger Russian area of operations in Kosovo. The speech Thursday was a reminder to the military that they cannot pursue different policies from the president's. Yeltsin said that the military's recent West-'99 exercises, which practiced repelling an attack from the West, proved that Russia's armed forces have nothing to fear. "In spite of present difficulties, the armed forces are able to ensure the security of Russia and let this be known to all the world,'' Yeltsin said. "They always say that our army has decayed þ that's simply a lie.'' The maneuvers were seen as an attempt by Russia's struggling military to flex its muscle after several years of decline and its loss of face when Moscow failed to deter the NATO airstrikes. Officials denied the maneuvers were directly connected to the NATO campaign. As part of the exercises, Russian long-range bombers flirted with NATO airspace near Norway and Iceland in the first such incidents in more than a decade. Yeltsin also spoke publicly for the first time about Russia's recent strikes on the Chechen border, in which Interior Ministry troops backed by helicopter gunships and artillery have battled gunmen. Both sides have reported casualties, though exact figures are still not known. "Bandits terrorizing people have started to receive a proper rebuff, but don't let this turn into war,'' he said. "As of late, the law enforcement bodies have significantly boosted their activities, acting more decisively and cooperating better in the North Caucasus.'' The Defense Ministry announced Thursday that the North Caucasus would be the scene of yet another set of what it called defensive maneuvers. Airborne troops, ships from the Black Sea Fleet and units from the North Caucasus military district will take part in the exercises, which will run from Tuesday to Friday, a ministry spokesman said. The spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said the exercises were geared toward practicing defensive operations in the Black Sea region and improving the efficiency of regional headquarters. Moscow also wants to show its might in the Caucasus, where it has had little success in deterring guerrilla attacks. Russia lost control over Chechnya after a 1994-96 war in which rebels humiliated the Russian army and drove it from the small, mostly-Moslem republic. Moscow has also been unable to stop a wave of kidnappings, bombings and other violence in the Caucasus.
#9 UN IS ONLY ENTITLED TO PLAY LEADING ROLE DURING CRISES - Foreign Minister MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) - The U.N. is only entitled to act during crises on behalf of the whole international community, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said. Addressing the participants in the conference of the World Council of Ex-Foreign Ministers on Thursday, Ivanov said that "if we want to avoid anarchy in international relations, we should be interested in maintaining and strengthening the U.N. role in world affairs." "Russia calls for consolidating the U.N. and its Security Council as the body which assumes major responsibility for maintaining peace and security and has priority to impose sanctions on behalf of the international community," Ivanov said. The world needs unity, stability and prosperity and thus it will be able to resist any threats and challenges, the Russian minister said. He pointed to Russian initiatives put forth by Russian President Boris Yeltsin at the G-8 summit in Cologne. These initiatives are aimed at working out a joint concept of world security in the 21st century. Ivanov believes that "we will be able to create a reliable system of law and order in compliance with principles of cooperation." The Yugoslav crisis confirmed the need to take into account legal aspects of the use of force in international relations, the minister said, adding that Russia should join efforts to "return the situation in a legal aspect". On European topics, the minister noted that now "there is one question: our continent should be united or the policy of disintegration and confrontation wins." Russia's position remains unchanged -- "the European architecture should be strong when it is build on the European basis," Ivanov pointed out.
#10 Russia Insists on Accelerating UN Reform MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) - The Kosovo crisis will accelerate the reform of the United Nations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin told Interfax, "The United Nations' active role in international affairs must be strengthened. A reform will enhance its efficiency." Upon the end of the "hot phase" of the Kosovo crisis, Russia faced a dilemma of whether to join NATO or reform the United Nations. On the one hand, Russia's pride was hurt. NATO made the decision to start the bombing campaign without consulting Russia and by skirting established cooperation mechanisms. On the other hand, the dignity of the United Nations was also wounded. NATO did not try to obtain a U.N. Security Council resolution because Russia and China, its permanent members, would have blocked any use of force against Yugoslavia. The other three permanent members of the council, the United States, Britain and France would have been left with nothing despite outnumbering the opposition. Germany, a locomotive for European integration, is not a member of the council. Germany has no say in the council, despite its economic power. This is the essence of the post-war world order: to bar Germany, Italy, Japan and their allies from making crucially important international decisions. Russia does not doubt the need for reforming the United Nations and "the Potsdam scheme." Before Kosovo, this necessity did not go beyond declarations, which implied that it would take a long time. U.N. bureaucrats fell in step with Russia here. They did not want changes, fearing for their positions, salaries, and privileges. The Kosovo crisis demonstrated that either the United Nations will reform or NATO will assume its functions. NATO proved that it can translate words into actions, regardless as to whether they are liked them or not. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's visit to Moscow was not incidental. U.N. reform was a second-important topic after Kosovo at the meetings of Annan with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized the need to determine if Germany, Japan, India, Asian and South American countries must be included in the Security Council; if the veto right should be abandoned; or if a majority principle should be introduced. Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky had an astounding idea. He said that Russia should join NATO and influence decisions, which are made by consensus, from inside. However, NATO will not welcome Russia. NATO officials have repeatedly said that the alliance cannot guarantee the security of a country as huge as Russia. This is probably an excuse. The truth is that NATO may consider Russia's membership if its public supports the idea. However, Russian society does not support the idea and is unlikely to do so in future. "The proposal for applying for NATO membership is not a working one. While talking about our membership in the alliance, NATO will expand to the east. Accession to NATO of the former USSR republics, including the Baltic states, is unacceptable for Russia," a top-level source told Interfax. A third option envisions that the G-8 would assume the functions of the U.N. Security Council. At first glance, it seems logical. The G-7, made up of the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Canada, Italy and Japan, became the G-8 upon Russia's assumption of the status of a full- scale partner. The G-8 unites leading industrialized countries, as of the late 20th century, instead of its middle. The G-8 may competently replace the U.N. Security Council if it adds China and becomes the G-9. The question is whether China and the G-8 would accept such an option. However, Russia's position remains unchanged: the dominant role of the U.N. Security Council must be preserved, the Foreign Ministry said.
#11 The Russia Journal http://www.russiajournal.com July 5-11, 1999 Russian military to get armed with more funds Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin promises to spend billions of rubles on national defense. Vladislav Komarov/The Russia Journal Russia's disarmament following the demise of the Soviet Union appears to be coming to an end. NATO's enlargement and bombing of Yugoslavia have prompted Russia's leadership - despite the economic and political crises plaguing the country - to address the problem of strengthening the country's defense potential in earnest. Reviving the country's military industrial complex has become a priority. A government ad hoc commission on the matter is being formed and Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov has been assigned to complete the formation of special agencies for the complex. By late June, in addition to the existing Aerospace Agency, another four sub-sector agencies for the MIC are to be established: for ammunitions, conventional arms, communications and management systems and shipbuilding. Russia's authorities are making no secret of the fact that the MIC will be developed along guidelines based on NATO's operation in Yugoslavia and that the ultimate goal is to provide Russia's armed forces with modern, high-precision weapons. Plans to reinitiate a number of research projects in this particular field are in the works. High-precision weapons constitute a broad class of arms, including cruise missiles of various basing (ground, sea or air), self-aiming bombs and special electronic and communication systems to handle and manage them. Under a Security Council resolution of late April, financing has also been made available for a program to develop tactical nuclear arms and the Topol-M strategic nuclear ICBM program. The task of reviving and developing Russia's military industrial complex will be a costly affair. Does Russia have the money? Definitely not. The country is in severe financial crisis. According to official data, the government owes the military at least 50 billion rubles, nearly 50 percent of this year's military spending plan of 104 billion rubles. State debts to the military industrial complex total 23 billion rubles, and the first quarter 1999 MIC financing plan was fulfilled by only 15 percent. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin promises to spend 164 billion rubles this year on national defense, state security and law enforcement. He also promises funding for Russia's peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo, which amounts to about four billion rubles ($150 million). These expenses are not provided for in the 1999 military budget. President Boris Yeltsin has set late June as the deadline for Stepashin and Defense Minister Igor Sergeev to prepare proposals concerning additional sources of financing for the country's military budget. There is no doubt that the proposals will be submitted in due course. The question is to what extent they will be realistic. Judging by Stepashin's words, the government plans to boost arms trade and develop joint ventures with foreign companies in the defense sector. But these are long-term programs, and cash is needed immediately. To get quick cash, the Russian leadership may decide to sell weapons from military warehouses and arsenals, probably for token prices.
#12 Jamestown Foundation Monitor 8 July 1999 YELTSIN SETS UP PRESS MINISTRY. President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on July 6 dissolving Russia's State Press Committee and the Federal Service for Television and Radio Broadcasting, and replacing them with a Ministry for Press, Television, Radio Broadcasting and Mass Communications. Commenting on the measure, Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin said at a cabinet meeting held that day: "I would not say that we want to create a propaganda ministry. But we are starting to create a federal strategy which would consolidate all of the state's capabilities in--pardon the old-fashioned word--ideological work" (Associated Press, July 6). Apparently fearing that Stepashin's words might be misconstrued, Aleksandr Mikhailov, head of the government information department, later said the creating of the press ministry "does not mean the introduction of censorship in Russia" (Vremya MN, July 7). The new ministry will compile a registration list of all Russian mass media organizations, regulate "the production and distribution of audio and video products, develop a state policy on advertising and organize national tenders for various licenses which will be required in order to carry out mass media and communications activities (Moscow Times, July 7). It will be headed by Mikhail Lesin, who until July 6 was first deputy chairman of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Company (VGTRK), which controls RTR television and Radio Russia, among others. While Lesin was officially number two in VGTRK, he was widely viewed as being the real power at RTR. In 1996, Lesin, then head of Video International, one of Russia's main advertising agencies, reportedly played a key role in Yeltsin's re-election campaign. He is seen as a key Kremlin insider and believed to be responsible for the RTR broadcast earlier this year of a video allegedly showing suspended Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov with two call girls. Yeltsin recently tasked Stepashin with formulating the government's policy and practice regarding the parliamentary elections, which are set for December of this year. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the creation of the new ministry is yet another in a series of Kremlin steps to make sure that it extends and tightens its control over the main levers of power and influence in the walk-up to the parliamentary vote and next year's presidential contest. The Press Ministry might use various levers, including licensing, against media seen as disloyal--such as Vladimir Gusinsky's NTV television and the Moscow city government's TV-Center, which are seen as being in the camp of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Last week a group of pro-Kremlin blocs--Russia is Our Home, Right Cause, New Force and Voice of Russia--made an agreement in principle to merge into a right-wing coalition ahead of December's parliamentary vote, a move which Stepashin greeted with approval. The Press Ministry could be seen as a way to ensure media support for such a coalition. In creating the ministry, Yeltsin seems to have returned to past practice. In 1992, he made one of his long-time associates, Mikhail Poltoranin, deputy prime minister in charge of information. Poltoranin was said to have been behind an abortive 1994 attempt to merge all state television media into one company.
#13 The Independent (UK) July 8, 1999 [for personal use only] RUSSIANS WANT PART OF ALASKA RETURNED ONE HUNDRED and thirty-two years after selling the vast and mineral- rich land of Alaska to the United States for $7.2m - a mere two cents an acre - in one of history's least lucrative land deals, Russia wants some of it back. To the annoyance of the Alaskans, Moscow has been pressing the US government to part with 40,000 square miles of the seas and fishing grounds that separate East from West along the International Dateline. The issue is part of a broader territorial issue in the far north that centres on a barren island well inside the Arctic Circle, just below the point at which the polar ice never melts. Aptly, this patch of 1,700 square miles is known by the Alaskans as Wrangel Island. The island, which is usually frozen and populated by polar bears, is one of eight rocks and islands in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea which, with their large and rich seabeds, ended up in Russian territory under an agreement struck between what was the Soviet Union and the United States in 1990. Notwithstanding its own vast and rich 548,400 square miles of land - in which there is an average of less than one person per square mile - Alaska was infuriated by the deal, not least because state representatives believe there may be oil and other important natural resources in the region. The state's MPs contend that Alaska was denied the right to participate in the negotiations with the Soviet Union by the US government. The talks were held in secret. Alaska is also pressing for the agreement to be declared null and void, as the Soviet Union collapsed before it could be ratified by Moscow. Despite that, Russia and the US have since agreed to abide by the deal. State rights are a particularly sensitive issue in Alaska, which until 1959 was denominated as a territory under an unelected governor chosen by the US president. Equally, Alaska - which was under Russian control for 126 years, after its trappers poured across the Bering Straits in search of sea otters and fur seals - has long been jealously eyed by Moscow, which has yet to forget how it gave the place away for a song in the mid- 19th century. The issue of the so-called 1990 US-USSR Maritime Boundary Agreement has been simmering away for several years, but disagreements took an abrupt step forward a week ago when Alaska's governor, Tony Knowles, signed a resolution from both houses of the state legislature, strongly urging the US government to renegotiate it. Although non-binding legally, the resolution heightens the pressure on the US federal government. The state is threatening to follow it up with a series of hearings on the issue. It argues that if it loses its 40,000 square miles of water to the Russians, then with it will go a potential annual catch of some 300 million pounds of fish, with nothing in return. Wrangel is the jewel in the crown of the disputed territories. Alaska has long seen it as its own partly because it had a fur-trapping company on the island until 1924, when the Soviet Union occupied it. Quite apart from its possible mineral riches, it is rich in history: several years ago Russian scientists found the remains of 23 dwarf woolly mammoths on Wrangel, which they believed survived the Ice Age by 6,000 years, before finally being eradicated by early man.
#14 St. Petersburg Times July 6, 1999 EDITORIAL Boris Yeltsin's Step Down Is a Job for All BORIS Yeltsin says he is ready to leave office, ready to hand power over to a successor elected by the people in elections he hopes will be free and fair. He says he doesn't even care if he likes his successor: "Personal likes and dislikes aren't the point," he said. "This will be a new head of state who comes to power in a legal way. The people will choose him." We should thank him for saying so - and hold him to it. Yeltsin is a complicated man. He has a glutton's appetite for power and has at times defined democracy as himself. But he has also, as a rule, appealed to the better natures of his people - in word if not always in deed. And he has for years professed a genuine desire to hand power over democratically and legally. He seems to understand that doing so is almost the only step he can take to cement his historical legacy, and freedom in Russia. But there is more to it. Yeltsin has ruled over a corrupt regime. The Communists have indicated - through impeachment, and through their unwillingness to entertain the forgiving presidential retirement packages the Kremlin has on occasion floated - that they will hound Yeltsin mercilessly. And those around him - "the family," as the Russian media have dubbed the cabal of advisers, many of them implicated in various criminal machinations - are vulnerable and helpless without "Papa" in the Kremlin. What is more, Yeltsin has often insisted blithely that something is so when he knows it is not. How many times did President Yeltsin go on television to tell us that the bombing of Chechnya had stopped? How many top Cabinet officials over the years - from Anatoly Chubais to Boris Nemtsov to Yevgeny Primakov - have shuddered to hear Yeltsin proclaim loudly that they have his guarantee, they will be in office until 2000 and beyond? In all likelihood, Yeltsin sincerely wants to leave office just as the Constitution requires. But he is also surely ambivalent. And he is - whatever he may say about never folding to outside pressure - surrounded entirely by courtiers who are looking out for their own best interests in telling him the nation needs him to stay. Yeltsin could surprise those courtiers. He could surprise us all. (It certainly wouldn't be the first time he had pulled a political rabbit out of his hat). But he needs help. And anyone and everyone who has even theoretical access to Yeltsin - from the IMF to the U.S. White House to CNN to NTV - should be helping him do the right thing. He has at times appealed to our better natures; let us appeal to his.