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PUTIN OUTLINES FIVE-PART ANTITERRORISM PROGRAM...
In a countrywide broadcast on 24 September, President
Vladimir Putin said that Russia's position on terrorism remains
"unchanged," Russian agencies reported. He said Moscow's position
concerning the planned American antiterrorist operation in Afghanistan
includes five provisions: active cooperation among intelligence agencies,
the opening of Russian airspace for humanitarian missions, agreement with
Central Asian allies on overflights, participation in search and rescue
operations, and expanded cooperation with the Northern Alliance Afghan
government. He noted that "other, more extensive forms of cooperation are
possible." PG
...ANNOUNCES CREATION OF RUSSIAN COORDINATING GROUP...
To coordinate Russia's actions in these areas, President
Putin said in his 24 September broadcast that he has created a
coordinating group to be chaired by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. Putin
said this group will both collect and analyze information about the
terrorist threat and also interact with those taking part in the
antiterrorist operation. PG
...LINKS RUSSIAN ACTIONS IN CHECHNYA TO ANTITERRORIST
CAMPAIGN...
President Putin said in his 24 September
broadcast that "the events in Chechnya cannot be considered outside of the
context of the struggle with international terrorism." Allowing for the
possibility that some Chechen militants may have taken up arms against
Russia "under the influence of false and distorted values," Putin said
that Moscow is prepared to offer those who "still have not laid down their
arms in Chechnya" a chance over the next 72 hours to turn themselves in to
the authorities. He did not specify what the Russian authorities would do
to those who fail to turn themselves in. The Russian president added that
he has named Viktor Kazantsev, the presidential envoy to the Southern
federal district, to oversee this process. PG
...AND REPORTS ON HIS MEETING WITH RUSSIAN MUSLIM LEADERS...
During his televised speech on 24 September, Putin said that
he wanted to say "several words" about his meeting earlier in the day with
leaders of the Muslim spiritual directorates of Russia. He noted that this
session took place "on their initiative" and said that they proposed
holding in Moscow an international Islamic conference under the slogan
"Islam Is Against Terror." Putin said Russia is against extremism of any
kind and is not conducting a campaign against Islam. PG
...HAVING CONSULTED WITH PARLIAMENTARIANS BEFOREHAND
President Putin met with members of the State Council,
Federation Council, and the Duma prior to giving his countrywide address
on 24 September, Russian agencies reported. Putin said that he wanted to
brief them on his plans before speaking to the nation. During the meeting,
Putin stressed that he has had intensive discussions with international
leaders and the Russian security community over the last few days and
wanted to hear the views of the country's political leaders. VY
DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS AFGHANISTAN, CHECHNYA 'TWO BRANCHES OF
ONE TREE'
Defense Minister Ivanov said on 24 September that
"Afghanistan and Chechnya are two branches of one tree," adding that "the
roots of the tree are in Afghanistan," RIA-Novosti reported. Ivanov said
that terrorism grows most easily in places no one controls, such as
Afghanistan and parts of the Philippines. Ivanov also said that the
solution to the problem of terrorism requires more than military strikes.
He said Russia has no plans to participate in any U.S. raid on
Afghanistan. The same day, representatives of Russian special services
said they have arrested a man in Chechnya who was carrying plans for the
strikes on the World Trade Center, Interfax reported. VY/PG
'VEK' SAYS MOSCOW SHOULD FOLLOW U.S. IN IGNORING BORDERS AND
EXTEND FIGHT AGAINST CHECHNYA INTO GEORGIA
Writing in "Vek,"
No. 37, Valerii Solovei said that American plans to attack terrorists
wherever they are found regardless of national borders provide a
justification for Russia to do the same and cross into Georgia if need be
to defeat the Chechen militants. Meanwhile, Akhmar Zavgaev, the Chechen
member of Russia's Federation Council, said he expects the fall session of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to assess the
situation in Chechnya "more objectively and reasonably than before"
because of the 11 September terrorist attacks, ITAR-TASS reported on 24
September. That view was repeated by presidential adviser Sergei
Yastrzhembskii, Interfax reported the same day. But PACE Chairman Lord
Russell-Johnston said on 24 September that the terrorist acts in the U.S.
"have not changed the position of the European parliamentarians to the
situation in the Chechen Republic." PG
GOVERNMENT TO PROPOSE STRICTER ANTITERRORISM LAW
Aleksandr Kotenkov, the Kremlin's representative in the Duma,
said on 24 September that the presidential administration intends to
introduce a new, updated antiterrorism bill because the versions presented
earlier are now "absolutely unacceptable," Interfax reported. Justice
Minister Yurii Chaika called the same day for the rapid adoption of new
laws to combat terrorism, the news agency reported. Meanwhile, Russian
politicians continued to discuss how to react to Washington's
antiterrorist effort. Duma deputy (Peoples' Deputy) Gennadii Raikov said
on 24 September that any such effort must proceed under the UN flag,
Interfax reported. Communist Party leader Gennadii Zyuganov said he will
appeal to President Putin not to allow Russia to be dragged into "a war
with the Islamic world," while National Bolshevik Party leader Anatolii
Tishin said that Russia should be supporting the Taliban against the
United States, the news agency said. PG
FOREIGN MINISTER PROPOSES CALLING SPECIAL UN SESSION ON
TERRORIST THREATS
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told the UN
General Assembly in New York on 24 August that Moscow would like to see a
special UN session convened on new terrorist challenges to global security
and the problems of nonproliferation, Russian and Western agencies
reported. Such a session, Ivanov said, could also take up disarmament
questions as well, including Moscow's proposal to cut the number of
nuclear weapons held by Russia and the United States to 1,500 each. In his
address, Ivanov said Moscow would like to see the establishment of a
global system to counter terrorism and give early warning of terrorist
attacks, Interfax reported. Ivanov also called for the development of more
balanced rules to govern global trade. VY/PG
PUTIN WARNS AGAINST 'DIZZINESS FROM SUCCESS'
President Putin said on 24 September that Russia's economic
performance is not bad, but he nonetheless said that "dizziness from
success" is "impermissible," Russian agencies reported. (Putin's words
recall those that Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin used during the
collectivization campaign.) Putin called on Duma deputies and government
officials to work carefully on the budget and to consider all possible
risks. The same day, the State Statistics Committee reported that Russia's
GDP in the first eight months of 2001 was 5.9 percent greater than in the
same period in 2000 after being adjusted for inflation, Russian agencies
reported. Unemployment fell 18.7 percent from August 2000 to August 2001,
Interfax reported also on 24 September. PG
PUTIN LOOKS FORWARD TO GERMAN VISIT
President
Putin will make his first state visit to Germany on 25-27 September,
Russian and Western agencies reported. In advance of his visit, Putin gave
an interview published in the German newspaper "Bild" in which he said
that he finds it easier to deal with current German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder than with Schroeder's predecessor Helmut Kohl because Schroeder
is a man of Putin's own generation. PG
SPECIAL STRUCTURE TO PROTECT STATE SECRETS CREATED
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on 24 September signed a
directive creating a new Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets
and a Control Directorate, gazeta.ru reported. A government spokesman said
that the new structures will be integrated into the government's existing
structure and allow for "better distribution of functions within the
government and the coordination of efforts to fight international
terrorism." VY
AGRARIANS BEGIN FORMAL PREPARATIONS FOR A REFERENDUM
Aleksandr Veshnyakov, the head of the Central Election
Commission, said on 24 September that the Agrarian Party of Russia has
begun the process of registering for the collection of the 2 million
signatures needed to call for a referendum on the buying and selling of
land, Interfax reported. Meanwhile, "Kommersant-Daily" reported the same
day that Russians now face a dilemma that citizens of other countries have
long confronted: "Is it more profitable to own or rent?" PG
BUSINESS SEEN FINANCING MAJOR PARTIES...
According
to an article in "Russkii fokus," No. 23, most of Russia's major parties
now rely on major businesses to finance their operations, sometimes by
selling places on party lists to businessmen. The article noted that the
link between businesses and parties will only grow because it currently
costs up to $2 million to launch a major party in Russia. PG
...AS RADICAL LEFT PARTIES SEEN AS UNLIKELY TO SURVIVE BUT
STILL MAKING NOISE
The new law on political parties does not
give the radical left communist movements much chance for survival even if
they all unite, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 22 September. They are
simply too small and too concentrated to meet the new law's provisions.
But such groups can still attract attention: on 24 September, they staged
a demonstration at the Yugoslav Embassy in Moscow in support of former
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Interfax reported. PG
MOSCOW NEGOTIATING TO OBTAIN NUCLEAR WASTE IMPORTS
Academician Zhores Alferov, the chairman of the government
commission on nuclear waste management, said on 24 September that his
group has entered into negotiations with a number of countries about their
possible dispatch to Russia of nuclear wastes for permanent storage,
Interfax reported. He said Taiwan and Switzerland have shown particular
interest in the program, but added that it is still early to talk about
contacts, noting that "the struggle for the nuclear waste market" will be
long and complicated. PG
DEPUTY PREMIER SAYS BALTIC EU MEMBERSHIP MAY HAVE NEGATIVE
IMPACT ON RUSSIA
Speaking at the Baltic Forum in St.
Petersburg on 24 September, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said
Moscow is concerned that future Baltic membership in the European Union
may have negative consequences for Russian exports, RIA-Novosti reported.
If the Baltic countries become EU members, Klebanov noted, Russian exports
through those countries will become subject to EU antidumping rules and
maximum quotas will be set on exporting oil and nuclear fuel.
Consequently, Klebanov said, Russia will seek a special agreement lest it
be forced to raise prices and price itself out of the market. At the same
time, however, he indicated that the Nordic-Baltic region is becoming ever
more important for Russia as a bridge to Europe. VY
RUSSIAN DELEGATION ARRIVES IN BAGHDAD
A delegation
of Duma deputies and journalists arrived in Baghdad on 24 September to
study the situation there, ITAR-TASS reported. The direct charter flight
that carried them from Moscow to Baghdad was the 25th such flight since
the route opened last year, the agency said. Meanwhile, Russian officials
said in Moscow the same day that Russia may sell some of its grain to
Baghdad later this year. PG
MOSCOW SYNAGOGUE VANDALIZED
Russia's Chief Rabbi
Adolf Shaevich said on 24 September that vandals drew swastikas and
anti-Semitic epithets on Moscow's main synagogue and below the office
windows of Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt in the early morning
hours of 23 September, Western agencies reported. Shaevich said, "Our
security is very good, but perhaps they lost some vigilance because it has
been peaceful recently." The U.S.-based National Conference on Soviet
Jewry (NCSJ) said in a press release the same day that "these incidents
underscore the need for year-round protection of Jewish institutions" in
Russia. PG
RAPID GROWTH PREDICTED FOR AVIATION SECTOR
Deputy
Prime Minister Klebanov said on 24 September that the country's civil
aviation network will need to purchase 800 to 1,000 planes by 2010,
Interfax reported. He also said that new international aviation standards
will not have serious consequences for Russian carriers, many of which now
operate with planes that do not meet those noise and pollution standards.
Aviation companies called for the government to invest more in their
sector, the news agency reported the same day. PG
DEPUTY PREMIER SAYS GOVERNMENT WILL DECIDE ON GAS PRICES
Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko said on 24 September
that there will not be any increase in gas prices without the prior
approval of the government, Interfax reported. Meanwhile, as part of the
effort to regulate domestic supplies and prices, the government raised
export duties on some types of oil and cut them on gas, the news agency
said. But the gas companies continue to nurture ambitious plans: Gazprom
head Aleksei Miller said the same day that his company plans to maintain
its 25 percent share of the European gas market over the next decade,
Interfax-AFI reported. PG
RUSSIA'S POPULATION DECLINE ACCELERATES
The State
Statistics Committee said on 24 September that the population of Russia
declined during the first seven months of 2001 by 530,800 people or 0.4
percent, Interfax reported. During the same period in 2000, the country's
population declined by only 471,200 or 0.3 percent, the committee said.
Moreover, during the January-July 2001 period, immigration compensated for
only 5.5 percent of the total loss, a figure also lower than in earlier
years. Meanwhile, officials at the Federation, Nationalities, and
Migration Policy Ministry said that there may be 1.5 million or even more
illegal residents currently living in Russia, the news agency said. PG
ONE-THIRD OF POPULATION IN MIDSIZED TOWNS FEEL IGNORED
Yeleonora Sheremetyeva, the mayor of Uglich and the head of
the national association of small and midsized towns, told journalists who
visited her town over the weekend that one-third of the population living
in cities and towns with a population of between 20,000 and 200,000 feel
that their problems receive little attention from the federal government,
ITAR-TASS reported on 24 September. PG
ETHNIC GREEKS OF SIBERIA GET ORGANIZED
Ethnic
Greeks across Siberia are organizing a regional national culture
association to protect their traditions and strengthen ties with Greece,
ITAR-TASS reported on 24 September. In Tomsk, activists from this
association have opened a school where children are instructed in
contemporary Greek language and literature. PG
GRAIN HARVEST EVEN LARGER THAN PROJECTED
Officials
at the Russian Agriculture Ministry on 24 September increased their
forecast for the 2001 grain harvest to as much as 77 million tons, but
added that some may be lost because of the lack of harvesting equipment,
Russian and Western agencies reported. Some agricultural experts said that
this year's crop could actually reach 81-85 million tons before losses,
Reuters reported. PG
COMPLETE EXPLANATION FOR 'KURSK' DISASTER MAY NEVER BE FOUND
Deputy Prime Minister Klebanov, who heads the government
commission for investigating the causes of the August 2000 sinking of the
"Kursk" nuclear submarine, told Interfax on 24 September that even after
the submarine is raised, not all questions about its sinking may be
answered. Meanwhile, bad weather and new problems led officials to suggest
again that the date for the raising of the submarine might be delayed, but
not beyond 29-30 September. PG
NEW GENERATION OF ICEBREAKERS NEEDED FOR ARCTIC SEA ROUTE
Aleksandr Ushakov, the head of the Northern Route
administration of the Transportation Ministry, told Interfax on 24
September that Russia will need to develop a new generation of
atomic-powered icebreakers if it wants to keep the entire Arctic route
open year-round. At present, he said, existing icebreakers can only keep
the western sections of the route open all year. PG
MORE THAN 50 PERCENT OF RUSSIA'S MILITARY AIRFIELDS NEED
REPAIRS
Russian air force officials told Interfax on 23
September that more than half of the country's more than 140 military
airfields need serious repairs to their runways and that virtually all of
them need upgrades in their electronic infrastructure. If nothing is done,
the officials said, the number needing massive runway repairs will rise to
80 percent by 2005. PG
SERBSKII INSTITUTE COMPLETES EXAMINATION OF BUDANOV
Psychiatrists at Moscow's Serbskii Institute announced on 24
September that they have concluded their examination of Colonel Yurii
Budanov, who is accused of murdering an 18-year-old Chechen woman, but
refused to divulge their findings, Interfax reported. If Budanov is
adjudged sane, he could face up to 15 years in prison; if he is found to
be mentally incapacitated in some way, his sentence would be only three
years. This is the third time Budanov has been examined by psychiatrists.
PG
RUSSIANS SAY THEY SAVED SWITZERLAND -- IN 1799
Russian diplomats in Switzerland on 24 September laid wreaths
at a monument in the Swiss village of Andermatt in honor of Russian
Marshal Aleksandr Suvorov, who 202 years ago on that date crossed the Alps
and prevented Napoleon from entering Switzerland, RTR television reported.
Russian historians noted on the program that this action preserved Swiss
neutrality. VY
THE .SU RETURNS ON THE INTERNET
The Fund for the
Development of the Internet told Interfax on 24 September that as of 1
October 2001, Internet users may again register with the domain .su. The
fund's spokesmen said such registration will cost $15,000, and that they
hope it will be used across the former USSR. PG
ROSTOV INCUMBENT WINS...
As expected, incumbent
Rostov Oblast Governor Vladimir Chub won reelection in the ballot held on
23 September. According to preliminary results, Chub polled 78.1 percent
of the vote, and the category "against all candidates" came in second with
12.68 percent, Interfax reported the next day. The only other registered
candidate, Petr Voloshin, the head of Zimovnikovskii Raion, came in third
with 7.4 percent. Local Communist Party leader Leonid Ivanchenko, who was
unable to overturn a decision by the local oblast commission banning him
from participating in the election, commented that the results cannot be
considered legitimate. Ivanchenko also told local reporters that Communist
Party election observers believe that no more than 35 percent of
registered voters participated in the election -- rather than the 48
percent the local election commission is claiming. JAC
...AS CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION ISSUES ITS SEAL OF APPROVAL
At the same time, Central Election Commission Chairman
Aleksandr Veshnyakov told reporters in Moscow that the election was
observed by a number of representatives of different public movements and
parties, and not one serious complaint was made. According to Interfax,
Veshnyakov said that the likelihood of the Supreme Court overturning the
election result is small. Presidential envoy to the Southern federal
district Kazantsev announced that he is certain that "Rostov Oblast will
become the example for how to conduct elections for the republics of
Agydei, Kalmykia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and North Ossetia, which will hold
elections next year." JAC
REGIONAL LEGISLATURES CONTINUE TO PASS LOCAL LAWS VIOLATING
FEDERAL LEGISLATION
Sergei Medvedev, the deputy head of
administration of the Prosecutor-General's Office in the Siberian federal
district, told Interfax-Eurasia on 24 September that 160 normative acts
remains on the books in that district that violate federal laws. The
Siberian region with the highest number of laws in violation is the Altai
Republic with 30, followed by the Altai Krai with 24, and Novosibirsk
Oblast with 18. The constitution of the Altai Republic along with
Buryatia's and Khakasia's are also in violation of the Federal
Constitution, according to Medvedev. He also reported that of the laws and
normative acts passed by legislative assemblies in the district this year,
some 10-15 percent have been challenged in court by prosecutorial organs.
JAC
ANOTHER DUMA DEPUTY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST LATIN SCRIPT FOR TATAR
LANGUAGE
Bashkortostan Academy of Sciences President and
State Duma deputy (Russian Regions) Robert Nigmatulin told reporters on 20
September that the introduction of Latin script for the Tatar written
language will result in the break of the Tatar language from the Bashkir
language as well as from Russian language and culture, RFE/RL's Kazan
bureau reported on 24 September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 September
2001). Nigmatulin said that this is not "a private issue of Tatarstan." In
an earlier interview with Russian Television (RTR) on 18 September, he
called for resolving the question at the federal level. During that same
RTR program, Marat Murtazin, rector of the Islamic University, also
condemned the Latinization program, saying that it should be "forbidden to
experiment on a people, abandoning one plan for another." JAC
...AS TATARSTAN OFFICIALS STAND FAST
"Our children
will lose the opportunity to read, to read literature that was written in
the Tatar language during the last 70 years," he continued. According to
RFE/RL's Kazan bureau, Nigmatulin and Murtazin admitted at a Moscow press
conference that they themselves do not read any books or newspapers in
Tatar -- even in Cyrillic script. Meanwhile, local Tatarstan officials
were defiant. Farid Mukhametshin, chairman of Tatarstan's Legislative
Assembly, said on 21 September that federal authorities cannot legally
block the switch to Latin script. And Mansur Khasanov, president of the
Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, said that if the State Duma votes to
prohibit the switch, this would be a "return to the past" and would
represent the annihilation of Tatarstan's sovereignty. JAC
WOMAN ARRESTED IN CHECHNYA FOR TENDING TO WOUNDED FIGHTERS
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officials have
arrested an unnamed woman in Gudermes for providing medical assistance to
supporters of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, ITAR-TASS reported on 24
September. The FSB agents claimed to have found documentation at her home
proving she participated in the January 1996 attack by Salman Raduev on
the Daghestan town of Kizlyar. LF
25-09-01
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