Russia:
Government Trying To Transform Energy Sector
Radio Liberty, By Michael Lelyveld, October 16, 2002
Russian deputies have given initial approval to a
power-sector restructuring plan. The move may mark
the first major commitment to break up the country's
natural monopolies, but doubts remain about how the
government's program will work.
Duma
to consider monument to Nicholas II on Lubyanka
Interfax, October 10, 2002
Moscow, 24 April: The leader of the Russian liberal
party Yabloko, Grigoriy Yavlinsky, According to information
agencies, there are grounds for thinking that during
his meeting with Edward Shevardnadze, President Putin
has found the right solutions to Russian-Georgian
MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - The Duma Council submitted
a draft resolution to erect a monument to Russian
Emperor Nicholas II on Moscow's Lubyanskaya Square
on the agenda for the Duma session on October 16.
Court
Deals Blow to Yakovlev Hopes
By Claire Bigg, October 4, 2002
Vladimir Yakovlev's chances of running for a third
term as governor suffered a serious blow this week
when, after 15 hours of hearings and deliberations,
the St. Petersburg City Charter Court handed down
a ruling at 3 a.m. on Wednesday saying that the City
Charter rules out such a candidacy.
Russia
considers electoral change
UPI, By Anthony Louis, October 8, 2002
MOSCOW, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Leaders of a growing pro-Kremlin
political bloc have proposed changing Russia's electoral
rules by dramatically raising the threshold of votes
in parliamentary elections required for political
parties to win seats in the Duma, Russia's lower house.
Russia:
Centrists Propose Changing Electoral Law
Radio Liberty, By Gregory Feifer, October 18, 2002 Since Russian President Vladimir Putin came
to power over two years ago, he has done much to carry
out his promise of strengthening centralized power.
The pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party is now proposing
to further consolidate the country's political forces
by changing parliamentary election rules.
Yakovlev
Issues Budget Warning
www.sptimes.ru, By Claire Bigg, October 11, 2002
A handful of young Yabloko supporters, wearing red
wigs in a nod to Chubais and carrying The city budget
for 2003, although it was passed in first reading
by the Legislative Assembly on Oct. 2, has become
the center of heated debate in the corridors of the
Mariinsky Palace, following threats from city Governor
Vladimir Yakovlev that, should the budget be passed
as it stands, he will not sign it.
Indecent
Proposal.
The right-wing are once again considering a marriage
of convenience
Moskovsky Komsomolets, By Alexander Minkin, October
23 2002
Another attempt by the democrats to unite has proved
abortive. Or rather an attempt by their leaders. Boris
Nemtsov explained this failure on TV, saying with
a jeer that "the bride who is past her prime is too
capricious and choosy.
Your
Union Is a Pretence, Friends
Rossiiskaya Gazeta, By Vitaly Tretyakov, October 24,
2002
The talk about the prospect of uniting democratic
forces in an electoral union, movement, or bloc has
had a long history and has little hope for success.
From time to time, the idea of such a union is revived,
especially duringsessions of the Democratic conference
that consists of a number of dwarfish party structures,
human rights watching clubs, and first and foremost
the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) and Yabloko.
YABLOKO
calls on journalists to show restraint
Rosbalt, October 24, 2002, 15:22
St.Petersburg, October 24, 2002. Deputy Chairman of
the YABLOKO party and deputy of the State Duma Sergei
Mitrokhin, who is now at the headquarters formed owing
to the seizure by a group of armed people of a theatre,
showing the Nord-Ost musical in Moscow, called on
the mass media not to disclose the details of possible
actions by forces from the security agencies and bodies
responsible for internal affairs. This information
was provided by the Ekho Moskvi radio station.
One
Dead in Theater, 8 Walk Free
The Moscow Times, By Lyuba Pronina, Oksana Yablokova
and Andrei Zolotov Jr., October 25, 2002.
A sniper on Thursday targeting the front entrance
to the theater where hundreds of people were taken
hostage during "Nord Ost."
Chechen
Rebels Hold Hundreds in Theater, One Dead
Reuters, By Larisa Sayenko, October 24, 5:12 PM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Chechen "suicide squad" held
hundreds of people hostage for a second night Thursday
in a Moscow theater rigged with explosives, after
killing one woman who tried to escape.
Armed
Chechens Seize Moscow Theater Moscow Times, Natalia Yefimova,
Torrey Clark and Lyuba Pronina
Staff Writers , October 24, 2002
Contrary to what some see as a friendlier phase in
President Vladimir Putin's relationship with the About
30 to 50 armed Chechens seized a Moscow theater Wednesday
night and took an audience of some 700 people hostage,
FSB officials and witnesses said.
Poll
Puts Kalmykia on Kremlin's Map
The Moscow Times, by Natalia Yefimova, October 18,
2002.
But this week, a handful of windows have been shining
brightly throughout the night. Inside the lit rooms,
bleary-eyed press secretaries, campaign staffers in
rumpled suits and PR gurus imported from Moscow are
helping candidates in this sleepy Buddhist republic
fight a battle for the presidency.
Moscow
faces the prospect of choosing a new strategic direction
Vek, by Valery Liubin, October 18, 2002
The latest round of talks about campaign cooperation
between the Union of Right-Wing Forces We have not
seen much coherent commentary in Russia on a decision
made by the European Union in early October to accept
ten new members in 2004 (Poland, Hungary, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta,
and Cyprus). However, this move is much more important
and fraught with more significant consequences than
the news about NATO eastward expansion which once
caused Russia to dig in its heels. All attention is
being focused on one side-effect alone - resolving
the Kaliningrad dilemma and the tug-of-war between
Brussels and Moscow - although it is quite clear which
side will be forced to make the greater concessions
when finding a compromise.
Europe's
March to the East
Moscow faces the prospect of choosing a new strategic
direction
Vek, by Valery Liubin, October 18, 2002 We have not seen much coherent commentary
in Russia on a decision made by the European Union
in early October to accept ten new members in 2004
(Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, and Cyprus). However, this
move is much more important and fraught with more
significant consequences than the news about NATO
eastward expansion which once caused Russia to dig
in its heels. All attention is being focused on one
side-effect alone - resolving the Kaliningrad dilemma
and the tug-of-war between Brussels and Moscow - although
it is quite clear which side will be forced to make
the greater concessions when finding a compromise.
Grounds
for Optimism
Moscow Times, by Alexander Sokolowski, October 21,
2002
One can tell a lot about where a country's economy
is headed by looking at its budget. Since the budget
is essentially the resource framework for all of a
state's operations, it also serves as a barometer
of government efforts at economic and social reform.
On Friday, the State Duma passed the draft 2003 budget
in its second reading. Although the Duma must still
consider the budget in its third and fourth readings
before the draft is fully adopted by the lower house,
the budget's basic parameters and major spending priorities
have already been set.
Mother
of All Reforms
Wall Street Journal, by Therese Raphael, October 18,
2002 "Corrupt influence . . . loads us more than
millions of debt; which takes away vigor from our
arms, wisdom from our councils, and every shadow of
authority and credit from the most venerable parts
of our constitution."
Grigory
Yavlinsky advocates a visa-free regime at the Baltic
Development Forum
On October 14-15, 2002, the leader of the Russian
Democratic Party YABLOKO
Grigory Yavlinsky will take part in the fourth annual
meeting of the Baltic Development Forum. The Forum
will be held in Copenhagen and is entitled "New
Bridges Between the Baltic States: Prospects and Strategies
of the Centre of Growth in Europe".
On
the inadmissibility of adopting the Government's draft
laws for energy sector reform
Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, State
Duma, YABLOKO Faction. Statement, October 8, 2002 The YABLOKO faction
in the State Duma will not support the package of
draft laws on reform of the electricity sector submitted
by the Government to the State Duma.
Grigory
Yavlinsky "To the Summit of the CIS Heads: Russia
and Georgia" www.yavlinsky.ru
Interfax, October 7, 2002
Moscow, 24 April: The leader of the Russian liberal
party Yabloko, Grigoriy Yavlinsky, According to information
agencies, there are grounds for thinking that during
his meeting with Edward Shevardnadze, President Putin
has found the right solutions to Russian-Georgian
relations and transferred the issue from the area
of state conflict to the area of cooperation between
the law-enforcement agencies of both countries.
The
proposal of "United Russia" to raise the
threshold for access to the State Duma to 12.5% is
targeted against YABLOKO and the Union of Right-Wing
Forces
Rosbalt, October 7, 2002
The proposal of the "United Russia" to raise the threshold
for access to the State Duma to 12.5% is targeted
against YABLOKO and the Union of Right-Wing Forces.
This opinion was expressed by Deputy Chairman of the
YABLOKO party Sergei Ivanenko to a Rosbalt correspondent
on Monday. According to Ivanenko, this proposal had
been developed by the representatives of the "second
echelon" of "United Russia". " First we should learn
what the real heads of the party - the Administration
of the President of the RF - will say to this," noted
Ivanenko.
Communist
Icons Suffer Mixed Fates In Modern Moscow
Wall Street Journal, By Claudia Rosett, October 15,
2002
Making monuments is rarely simple, as New Yorkers
debating the right memorial for Sept. 11 can attest.
But for controversial trends in the commemoration
business, it's hard to top modern Moscow. Making a
post-Soviet break with the past has meant scrapping
some of communism's many trappings, including the
goose-stepping honor guard at Lenin's tomb, the plethora
of Soviet place names, and, most famously, a huge
bronze statue of the KGB's founding father, Felix
Dzerzhinsky. But the landscape remains littered with
mementos of state-sanctioned mass murder -- put there
as an exercise in self-exaltation by the former Soviet
rulers, who ordained the murdering.
Some
Anxiety in Russia as Monopoly Nears End
New York Times. By Sabrina Tavernise. October 15,
2002
But many questions remain about how the plan will
be carried out, and investors and some lawmakers have
warned that the process risks repeating the flaws
and mistakes of privatization in Russia in the mid-1990's.
That program was often manipulated by powerful insiders
who stripped away valuable state assets and left outside
shareholders with little or nothing. The Russian legal
system is still trying to cope with the fallout.
Kremlin
Has a Bill on Firing Governors
The Moscow Times, by Andrei Zolotov Jr., October 8,
2002
Contrary to what some see as a friendlier phase in
President Vladimir Putin's relationship with the governors,
the Kremlin is cobbling together plans to strengthen
its grip on the regional powers.
Chubais
Blasted as UES Bills Hit Duma
The Moscow Times, by Alla Startseva, October 9, 2002
Left and right converged in opposition to Unified
Energy Systems chief Anatoly Chubais and a controversial
legislation package to overhaul the national power
grid Tuesday, a day ahead of the first reading of
the bills in the State Duma.
Deputies
Vote to Break Up Power Grid
The Moscow Times, by Alla Startseva, October 10, 2002
A handful of young Yabloko supporters, wearing red
wigs in a nod to Chubais and carrying boxes reading
"Alms for reform," protesting the UES bills at the
Duma on Wednesday.
Pro-Kremlin
party to rid Duma of liberals, Zhirinovsky
gazeta.ru, by Artyom Vernidoub , October 8, 2002
Existing economic mechanisms only achieve the very
narrow goal of maintaining the present [economic]
level, but fail to provide for medium-term economic
growth. In terms of solutions to the main problems
facing the country, the economic system has been in
a state of decline and has The State Duma's most numerous
and servile faction -- the pro-Kremlin Unity Party
and its centrist allies -- is set to purge the house
of its smaller factions, such as Yabloko, the Union
of Right-Wing Forces (SPS), and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's
LDPR, and in the long run form a bipartisan parliament.
Yavlisnky's
Credo: Against Corruption in the Union of Right-Wing
Forces and for Putin
Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Yabloko
party
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, by Maxim Glikin, October 11,
2002
The protagonist of one of our publications Dima Goryashin
entered this year one of the most prestigious faculties
of the Moscow State University - the Faculty of Mechanics
and Mathematics. He passed examinations with the bulk
of applicants, even though he could have assumed privileges
as an orphan. He did not require them, as Dima is
a talented mathematician.
Russia,
With Much at Stake, Takes Its Time Deciding New York Times, By Sabrina Tavernise, October
3, 2002
MOSCOW, Oct. 2 - Russia is biding its time over whether
to support the Bush administration in seeking a new
United Nations resolution on Iraq, with parliamentary
leaders saying today that the decision hinged on economic
interests, and with the Kremlin still declining to
lay out its terms in public.
Russian
liberal calls for change of tack on Georgia, firm
policy on Iraq
Ekho Moskvy radio station, October 2, 2002 Interview with Alexey Arbatov
The deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee
on Defence, the liberal Yabloko deputy, AlexeiArbatov,
has criticized Russia's policy on Georgia, which,
he says, is driving it into the arms of NATO and the
West. In an interview with Russian Ekho Moskvy radio,
Arbatov also diverged from the Russian government's
line on Iraq. He said he supported a new UN resolution
against Baghdad, although he would not endorse a US
attack on Iraq which was not thoroughly justified.
The following is an excerpt from the interview broadcast
live on Ekho Moskvy radio on 2 October.
Russian
liberal politician calls for end to the Chechen war
Channel 3 TV, Moscow, October 3, 2002 Russian liberal Yabloko party leader Grigoriy
Yavlinsky urged President Vladimir Putin to put an
end to the war in Chechnya, which he described as
pure "bloodshed" and a "political adventure",
and launch negotiations with rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov.
He also said that Russian army colonel Yury Budanov,
accused of murdering a Chechen girl, should be convicted.
Russia's
Export Image
"Moskovskiye Novosti", by Grigory Yavlinsky,
September 24, 2002
MOSCOW, Sept. 27 - Energy executives and government
officials from Russia and the United States will meet
in Houston next week to discuss energy cooperation
at a time when concerns A regular participant of the
Salzburg European Economic Forum, the leader of YABOKO
Grigory Yavlinsky refused to participate in the forum
this year on grounds of principle.
Thanking
All Who Responded
Novaya Gazeta, by Elena Milashina, September 26, 2002
The protagonist of one of our publications Dima Goryashin
entered this year one of the most prestigious faculties
of the Moscow State University - the Faculty of Mechanics
and Mathematics. He passed examinations with the bulk
of applicants, even though he could have assumed privileges
as an orphan. He did not require them, as Dima is
a talented mathematician.
Open
Letter
On the creation of a monument to the victims of political
repressions
Izvestiya, September 26, 2002
When the Soviet totalitarian system collapsed at the
end of 1980s, a number of outstanding figures in literature
and art commented on the need to immortalise the memory
of the victims of political terror in the Soviet Union
by creating a monument. However, this idea was not
implemented then for objective and subjective reasons.
"A
Word on the Budget"
Economy: the steps that have to be taken www.yavlinsky.ru
by Grigory Yavlinsky, September 27, 2002
Existing economic mechanisms only achieve the very
narrow goal of maintaining the present [economic]
level, but fail to provide for medium-term economic
growth. In terms of solutions to the main problems
facing the country, the economic system has been in
a state of decline and has been slow to curb, despite
current growth, the country's problems that have been
snowballing .
Activists
address Russia's radioactive legacy before disaster's
anniversary
Associated Press, By Vladimir Isachenkov, September
27, 2002
MOSCOW - The fallout from a catastrophic nuclear dumpsite
explosion in Russia's Ural Mountains 45 years ago
and decades of radioactive pollution have gravely
affected the local population's health, but authorities
have done little to assess or limit the damage, environmentalists
said Thursday.
Chechnya
Nezavisimoe Voyennoye Obozrenie, July 19, 2002 (Archives)
by Alexei Arbatov
A controversial presidential bill on combating extremism
was pushed through the State Duma by On June 6 the
Duma resolutely voted in favour of a law to counter
extremism in the first reading. The law was passed
despite its clearly draft" nature and the views of
some parties that this law Clearly Chechnya is the
most sensitive issue for the Russian leadership. The
situation there may well be described as stagnation
or a cul-de-sac. The federal government is incapable
of establishing firm military and political control
over Chechnya; the armed opposition lacks the strength
to inflict a major defeat on the federal troops.
It's
Business as Usual in Krasnoyarsk
Moscow Times, By Yulia Latynina, October 2, 2002
MOSCOW, Sept. 27 - Energy executives and government
officials from Russia and the United States will meet
in Houston next week to discuss energy cooperation
at a time when concerns over the safety of world oil
supplies have been heightened by the Bush administration's
push for Election results are usually annulled by
revolutions and coups d'etat. Last Sunday the role
of zealous revolutionaries was played by the Krasnoyarsk
election commission, which showed true proletarian
commitment to duty by invalidating -- on its day off
-- the results of the gubernatorial election on the
basis of ... Well, no one actually knows what the
commission finally based its decision on. Apparently
the candidates spent far more on the campaign than
is officially permitted.
On
the scandal surrounding the elections in Krasnoyarsk
Territory and Nizhni Novgorod www.yavlinsky.ru
by Grigory Yavlinsky
The electoral chaos plays into the hands of the powers
that want to do away with elections, establish a police
state in Russia and directly appoint their criminal
contacts and embezllers. They would use this system
to continue trampling on people and them, depriving
them of their voting rights.
The
State Duma Analyses the Strategic Reductions Treaty
Gazeta, by Ivan Yegorov, Vitaly Mikhailov and Anastasia
Matveyeva. October 2, 2002
Boris Nemtsov, leader of the Union of Right-Wing Forces
(SPS), proposes that all democratic forces agree to
back one candidate for president after the parliamentary
election in 2003. The formula is simple. Each party
nominates its own candidate. The Duma election shows
who has won. All democratic forces support the candidate
whose party gathered the most votes, Russia and the
USA have launched the ratification of the Treaty on
Strategic Arms Reductions, which was signed in an
attempt to fill in the vacuum left by the US withdrawal
from the 1972 ABM Treaty and refusal to ratify START-2.
Hearings in Russia and the USA are being held behind
closed doors, but this newspaper has learned some
details of the recent State Duma hearing.
FEATURE-Russian
'atomic city' builds future on nuclear dreams
Reuters, By Larisa Sayenko, October 2, 2002
ZHELEZNOGORSK, Russia, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The streets
of this Siberian city are eerily clean and uniform,
free of the buzz of commerce and jumble of billboards
found even in the smallest and poorest of Russian
provincial cities.
