[iwar] [fc:RUSSIA,.30.Oct.01.(RFE/RL)]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-30 18:02:30
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FSB, CIA BELIEVE NEO-NAZIS, NOT BIN LADEN BEHIND ANTHRAX SCARE 
According to an article in "Izvestiya" on 29 October, experts at the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency and Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) are
now inclined to believe that the recent spate of anthrax-laden powders in
letters was the work of neo-Nazis rather than that of the terrorist network
of Osama bin Laden. PG 


RUSSIAN OFFICIALS DIVIDED ON ANTHRAX THREAT 
Academician Beniyamin Cherkasskii told Interfax on 29 October that he does
not see any threat of an outbreak of anthrax in Russia, but the same day
"Izvestiya" reported that "the threat of bioterrorism is completely real."
Meanwhile, Russian epidemiologists did not find any anthrax in the powder
sent to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and there were no further reports in the
central Russian press on 29 October of more unidentified powder. PG 


U.S. BACKS TASHKENT, RUSSIA DUSHANBE IN CENTRAL ASIA 
According to an article in "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 27 October, the United
States and Russia are expanding their competition in Central Asia during the
antiterrorist campaign with Washington backing Uzbekistan and Moscow
supporting Tajikistan. PG 


WEST SEEN SHIFTING ANTITERRORIST BURDEN ONTO RUSSIA 
Writing in "Trud" on 27 October, Vyacheslav Nikonov, the president of the
Politika Foundation, argued that Russia must proceed cautiously in its
cooperation with the United States in the antiterrorist campaign because
Washington "obviously intends to shift the burden of the antiterrorism
operation onto Russia." At the same time, an article in "Nezavisimaya
gazeta" reported the same day that President Vladimir Putin has been
vindicated by the current antiterrorist effort since the world now sees that
the growth of Islamist organizations takes place most readily where
governments are weakest. PG 


TALIBAN THREATEN RUSSIA 
The Taliban press agency Afghan Islam Press carried a message from Amir Khan
Muttaki accusing Russia of conspiring with the Afghan opposition with the
goal of dismembering Afghanistan, Interfax-Asia reported on 29 October.
"Russia ought to draw the lesson from the past war," the Taliban spokesman
said. "Its result was the splitting up of the Soviet Union itself. If Russia
interferes this time, it will be divided up into a still greater number of
parts." PG 


ZYUGANOV SAYS THAT ISLAMISTS WILL BRING DOWN PUTIN'S GOVERNMENT 
Communist Party leader Gennadii Zyuganov has told his party comrades that
the Islamist movements will succeed where the communists have failed and
bring down the current regime in Russia, "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 29
October. VY 


GENERAL STAFF PREPARES FOR SERVICE IN AFGHANISTAN 
"Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 27 October that the Russian General Staff
is actively preparing plans for possible Russian military action in
Afghanistan even though its officers do not believe that such action is
likely in the light of statements by President Putin and other senior
officials. Meanwhile, an article in "Novye izvestiya" the same day reported
that soldiers and officers may never see the pay increases Putin has
promised because of problems with the military budget. PG 


PUTIN CALLS FOR RAPID IMPLEMENTATION OF COURT REFORM... 
President Putin said on 29 October that "it is time" to make the decision to
reform the country's legal system, Russian agencies reported. He said,
"about 10 million people go through the legal system each year, and tens of
millions more must deal with the activities of related services,
departments, and ministries." PG 


...TELLS ENVOYS TO MONITOR HEATING AND ELECTRICITY 
President Putin on 29 October told his envoys to the federal districts that
they should monitor heating and electricity in their areas so that there
will not be any problems like those that plagued some areas last winter,
Interfax reported. Putin also directed the cabinet to introduce amendments
that will create a mechanism to ensure that all budgeted programs will be
carried out, the news service said. PG 


PUTIN WELCOMES MACEDONIAN ANTITERRORIST EFFORT 
President Putin on 29 October told visiting Macedonian President Boris
Trajkovski that Moscow fully backs Macedonia's efforts to fight terrorism,
Russian agencies reported. The same day, the defense ministers of the two
countries signed a protocol on military-technical cooperation. PG 


CABINET PREPARES FOR THIRD READING OF BUDGET 
The cabinet submitted on 29 October to the Duma materials in support of the
2002 draft budget and also some amendments to its original submission as the
parliament prepares for hearings in advance of the third reading on the
budget, Interfax reported. Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov directed his
ministers to ensure that their accounts all balance in their budget
submissions. PG 


KUDRIN SAYS DRAFT PROGRAM ON STATE DEBT READY 
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin said on 29 October
that his ministry has prepared a draft concept for the administration of the
state debt, Interfax reported. Kudrin also said that the total tax burden in
Russia was reduced by 2 percent in 2001 and will be cut another 1.5-2
percent in 2002. Meanwhile, Prime Minster Kasyanov said the government is
ready to work with Russian and foreign investors to expand investment in
Russia, the news service said. PG 


WIDESPREAD CORRUPTION REGISTERED IN USE OF IMF LOANS 
A probe into the way in which Russian officials handled loans from the
International Monetary Fund found widespread corruption, "Novaya gazeta"
reported on 29 October. The paper noted that much of the corruption involved
a small, 53-person office called the Federal Center of Project Financing
that does not have any rules for keeping track of how the loans, all of
which passed through its hands, were distributed. The paper noted that this
center gained the status of an open-share holding company when the current
chief of the Audit Chamber, Sergei Stepashin, was prime minister. VY 


KLEBANOV SAYS RUSSIA PLANS TO DEVELOP NEW WEAPONS SYSTEMS 
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said in an interview published in
"Izvestiya" on 29 October that Russia plans to modernize its military
equipment and that 42 percent of this year's state orders to the defense
sector are for research and development of such systems. He said Russia
expects to increase its arms sales abroad, but is unlikely to reach the
level of the United States in the near future. PG 


IS ATTACK ON SHOIGU PART OF AN ANTI-YELTSIN OFFENSIVE? 
"Vedomosti" on 26 October suggested that the political pressure being
applied on Emergency Situations Minister and Unity leader Sergei Shoigu
appears to be part of a general offensive by President Putin's St.
Petersburg group against the remaining members of former President Boris
Yeltsin's entourage. Putin's entourage would like to see Interior Minister
Boris Gryzlov take Shoigu's place. VY 


RAILWAYS MINISTER HAS BEEN FORCED OUT 
Polit.ru reported on 29 October that Nikolai Aksenenko has been sent on "a
very long vacation from which he will never return to his office." Aksenenko
refused to act on the signals the Kremlin sent him last week that Putin's
entourage wants him to resign, but by going on vacation, the website
suggested, Aksenenko has now accepted the inevitable. The site added that it
appears the Kremlin's "exhausting and chaotic operations" against Boris
Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky taught the Putin team a lesson in how to
act and send another influential bureaucrat into retirement quickly and
almost smoothly. VY 


COMMUNISTS EXPECT 'PROVOCATIONS' ON 7 NOVEMBER 
The Communist Party (KPRF) on 29 October released a statement saying that it
expects the pro-Kremlin group Walking Together to stage "a provocation"
against the planned parade on the 7 November anniversary holiday marking the
1917 revolution, Interfax reported. The statement suggested that members of
the pro-Putin youth group will carry brooms and trash containers and march
at the end of the Communist parade to symbolize Walking Together's intention
to clean up after 70 years of Communist power. Meanwhile, the youth branch
of Yabloko together with the Anti-Fascist Youth Action staged a protest
against what its leaders termed "the dangerous tendency of the rebirth of
the traditions of the Komsomol in the form of the organization Walking
Together," Interfax reported. These comments came in response to the first
All-Russia Congress of Associations of Union of Youth Organizations, which
is taking place in Moscow on 29-31 October. PG 


RADICAL LEFTISTS HOLD UNIFICATION CONGRESS 
Two hundred and twenty delegates from 56 regions of the Russian Federation
met in the Lenin Hills district of Moscow on 27 October in a unification
congress of the radical leftist Russian Communist Workers Party and the
Revolutionary Party of Communists, Interfax reported the following day. The
co-chairmen of the new RKRP-RPH party are Viktor Tyulkin and Anatolii
Kryuchkov. The new party program specifies that, "without revolutionary
actions of the workers and their allies, the toilers will not be able to
take power into their own hands." The unified party claims a membership of
"not less than 10,000." PG 


PRUSAK SAYS REGIONS, NOT OLIGARCHS SHOULD NOMINATE PRESIDENT 
Novgorod Governor Mikhail Prusak told Interfax on 29 October that the
current system of electing a president in Russia should be changed. He said
that the current system recalls that of Communist times in that a few
oligarchs choose a candidate and ask the people to vote. Instead, Prusak
suggested, representatives of the regions should get together, choose a
candidate, and offer that nominee to the people for a vote. PG 


MARKOV DENIES STATE WANTS TOTAL CONTROL OVER CIVIL SOCIETY 
Sergei Markov, the coordinator of the Civic Forum, said in an interview
published in "Trud" on 27 October that "it is naive to think" that the
Russian government wants to put everything and everyone under total control.
Markov said that what the government wants to see are "self-organizing"
structures in society, not mechanisms created from above. PG 


ANTIGLOBALIST PROTESTS FAIL TO MATERIALIZE AT DAVOS MEETING IN MOSCOW 
The "massive demonstrations of antiglobalist activists" that the FSB has
predicted over the last 10 days failed to materialize when only a few dozen
people appeared on 29 October in quiet pickets at the site of the Davos
World Economic Forum meeting in Moscow, RTR reported. Meanwhile, a group of
Russian businessmen participating in the forum announced the formation of a
public council to press for Russian entry into the World Trade Organization,
"Kommersant-Daily" reported on 29 October. VY 


INFLATION STILL GREATEST FEAR AMONG RUSSIANS 
According to a poll conducted by VTsIOM and reported by Interfax on 29
October, 64 percent of Russians are most concerned about rising prices. In
second place among their concerns is poverty and the declining standard of
living among the majority of the population (59 percent). Only 7 percent
said that the growth of nationalism and a worsening of international
relations is their greatest concern, and fewer than 1 percent said that
their greatest concern is the limitation on human rights and democratic
freedoms in Russia. PG 


CUBAN PAPER CALLS PUTIN'S RUSSIA 'A BRANCH OF IMPERIALISM' 
Havana's Granma agency has carried two editorials attacking the foreign
policy of Russian President Putin and his decision to close the Russian
intelligence facility at Lourdes, "Izvestiya" reported on 29 October. Granma
said Putin is transforming Russia into "a branch of imperialism." Meanwhile,
Ekho Moskvy on 28 October described Putin's decision about Lourdes as
"Yankee-Si, Cuba-No." VY 


RUSSIA REACHES ACCORD ON THIS YEAR'S HAJJ 
Russia has been allocated 20,000 places for this year's hajj, although it is
unlikely to use all of these slots, "Izvestiya" reported on 27 October. (The
Saudi authorities provide one hajj slot for every 1,000 Muslims in a
country's population, and this suggests that Riyadh believes that there are
20 million Muslims in Russia now.) Last year, approximately 4,000 Russian
Muslims made the pilgrimage to Mecca. This year, the paper said, security
arrangements will be tighter. PG 


INFLATION PROJECTED AT 18 PERCENT FOR 2001 
The Economic Development and Trade Ministry said in a statement on 29
October that inflation will total 18 percent in 2001 in Russia, Interfax
reported. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kasyanov said that GDP growth for 2001
will total 5.5 percent, with real incomes increasing 6 percent, the news
service said. PG 


KLEBANOV SAYS 'KURSK' EXPLOSIONS MADE SAVING THE CREW IMPOSSIBLE 
Deputy Prime Minister Klebanov said on 29 October that the explosion of one
torpedo in the "Kursk" submarine set off others and made it impossible to
rescue any of the crew, Russian and Western news agencies reported. At the
same time, he said, it remains unclear what caused the initial explosion,
with existing evidence pointing both toward and against some outside impact.
Meanwhile, Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov said that the submariners had
lost the chance to evacuate themselves with the help of a special salvage
camera when it was destroyed by what he called "a powerful hit" from the
outside. Officials continued on 29 October to evacuate the bodies of the
sailors and began to remove some of the missiles, news agencies reported. VY



RUSSIA, CHINA RADIOS TO EXCHANGE PROGRAMS 
The Voice of Russia radio and International Radio of China on 29 October
signed an agreement calling for the exchange of entertainment and news
programming on a regular basis, ITAR-TASS reported. PG 


MOSCOW OBLAST LOSING POPULATION 
Moscow Oblast had a population of 6.4 million people on 1 January 2001,
28,7000 less than a year earlier, Interfax reported on 28 October. The
decline reflects a low number of births, a growth in mortality rates, and no
change in life expectancy. PG 


RUSSIAN LAWS SAID INADEQUATE TO DEAL WITH NEO-NAZI DANGER 
"Rossiiskaya gazeta" on 27 October carried an article saying that neither
existing laws nor draft legislation on political extremism is sufficient to
deal with the neo-Nazi skinhead threat in Russia. The fines these laws
impose are too small to be taken seriously, the paper said, and as a result
the extremists are likely to continue to flaunt their ugly views in public.
PG 


RUSSIA'S 'NEW POOR' SKIMP ON FOOD, WATCH COLOR TV 
According to an article in "Novoye vremya," No. 43, a "new class" has
emerged in Russia -- "people who save on food not to mention the fact that
purchasing manufactured goods are out of the question, but who have
apartments and housing property that cannot be sold now due to their
decrepitude." But despite these difficulties, the weekly continued, the new
poor "watches the beautiful life in Mexico on a color television set." PG 


RUSSIA BEGINS MANUFACTURING DIGITAL TELEVISIONS 
The Russian Control Systems Agency told ITAR-TASS on 29 October that Russia
is now manufacturing digital television equipment, including adapters for
some of the 85 million older television sets now in use in that country. The
agency also said that domestically produced televisions have now reclaimed
nearly one quarter of the television market in Russia. PG 


SMALL BUSINESSES STILL LAG BEHIND BIG ONES 
The State Statistics Committee released a study conducted in 2000 of 673,000
small businesses in Russia, "Finansovaya Rossiya" reported on 25 October.
Although they number almost two-thirds of all businesses, they employ only
10.2 percent of the workforce, have 2 percent of the capital assets, and 4.6
percent of the total investments. Moreover, one in five of the small
businesses is on the brink of bankruptcy. PG 


NEWLY MINTED LIEUTENANTS DON'T WANT TO SERVE 
An article in "Chelyabinskii rabochii" on 3 October said that graduates from
universities in the southern Urals who signed contracts earlier to serve in
the military are trying to avoid doing so. The paper said that "this is
natural because nobody wants to defend the Fatherland for a miserable
salary," adding that the local military commissariat plans to file charges
against the men involved. PG 


ANOTHER EFFORT TO MEMORIALIZE ADMIRAL KOLCHAK 
"Izvestiya" reported on 29 October that historians and other activists plan
to erect a plague at the Naval Corps in November in honor of White Movement
leader Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak. An earlier effort in May provoked a
strongly negative reaction among many in St. Petersburg because of Kolchak's
image as a leading anti-Bolshevik, but the supporters of his historical
memory are trying again. PG 


ALCOHOLIC BEAR FINALLY SOBERS UP 
A Russian brown bear who drank regularly for the last 3 1/2 years has been
cured of his alcohol habit, "Komsomolskaya pravda" reported on 29 October.
Now, he drinks milk again, his handlers told the newspaper. PG 


STROEV POLLS MORE THAN 90 PERCENT OF VOTE... 
As expected, Orel Oblast Governor Yegor Stroev easily won re-election to his
post for a third term in elections held on 28 October. According to
preliminary results the next day, Stroev attracted 91.7 percent of the vote.
The selection "against all candidates" was second with 3.8 percent of the
vote compared to 1.6 percent for the next closest contender, Vladimir
Zyabkin, a professor at Orel State University. More than 70 percent of
eligible voters participated in the election. Although 90 percent is quite a
high figure for most gubernatorial elections, it is still less than the more
than 97 percent that Stroev polled during his last race in 1997. JAC 


...AS ISSUE OF HIS REPLACEMENT AT FEDERATION COUNCIL MOVES TO FOREFRONT 
Meanwhile, an unidentified Kremlin source told ITAR-TASS on 29 October that
it is hardly likely that special legislation will be prepared so that
Stroev, the current Federation Council chairman, will be able to hold onto
that position under the new rules for forming the upper legislative chamber.
Among those candidates rumored to be under consideration as a replacement
for Stroev are former Prime Minister Yevgenii Primakov and Tatarstan
President Mintimer Shaimiev (see "RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly," 12
September 2001 and "RFE/RL Newsline," 26 October 2001). However, Shaimiev
would have to resign as president. JAC 


SAKHA SUPREME COURT DELAYS DECISION... 
The Supreme Court of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic decided on 29 October to
postpone until 1 November consideration of whether Sakha President Mikhail
Nikolaev has a right to run for a third term in office, Interfax-Eurasia
reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 October 2001). Meanwhile, back in
Moscow, a working group of the Central Election Commission decided the same
day that Nikolaev has no right to run for a third term, and that a final
decision on the issue would be taken up in a full session of the commission
on 30 October, the website polit.ru reported. JAC 


...AS ANOTHER DIAMOND COMPANY REP JOINS PRESIDENTIAL RACE 
Should Nikolaev be excluded from the race, 10 additional candidates have
already been registered to run, including the head of the ALROSA
diamond-production company, Vyacheslav Shtyrov, and ALROSA-Sakha head
Mikhail Sannikov, according to ITAR-TASS. JAC 


SITUATION NORMAL IN VLADIVOSTOK: NO HEAT 
Although outdoor temperatures have started to dip to zero degrees Celsius,
Vladivostok's chief heating supplier, Dalenergo, has so far not turned on
heat to a large number of residences in the krai, RFE/RL's Vladivostok
correspondent reported on 29 October. Dalenergo maintains that the city's
administration has not signed an agreement to restructure an outstanding
debt of 28 million rubles ($943,400). In addition, all of the city's
electric transport, such as the trams and trolleybuses, have been stopped,
and thousands of citizens had to walk to work in the morning in freezing
temperatures. Meanwhile, by order of the mayor, OMON troops continue to
guard an electricity substation in Partizansk to prevent electricity to that
city from being turned off (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 October 2001). Last
week, presidential envoy to the Far Eastern federal district Konstantin
Pulikovskii said the energy crisis that Primorskii Krai experienced last
winter will not be repeated, Interfax reported on 26 October. JAC 


CENTRAL REGION PICKS NEW REPRESENTATIVE FOR FEDERATION COUNCIL 
Deputies in Ulyanovsk Oblast's legislature confirmed Valerii Sychev on 29
October as their representative to the Federation Council, Interfax-Eurasia
reported. Sychev was most recently chief federal inspector to the oblast for
the Volga federal district. According to the agency, Aleksandr Kalita,
former head of the administration for educational work and culture at the
Defense Ministry's Main Directorate for Educational Work, is Ulyanovsk's
other representative in the upper legislative chamber. JAC 


KREMLIN AIDE VISITS CHECHNYA 
Presidential aide Sergei Yastrzhembskii flew to Grozny on 29 October where
he participated in a meeting of Russian military commanders that focused on
media coverage of the fighting in Chechnya, ITAR-TASS reported.
Yastrzhembskii criticized the reluctance of the Defense Ministry and other
security bodies to share information between themselves. Yastrzhembskii also
said that Russian troops will not be withdrawn from Chechnya, and that one
army division and one Interior Ministry brigade will be stationed there
permanently. Yastrzhembskii also repeated that the anticipated talks between
President Aslan Maskhadov's representative, Akhmed Zakaev, and the
presidential envoy to the Southern federal district, Viktor Kazantsev, will
focus exclusively on the terms under which Maskhadov's fighters will disarm,
and not on Chechnya's political status. Also on 29 October, Chechen
administration head Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov denied that Maskhadov's
representatives have contacted him to propose peace talks, ITAR-TASS
reported. LF 


CHECHENS RALLY TO DEMAND RELEASE OF DETAINEES 
Some 1,000 Chechens congregated outside the main Chechen administration
building in Gudermes on 29 October to demand the release of an unknown
number of residents of surrounding villages detained by Russian troops
during a security operation last week, AP reported. LF 


NEWLY APPOINTED CHECHEN OFFICIAL ESCAPES AMBUSH 
Yan Sergunin, whom Kadyrov appointed on 18 October to head the newly formed
administration staff (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 4, No. 36, 29
October 2001), escaped uninjured on 29 October when unknown gunmen opened
fire on his car on the outskirts of Argun, Interfax reported. LF 

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