Reading some of today's entries from RFE/RL's Newsline, it's not hard to see how the authoritarian - even totalitarian - tendencies are strengthening within Russian government and society, and also how the implications of those tendencies are spreading beyond Russia's borders once again:
RUSSIA
EUROPEAN OFFICIAL SAYS PUTIN IS TRYING TO DESTROY YUKOS... European Commission Director General for External Relations Eneko Lanaburu on 27 July charged that the administration of President Vladimir Putin is intentionally pursuing a policy of destroying embattled oil giant Yukos, RosBalt and other Russian and international media reported. "We interpret this as a decision of President Putin to destroy an
economic empire that had certain strategic goals of political influence," Landaburu said. "What's happening is essentially a settling of accounts." Putin stated in June that the government does not wish to see Yukos bankrupted (see "Russian Political Weekly," 18 June 2004). "The Moscow Times" reported on 28 July that Yukos shares fell by a further 15 percent on 27 July to $3.60, the lowest price since October 2001. The company has lost $5 billion in capitalization in two days, the daily reported. Writing in "Novaya gazeta," No. 53, columnist Yuliya Latynina refuted the notion that the Kremlin planned to destroy Yukos. "In general, I don't believe the people surrounding the president are capable of strategic thinking," she wrote. She
concluded that "judging by the means being used to take over Yukos, the president has lost control over his entourage." RC
...AS POLICE STEP UP INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO ARREST MAJOR YUKOS SHAREHOLDER. Meanwhile, the Russian bureau of Interpol has asked all Interpol member countries, including Israel, to locate Yukos major shareholder Leonid Nevzlin. The Prosecutor-General's Office on 26 July issued a second arrest warrant for Nevzlin, who lives in Israel and has Israeli citizenship, on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 July 2004). "If we didn't plan on capturing Nevzlin, we wouldn't have sent this instruction," an unidentified spokesman at the Russian Interpol bureau told Interfax. "We are waiting for an answer from [the Israeli Interpol bureau]." The trial on murder charges of former Yukos security official Aleksei Pichugin resumed on 28 July, newsru.com reported. Defense lawyers asked the court to transfer the case to a jury trial, noting that it is unclear why the case has been officially labeled "secret" and why prosecutors have asked defense lawyers to sign statements promising not to reveal state secrets. RC
LONGTIME PUTIN ALLY SELECTED TO HEAD OIL GIANT... Rosneft's board of directors on 27 July selected deputy presidential administration head Igor Sechin as its new chairman, ITAR-TASS and Interfax reported. Sergei Oganesyan, director of the Federal Energy Agency, and Yurii Medvedev, acting deputy director of the Federal Property Agency, were tapped as deputy chairmen. Sechin is a longtime associate of
President Putin, having worked for him for the past 13 years (see "RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly," 2 April 2004). "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 28 July that the business community is interpreting Sechin's appointment as the first step in the creation of a state energy company that, "in the future, will define the rules of the game for Russia's most important market." Sechin is not the first government official to be a chairman of Rosneft's board. Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref held the post, as did Igor Yusufov when he was energy minister. Sechin's appointment is significant because it takes place against the background of a redistribution of property in the oil sector, "Vremya novostei" reported on 28 Jly. JAC
...AS ANALYSTS PREDICT INCREASED STATE CONTROL OVER OIL SECTOR. In an interview published in "Kommersant-Daily" on 28 July, Yukos shareholder Mikhail Brudno speculated that Rosneft has enough money to purchase the major Yukos subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz. Even if Rosneft is short of such funds, Brudno said, the Central Bank has enough for any purchase. Metropol analyst Yevgenii Satskov told the
daily that Sechin's appointment shows that the Kremlin "plans to strengthen state control over a strategic branch." Analyst Stanislav Belkovskii, who is considered close to Sechin, commented that the new appointment is "the first step in the formation of a large energy-holding company, based on Rosneft and Gazprom." Earlier in the month, Belkovskii made a similar prediction, saying that the Kremlin will implement a plan promoted by Sechin to create a new holding including Gazprom and Rosneft, which together will acquire about one-half of Yukos's assets (see "RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly," 15 July 2004). Rosneft ranks sixth in terms of oil production in Russia.JAC
MOSCOW HOLDS LONDON RESPONSIBLE FOR WATCHING BEREZOVSKII, ZAKAEV. The Foreign Ministry on 27 July issued a statement saying that London bears responsibility for the actions of self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovskii and Chechen spokesman Akhmed Zakaev, both of whom have been granted political asylum in the United Kingdom, RIA-Novosti and other Russian media reported. The statement came in response to a 23
June statemen by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that was distributed to members of parliament. The Foreign Ministry statement noted that Straw's letter explicitly states that the status of political asylum does not protect Berezovskii and Zakaev in the event that they are found to have committed any illegal activities. "Now we have the right to expect from London effective measures to prevent possible actions by the aforementioned people that could conflict with Great Britain's international obligations, first of all as a member of the international antiterrorism coalition," the Foreign Ministry's statement said. Such measures would "reinforce the spirit of mutual understanding and trust in the dialog between Moscow and London," it concluded. RC
PUBLIC, JOURNALISTS FAVOR IMPOSITION OF 'ETHICAL-MORAL CENSORSHIP.' Seventy-one percent of Russians and 41 percent of Russian journalists favor the introduction of government censorship of the media, according to a recent public-opinion poll by ROMIR-Monitoring, Interfax reported on 28 July, citing ROMIR General Director Andrei
Milekhin. Thirty-two percent of citizens and 6 percent of journalists said censorship is "absolutely necessary," while 39 percent of citizens and 35 percent of journalists said it is "most likely necessary." "Vremya novostei" reported on 28 July that ROMIR analysts believe most respondents most likely had a type of "moral-ethical censorship" in mind. The daily quoted a ROMIR spokesperson as saying those respondents favor "a filter that would protect media consumers from gratuitous sex and violence and pornography." The daily noted that according to the survey, 42 percent of the public and 78 percent of journalists said they are concerned about the state of press freedom in Russia, indicating that they oppose the introduction of political or ideological censorship. Writing in "Novoe vremya," No. 30, journalist Tatyana Kuzmina blamed journalists for being too tolerant of state encroachments on freedom of speech. "Freedom of speech is dying in Russia. Television program after television program is being closed down," she wrote. "Is Putin to blame? Is he
the only one?" RC
CIVIL RUSSIA OFFERS TO DEVELOP SHUTTLE REPLACEMENT JOINTLY WITH UNITED STATES... Moscow has proposed to the United States that the two countries jointly develop a spacecraft to replace the U.S. space shuttle, ITAR-TASS reported on 27 July, citing Federal Space Agency Director Nikolai Moiseev. "What the Russian side has in mind is the new manned shuttle Clipper, which is being designed at the Energiya corporation," Moiseev said. "The U.S. side could participate in the Clipper project, above all, financially and scientifically." Moiseev said that Moscow is aware that yhe United States plans to conclude its shuttle program by 2010 and that "some sort of project must take its place," strana.ru reported on 26 July. RC
...AS RUSSIAN BUSINESSMAN SLATED TO BECOME NEXT TOURIST IN SPACE. St. Petersburg businessman Sergei Polonskii is scheduled to become the third tourist in space, RIA-Novosti reported on 27 July. Citing an unnamed "informed source within Russia's space structures," the news agency said Polonskii will spend one week at the International Space Station in October if he completes the necessary training this
summer. According to the source, Polonskii will pay just $15 million for the trip, instead of the $20 million that the previous two space tourists paid. Polonskii is the general director of the Stroimontazh construction firm, which he created in 1994. Lenta.ru reported that Polonskii underwent training for a space-station mission in 2002, but was unable to come up with the money necessary for the trip. RC
VORONEZH STEPS UP SECURITY. Law enforcement officials intensified security measures in Voronezh on 27 July following the city's third bombing incident this year, NTV reported. Explosions occurred at bus stops in different parts of the city on 19 February, and 19 and 26 July, Interfax reported. In the first attack, two people were injured; on 19 July, one woman was killed; and in the latest explosion a woman was wounded. The mayor of the city has ordered the removal of all shrubs and tall grass near bus stops in the city as a preventive measure. When asked about whether the bombings were the work of Chechen extremists, Federal Security Service (FSB) spokesman for Voronezh Oblast Roman Panevin told "Moskovskii komsomolets" of 27
July that Voronezh "featured on a list of cities where acts of sabotage were planned" by Chechens. Meanwhile, former Foreign Intelligence Service Major General Yurii Kobaladze told the daily that Voronezh bombings have a different signature than most terrorist attacks. "As a rule, the most crowded locations are chosen and at the busiest times," he said of terrorist attacks. Kobaladze continued that "it cannot be ruled out that this is the work of local delinquents" whose purpose is to give the population a "fright." JAC
POLICE IN MOSCOW ROUGH UP MORE DEMONSTRATORS. The Yabloko press service reported on 27 July that two members of the party were taken to a hospital following a rally outside FSB headquarters in Moscow, Ekho Moskvy and Interfax reported. The two injured, Irina Vorobeva and Aleksei Kozhin, are members of the party's youth wing, and one of them is reportedly in serious condition. According to Ekho Moskvy, a detachment of Interior Ministry special forces (OMON) personnel initially detained 10 journalists who were covering the event and later released them. An unspecified number of Yabloko activists were also detained and are reportedly being threatened with 15 days' detention. According to Interfax, the demonstration was not sanctioned by authorities. Last month, police reportedly used violence against demonstrators in another unsanctioned protest in Moscow (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 June 2004). JAC
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