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Monday, 25 November 2002 Volume 6 Number 221
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Russia
PUTIN, BUSH SATISFIED WITH SUMMIT RESULTS...Speaking to journalists following his 22 November summit meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush near St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin described the talks as productive and useful, Russian and Western news agencies reported. The two presidents discussed "many matters," including NATO expansion, bilateral relations, Iraq, and combating international terrorism. Bush and Putin also issued a joint written statement on Iraq, warning that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will face serious consequences if he does not comply completely with UN Security Council Resolution 1441 and cooperate unconditionally with UN weapons inspectors. Putin also said that the United States and Russia will work together to identify those who support and finance international terrorism. "We must not forget that 16 of the 19 people who carried out the 11 September [2001] terrorist attacks in the United States were Saudi citizens," Putin said. Putin also expressed Russia's displeasure with NATO expansion. "However, as a pragmatist who realizes that it is pointless to argue against the inevitable, Putin is seeking to gain maximum benefits from the situation," "Izvestiya" commented on 22 November. VY ...AS ACCORD ON ENERGY DIALOGUE SIGNED A two-page statement on the U.S.-Russian energy dialogue was the only written economic document produced by the 22 November summit, "Izvestiya" reported. In the statement, the two presidents said they will energetically support the efforts of Russian and U.S. oil companies to develop Russia's energy sector and energy-transportation system. President Bush also reportedly told Putin that the United States would respect Russia's economic interests in a post-Hussein Iraq, the daily continued. The U.S. administration wants to maintain global oil prices above $21 a barrel, which is in the interests of both U.S. and Russian oil companies, "Izvestiya" added. VY MEDIA QUESTIONS THE ROSY SUMMIT REPORTS Both President Bush and President Putin seemed much more gloomy after their summit meeting than they did when they greeted one another before the talks, NTV noted on 22 November. The channel speculated that the two presidents made no substantive progress and that Putin was irritated by Bush's calls for a political solution to the war in Chechnya and for the strict observance of human rights there. "Izvestiya" noted that, at a recent press conference in Brussels, Putin sharply responded to a provocative question about Chechnya from a Belgian reporter. The paper added that he could not speak to Bush in such a way. VY FSB GOES AFTER ENVIRONMENTALISTS... Federal Security Service (FSB) agents on 22 November searched the Irkutsk offices of an environmental group called Baikal Ecological Wave, seizing documents and computers, Russian and Western news agencies reported. The group, which works closely with Greenpeace, monitors radioactive contamination in and around Lake Baikal. According to initial FSB statements, at least five secret documents were found in the office and a criminal investigation was launched over the weekend, RosBalt reported. However, lenta.ru on 25 November reported that no charges will be filed against the activists, although the FSB will continue trying to identify those who gave the allegedly secret documents to the group. The allegedly secret information concerns maps of environmental contamination surrounding a chemical plant in Angarsk, lenta.ru reported. AP cited a Greenpeace spokesman in Moscow as saying that the likely reason for the search was Baikal Ecological Wave's opposition to plans by oil giant Yukos to build a pipeline through a national park along the shore of the lake. RC ...AS MINISTER REACHES OUT TO THEM Atomic Energy Minister Aleksandr Rumyantsev on 23 November proposed creating supervisory boards that would include legislators and environmental activists to oversee the import and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, AP and Russian news agencies reported. "We want to find a point of contact with serious environmentalists," Rumyantsev was quoted by Interfax as telling journalists in Nizhnii Novgorod. RC 'VERSIYA' PROBE CONTINUES FSB agents in Moscow on 22 November returned computers seized on 1 November during a search of the offices of the newspaper "Versiya," lenta.ru reported. They also questioned another employee of the paper, journalist Irina Borgan, in connection with an investigation of an article by Andrei Soldatov that was published in May. Borogan is the fifth employee of the paper to be interrogated in the investigation. RC PUTIN TO VISIT CHINA IN DECEMBER After meeting in the Kremlin with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on 23 November, President Putin said that Moscow is attentively following developments in Beijing after a Communist Party congress there elected Vice President Hu Jintao as the party's new general secretary recently, Russian news agencies reported. Putin said he is looking forward to meeting Hu and other Chinese leaders during his scheduled 1-3 December trip to Beijing. Tang also met in Moscow with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who briefed him about the recent NATO summit in Prague. "China has taken note of the results of the alliance's summit," Tang said, "and hopes NATO will concentrate more on combating international terrorism." VY CONTROVERSY OVER NUMBER OF HOSTAGE-CRISIS VICTIMS CONTINUES One more former hostage from the 23-26 October hostage crisis in Moscow died on 24 November, bringing the official death toll to 129, Russian news agencies reported. Almost all of the victims died from the effects of the sleeping gas used by special-forces units during the storming of the theater where more than 700 people were being held hostage by Chechen fighters. Gennadii Raikov, head of the People's Deputy faction in the Duma, said on ORT that the actual number of victims is 190. However, ORT host Nikolai Svanidze commented that it remains unclear whether Raikov has additional information or whether the remark was just a slip of the tongue. Law enforcement agencies on 24 November released the names of three people who have been arrested as "accomplices" of the hostage takers. They were identified as Khampash Sobraliev of Chechnya, Arman Menkeev of Kazakhstan, and Yurii Yankovskii of Moscow Oblast. VY AGRARIANS MAP OUT THEIR STRATEGY A Central Committee plenum of the Agrarian Party of Russia on 23 November decided that the party will contest the December 2003 State Duma elections independently, Russian news agencies reported. Party leader and Altai Republic head Mikhail Lapshin told the plenum that the party will not ally with either the Communist Party or Unified Russia and will instead rely "on the support of the many millions of rural dwellers" to surmount the 5 percent barrier for party-list seats, lenta.ru reported. Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Aleksei Gordeev, who is deputy head of the party, criticized Lapshin at the session for dividing the party into "reds" and "whites," ITAR-TASS reported. "Izvestiya" commented that Gordeev believes the Agrarian Party is capable of drawing considerable support away from the Communist Party and becoming a "powerful pro-governmental lobby in the agricultural sector." RC OLIGARCH, COMMUNISTS FLIRTING Self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovskii on 20 November published an article in "Nezavisimaya gazeta" calling for the Communist Party to cooperate with him during the December 2003 State Duma elections. Recent developments prove that only the Communist Party represents any real, vital opposition to the Kremlin, Berezovskii wrote. He proposed joining forces with the party in order to prevent a pro-Kremlin majority from forming in the Duma. Berezovskii said that a genuine opposition must gain at least 150 seats in the Duma and should try for a majority of 226 seats. On 21 November, "Nezavisimaya gazeta," which is controlled by Berezovskii, published a response by Communist leader Gennadii Zyuganov, who wrote that the party will not bargain with those "who betrayed the Motherland" and who for many years led it into disaster. He added, however, that when considering alliances, one should count the resources that both sides have to offer. VY RUSSIAN GIANT MOVES TO CONTROL PALLADIUM MARKET Norilsk Nikel, which is owned by Vladimir Potanin's Interros group, is attempting to purchase a 51 percent stake in U.S. palladium producer Stillwater Mining Company for a reported $341 million, gazeta.ru and other Russian news agencies reported on 22 November. Stillwater, which produces about 640,000 ounces of palladium per year, is the only producer in the United States and is the largest in the world outside of South Africa and Russia, gzt.ru reported on 22 November. "Now Norilsk Nikel is becoming on the palladium market something like DeBeers is on the diamond market," gazeta.ru commented, "and it will be able to cushion itself from the effects of the drawn-out crisis in the [palladium] market." RC 'VOTER FATIGUE' STRIKES KRASNODAR Krai-level legislative elections in seven of the 70 districts in Krasnodar Krai on 24 November were declared invalid because of insufficient voter turnout, newsru.com reported. Throughout the krai, only 29 percent of voters came to the polls. "In recent months across Russia there has been a tendency toward lower turnouts..." said Central Election Commission representative Sergei Danilenko, who was observing the vote. "Most likely this tendency reflects voter fatigue, as elections are going on constantly." The local election commission must set a new date for elections in the seven districts within 10 days. RC FOUR ARRESTED IN ST. PETERSBURG SUBWAY TUNNEL Three men and a woman were arrested in a tunnel of the St. Petersburg subway system in the early morning hours of 24 November, RosBalt and other Russian news agencies reported. The four were reportedly carrying a video camera and keys to a restricted area within the subway system. Subway service was shut down for a few hours following the arrests, although the part of the tunnel where the suspects were found is closed for repairs. An investigation has been launched. RC MINISTER SAYS CHECHEN REFERENDUM PLANNED FOR MARCH 2003... Former Chechen Prime Minister Stanislav Ilyasov, who is currently minister responsible for reconstruction in Chechnya, told journalists in Moscow on 22 November that the planned referendum on a new draft Chechen constitution will take place in March 2003, Russian news agencies reported. He said the constitution defines Chechnya as a presidential republic with a unicameral legislature. The parliament, he said, will be empowered to approve or reject candidates for key ministerial posts. An earlier draft constitution prepared under the supervision of Chechen administration head Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov reportedly provided for a bicameral parliament (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 5, No. 17, 17 May 2002). Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Beslan Gantemirov, who has publicly clashed with Kadyrov on several occasions, told "Ekspert," No. 43, that he favors a parliamentary republic as the only way to prevent one person from usurping control in Chechnya which, he argued, is the main ill that has plagued Chechnya over the past 10-12 years. LF ...DETAILS ECONOMIC PROGRESS Ilyasov also told journalists on 22 November that 120,000 new jobs have been created in Chechnya since 2000, ITAR-TASS reported. He said the republic's budget has expanded to 7.1 billion rubles ($222.8 million) in 2002 from 2.3 billion rubles in 2000 and 6.4 billion in 2001. Ilyasov also argued, however, that Chechnya does not make the most effective use of its oil resources, as none of the oil extracted is legally refined in Chechnya. He proposed that 300,000 tons of oil be refined in Chechnya in 2003. That amount is equal to local consumption. Oil output so far this year is marginally over 1 million tons, according to Interfax on 12 November. Ilyasov told ITAR-TASS on 19 November that daily output is some 4,000 tons, of which up to 500 tons is stolen. LF BASAEV WARNS OF NEW ATTACKS ON RUSSIAN TARGETS In an open letter addressed to NATO heads of state and posted on kavkazcenter.com (which is currently inaccessible), Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev has warned that his fighters will launch new attacks on "military, industrial, and strategic facilities" on Russian territory unless Moscow withdraws its troops from Chechnya, Reuters reported on 23 November. He advised NATO leaders to pressure Russia to comply with that demand and to embark on peace talks. In Grozny, Chechen Interior Ministry head Major General Said-Selim Peshkhoev told Interfax he believes Basaev might be in Chechnya's southern Vedeno Raion, but that he and his men are not currently strong enough militarily to undertake a large-scale terrorist attack. LF
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