Notebook

Chechnya Says “Da”

Kremlin-sponsorted

referendum passes

On March 23, in a referendum, 96% of voters said yes to the republic’s new constitution. The vote was planned by Moscow as part of its strategy of ending the armed conflict, which has been ravaging the republic since October 1999. The new constitution declares Chechnya an inalienable part of the Russian Federation and de-legitimizes the presidency claims of separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, who was elected to head the republic in 1997.

New presidential elections for the republic are to be held before the end of the year, or in the beginning of 2004. Most predict that the current head of the Chechen administration, Akhmad Ka-dyrov, will emerge as Chechnya’s future leader.

While official statistics stated that nearly 90% of registered voters took part in the polling, some reporters and human rights groups were skeptical about the results. Most international bodies refused to send observers to monitor the polling, so as not to have to endorse its validity.

Speaking after the referendum, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Chechens broad autonomy, financial compensation for property destroyed in the conflict and amnesty for rebels. 

The road from promises to reality will be a long one. War continues, despite the vote, and human rights activists continue to report abuses by both the Russian military and Chechen rebels. In Grozny, some 80% of buildings have reportedly been destroyed by war; only 30% of the city has electricity.

Aye, Spy

Making the KGB 

better than it was

In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a major reshuffle of the country’s security agencies. The president closed down the Federal Agency of Governmental Communications and Information and the Federal Border Guard Service, incorporating both into the Federal Security Service (FSB). The move appeared to strengthen the role of the FSB, one of the successors to the Soviet-era KGB, and alma mater of the Russian leader and many of his political allies. 

Putin also abolished the Federal Tax Police Service and transferred its functions to the Interior Ministry. A new body was created: the State Committee on Drug Trafficking, to deal with Russia’s growing narcotics problem. Former presidential envoy to the Northwest Federal District, Viktor Cherkesov, who was replaced in that post by vice-premier Valentina Matvienko (see page 10), was appointed to head the new agency.

The reshuffle was seen by many analysts as a move by the Kremlin to tighten control over security bodies and to secure key positions for more of the president’s “chekist” allies as parliamentary and presidential elections draw near (December 2003 and March 2004, respectively). Some media labeled the move “the return of the KGB”.

Trophy Art in Limbo

Legislators stop repatriation

of WWII loot

Controversy raged in March over the return to Germany of the so-called Baldin Collection, taken from Germany by a Soviet officer at the end of World War II. The transfer was to take place at the end of March, but the State Duma appealed to President Putin to halt the collection’s return to Bremen by the Ministry of Culture. 

The collection, which consists of 362 drawings and two paintings by Durer, Degas, Monet, Titian, Van Gogh and others, was found in a German castle by Viktor Baldin and brought back to the Soviet Union. Baldin handed it over to the state in 1948. Since 1991, the collection has been in the Hermitage in St Petersburg.

Lawmakers cited in their defense the 1998 Trophy Art Law, which regards artifacts seized during WWII to be Russian national property, to be repatriated only after consideration on a case-by-case basis, and provided there is certain financial compensation. 

The USSR considered works of art seized in Germany during WWII to be fair compensation for its own cultural artifacts lost in the war. The Ministry of Culture estimates that two million works of art vanished during the Nazi occupation of Western Russia in WWII. Russia still holds hundreds of thousands of works looted by Soviet troops in Germany and Eastern Europe.

Minister of Culture Mikhail Shvydkoi defended the government’s decision to return the works of art without compensation to their original owner, the Bremen Kunsthalle. Shvydkoi argued that the trophy art law did not apply in this case, as the drawings were looted by an individual officer and brought to Russia illegally as his property. 

At press time, the Prosecutor-General’s Office declared the Baldin Collection to be the property of the Russian Federation and suspended its return Germany. Lawmakers and other influential figures argued for the return of the collection on condition of adequate financial compensation. They have also insisted that some of the drawings remain in Russia for good. Twenty works, including an oil sketch of a painting by Goya, are certain to stay in Russia, according to a preliminary agreement between the Hermitage and the Kunsthalle.

The collection was exhibited for the general public at the State Architecture Museum in Moscow. Prior to that exhibition, a Russian auction house estimated the collection’s value at some $23.5 million.

A Critic Stumbles

Opposition paper folds;

New papers emerge

At the end of February, the newspaper Novye Izvestiya, one of the few remaining media outlets critical of the Kremlin, was forced to close down. Oleg Mitvol, chairman of the board of directors of the daily, dismissed the paper’s editor in chief and general director, Igor Golembiovsky, on allegations of mismanagement and financial irregularities. 

While ownership of Noviye Izvestia has been attributed to exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who financed the paper’s start-up in 1997, Mitvol claimed that he owned 76% of the paper. 

Most analysts interpreted the paper’s closing as a Kremlin-backed move to silence a voice that had been an irritation.

Because of the conflict, the paper’s journalists decided to suspend publication. At the end of March, Golembiovsky announced that Novye Izvestiya journalists would launch a new daily, Rezonans, financed by Mediapressa. Meanwhile, Novye Izvestia found a new sponsor, Alyans group, and will soon begin publishing again, led by former Deputy Editor Valery Yakov.

We Don’t Want You

Soldiers with “diseases”

not welcome

In March, the Defense Ministry issued new medical rules for draftees that list several new “diseases” exempting young men from military service. The rules bar from military service drug addicts, drug users, alcoholics and persons who have tested positive for HIV. Moreover, the army has stated it will not draft “men of nontraditional sexual orientation.”

While defense officials acknowledged that homosexuality was not a disease, they justified the new rule by saying that people “of nontraditional sexual orientation” could suffer from “personality disorders.” The new rules take effect this summer. At that time, current servicemen falling under the rules, be they conscripts or officers, will be discharged. 

It is estimated that thousands of potential draftees fake psychological and physical sickness to escape conscription into the Russian army, renowned for hazing, malnutrition and poor living conditions.

Back on the Ice

Russia will reopen its drifting Arctic ice station program after a 12-year hiatus. The new station, to be based on an ice-floe, has been named “North Pole 32.” It will be launched this spring, once a suitable ice-floe has been chosen by a special reconnaissance group. Twelve researchers will set up camp on a floe at an approximate latitude of 84o N and float on it for several months. The Russian drifting station project was halted in July 1991, when the ice floe carrying the 31st polar expedition broke into pieces in warm water. 

Kalashnikov ware 

Gun designer sells name,

soon to be on watches, etc.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the man who designed the AK-47 assault rifle, has sold the rights to his name to a small German company that produces umbrellas, shaving razors, tennis rackets, and wristwatches, RTR channel reported on 20 February. 

Under the contract, Kalashnikov will receive a portion of the profits from sales of items bearing his name and will have the right to oversee the quality of any product produced under the brand name. 

Although more than 100 million AK-47s have been produced since Kalashnikov designed the all-too-ubiquitous automatic weapon, he has received no royalty income and lives on a modest pension in Izhevsk. 

The German company reportedly hopes to use the brand to sell products from cars to mineral water. Kalashnikov told journalists that he is happy to have his name associated with products other than the AK-47, which has already killed more people than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. “I wish I had invented a hay-mowing machine,” Kalashnikov told RTR. (RFE Newsline)

Opium Use Climbs

According to UN data, 25% of all opium group drugs produced in Afghanistan are exported to Russia. UN experts said that, in Russia, “soft drugs” (i.e. marijuana) are gradually being displaced by heroin and other drugs made from opium. 

In 1996, only 1% of Russian drug addicts were heroin users; by 2002, the figure had risen to over 30%. According to United Nations estimates, in Europe, Russia and Portugal lead the opium statistics, with 0.9% of the population affected. Only Laos and Tajikistan (2%) and Iran (2.8%) have higher usage rates. Meanwhile, only 0.9% Russians smoke marijuana, while in Europe the figure is 3.5%, and about 9% in Britain and the US.

Behave Yourselves

In March, police began distributing a set of rules for soccer fans’ behavior at matches held in the capital. The rules were drawn up by the Interior Ministry, in cooperation with the Russian Premiere League, and, among other things, allow fans to bring into games plastic knives, rattles, cigarettes and lighters. Organized groups of fans are also allowed to bring in flags on hollow plastic poles and drums not to exceed a diameter of 60 cm and a height of 40 cm. The Interior Ministry has noted improvements in fans’ behavior since the rules were made known to both the public and the police. 

Breaking Records

Pole vaulter Svetlana Feofanova was the only person to set a world record at the three-day Track and Field World Championships in Birmingham. Feofanova cleared 4.80 meters to beat the previous record of 4.78, held by American Stacy Dragila, who failed to reach the final. Dragila still holds the outdoor record of 4.81 meters, and had only just regained the indoor mark from Feofanova, who cleared 4.77 meters in February. Between them, Feofanova and Dragila have raised the indoor record 15 times. 

Chess Behind Bars

An all-Russian chess championship among convicts and prison staff for a prize sponsored by chess grandmaster Anatoly Karpov took place in March. Qualification rounds were held throughout the prison system, some attended by Karpov, who took on the convicts in multi-board competitions. While none of the prisoners defeated Karpov, some of them managed a draw. Finals will be held in Moscow, but only prison staff will participate, due to difficulties associated with prisoner transport. The best chess player of the Russian penal system will be announced in September. Future competitions will be held biannually.

Amazing Race 

The Voronezh-Lipetsk Eparchy launched the first ever clergy ski race this winter. Over a hundred Sunday school teachers, deacons, priests and seminary students participated; they were joined by parishioners aged 14 to 60. Local authorities praised the event, saying it was exceptionally beneficial for the clergy, which tends toward an inactive lifestyle. The Voro-nezh-Lipetsk Eparchy has already applied to the local sports authority to stage similar competitions in other sports, such as track and field, swimming and even football (RIAN)

Russian Idol? 

Twenty of the best singers from prisons across Russia will come to Moscow this October to participate in the finals of the “Kalina Krasnaya” (Snowball Berry Red) singing contest. Any Russian convict can participate; the qualifying committee, composed of well-known singers, is receiving audio and video tapes from prisoners across the breadth of Russia. The incentive is clear: prison authorities said that contest winners might be granted early release.

Tears for Moscow

Moscow was ranked as Europe’s most dangerous city in a report recently published by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. The report took into consideration crime levels, law and order and living standards. Moscow was ranked the 184th safest place in the report’s worldwide listing, with such cities as Zimbabwe’s civil war torn capital of Harare higher on the list. Experts attributed Moscow’s low rating mainly to economic instability. Luxemburg was rated the planet’s safest city. Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, was ranked the most dangerous city on the planet. 

Profanity Under Fire 

The international social campaign “The World Without Profanity” will be wrapped up in the town of Vladimir this May. Launched in February by the local Linguistic University, the campaign was blessed by the archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal and supported by the Center for Development of the Russian Language, headed by First Lady Lyudmila Putina. The campaign featured an essay, cartoon and poster competition, with each participant creating a piece of propaganda against the use of profanity. A seminar examining profanity as a social and cultural phenomenon was scheduled for April in Vladimir. (See also statistics on the previous page.)

Hello Cheburashka

Watch out Hello Kitty, Cheburashka has taken Japan by storm. The cute, floppy-eared cartoon character created by Russian children’s writer Eduard Uspensky, has long charmed Japanese audiences. And now, a Japanese media company, SP International, has purchased the rights to Soyuzmultfilm’s cartoons and will promote them in foreign markets. Both Cheburashka and his crocodile friend Gena sell extremely well in Japanese department stores. (ITAR-TASS)

Check Mate

By a decree issued this March, police patrolling Moscow streets have been forbidden from checking passports of citizens who have not committed a crime; those whose documents are unjustly checked can complain to police authorities. The decree applies to both walking police patrols and the road police. At the same time, Moscow police plan to intensify passport control by district police, passport and visa services. Observers have speculated that the new regulation is a red herring and does not cancel passport checks altogether. Police will still be able to say they are checking someone’s papers because the person looked suspicious.

A Heap of Bliny

During Maslenitsa in Moscow, a 6.8 meter high heap made on Vasilievsky spusk in four hours set the world record for the tallest pile of bliny. 

Future Governor?

In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed former deputy prime minister for social issues, Valentina Matvienko, to be presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District. She replaced Viktor Cherkesov, who was appointed head of a new state committee for drug trafficking. A Petersburg native, Matvienko welcomed the appointment, and soon began criticizing the inefficiency of preparations for the city’s 300th anniversary. Matvienko’s appointment was interpreted by experts as a move to ensure that a candidate loyal to the Kremlin will replace St. Petersburg’s Governor Vladimir Yakovlev, who is now serving his second term, which by statute must be his last.

Ni Pukha…

The Moscow City Government has decided to replace poplars in the city center with maples, rowans and larches. Poplar fluff, the infamous pukh, assaults Muscovites every June, blocking their ears, eyes and noses, getting stuck in their hair and cleaving to their clothes. The first 1000 poplar replacements were to be planted by Moscow volunteers during a traditional April subbotnik (volunteer public work day). (ITAR TASS)

don’t forget the serfs

“Without profanity, the village does not exist. A glass
[of alcohol] and profanity—these are the incentives,
the progress and survival there.” 

Alexander Fedulov, Duma deputy (Profil)

ah, now we get it...

“A soldier should be
thinking about a woman ... That’s why gays have
nothing to do in the army.”

Yuri Loza, musician about new draft exemption rules (Itogi)  

with leaders like this...

“It is just not possible to live in this country. I would blow my own brains out, if it were not for my
several million constituents.”

been there, done that

“30 million Russians will vote for me. If everyone throws in ten rubles, it should be enough.”

Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist party,
about raising money for his presidential election campaign (Itogi)

so that’s why buck have points

“We are ready to mortgage a certain number of deer in exchange for housing.”

Yuri Neelov, governor of Yamalo-Nenetsky autonomous region

 about home mortgages. (Itogi)

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the 

Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia,
at an exhibit devoted to the 50th anniversary 

of Stalin’s death. (Itogi)