Notebook

Scandal Drags On

Yukos plagued by gov’t inquiry, 

while merger is approved

As this issue was going to press, 43-year-old billionaire Platon Lebedev, a top Yukos shareholder, remained in remand prison (where he was taken July 2) on charges of defrauding the state in a 1994 privatization operation. The four-month campaign against Yukos now includes eight separate investigations and is widely interpreted as a political battle between Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is openly financing several opposition parties in Duma elections, and the silovoki clan in the Kremlin, comprised of politicians associated with the KGB. The Prosecutor General’s Office continues to put pressure on Yukos. In October, it again sent investigation teams to comb Yukos offices — this time to the company’s business club, security services, and to an orphanage in the outskirts of Moscow. 

Several political parties have included Yukos employees on their electoral lists. The Communists have given two places to Yukos managers Alexei Kondaurov and Sergei Muravlenko. The liberal Yabloko gave three spots to Yukos-ians, including to the head of internal auditing, Galina Antonova, to project director of Yukos’s “Open Russia” charity, Alexander Osovtsov, and to Yukos shareholder Konstantin Kogalovsky.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Monopoly Ministry has approved the merger between Yukos and Sibneft, completed in October, which creates the world’s fourth-largest private oil and gas producer, behind ExxonMobil, British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell. The new group will have 19.4 billion barrels in proven oil reserves — the largest held by any single company, and 5.9 trillion cubic feet in proven natural gas reserves. The formation of the new entity must still be approved by the companies’ shareholders before the end of this year. YukosSibneft will be headed by Khodorkovsky; Sibneft President Yevgeny Shvidler will be chairman of the board of directors.

 

Sub Tragedy

Second sub goes down in

Barents Sea

A decommissioned submarine sank in the Barents Sea on August 30th, killing all but one of its ten crew members, bringing back bitter memories of the Kursk catastrophe three years earlier, in which 118 crewmen lost their lives. K-159 sank five kilometers off Kildin island, in the Barents Sea, after breaking free from the pontoons with which it was being towed. The 40 year-old sub was en route to the scrap yard, where its reactors were to be removed. 

Commenting on the event, President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov blamed the tragedy on negligence, lack of discipline in the army and habitual Russian carelessness. They promised a thorough investigation. Ivanov, for his part, ordered a temporary halt to the towage of over 100 remaining decommissioned submarines. 

Russian authorities said that the submarine’s nuclear reactor had been shut down in 1989, when the vessel was decommissioned, and that radiation levels in the area are normal. But environmentalists warned that water could leak into the reactors, and that radiation levels in the fish-rich area will have to be watched closely. 

 

Oligarch Update

A former power-broker 

is now a Brit

Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who entered self-imposed exile three years ago, following his feud with the Kremlin, was granted political asylum in Great Britain in September. Berezovsky had requested asylum last March, but his request was denied and the British government gave a green light to start extradition proceedings. 

The Russian government charges that Berezovsky stole cars from the LogoVAZ auto plant and defrauded the regional administration of Samara region in the mid-1990s. Berezovsky was detained by British authorities along with business associate Yuly Dybov, then released on $157,000 bail. When Berezovsky was granted political asylum, the extradition proceedings were dropped, yet Russian authorities said they will still seek Berezovsky’s extradition.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities are seeking extradition of another self-exiled oligarch, Vladimir Gusinsky. Gusinsky is former owner of Media-MOST, which controlled the NTV channel and Itogi magazine. Gusinsky was arrested in August in Athens airport by local police acting on an international arrest warrant issued by Russia. 

In 2000, Gusinsky, who holds dual Russian and Israeli citizenship, became engaged in a battle with the Kremlin, during which the Prosecutor-General’s Office accused him of fraud and money laundering. Gusinsky was arrested and, as soon as he was released, fled Russia. In 2001, he was arrested in Spain on Russia’s request, but a Spanish court ruled against extradition. Gusinsky is now out on bail from Greek prison and awaits the court’s decision on extradition.

 

Just Say Nyet

The management of the Ufaleysky Metallurgical Machine-Building Plant in Chelyabinsk region has decided to pay for alcohol encoding treatments of its highly qualified employees. The decision was caused by a soaring shortage of turners, borers, machine-operators and other specialists, whose numbers are ravaged by heavy drinking. Alcohol encoding, which uses chemicals and psychotherapy to discourage patients from further drinking, is a treatment widely practiced in Russia. One doctor visit costs the plant 600-800 rubles ($20-27). 

Volochkova Sacked

In September, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater sacked its 5 foot 7 inch prima ballerina, Anastasia Volochkova (one of Russian Life’s 100 Young Russians to Watch, profiled in the Jan/Feb 2002 issue). The Bolshoi Press Service said the reason for the firing was Volochkova’s refusal to extend her contract with the theaterthrough December 31. Previously, Volochkova had refused to sign her contract, as it was not for a full year, but only for the remainder of 2003. The theater’s administration also accused Volochkova of being unsuitable for her profession — too heavy and too tall for most of her dance partners to lift. Volochkova said she would not leave Russia (as reported in the Russian Life profile, after a previous falling out with the Mariinsky and then the Bolshoi, Volochkova danced for a time abroad). But, at press time, it was unknown where she would be dancing. Meanwhile, the Labor Ministry has declared Volochkova’s sacking illegal.

 

Fighting Words

In August, Russia’s Chief Rabbi, Berl Lazar, spoke out against the use of Jewish religious symbols in advertisements. Lazar’s statement came in response to an poster for the Moskva Shopping Complex which featured a Jew wearing a traditional Jewish skull cap and the slogan, “Moskva Center: We are open on Saturdays.” 

According to the rabbi’s press service, in April the Moscow Office for Human Rights and the Jewish World Public Organization filed a lawsuit in the Moscow’s Arbitration Court against the shopping complex’ administration and against the producers and distributors of such advertisements, saying that they damaged national religious feelings. The court held its first hearing in August and proceedings were postponed because the defendant failed to show up. “On this advertisement poster, most people see a religious Jew who is refusing to observe the Sabbath. Undoubtedly, this insults believers and is certainly impolite,” Lazar said. (Interfax) 

 

VTsIOM Clone

Yuri Levada, the longtime director of the All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), and most of his colleagues have left VTsIOM to form a private polling service, Analytical Service VTsIOM, or VTsIOM-A. 

The move occurred after the state appointed a new board of directors, composed mainly of its officials, to oversee the work of VTsIOM, a state-owned polling agency. VTsIOM was created in 1987 and was widely respected for its objectivity and professionalism. The agency had over 100 employees at the moment of the crisis. 

Some observers have suggested that the state took over the agency on the eve of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in order to ensure that polling results would suit politicians who have been dissatisfied with the results of past VTsIOM polls. Namely, in VTsIOM ratings, the pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party showed lower ratings than in other agencies’ polls. 

Levada said VTsIOM-A would not have any sponsors, state or otherwise, and will finance its activities with revenues received conducting surveys and analyses. Meanwhile, VTsIOM’s new director, Valery Fyodorov, said he would sue the new agency for using the “VTsIOM” brand name. Levada has dismissed the potential lawsuit, saying that the new name has been registered and patented and so can be defended under the law. Russian Life has used many VTsIOM’s surveys in the past and will continue to publish polling results from all reputable polling agencies.

Poet to Pig Farmer

Eleven descendents of the legendary 19th century poet Alexander Pushkin live in Arkhangelsk region. They are the 5th, 6th and 7th generation of the poet’s descendants. The oldest has a pig farm in the village of Lomonosovo, while a five-year-old boy is Pushkin’s youngest descendant. Pushkin’s great-great-granddaughter, Irina Gibshan, taught foreign languages at the Arkhangelsk Pedagogical Institute and died in 1996. Pushkin’s descendants arrived in Arkhangelsk when two granddaughters of Pushkin’s granddaughter, Natalia Vorontsova-Velyaminova, were sent to Arkhangelsk region during Stalin’s repressions. (Interfax)

 

Feline Hostages?

The general director of a local electricity supplier in Primorsky Krai told ORT on October 2 that his company is prepared to confiscate pets of persistent debtors in order to force them to pay their bills. Dalenergosbyt General Director Nikolai Tkachev said, “Let dad answer to his daughter or son why their favorite cat has been taken away.” But Dmitry Kuznetsov, deputy chief bailiff for the krai, said that implementation of such a policy could prove difficult. “You can do that with a small doggie, but how can you take away a large wolf-hound?” he asked. Dalenergo’s press service told Izvestiya the same day that it is unaware of any kind of company holding-tank for domestic animals, noting that seizure of property is in the domain of court bailiffs and may be done only after a court proceeding. (RFE RL Newsline)

Iraq Shock (and Awe)

Yegor Gaidar, the Yeltsin-era prime minister made infamous by his “shock therapy” on the post-Soviet economy, was invited by the American-led coalition authority in Iraq to help develop an economic-reform plan for that country. Gaidar, who is a co-founder and member of the Union of Right Forces party, traveled to Iraq in September, but has not yet decided if he will quit his work in Russia to advise the US-led authority full-time. Gaidar’s controversial economic reforms in Russia have been criticized by some for having plenty of “shock” and very little “therapy.”

 

Kremlin Ally Wins

Valentina Matviyenko, former welfare minister and President Vladimir Putin’s favorite in the St. Petersburg mayoral election, won that office in October’s second round voting, with 63% of the vote. Matviyenko’s main rival, deputy city governor Anna Markova, received 24% of the vote. However, just 28% of Petersburg’s 3.7 million registered voters turned out. In the first round, 11% per cent of voters chose “none of the above” from the ballot of nine candidates. 

 

Gymnastic Masters

Russia proved itself again the master of artistic gymnastics at the World Championships in September in Budapest. The Russian team took the gold medal in the team competitions twice: for combinations with ribbons and combinations with hoops and balls. In both competitions, the team silver medals were taken by Bulgaria and the team bronze by Italy. In the overall competition, the Russian team took 12 medals (7 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze).

 

 

 

Top Hoopsters

For the first time ever, the Russian National Women’s Basketball Team is the Champion of Europe. The team clinched the title in late September in a difficult match against the Czech Republic. With just three minutes left to go in the final, the Russian team trailed 56-53, but a final attack led by Anna Akhipova and Irina Osipova (who led the team with 16 points) turned the game around and Russia won 59-56.

 

Moscow Challenge

A $2 million athletics competition, the Moscow Challenge, was held in Luzhniki stadium in September. Despite heavy promotion and the presence of world and Olympic champions, the event failed to attract much public interest. The 83,000-seat stadium was only half-full. 

Among the star competitors was American world indoor 60 meters champion Justin Gatlin, who won the men’s 100 meters with a time of 10.05 seconds, earning him the $500,000 purse. European 100 meters champion Dwain Chambers (UK) came in second, while world record holder Tim Montgomery placed third and world champion Kim Collins finished sixth. The race had a total $1 million in prize money. 

In the women’s 100 meters, Chryste Gaines won first place, taking home $75,000 dollars. She defeated Christine Arron (France) and world champion Kelli White. 

Russian world silver medalist Yuri Borzakovsky won the men’s 800 meters race, beating Kenya’s Wilfried Bungei in a 1/100th of a second photo finish, 1:46.67 to 1:46.68.

 

 

{Bottom of the Heap} In September, Reporters Without Borders published a rating of press freedom in 139 countries. Russia came in 121st, followed by Uzbekistan (122nd), Belorussia (124th) and Turkmenistan (136th). Other former Soviet republics came before Russia. The countries topping the list were Finland, Iceland, Norway, Netherlands and Canada. The United States ranked 17th, while North Korea brought up the rear in 139th place.

 

{Travel Junkets} The Federation Council is running a deficit due to excessive foreign travel by deputies and their assistants. By the end of June, the council had already spent its travel funds for the first three-quarters of the year. Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov said that the parliamentarians would “tighten their belts a little,” reducing the number of trips, delegation sizes and per diems. 

 

{From Screen to Print} The independent weekly newspaper Moskovskie novosti (Moscow News) has been purchased by the Open Russia Foundation, which is financed by oil giant Yukos. The former editor-in-chief of TVS channel, Yevgeny Kiselyov, has been appointed its editor. TVS was closed in June in a move widely interpreted as an attack on Russia’s last independent TV channel. A public council will oversee the work of the weekly, and it will include former Moskovskie novosti and Obshchaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Yegor Yakovlev, political analyst Liliya Shevtsova, and former adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Aleksander Yakovlev. 

 

{Pelevin Speaks} Victor Pelevin, one of Russia’s most acclaimed and widely-read contemporary writers, author of Buddha’s Little Finger and Omon Ra, has broken a five-year literary silence with the publication of his new book, DPP(nn), deciphered as “Dialectics of the Transition Period (from nowhere to nowhere).” Pelevin’s last novel, Generation P, (English title: Babylon) was published in the spring of 1999. The author had been silent since that time, traveling in Nepal and Butan and living at a Buddhist monastery in South Korea. 

 

{Now in Russian} In early October, the first Russian issue of National Geographic appeared on newsstands. Russia became the 24th country to read National Geographic in its mother tongue, 115 years after the first issue of the magazine appeared in the United States. National Geographic has a worldwide circulation of 9 million and is read by some 40 million people each month. (Interfax) 

 

A policeman or employee of a criminal investigation department does not fall to Earth from the Moon. We hire citizens of Russian Federation to be policemen. So, yes, there is a certain category of persons in the police who use foul language excessively.

Alexei Pavlov, first deputy head of the 

Central Criminal Investigation Department of Russia (Itogi)

The Constitution provides every citizen with the right to choose where they want to live. We somehow are trying to oppose this, in the good sense of the word. 

Vladimir Platonov, Chairman of the Moscow City Duma, 

about non-Muscovite workers in Moscow (Itogi) 

Concerning what might happen were the results of privatization to be reviewed, I will not tell you. I am not Hitchcock… 

Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of Yabloko political party (Profil)

 

 

14,000 

number of pedestrians who die in Russia from road accidents each year

 

33,000

crimes committed by foreigners in Russia each year

 

250,000 

Russians registered as infected with HIV, including 9,200 babies born to HIV-positive mothers in 2002. The number of HIV cases in Russia is expected to rise to 1.2 million by 2005 and 5.4 million in 2020. 

 

9 

tons of drugs confiscated by the Interior Ministry from January-September 

 

$11.2 billion

African states’ debts written off by Russia between 1998-2002 

 

500,000 

number of women from CIS countries “sold” to Western Europe every year to become prostitutes 

 

$8.3 billion

net worth of Mihkail Khodorkovsky, head of YUKOS ($7.5 billion — Roman Abramovich, governor of Chukotka, $ 6.7 billion — Mikhail Fridman, head of board of directors of Alfa-Group)

 

32.1% 

number of 30,400,000 Russian children found absolutely healthy during the all-Russian health examination 

 

4 million 

number of Russians estimated to be drug addicts

 

267 

number of persons abducted in Chechnya in the first half of 2003

 

877,400 

number of persons held in remand prisons and penitentiary institutions

 

170 

drowning victims in Moscow this summer 

 

Russians who

will not vote in the coming 

Duma elections 33%

 

think a financial crisis comparable to 

that of August 1998 

is possible in the future 78%

 

think the actual power in the 

country belongs to: 

 

“big capital and oligarchs” 37%

 

“organized crime” 19%

 

the president 15%

 

bureaucrats 12%

 

local branches of power 5% 

 

the State Duma 4%

 

heads of regions 2% 

 

do not think they will live to see the 

day when the living standards of 

Russians will improve 28%

 

will get most of their information 

about the Duma elections from 

the mass media  63%

 

trust most the federal TV channel’s 

information about 

political developments 63%

 

favor government support to attract 

foreign workers to Russian industry, 

to solve the problem of 

underemployment 44%

 

preserve food for the winter 82%

 

feel the second Chechen war 

(started in 1999) was due to the 

aggressive nature of Chechens 17%

 

feel that someone must be 

profiting economically

from the Chechen war 48%

 

STATISTICS SOURCES

NUMBERS (page 8) 1: Movement of Russia’s Pedestrians, quoted by Interfax. 2: Federal Migration Service, quoted by RIA Novosti. 3: World Bank study quoted by Novye Izvestya. 4: Interior Ministry official quoted by RIA-Novosti. 5: Alexander Saltanov, Deputy Foreign Minister quoted by RIA-Novosti. 6: Interior Ministry. 7: Die Presse (Austria). 8: Vice-premier Galina Karelova, quoted by Interfax. 9: Viktor Cherkesov, chairman, State Committee on Drug Trafficking, quoted by Ekho Moskvy. 10: Chechen government, quoted by Interfax. 11: Ministry of Justice quoted by Interfax. 12: Interfax.

 

RUSSIANS WHO (page 10) 1, 3, 4: Agency for Regional Political Studies. 2, 5-8: ROMIR Monitoring. 9, 10: VTsIOM, August 2003.