Russia: Government Trying To Transform Energy Sector
Radio Liberty, By Michael Lelyveld, October 16, 2002
Russian deputies have given initial approval to a power-sector restructuring plan. The move may mark the first major commitment to break up the country's natural monopolies, but doubts remain about how the government's program will work.

Duma to consider monument to Nicholas II on Lubyanka
Interfax, October 10, 2002
Moscow, 24 April: The leader of the Russian liberal party Yabloko, Grigoriy Yavlinsky, According to information agencies, there are grounds for thinking that during his meeting with Edward Shevardnadze, President Putin has found the right solutions to Russian-Georgian MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - The Duma Council submitted a draft resolution to erect a monument to Russian Emperor Nicholas II on Moscow's Lubyanskaya Square on the agenda for the Duma session on October 16.

Grigory Yavlinsky hands out awards to the journalists
Press Release, October 22, 2002
"It would be hard to find a state in the world which would appreciate such journalists like you," said Chairman of the YABLOKO party Grigory Yavlinsky addressing the winners of the All-Russia Contest of Regional Journalists "Against All Odds" ("Vopreki"). "Corruption has become today the basis of not only economic, but also the state order, and we all realize the difficult conditions in which you have to work," stressed Yavlinsky. He also noted that the journalists-participants in the contest had chosen "a difficult way." The award ceremony for the winners and laureates of the contest was held in Moscow on Tuesday, October 22, 2002.

Russia considers electoral change
UPI, By Anthony Louis, October 8, 2002
MOSCOW, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Leaders of a growing pro-Kremlin political bloc have proposed changing Russia's electoral rules by dramatically raising the threshold of votes in parliamentary elections required for political parties to win seats in the Duma, Russia's lower house.

Russia: Centrists Propose Changing Electoral Law
Radio Liberty, By Gregory Feifer, October 18, 2002
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power over two years ago, he has done much to carry out his promise of strengthening centralized power. The pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party is now proposing to further consolidate the country's political forces by changing parliamentary election rules.

Yakovlev Issues Budget Warning
www.sptimes.ru, By Claire Bigg, October 11, 2002
A handful of young Yabloko supporters, wearing red wigs in a nod to Chubais and carrying The city budget for 2003, although it was passed in first reading by the Legislative Assembly on Oct. 2, has become the center of heated debate in the corridors of the Mariinsky Palace, following threats from city Governor Vladimir Yakovlev that, should the budget be passed as it stands, he will not sign it.

Indecent Proposal.
The right-wing are once again considering a marriage of convenience
Moskovsky Komsomolets, By Alexander Minkin, October 23 2002
Another attempt by the democrats to unite has proved abortive. Or rather an attempt by their leaders. Boris Nemtsov explained this failure on TV, saying with a jeer that "the bride who is past her prime is too capricious and choosy.

Updating: Yabloko and SPS

Your Union Is a Pretence, Friends
Rossiiskaya Gazeta, By Vitaly Tretyakov, October 24, 2002
The talk about the prospect of uniting democratic forces in an electoral union, movement, or bloc has had a long history and has little hope for success. From time to time, the idea of such a union is revived, especially duringsessions of the Democratic conference that consists of a number of dwarfish party structures, human rights watching clubs, and first and foremost the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) and Yabloko.

Deputy of the State Duma Valery Ostanin: the theatre cannot be stored, as there are hundreds of hostages
Press Release, October 24, 2002
The theatre cannot be stormed, as there are hundreds of hostages says deputy of the State Duma and member of the Security Committee of the State Duma Valery Ostanin. According to Ostanin, a careful "jeweller's operation" is required here, as the lives of many people now depend on the professionalism of the security services.

YABLOKO calls on journalists to show restraint
Rosbalt, October 24, 2002, 15:22
St.Petersburg, October 24, 2002. Deputy Chairman of the YABLOKO party and deputy of the State Duma Sergei Mitrokhin, who is now at the headquarters formed owing to the seizure by a group of armed people of a theatre, showing the Nord-Ost musical in Moscow, called on the mass media not to disclose the details of possible actions by forces from the security agencies and bodies responsible for internal affairs. This information was provided by the Ekho Moskvi radio station.

The leader of YABLOKO Grigory Yavlinsky flies to Moscow from Novosibirsk
Press Release, October 24, 2002
On October 24, about 18:00 (Moscow time) the leader of the YABLOKO party Grigory Yavlinsky took a regular flight to Moscow from Novosibirsk to be able to participate in the negotiations with the terrorists holding hostages at a theatre in the centre of Moscow. Yavlinsky is scheduled to arrive in Moscow at 21:00.

Grigory Yavlinsky conducts negotiations with terrorists
Press Release, October 24, 2002, 23:50
The leader of the YABLOKO party Grigory Yavlinsky is now inside the building of the theatre and is negotiating with the terrorists, according to information released by the Head of Public Relations of the Federal Bureau of Investigations of Russia Sergei Ignatchenko to journalists on Thursday night, October 24.

Grigory Yavlinsky in consultations with the Kremlin
Press Release, October 25, 2002, 05:45 a.m.

Grigory Yavlinsky to continue negotiations with terrorists
RosBusinessConsulting, October 25, 2002, 11:24:14

One Dead in Theater, 8 Walk Free
The Moscow Times, By Lyuba Pronina, Oksana Yablokova and Andrei Zolotov Jr., October 25, 2002.
A sniper on Thursday targeting the front entrance to the theater where hundreds of people were taken hostage during "Nord Ost."

Chechen Rebels Hold Hundreds in Theater, One Dead
Reuters, By Larisa Sayenko, October 24, 5:12 PM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Chechen "suicide squad" held hundreds of people hostage for a second night Thursday in a Moscow theater rigged with explosives, after killing one woman who tried to escape.

On housing and communal services sector reform
All-Russia Democratic Assembly
Fourth Meeting
Statement
October 21, 2002, Moscow
The YABLOKO faction in the State Duma will not support the package of draft laws on reform of the electricity sector submitted by the Government to the State Duma.

Poll Puts Kalmykia on Kremlin's Map
The Moscow Times, by Natalia Yefimova, October 18, 2002.
But this week, a handful of windows have been shining brightly throughout the night. Inside the lit rooms, bleary-eyed press secretaries, campaign staffers in rumpled suits and PR gurus imported from Moscow are helping candidates in this sleepy Buddhist republic fight a battle for the presidency.

Moscow faces the prospect of choosing a new strategic direction
Vek, by Valery Liubin, October 18, 2002
The latest round of talks about campaign cooperation between the Union of Right-Wing Forces We have not seen much coherent commentary in Russia on a decision made by the European Union in early October to accept ten new members in 2004 (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, and Cyprus). However, this move is much more important and fraught with more significant consequences than the news about NATO eastward expansion which once caused Russia to dig in its heels. All attention is being focused on one side-effect alone - resolving the Kaliningrad dilemma and the tug-of-war between Brussels and Moscow - although it is quite clear which side will be forced to make the greater concessions when finding a compromise.

Europe's March to the East
Moscow faces the prospect of choosing a new strategic direction
Vek, by Valery Liubin, October 18, 2002
We have not seen much coherent commentary in Russia on a decision made by the European Union in early October to accept ten new members in 2004 (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, and Cyprus). However, this move is much more important and fraught with more significant consequences than the news about NATO eastward expansion which once caused Russia to dig in its heels. All attention is being focused on one side-effect alone - resolving the Kaliningrad dilemma and the tug-of-war between Brussels and Moscow - although it is quite clear which side will be forced to make the greater concessions when finding a compromise.

The Duma majority refused to increase financing of education and science in 2003
Press Release, October 18, 2002
Chairman of the Duma Committee on Education and Science, member of the YABLOKO faction Alexander Shishlov expressed his regret that the Duma majority refused to vote for the amendments on allotting additional funds to the education and science sector. The amendments were discussed on Friday, October 18, 2002.

The meeting of the Democratic Assembly will focus on housing and communal sector reform and the problem of cooperation between the democratic forces at the elections of 2003-2004
Press Release, October 17, 2002

The "big four" factions in the Duma refused to support education and science
Press Release, October 10, 2002
Chairman of the Duma Committee on Education and Science and member of the YABLOKO faction Alexander Shishlov expressed his regret that representatives of the deputies' groups the "Unity", "Fatherland - All Russia", "People's Deputy" and "Russia's Regions" had refused to support the amendments of the Education Committee on allotting additional funds to the education and science sector. The amendments for the second reading of the draft budget for 2003 were discussed during the meeting of the State Duma Budget and Tax Committee on Thursday, October 10, 2002.

Grounds for Optimism
Moscow Times, by Alexander Sokolowski, October 21, 2002
One can tell a lot about where a country's economy is headed by looking at its budget. Since the budget is essentially the resource framework for all of a state's operations, it also serves as a barometer of government efforts at economic and social reform. On Friday, the State Duma passed the draft 2003 budget in its second reading. Although the Duma must still consider the budget in its third and fourth readings before the draft is fully adopted by the lower house, the budget's basic parameters and major spending priorities have already been set.

Mother of All Reforms
Wall Street Journal, by Therese Raphael, October 18, 2002
"Corrupt influence . . . loads us more than millions of debt; which takes away vigor from our arms, wisdom from our councils, and every shadow of authority and credit from the most venerable parts of our constitution."

Lawmakers Eye Tougher Rules for Duma Seats
The Moscow Times, by Oksana Yablokova, October 10, 2002.
A handful of young Yabloko supporters, wearing red wigs in a nod to Chubais and carrying boxes reading "Alms for reform," protesting the UES bills at the Duma on Wednesday.

Grigory Yavlinsky advocates a visa-free regime at the Baltic Development Forum
On October 14-15, 2002, the leader of the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO
Grigory Yavlinsky will take part in the fourth annual meeting of the Baltic Development Forum. The Forum will be held in Copenhagen and is entitled "New Bridges Between the Baltic States: Prospects and Strategies of the Centre of Growth in Europe".

On the inadmissibility of adopting the Government's draft laws for energy sector reform
Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, State Duma, YABLOKO Faction. Statement, October 8, 2002
The YABLOKO faction in the State Duma will not support the package of draft laws on reform of the electricity sector submitted by the Government to the State Duma.

Grigory Yavlinsky "To the Summit of the CIS Heads: Russia and Georgia"
www.yavlinsky.ru
Interfax, October 7, 2002
Moscow, 24 April: The leader of the Russian liberal party Yabloko, Grigoriy Yavlinsky, According to information agencies, there are grounds for thinking that during his meeting with Edward Shevardnadze, President Putin has found the right solutions to Russian-Georgian relations and transferred the issue from the area of state conflict to the area of cooperation between the law-enforcement agencies of both countries.

Grigory Yavlinsky: The twelve per cent barrier is preparing the grounds for a nationwide crisis.
NTV channel, "Segodnya Vecherom" programme, October 7, 12002, 10.00 p.m.
Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky

The proposal of "United Russia" to raise the threshold for access to the State Duma to 12.5% is targeted against YABLOKO and the Union of Right-Wing Forces
Rosbalt, October 7, 2002
The proposal of the "United Russia" to raise the threshold for access to the State Duma to 12.5% is targeted against YABLOKO and the Union of Right-Wing Forces. This opinion was expressed by Deputy Chairman of the YABLOKO party Sergei Ivanenko to a Rosbalt correspondent on Monday. According to Ivanenko, this proposal had been developed by the representatives of the "second echelon" of "United Russia". " First we should learn what the real heads of the party - the Administration of the President of the RF - will say to this," noted Ivanenko.

Communist Icons Suffer Mixed Fates In Modern Moscow
Wall Street Journal, By Claudia Rosett, October 15, 2002
Making monuments is rarely simple, as New Yorkers debating the right memorial for Sept. 11 can attest. But for controversial trends in the commemoration business, it's hard to top modern Moscow. Making a post-Soviet break with the past has meant scrapping some of communism's many trappings, including the goose-stepping honor guard at Lenin's tomb, the plethora of Soviet place names, and, most famously, a huge bronze statue of the KGB's founding father, Felix Dzerzhinsky. But the landscape remains littered with mementos of state-sanctioned mass murder -- put there as an exercise in self-exaltation by the former Soviet rulers, who ordained the murdering.

Some Anxiety in Russia as Monopoly Nears End
New York Times. By Sabrina Tavernise. October 15, 2002
But many questions remain about how the plan will be carried out, and investors and some lawmakers have warned that the process risks repeating the flaws and mistakes of privatization in Russia in the mid-1990's. That program was often manipulated by powerful insiders who stripped away valuable state assets and left outside shareholders with little or nothing. The Russian legal system is still trying to cope with the fallout.

Kremlin Has a Bill on Firing Governors
The Moscow Times, by Andrei Zolotov Jr., October 8, 2002
Contrary to what some see as a friendlier phase in President Vladimir Putin's relationship with the governors, the Kremlin is cobbling together plans to strengthen its grip on the regional powers.

Chubais Blasted as UES Bills Hit Duma
The Moscow Times, by Alla Startseva, October 9, 2002
Left and right converged in opposition to Unified Energy Systems chief Anatoly Chubais and a controversial legislation package to overhaul the national power grid Tuesday, a day ahead of the first reading of the bills in the State Duma.

Deputies Vote to Break Up Power Grid
The Moscow Times, by Alla Startseva, October 10, 2002
A handful of young Yabloko supporters, wearing red wigs in a nod to Chubais and carrying boxes reading "Alms for reform," protesting the UES bills at the Duma on Wednesday.

Roll-call Voting in the State Duma
For adoption of the federal law "On the Electric Energy". First Reading.

Issue: For adoption of the federal law "On the Electric Energy".
DATE: October 9, 2002, 17:45:40

Introduced by: the Government of the RF
REGIME: QUANTITY VOTING
QUORUM: 1/2+
QUORUM IS: 226

YABLOKO rejects the government's variant for energy sector reform
Press Release, October 10, 2002
The YABLOKO faction in the State Duma will vote against the adoption in the first reading of the "package" of draft laws on reform of the electricity sector.

Updating: Arms control

Documents:

• Start I
• Start II
• Start III

Yavlisnky's Credo: Against Corruption in the Union of Right-Wing Forces and for Putin
Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Yabloko party
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, by Maxim Glikin, October 11, 2002
"Question: Perhaps RAO UES executives are deliberately "driving down" the company's share price, so that it will be easier to buy it up?

Yavlinsky: If they deliberately set out to devalue RAO UES by USD6 billion over two years, the executives of this state-owned company ought to be sent to... You know where. Immediately. That qualifies as misappropriation of state property."

Pro-Kremlin party to rid Duma of liberals, Zhirinovsky
gazeta.ru, by Artyom Vernidoub , October 8, 2002
Existing economic mechanisms only achieve the very narrow goal of maintaining the present [economic] level, but fail to provide for medium-term economic growth. In terms of solutions to the main problems facing the country, the economic system has been in a state of decline and has The State Duma's most numerous and servile faction -- the pro-Kremlin Unity Party and its centrist allies -- is set to purge the house of its smaller factions, such as Yabloko, the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS), and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's LDPR, and in the long run form a bipartisan parliament.

Russia, With Much at Stake, Takes Its Time Deciding
New York Times, By Sabrina Tavernise, October 3, 2002
MOSCOW, Oct. 2 - Russia is biding its time over whether to support the Bush administration in seeking a new United Nations resolution on Iraq, with parliamentary leaders saying today that the decision hinged on economic interests, and with the Kremlin still declining to lay out its terms in public.

Russian liberal politician calls for end to the Chechen war
Channel 3 TV, Moscow, October 3, 2002
Russian liberal Yabloko party leader Grigoriy Yavlinsky urged President Vladimir Putin to put an end to the war in Chechnya, which he described as pure "bloodshed" and a "political adventure", and launch negotiations with rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov. He also said that Russian army colonel Yury Budanov, accused of murdering a Chechen girl, should be convicted.

Russian liberal calls for change of tack on Georgia, firm policy on Iraq
Ekho Moskvy radio station, October 2, 2002
Interview with Alexey Arbatov
The deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Defence, the liberal Yabloko deputy, AlexeiArbatov, has criticized Russia's policy on Georgia, which, he says, is driving it into the arms of NATO and the West. In an interview with Russian Ekho Moskvy radio, Arbatov also diverged from the Russian government's line on Iraq. He said he supported a new UN resolution against Baghdad, although he would not endorse a US attack on Iraq which was not thoroughly justified. The following is an excerpt from the interview broadcast live on Ekho Moskvy radio on 2 October.

Russia's Export Image
"Moskovskiye Novosti", by Grigory Yavlinsky, September 24, 2002
MOSCOW, Sept. 27 - Energy executives and government officials from Russia and the United States will meet in Houston next week to discuss energy cooperation at a time when concerns A regular participant of the Salzburg European Economic Forum, the leader of YABOKO Grigory Yavlinsky refused to participate in the forum this year on grounds of principle.

Open Letter
On the creation of a monument to the victims of political repressions
Izvestiya, September 26, 2002
When the Soviet totalitarian system collapsed at the end of 1980s, a number of outstanding figures in literature and art commented on the need to immortalise the memory of the victims of political terror in the Soviet Union by creating a monument. However, this idea was not implemented then for objective and subjective reasons.

Thanking All Who Responded
Novaya Gazeta, by Elena Milashina, September 26, 2002
The protagonist of one of our publications Dima Goryashin entered this year one of the most prestigious faculties of the Moscow State University - the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics. He passed examinations with the bulk of applicants, even though he could have assumed privileges as an orphan. He did not require them, as Dima is a talented mathematician.

"A Word on the Budget"
Economy: the steps that have to be taken
www.yavlinsky.ru
by Grigory Yavlinsky, September 27, 2002
Existing economic mechanisms only achieve the very narrow goal of maintaining the present [economic] level, but fail to provide for medium-term economic growth. In terms of solutions to the main problems facing the country, the economic system has been in a state of decline and has been slow to curb, despite current growth, the country's problems that have been snowballing .

Activists address Russia's radioactive legacy before disaster's anniversary
Associated Press, By Vladimir Isachenkov, September 27, 2002
MOSCOW - The fallout from a catastrophic nuclear dumpsite explosion in Russia's Ural Mountains 45 years ago and decades of radioactive pollution have gravely affected the local population's health, but authorities have done little to assess or limit the damage, environmentalists said Thursday.

The Kosovo Crisis: The End of the Post-Cold War Era
By Dr. Alexei Arabtov
Published by the Atlantic Council of the United States

Chechnya
Nezavisimoe Voyennoye Obozrenie, July 19, 2002 (Archives)
by Alexei Arbatov
A controversial presidential bill on combating extremism was pushed through the State Duma by On June 6 the Duma resolutely voted in favour of a law to counter extremism in the first reading. The law was passed despite its clearly draft" nature and the views of some parties that this law Clearly Chechnya is the most sensitive issue for the Russian leadership. The situation there may well be described as stagnation or a cul-de-sac. The federal government is incapable of establishing firm military and political control over Chechnya; the armed opposition lacks the strength to inflict a major defeat on the federal troops.

It's Business as Usual in Krasnoyarsk
Moscow Times, By Yulia Latynina, October 2, 2002
MOSCOW, Sept. 27 - Energy executives and government officials from Russia and the United States will meet in Houston next week to discuss energy cooperation at a time when concerns over the safety of world oil supplies have been heightened by the Bush administration's push for Election results are usually annulled by revolutions and coups d'etat. Last Sunday the role of zealous revolutionaries was played by the Krasnoyarsk election commission, which showed true proletarian commitment to duty by invalidating -- on its day off -- the results of the gubernatorial election on the basis of ... Well, no one actually knows what the commission finally based its decision on. Apparently the candidates spent far more on the campaign than is officially permitted.

On the scandal surrounding the elections in Krasnoyarsk Territory and Nizhni Novgorod
www.yavlinsky.ru
by Grigory Yavlinsky
The electoral chaos plays into the hands of the powers that want to do away with elections, establish a police state in Russia and directly appoint their criminal contacts and embezllers. They would use this system to continue trampling on people and them, depriving them of their voting rights.

The State Duma Analyses the Strategic Reductions Treaty
Gazeta, by Ivan Yegorov, Vitaly Mikhailov and Anastasia Matveyeva. October 2, 2002
Boris Nemtsov, leader of the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS), proposes that all democratic forces agree to back one candidate for president after the parliamentary election in 2003. The formula is simple. Each party nominates its own candidate. The Duma election shows who has won. All democratic forces support the candidate whose party gathered the most votes, Russia and the USA have launched the ratification of the Treaty on Strategic Arms Reductions, which was signed in an attempt to fill in the vacuum left by the US withdrawal from the 1972 ABM Treaty and refusal to ratify START-2. Hearings in Russia and the USA are being held behind closed doors, but this newspaper has learned some details of the recent State Duma hearing.

FEATURE-Russian 'atomic city' builds future on nuclear dreams
Reuters, By Larisa Sayenko, October 2, 2002
ZHELEZNOGORSK, Russia, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The streets of this Siberian city are eerily clean and uniform, free of the buzz of commerce and jumble of billboards found even in the smallest and poorest of Russian provincial cities.

Sergei Ivanenko: There are no answers to the main questions in the 8,836 pages of the 2003 budget
RosBusinessConsulting, October 1, 2002
An interview with Sergei Ivanenko, first deputy head of the Yabloko Party's parliamentary group

Liberal Alternative to Putin.
Why we need a right-wing challenger to Putin in 2004
by Leonid Sedov, National Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM)
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 2, 2002
The key postulate of contemporary Russian politics is that the political stage is dominated by Vladimir Putin. Few doubt that he will win the next presidential elections. Polls indicate that 47% of voters are prepared to vote for Putin, and even more (76%) approve of his performance as President. It is hard to imagine any event that could change this situation significantly....