The presidential election campaign
in Russia is coming to an end. Compared to the presidential
election campaign in 1996 which ended with the election
of Boris Yeltsin as President of the country, and to the
exceedingly aggressive and "dirty" State Duma electoral
campaign, the competition between the 11 candidates (the
12th candidate, Evgeni Savostyanov, a long-standing liberal,
decided not to run and called on his electorate to vote
for the reformer Grigory Yavlinsky), it looks as if this
campaign will finish emotionlessly - with a more than
probable victory for Vladimir Putin.
Grigory Yavlinsky is the only
candidate who continues to fight on regardless. A professional
economist who boxed as a young man, he likes to repeat,
"In politics, as in boxing, it is not the strongest who
wins, but rather the fighter who manages to stay standing
until the end of the fight."
Question: Grigory Alexeevich,
you will certainly manage to stay on your feet on March
26. Moreover, your position should be consolidated by
the sudden support rendered by Eugeni Savostyanov and
such reformers as Gaidar, Khakamada and Chubais, who announced
their readiness to support Yabloko. Why are you so sure
that you will beat the candidate from the CPRF next Sunday
and that there will be a second round?
Yavlinsky: You can visit my
Internet site to understand why I am so convinced about
this. You were with me in Nizhni Novgorod. You saw how
the students of the University and dockworkers reacted,
and they had always been considered "the serfs of the
communists". I constantly meet people and this is not
the first time that I participate in the elections. I
know how many people call us and how many letters we receive.
I know the mood in the regions and in the grassroots of
our party. Consequently I believe or rather I am convinced
that support for Yabloko is on the rise. And this impression
is more reliable than the results of any polls.
Q.: For the first ten years
in post-communist Russia you have refused any proposals
to join a coalition government. First of all, you refused
to enter Boris Yeltsin's government, saying that you would
not like to compromise your position by co-operating with
a corrupt administration, and then you turned down a proposal
to enter a union with the reformers Chubais, Gaidar and
Kiriyenko. What is making you change your course now and
speak about a possible coalition?
Yavlinsky: The presidential
elections may lead to the potential creation of a broad
democratic alliance of right-wing forces, as the basis
for a future large party. This is the ultimate goal. Savostyanov-s
decision not to run and appeal to his electorate to vote
for me marks the first step. Now we face the task of defeating
the communists in the first round with such a result that
a second round could be held. We would like to create
a strong democratic coalition capable of stopping the
spread of criminal and autocratic trends in Russian society.
At the same time, Yabloko, regardless of the results of
the presidential elections, is ready to participate in
the new reformist movement without any claim to be its
leader. Our common goals should be as follows: the right
to elect and be elected, freedom of thought and expression,
protection of human rights and private property.
Q: One of the rules in
politics is "never say "never". Will you refuse if Putin
offers you a post in the government?
Yavlinsky: I don't even want
to think about it.
Q: Why are you so negative
about Vladimir Putin?
Yavlinsky: In my opinion Putin
poses a threat to Russian democracy. I think that he is
a communist in disguise, a man implementing policies using
Soviet methods. His programme is virtually a copy of that
of Zyuganov or Zhirinovsky. And it is no accident that
the Chairman of the Duma, elected with Putin's support,
is a communist and that the communists and nationalists
control the main parliamentary committees.
Q: What d o you think about
Zyuganov?
Yavlinsky: Zyuganov will never
achieve anything. The communists ruled this country for
80 years and brought it to collapse. They don't have any
right to stand on a platform and tell the country what
to do. All these years the communists have voted in the
Duma for Yeltsin's laws.
Q: What measures should
be taken urgently to extricate Russia's economy from the
crisis?
Yavlinsky: There should be
an abrupt reduction in taxes, large competition, a revision
of the financial and economic laws, radical banking reform
and protection of private property. The military-industrial
complex must be restructured to meet basic defence requirements.
But we must always remember that we cannot achieve economic
success without democratic transformations in politics.
