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In what would amount to opening a new front in its war on terrorism,
the United States is considering sending 100 to 200 U.S. special
operations soldiers to Georgia, adding to the U.S. helicopters
and handful of advisers already in Tbilisi to help the Three top
lawmakers called on the State Duma's procedures committee Friday
to get the ball rolling for a vote on dismissing the chamber's
speaker, Gennady Seleznyov. The move was one of several attacks
against Seleznyov by fellow deputies over the past week, but politicians
and analysts said the campaign to unseat the Communist speaker
could prove successful only with the blessing of the Kremlin,
which has thus far remained neutral on the issue.
The request submitted Friday was signed by the head of the pro-Kremlin
Unity faction, Vladimir Pekhtin, the deputy leader of the Fatherland-All
Russia faction, Farida Gainullina, and the first deputy chief
of the liberal Union of Right Forces (SPS) faction, Boris Nadezhdin,
Interfax reported.
The idea of electing a new speaker was first floated Wednesday
when the Duma voted 245-159 to strip Seleznyov of his deciding
vote on the State Duma Council, the body that determines the chamber's
agenda. That vote had been initiated by the pro-Kremlin centrist
coalition that holds sway over the Duma's decision-making.
Speaking Saturday at the end of a four-day visit to Spain, Seleznyov
called the campaign against him the result of a "political
order" and said he intended to "uncover those who ordered
it" upon his return to Moscow, Interfax reported. Seleznyov
was due back in the capital Sunday but was to leave the following
day for St. Petersburg, where he would remain until Friday, his
spokesman Sergei Bukharov said.
Many liberal Duma deputies were critical of the anti-Seleznyov
effort and speculated that the Unity-led centrist coalition, which
played a key role in winning Seleznyov the speaker's seat, was
now attempting to force a redistribution of top posts in the Duma.
Most of the current committee chairmanships were doled out after
the December 1999 parliamentary elections as part of a deal between
the centrists and the Communists, which drew heated protest from
the smaller liberal factions, SPS and Yabloko.
Sergei Ivanenko, first deputy head of the Yabloko faction, called
the move to oust Seleznyov part of "the centrist deputies'
offensive aimed at destroying the package deal on the chamber's
top posts," Interfax reported.
Alexander Barannikov, deputy leader of the SPS faction, agreed
that the centrists would demand some personnel changes, Interfax
said. He speculated that Unity and its allies could be angling
for two committees now controlled by the Communists -- on economic
policy and on labor and social policy.
Under this scenario, it was not clear whether the centrists would
be hoping to get the committee posts in exchange for agreeing
in the end to keep Seleznyov in the speaker's post, or whether
they would need to oust Seleznyov to claim the committee posts.
One of the deputies publicly spearheading the attack against Seleznyov
is Gennady Raikov, leader of the People's Deputy group.
Raikov has initiated an investigation by the Duma's procedures
committee into an advisory council that operates under Seleznyov.
Committee chief Oleg Kovalyov, a Unity member, said Friday that
the advisory council uses "official Duma stationary to offer
paid legal services to businessmen and other individuals"
and the charge is 50 to 90 rubles a day, Interfax reported. Kovalyov
could not be reached Friday for further
comment.
Seleznyov told reporters in Spain that he was not aware of the
accusations. Both Yabloko's Ivanenko and Barannikov of SPS predicted
that the moves to oust Seleznyov -- which will likely resume at
the Duma's next plenary session on April 3 -- can work only with
the Kremlin's backing.
"I think it won't be an easy task because Seleznyov is loyal
to the Kremlin and it seems no one there is harboring plans to
replace him," Barannikov said.
So far, the Kremlin has stayed on the sidelines of the conflict.
President Vladimir Putin's envoy to the Duma, Alexander Kotenkov,
said Friday that replacing the speaker would destabilize the chamber's
work but the decision "to elect and re-elect its speaker
is exclusively the Duma's internal problem."
Political analyst Alexei Mukhin of the Center for Political Information
said the campaign against Seleznyov could have been facilitated
by factionalism within the Communist Party itself, where many
consider Seleznyov a traitor. Mukhin said it was possible that
the centrists, aware of this friction, have simply taken advantage
of it.
See also:
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