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Question: Let's talk about the Duma. What is going on
there?
Yavlinsky: Nothing special. In my view, the present Duma
is doing a very poor job. However, this was plain from the very
start - when we got the Unity faction, assembled in a slapdash
manner from everybody who happened to be there, and when all the
leadership posts in the parliament were distributed by agreement
with the presidential administration. No alternative candidates
were proposed when the speaker was elected. Of course, this is
not surprising: the Kremlin has 240 loyal deputy votes and consequently
any decision can be passed without any trouble.
Question: What was the latest scandal over the Communists
losing their leadership positions all about?
Yavlinsky: Call the presidential administration and ask
them.
Question: All right. But will you still share your version
of the proceedings?
Yavlinsky: Rotation. Someone from Unity or their allies
wished to chair a committee, what is so unusual here? I have that
the main thing is to have the necessary number of votes and everything
will be done. For example, the new Central Bank chief was approved
without any discussion. They did not even take pains to create
the illusion of a debate, they just produced the proposal for
a vote without any discussion - so they did. There are places
where I could be both Putin and Matvienko.
Question: Did you have questions about Gerashchenko's
replacement?
Yavlinsky: Of course. Lots of them. We had been getting
ready for the session, intending to speak... I think nowhere else
in the world has a person been appointed to such an important
state post without debate. The Russian parliament did it without
a debate. An achievement worthy of the Guinness Book of Records!
Question: Where would you advise me to turn for an explanation
of the motives of the "attacks" on Gennady Seleznev?
The Kremlin again?
Yavlinsky: One person in this country is responsible for
such things. If Putin decides that it is time for Seleznev to
leave, he will say: "I have found a different place for you".
But he may also consider that everything may remain in its place.
This is a form of manageable democracy.
In any Russian provincial town, a person from Moscow, even one
with the least authority, immediately takes on the importance
of Valentina Matvienko, Mikhail Kasyanov, Vladimir Putin, and
other federal leaders, all in one person. As it is likely a federal
politician has never visited the town before, they draw a crowd.
People come: as many as can be admitted. The questions go like
this: "Could you explain why Russia supplies gas to all Europe,
while this city has existed for three centuries without any gas?"
Question: What is your explanation?
Yavlinsky: I pose this question in response. I do not
come to deliver a prepared speech from the platform, but instead
to talk with the people. I ask them to raise their hands if they
remember the name of the Duma deputy they elected in 1999. Only
ten out of every thousand usually remember. None of these ten
knows what their deputy voted for, for instance, when discussing
the issue of nuclear waste imports or pensions... Therefore, I
say, you have no gas, because you elect someone for some particular
purpose.
When asked: "Do we have a bad government?" I
respond that the government is average, and no worse than in other
countries. The difference is that people abroad monitor the performance
of their elected officials, while in Russia we don't. Therefore,
the government does whatever it wants. Import any ministers from
Europe or America and you will not be able to distinguish them
from ours. What other result can you expect from this permissiveness
and lack of supervision?
Question: What is this country then?
Yavlinsky: Eighty years of communism is a grave matter.
Actually, it still hasn't gone away. A former candidate for the
Politburo became leader of democratic Russia. The government today
belongs to people from the infamous special services which have
always been faithful servants to the communists. When I visit
a military unit and officers start to tell me that they are paid
1,000 roubles a month, I ask: whom did you support at the elections?
"We always vote for the communists!" Then, I say, you
should ask them why the state pays you so little!
Question: What do your voters demand?
Yavlinsky: They ask various questions. What is going on
in the armed forces, why do our 80,000 troops in Chechnya think
about how to make ends meet rather than how to end the war? They
ask why the people are prevented from electing the candidates
they want, why at the last moment the courts or the electoral
commission are bound to intervene and disqualify the candidates
whom the government doesn't like. However, the most frequent issues
are problems that concern them personally - prices, the so-called
housing and communal reform, wages and pensions. Television does
not refer to these issues and the press doesn't write about them.
Instead, every news broadcast is full of discussions about the
redistribution of Duma portfolios. You know, the other day I went
to Sverdlovsk region where I met residents from eight towns. Before
the start of such meetings, people are provided with sheets of
paper and pencils, so that everyone can write about the issue
that concerns them personally. They ask about everything in the
world, but guess how many questions out of 1,000 concern the situation
in the Duma? Two! Only two!
Question: The people do not care about the Duma?
Yavlinsky: What is there to care about? People are clever,
they understand everything.
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