| Political experts gathered yesterday at an emergency meeting
of the Open Forum Club and concluded unanimously that President Vladimir
Putin rather than the oligarchs was the main target of the anti-YUKOS campaign.
Alexander Konovalov, President of the Strategic Evaluation and Analysis
Institute, says "the anti-presidential conspiracy has not appeared
out of thin air." Firstly, Putin denied having any intention to run
for a third term. Secondly, he made it clear that he preferred to remain
independent of any political parties. So the plotters seek to force the
President to choose sides. Konovalov believes that only Putin himself can
put an end to all this lawlessness.
Mark Urnov of the Expertise Foundation called this a "blow to the
gut for the President". Urnov says that some powerful clan in the
upper echelons of the state is trying to distrupt the liberal modernization
trend and propose a model based on a more active and significant role
for the state itself. The timing of the anti-YUKOS campaign was chosen
with care. A great deal of foreign investment had been expected to enter
Russia in the near future, and after that a turnaround would have been
much more difficult, if not impossible. The target company was chosen
with some deliberation as well. YUKOS is one of the Russian companies
to have switched to international standards.
Anatoly Golov, director of the Social Policy Institute, believes that
the YUKOS case is "pure politics." Golov says that the shutdown
of the TVC network, the arrests in the police corruption case known as
"Operation Werewolves in Uniform", and all these sudden grievances
against a major Russian company are supposed to remind everyone who is
the boss around here.
Yevgeny Satanovsky, President of the Russian Jewish Congress, refuses
to be overdramatic. He considers that the unusual activity of the Prosecutor
General's Office fits in with the context of relations between business
and government in Russia.
Politician Grigory Yavlinsky
describes business and government in Russia as "Siamese twins",
with all the latest events like a fight between the twins. The Yabloko
leader has no doubt that such conflicts will recur. Only an independent
parliament, independent courts, and free and fair elections can provide
a guarantee against this kind of situation.
Independent Duma member Vladimir Ryzhkov says that Russia is now at
a crossroads. On the one hand, the nation is being offered a model of
development entailing nationalization and isolation from the international
community. On the other hand, it is still possible for Russia to be integrated
in the global economy. The public remains silent - which means that the
President will have the final say, as always
See also:
YUKOS
Case
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