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Friday, May 9, 2008 Volume 12 Number 87
previous issue
NOTE TO READERS:
RFE/RL announces with regret that due to financial constraints, this will be the last issue of "RFE/RL Newsline." In late June, RFE/RL will launch a redesigned English-language website (http://www.rferl.org) that will continue to cover developments in our broadcast region. Russia
DUMA CONFIRMS PUTIN AS PREMIERAn extraordinary session of the State Duma on May confirmed former Russian President Vladimir Putin as prime minister, Russian and international media reported the same day. The vote was 392 in favor, with 56 Communist Party deputies voting against. President Dmitry Medvedev personally presented his nominee to the session, saying "this candidacy needs no introduction." Medvedev said that as president, Putin had worked out the strategy of Russian development through 2020 and now he will play the key role in implementing that strategy. "I think, and no one should doubt, that our tandem will only grow stronger," Medvedev said. Putin also addressed deputies, stressing the need to advance the country's economic development and improve living standards. He said he expects Russia's gross domestic product to exceed that of the United Kingdom in 2008. He also addressed the problem of growing inflation, but was modest in his promises: "In the next few years, we must reach a single-digit figure," Putin said. Deputies also had a chance to ask Putin questions before the vote. After the vote, Putin thanked the deputies and Medvedev promised to sign the appropriate decree the same day. The two left the building without speaking with journalists. RC RUMORS CONTINUE THAT YAVLINSKY WILL ENTER PUTIN GOVERNMENT Although Putin has said in recent days that he has made the basic decisions on who will be in his cabinet, no official announcements have been made, newsru.com reported on May 8. Putin has until May 15 to present his proposals to President Medvedev. Rumors persist that Putin has offered an unspecified post to Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky, who is also rumored to be considering it (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 19, 2008). Yavlinsky, who is normally outspoken with the press, has refused to comment on the speculation, despite criticism from within his own party for allegedly holding secret negotiations with the authorities. Asked by "Izvestia" about the purported proposal, Yavlinsky said, "I don't know anything yet; I don't know anything yet. If [Putin] wants, I am ready for talks." The initial rumors that surfaced in March indicated that Yavlinsky had been offered a senior economic-policy post. Later rumors have centered around speculation that he could head some new environmental agency, perhaps at the ministerial level. RC MEDVEDEV TO REMAIN FORMAL HEAD OF GAZPROM BOARD THROUGH JUNE President Medvedev will remain chairman of the board of directors of the state-controlled natural-gas monopoly Gazprom until June 27, "Vremya novostei" reported on May 8. Medvedev has headed the board since 2002. A shareholders meeting in June is expected to confirm the nomination of former Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov to replace Medvedev. Medvedev, however, stopped attending board meetings after his election in March and will not attend any for the rest of his tenure. Gazprom CEO and deputy board chairman Aleksei Miller is reportedly performing Medvedev's duties. RC PROPOSED LAW COULD TARGET LAWYERS In one of his last acts as president, Putin submitted to the Duma a bill that would weaken the independence of lawyers, gazeta.ru reported on May 8. Under the bill, the State Registration Agency would be able to rescind a lawyer's license without a ruling of support from the Legal Chamber. The registration agency would also be able to gain access to the working files of lawyers under investigation. Human rights advocates say the new bill would make it much easier for the state to persecute lawyers who make active defenses in controversial cases. A number of defense lawyers have charged in recent months that they have been the target of such persecution (see "Prominent Lawyer Flees Country, Fearing Prosecution," rferl.org, July 13, 2007). President Medvedev is a lawyer and has called repeatedly for the country to overcome its culture of "legal nihilism." Some analysts have speculated that he could build up the Association of Lawyers of Russia as an independent power base (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 5, 2008). RC STRATEGIC MISSILES ONCE AGAIN ROLL THROUGH RED SQUARE... A military parade was held on May 9 in Moscow and other cities to mark Victory Day, the 63rd anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, with tanks, missiles, and other weaponry rolling through Red Square for the first time since the Soviet Union's breakup. Newsru.com reported that the Red Square parade featured more than 100 pieces of military hardware, including Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles, along with more than 8,000 servicemen, while 33 military planes and helicopters made flyovers above the Russian capital. In a speech on Red Square, President Medvedev said that Russia's army and navy are "gaining in strength and power, like Russia itself." According to the Kremlin's website, kremlin.ru, Medvedev said history shows that armed conflicts are sparked by "those whose irresponsible ambitions prevail over the interests of countries and whole continents, over the interests of millions of people." In order to prevent this from recurring, it is necessary to "treat extremely seriously any attempts to sow racial or religious hatred, kindle ideological terror and extremism, plans to meddle in the affairs of other states and especially attempts to revise borders," Medvedev said. According to newsru.com, parades featuring military hardware and troops were also held in St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok, among other Russian cities. JB ...AS RUSSIA EXPELS U.S. MILITARY ATTACHES... Russia has ordered two U.S. military attaches to leave the country, the latest in a series of expulsions by both governments since November, Bloomberg reported on May 8. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that the ousters followed the U.S. expulsion of one Russian diplomat in November and a second on April 22, about a week after the Russian government ejected an American. "We don't draw any particular connection among these various incidents," McCormack told reporters. "We deal with them in their own right." According to AFP, McCormack said the Russians "gave us some reasons" for the expulsions but he would not disclose them. "We believe that the expulsions were not justified," McCormack said. "But as we all know, in the world of diplomacy sometimes these things happen. As far as we're concerned, we don't intend to take any further actions. Of course, we always reserve the right, but at this point I don't see that we're going to take any further action in response." AP on May 8 quoted U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried as telling a congressional hearing that he does not believe the expulsions signaled any deterioration in relations with Russia. "We look at these incidents as something which happens from time to time in U.S.-Russian relations," Fried told the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. "It is not in our view the sign of some larger diplomatic struggle. It is not a sign of some downturn." According to AP, neither McCormack nor Fried would discuss the reasons for the expulsions but, speaking earlier, U.S. officials said that none of those involved had been declared "persona non grata" by either government and that none had been accused of specific wrongful conduct, such as espionage. Russia's Foreign Ministry refused to comment on the expulsion of the two U.S. military attaches, Interfax reported on May 8. JB ...AND OBSERVERS WONDER WHAT IT ALL MEANS U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on May 8 played down the significance of Russia's expulsion of two U.S. military attaches. "There are some intriguing developments in Moscow, but I don't read much into the attache thing other than just the usual tit for tat," AFP quoted Gates as saying. According to the news agency, Gates, who formerly headed the CIA and was a career Soviet analyst, suggested that the military parade on Red Square marking Victory Day on May 9 was a throwback to the Cold War. "I'm waiting to see if the leadership will be standing atop Lenin's tomb and see if we'll be back to Kremlinology about who's standing in what place and so on," he said. Bloomberg on May 8 quoted Alexander Rahr of the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin as saying that there may be a connection between Russia's expulsion of the U.S. military attaches and Russia's political transition. "I find it really strange that such a signal comes today, as Medvedev comes into office," Rahr told the news agency. "Either it's an old story that came on the very last day of Putin's era, or maybe it's an attempt by people in Moscow to prevent Medvedev having his own, more positive course versus the U.S. from the beginning. This may be an attempt to keep him in this Cold War way of thinking and Cold War policy, with some hardliners in the Kremlin perhaps thinking that's more appropriate in Russia than a new face of cooperation." Kommersant.com reported on May 9 that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Fried told a hearing held in Washington by the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe on May 8 that the Bush administration wants to see how the powers specified in the Russian constitution are divided in practice by President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin. "Time will tell," Fried told the hearing, which was entitled "U.S.-Russia Relations: Looking Ahead To The Medvedev Administration." JB CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED TO DEMAND KALMYK PRESIDENT'S RESIGNATION The Extraordinary Congress of the People of Kalmykia has issued a statement, posted on May 7 on regnum.ru, announcing its intention to collect signatures in support of a demand that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov step down from the post of president that he has held for the past 15 years. The congress launched a campaign four years ago to demand Ilyumzhinov's resignation; police reacted with force, killing one participant at a protest meeting in Elista in September 2004 and injuring dozens more, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported. The Elista municipal assembly voted no confidence in Ilyumzhinov two weeks ago (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 28, 2008). On May 6, a spontaneous meeting in Elista to mark the fourth anniversary of publication of the first issue of the newspaper "Elistinskaya panorama" evolved into a spontaneous campaign to collect signatures to an appeal to new Russian President Medvedev to take measures to protect media freedom and prevent reprisals against journalists in Kalmykia, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported on May 7. LF PRESSURE ON RENEGADE CHECHEN BATTALION INCREASES Chechen investigators are seeking to establish whether members of the Russian Defense Ministry's ethnically Chechen Vostok battalion were involved in the killing following their abduction in early February 2007 of Yusup and Yunus Arsamakov, brothers of Moscow-based banker Abubakar Arsamakov, and their driver, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported on May 8. On May 7, an unnamed Chechen law enforcement official said that the body discovered on May 6 on the outskirts of Gudermes was that of Vostok serviceman Vakhasolt Zakayev, who was allegedly killed by fellow servicemen on suspicion of having himself killed Djabrail Yamadayev, the brother of Vostok's commander, Sulim Yamadayev (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 7, 2008). Also on May 7, investigators denied that Kazbek Tavbulatov, a police investigator killed in a traffic accident in Gudermes the previous day, was working to establish the identity of six bodies found in a common grave near Gudermes on May 4, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported. LF COURT UPHOLDS DENIAL OF PAROLE TO CHECHEN WOMAN'S KILLER The Ulyanovsk Oblast Court on May 7 upheld the rejection last month by the Dmitrovgrad City Court of a request for parole by Colonel Yury Budanov, who has served five years of a 10 year sentence for the murder in March 2000 of 18-year-old Elza Kungayeva, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported. It was Budanov's third unsuccessful application for parole (see "RFE/RL Newsline," January 3, March 3, and July 28, 2003, August 21, 2007, and April 2, 2008). LF EIGHT MILITANTS, SYMPATHIZERS APPREHENDED IN DAGHESTAN All six members of an illegal armed formation have been apprehended in a series of raids in Makhachkala, Khasavyurt, Buynaksk, and in the Untsukul and Karabudakhkent districts, regnum.ru reported on May 8 quoting Interior Ministry deputy spokesman Mark Tolchinsky. In a separate operation in the Untsukul village of Gimri, police detained two men who are suspected of providing food supplies in 2007 to an illegal armed formation headed by Ibragim Gadjidadayev. A massive security operation was launched in December 2007 to apprehend Gadjidadayev's group (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 11 and 28, 2007, and January 7 and 17, February 21 and March 27, 2008). LF SUSPECT IN YABLOKO ACTIVIST'S MURDER RELEASED IN DAGHESTAN Abas Abasov, suspected of having ordered the November 2007 fatal shooting in Makhachkala of Farid Babayev, who headed the Daghestan organization of the opposition party Yabloko, has been released from detention after pledging not to leave Russia, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported on May 8. Two other persons detained three months ago on suspicion of involvement in the killing remain in custody (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 26, 27, and 29, 2007, and March 3, 2008). LF POLICE RAID MOSQUE, DETAIN WORSHIPPERS IN INGUSHETIA Half a dozen armed masked men burst into a mosque in Pliyevo, northeast of Nazran, during afternoon prayers on May 5 and detained three worshippers on the pretext that their parked cars were obstructing traffic, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported on May 6. The three car owners were questioned for several hours and then released. The mosque was closed in 2003 on the pretext that worshippers were proselytizing "wahhabism," but reopened for worship in 2005. LF
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