“This is not a typical crisis; there has not been one like it the past 50 years, thus we cannot use the typical measuring standards to determine what will happen,” Aleksey Kudrin said at the meeting, and added: “The highly unlikely second phase of the crisis, a second recession, will occur in a year or two. But we need to stay on alert.”

This is a good time to recall that since the beginning of the year, Mr. Kudrin had repeatedly changed his view on the current recession. And, while in the beginning the minister had a highly pessimistic outlook, alarming the government that we could not so much as hope for pre-crisis economic growth rates for the next 50 years – the more time passes, however, the more favorable his predictions tend to be.

It looks as though the “presidential vaccination” against pessimism had helped. After all, after having received harsh criticism from Dmitry Medvedev for his above-stated opinion, the finance minister carefully stated that there may not be a “second bottom phase” of the crisis. After which, without waiting for official September statistics, ruled out the crisis. Izvestia reported that the data that supported the fall of GDP, which came out much later, and the dynamics of inflation, confirmed this view.

Now, Kudrin is once again restraining his optimism. By “postponing” the second wave of the crisis for two years, Kudrin, on the one hand, recognizes certain positive economic developments (such as the certain level of recovery of the industrial sector, the oil prices being at a medium-pre-crisis level, and, due to political efforts, inflation that will this year be unambiguous). On the other hand, with Kudrin’s new theory, the probability of a protracted recession increases; hence the call to his foreign colleagues “not to let [their] guard down in the upcoming months” and the recommendations to Russia's authorities not to increase spending and continue reducing inflation and loan rates.

Ministry of Finance set the ruble to float freely

The ruble floats freely on the currency market, Aleksey Kudrin said on Saturday.

“We have always said that the ruble should be subject to objective economic conditions, and today, the ruble is moving in accordance with these objective developments,” said the official. “The Central Bank basically does not intervene; its intervention is insignificant. This means that, today, the ruble floats freely, as it should.”

According to him, the strengthening of the ruble was made possible by high oil prices and restructuring of loans of Russian banks and enterprises.

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Q: What did you talk about during the tea ceremony?

A: David and I tried to understand our sibling connection. He took out a long roll of paper – a Miliband family tree, put it on the table, and we studied it for two hours. This genealogical tree was put together by his younger sister, but the entire family took part in it. We discovered that we descend from two Milibrand branches. Our great-grandparents - Osip and Samuel - were brothers, originally from Warsaw. But, it’s not yet clear if they were blood-related or not. And, while according to my age I should be Ed and David’s aunt, I am actually their third-cousin! Although, that’s not definite. David named nine brothers and sisters of my father, David Osipovich.

Q: What did he tell you about himself?

A: I asked him about his hobbies. He told me: “Sports and my children”. He has two sons: one is five-years-old and the other is two. His wife is a violinist. David promised to send me a recording from one of her concerts.

Q: Did he give you something as a memento?

A: Yes, he brought me tea and a porcelain plate with a frog – take a look. This is the famous Wedgwood porcelain. I asked a friend of mine (she is a famous ceramist) to make three small vases – for David, Ed and their mother. After all, I personally knew their father, Ralph Miliband. As I told you, he was a well-known public figure in Britain and a Marxist. We met by chance when he came to Moscow in the Soviet years to work on his book. This spring, when I was lying on the operating table, my entire life flashed before my eyes. At that time, I felt very sorry that I was not able to contact Ralph during the few times I had been in London on a business trip. I thought that I would never meet any of my British relatives. After all, I don’t have kids of my own. But now, I found my heirs. I told David jokingly that I could entrust my old furniture to him. But the main inheritance and wealth, the main gift – is that we found each other!

Q: Did David Miliband promise to visit you in the future?

A: He said that, from now on, he will visit Moscow more often, especially, if he becomes the minister of foreign affairs of the European Union. And, I hope that our newfound kinship will encourage warmer relations between Russia and Britain (laughs).

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Presidential opponents were the first to mention the suspicious nature of the epidemic that took over Ukraine. Deputy Inna Bogoslovskaya said that, according to her sources, bacterial infections are being counted as viral illnesses in order to make it look as a rampant endemic. It’s allegedly similar to the Chinese pneumonic plague. It’s important to note that regions that initially supported Yushchenko and then became far-right were the first to fall victim to the illness.

Only a strong hand capable of lifting any disaster can turn them onto the right direction. Yushchenko, who is apparently aware of this, visited the ailing Lviv and promised that he will stop the epidemic in about a week.

Another leader with a strong yet feminine hand, Yulia Tymoshenko, is not spending her time visiting the regions. She is fighting the flu from Kiev by holding governmental meetings and demonstrating that she is the only one among the ministers capable of dealing with the disaster. The government has already allocated 3 billion hryvnas (about $400 million) to fight the disease – and this will not be the last outlay of funds.

In the competition to be the first to show awareness and cancel all pre-election public events, the winner was Viktor Yanukovich. Tymoshenko followed him in canceling her tour of electoral concerts.

Yushchenko’s campaign came in third. Besides getting the loud PR slogan, “Our nation’s health is more important than our victory,” the candidates are saving money that would otherwise be spent on meetings and their travel around the country.

Meanwhile, the candidates were given free PR time during the TV marathons that have now been continuing for three days in Ukraine. During this time, the candidates are advertised along with one-time-use gauze bandages, which are just as useless in fighting the influenza as the politicians. To protect oneself from the disease, thick cotton-gauze bandages from the Soviet civil defense days are needed, or respirators.

Following the flu crisis, a drug crisis awaits Ukraine – due to the attempts to impose a moratorium on the rising costs of medicines in accordance with the exchange rate, only one month’s worth of drug supplies remains in stock. The epidemic and the panic exhausted them in three days.

Even the ministerial cabinet was taken over by panic. In a private, governmental pharmacy, lines reached up to 200 people. While they are waiting for oxolinic ointment, simple Ukrainian people are saving themselves with vodka, onion and garlic. The most effective type of garlic is called “Moscal.” In just one day, its price increased six-fold – to $4 per kilogram.

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Law enforcement agencies from many countries have a special interest in these people. Most of them have been living with forged documents for a long time. These “Russian guests” surround themselves with local criminals while providing them with new names, supplying them with false identities, and assigning them new roles. The most important task of the mafia bosses is money laundering, for which many fake companies are used.

A great amount of state funds is used to fight organized crime, but this does not concern the public much. People are terrified of the “Russian mafia,” members of which are considered by the Czechs to be representatives from all the former Soviet republics.

Czech Security Information Service (BIS) (similar to the Russian FSB), has much unsettled business with the mafia. Caucasus natives are considered to be the most dangerous.

“We regard some members of the Chechen and Armenian communities as potential terrorists who are prone to armed violence,” BIS representatives told journalists.

“Russian mafia” bosses have connections in government agencies, intelligence agencies and even courts. Another problem is the intensified fighting between criminal gangs, which prevails among the Chechen and Armenian communities. Czech newspapers often recall the 2007 incident when a driver of one of the “lottery kings” was shot and killed.

According to police, the killer was commissioned. He was Chechen and a participant in the Caucasus hostilities.

Ordinary Czechs are so concerned with the mafia that even the academic community has begun researching the subject. For example, one expert at the well-known Masaryk University, Tomas Smid, presented an entire opus on the subject. “The Russian phrase ‘thief in law’ implies the highest authority in the criminal sphere,” he wrote.

According to Smid’s theory, only a thief in law is capable of “regulating conflicts” between gangs. The expert believes that the tradition of such “titles” dates back to the 1930s.

“Then, a certain caste of people existed,” Smid said. “They were basically crowned during meetings with the leaders. The thief in law was to adhere to special rules, which, for example, forbade him to work and raise a family. His main task was to maintain peace between the rivaling gangs and negotiate common rules of the game so that traitors could be punished equally.”

According to the expert, there are about 700 thieves in law on the territory of the former Soviet Union.

Could all these mafia scandals cast a shadow over Russian-Czech relations? Izvestia posed this question to Oleg Alborov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper in the Czech Republic, Inform Praga.

“The Czech society does not share a uniform opinion of Russia,” he said. “Some support the development of bilateral relations, others oppose it. The same is true among politicians, and is often displayed through scandals – the goal of which is to attract the political elite as well as the electorate. The current administration does not have anti-Russian sentiments. On the contrary, bilateral relations will continue to develop. This is evidenced by the recent meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission in Prague and was stated by President Vaclav Klaus during his recent visit to Moscow. By the way, the opposition calls the Czech president a Russian spy.”

And, in the days preceding the birthday of the legendary person, it would be a good idea to consider what other brands survived the Soviet era when they were created. Was it the space launch or the ballet? What is, so to speak, the positive legacy of the Soviet Union?
The criteria of longevity of symbolic heritage are simple. On the international market, and on the brands market – especially, guns and drugs have always enjoyed a stable demand rate – one terrifies, the other – pacifies. Because all negative emotions are a type of fear, and all positive feelings are a variant of hope, then all the terrifying brands carry a negative legacy and all those that bring hope – a positive one.

It’s easy to change the color white into black. All is forgiven to those who carry hope, even their crimes are presented as heroic victories. But, with even the slightest disappointment, even their heroic acts are disguised as crimes.

During the first half of the 20th century, the main positive brand of the West’s leftist intellectuals was the reduced version of the USSR – an avant-garde country charting a new path to a bright future. Some of the victims that it rolled into the asphalt of this bright path cast a shadow over the greatness of this goal, and the majority denied it. Solzhenitsyn emphasized that all the horrors of the GULAG, with which he shook the Western public, were often spoken of in the West, but they were finally heard when the Soviet Union abandoned the Stalinist legacy.

When the Soviet Union was declaring: “we are special, advanced, your bourgeois criteria do not apply to us” – then, they indeed weren’t applied much; but when it began saying “we are just like you, except we are lagging behind, but we will learn and move from utopianism to pragmatism”, then the civilized world suddenly did not have any reason to be condescending: there are plenty of ordinary lagging pragmatists in the world. From that moment, the Soviet legacy began to distort, for Russia’s main brands became the names of the fighters against the Soviet regime – Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov ...

And Gagarin? Because space flight supports the idea of human power, space rockets are a positive brand; but because they can be used by the military, they become a negative brand. Thus, it seems that the only brands that are unwaveringly positive and safe from requalification are those that are generated in the world of sports, arts and science. In the arts, it usually comes from music and dance. Technological advances, too, inspire respect, even if they are designed for military use: the fact that the Soviet Union created a hydrogen bomb before the United States, still may inspire respect for the Soviet Union and its successor - Russia. This may be the case with our “Kalash”, although it’s difficult to weigh all the good and the bad that the creation had brought.

“Russia” – is the principle brand of a parent company and determines the nature of the brands of its subsidiaries. As the global brand grows dark, it casts a shadow over everything that it creates. As the clouds lift – everything that originates from it gets brighter. Perhaps God is to blame for this; He gave us our egocentrism, without which we simply would not have survived His tests. A person sees everything in this life as either a source of danger or a source of hope. And, because in Russia things are most often perceived as a source of danger, the majority of the Soviet symbolic legacy will never be resurrected. The principle brand could perhaps be brightened only by a large-scale project, which would bring more hope to the world.

It is incredibly difficult to achieve this in the technical field; after all, the project must change the world suddenly, the change must be noticeable to those outside the field, as it happened with, say, the discovery of nuclear energy or the flight into space. Ordinary innovations don’t fit the role of a major brand; they quickly escape our conscience, even if, in their totality, they are changing the course of world history: who remembers the inventors of the electric motor or a computer? But, in the humanitarian field, the very fate of Kalashnikov serves as a hint. The fate of a village boy, who became a world celebrity, indicates how the new slogan may sound: “In Russia, talent is valued”.

Unfortunately, it’s hard for the pragmatists to believe that it is, in fact, people and not the natural resources that are the main asset of a country. Nevertheless, a broad network of schools and jobs for the gifted would be the most effective way to brighten all Russian brands in the eyes of the unrecognized geniuses of the world, for it is they who are, more than anyone else, concerned about the reputations of others and the absence of great achievements – to which they could dedicate themselves. If Russia, as it once was, became a country that is not very wealthy or very clean even, but one that creates people capable of astonishing the imagination, then all of our faded brands would once again luster. After all, we are still wearing the brands of Dostoevsky, Rachmaninov, Mendeleev ...

Surely the excessive concern with the opinion of others says a lot about our uncertainty. But, uncertainty comes from the conflict between the external and internal images of ourselves. This gap between the two inevitably creates proneness to conflict, pushes us to protect ourselves - in short, takes away the force for creative activity.

But, it is also in the interest of the West’s safety that Russia has a positive reputation, although the main creators of reputations in today’s world – journalists – are little aware of this fact. They continue to criticize Russian excessive susceptibility, not realizing that it is the radical conflict between Russia’s self image and its image in the eyes of others that will continue to escalate any conflict until it reaches a dangerous level, meanwhile Russia is contemplating its neglect. The convergence of internal and external images of Russia will benefit all.

And, to captivate the world with brilliance – is the easiest and the safest way.

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Recently, Turkey agreed to conduct exploration work in its exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea – an area where the Russian gas pipeline will be laid out to southern Europe. This gave reason for some optimistic forecasts about the timing of this major project involving the Italian company, Eni.

“It is possible that the South Stream project will be realized before the similar project in the Baltic Sea – the Nord Stream,” said Putin.

After their conversation with the Turkish prime minister, Putin and Berlusconi began discussing issues regarding bilateral cooperation and held a meeting with heads of Russian companies which are involved in implementing large-scale projects with the Italian partners. The Russian business sector was represented by Mikhail Pogosyan, CEO of the Sukhoi Company, Sergey Kogogin, head of Kamaz, as well as the CEO of Sollers, Vadim Shvetsov.

Pogosyan said that the Italian airline, ItaLy, signed a contract with Sukhoi to supply 10 civil airplanes and will begin receiving them in 2010. Kogogin reported on a joint project with Fiat on the production of a line of agricultural equipment, and noted that the Russian market has been in need of high-tech based local production for a long time. Shvetsov is also working with Fiat, said Berlusconi, “because the measures taken to support the automotive industry by the Russian government have been effective”. Indeed, these measures have also been very effective for Shvetsov himself, who decided to take advantage of the tariffs on supported Japanese cars in the Far East, and opened an assembly line there. Shvetsov told Putin and Berlusconi that Sollers is planning on launching its plant in Primorye “before the end of October of this year”. After asking about the number of people the plant will employ and the number of cars to be built (in the beginning stages, about 700 people will be employed, they will be assembling 15,000 cars annually) Mr. Berlusconi suddenly expressed his desire to purchase the first car from Shvetsov’s plant.

“Berlusconi decided to become the first buyer of a UAZ SUV that will be produced at the plant,” said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian prime minister, who attended the meeting. However, he did not specify just how this UAZ will be delivered to Berlusconi. Clearly, it will need to be transported for free on the railroad.

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According to the new version of the document, decisions on the operational use of the Armed Forces will be made by the president based upon the decision of the Federation Council. The decision regarding the total number of military units, place of their operations, their mission and the duration of their operations, will be made by the head of state. Recruiting and support for the military units will be implemented by the Ministry of Defense.

According to the final decision of the State Duma Defense Committee, the framework law authorizes the use of the Russian military outside the country’s borders in order to counter attacks on our military units stationed abroad, to repel or prevent aggression against another state - and if it so requests, protect our citizens, suppress international terrorist activities, as well as carry out missions in accordance with Russia’s international treaties.

While introducing the amendments to the State Duma, the Kremlin did not deny that they were deemed necessary due to last year’s events in South Ossetia. Then, the Russian army not only needed to quickly intervene in the military conflict in order to impel Georgia to peace, but also protect the peacekeepers. Dmitry Medvedev stressed that the use of force “must have clear regulations” – just as it is governed by the legislation of the world’s many leading countries.

Today, according to Vadim Kozyulin, professor at the Academy of Military Sciences, this is of great importance for Russia. Not long ago, the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Nikolay Bordyuzha, invited the UN to sign a memorandum on cooperation, according to which the two organizations would work together to counter global terrorism, drug and illegal arms trafficking. This document also allows the CSTO to conduct its peacekeeping operations and gives the organization status comparable to the role of NATO (the North Atlantic Alliance signed a similar agreement with the UN in 2008).

Russia plays a main role in the Rapid Reaction Force (RRF), formed within the CSTO. However, until recently, it has not been able to transfer its military units to any part of the CIS or the world without the appropriate amendments to the law “On Defense”. One can assume that similar changes will occur in the legislation of other CSTO members.

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ESP sessions

Curtains are tightly drawn. On the table – covered in black velvet, with drops of melted wax – stands the unchanging attribute of a magician’s table: a crystal ball.

Hereditary clairvoyant Alevtina – an attractive young woman, dressed in dark loose overalls, with a tragic facial expression – lays out the cards on the table.

According to a local advertisement, she also resolves problems related to job search and business in general. Indeed, Alevtina does a good job managing her business. She uses a smart marketing strategy: the first consultation is free, and the full cost depends on the “diagnosis.”

Suddenly, the psychic’s eyes widened with horror.

“You have been cursed from birth; this curse prevents you from achieving many things in life! We need to immediately cleanse your karma and protect it!”

After asking about the cost for all the above-mentioned procedures, she handed a list that outlines all the procedures that are needed to “cure” the condition. It’s a list of 15 items. The most expensive, and most needed, item is an ESP session. According to Alevtina, she will be able to clearly see which of my ancestors is behind all the misfortunes in my professional life “on an altar in Moscow’s suburbs.”

The price of the ritual starts at $2,000. The pricelist of services looks as follows: Express riddance from the curse in 10 days – 19,500 rubles. Twenty days of “work on the situation” cost 18,000 rubles. And, if I’m in no hurry to find employment, I could wait 30 days and pay 17,000. Moreover, it’s not required that I am present for the procedures. While saying goodbye to savings, the client also says farewell to the psychic, who promises to “work” on their case independently.

By the way, the prophetess is not very innovative in her correspondence methods. In the age of the Internet, some magicians are not in a hurry to meet with clients face-to-face.

Irina had recently started a business; she decided to seek help from magicians when strange things started happening in her toy store. There have been a couple of times when in between stuffed animals, tiny wooden figures appeared on the shelves. Then, she found a clump of black, red and white threads in the hair of one of her half-meter dolls, Christina. The last straw was the cut electrical wiring, due to which the store opening was delayed for a half a day. Irina’s colleagues all pointed to her competitor, who offered a similar product.

Irina decided to repay the alleged offender by casting magical voodoo spells; she read many good reviews about their miraculous power on web forums. After searching the Internet, she quickly found a black magic specialist. No contact information was specified for the black magic practitioner – e-mail was the preferred method of communication for all questions. In their brief correspondence, the magician asked to send photos of all the ceremony participants, their date of birth, and…500 rubles via Yandex. Needless to say, after the voodoo master received the cash, he vanished without a trace.

Don’t drink it!

One would think that long gone are the days when nearly every Russian consumed no less than one liter of “charged” water per day. But no. Newspapers and web sites are full of promises to solve all problems overnight. Even TV stations have been taken over by a wave of occultism. The youth follows popular show actors as they cast spells on each other. The older generation, by force of habit, attentively listens to the forgotten idols who have returned to the blue screens. After 20 years, the word “hypnotist” has reappeared among the residents of the capital.

Pensioner Elena Ivanovna believes that it was the hypnosis sessions – performed at a local recreation center which she and her husband attended in the early 1990s – that healed him from alcoholism. The woman advised her eldest daughter, whose husband took up drinking after he lost his job, to solve the problem the same way. However, after several visits to a hypnotist, the once-loving husband left his family, blaming his wife for his career setbacks.

Mikhail Ginsburg M.D., a well-known hypnotherapist, says that healthy people are incapable of losing their minds after communicating with a magician or a hypnotist. But their life could change for the worse.

“A mechanism of the so-called self-fulfilling prophecy exists in psychology,” he said. “If a person believes in everything that has been predicted, then he begins to unconsciously do everything to make the prophecy come true. The key word here is ‘believes.’ I had to work with people who were convinced that their ‘husband was an energy vampire’ or those that they ‘will never get married.’”

Ginsburg believes that hypnosis or trance is a natural state of the human organism.

“There is nothing magical or mystical,” the professor said. “Often, people don’t realize to what extent they, themselves, can affect their psychological state, health and life circumstances. A hypnotherapist is basically an instructor who tells people how and what they can do in order to enter a certain state of being. But like any other skill, hypnosis requires a certain understanding and skill. So, it’s better to seek help from a qualified psychologist-hypnotherapist, rather than a hypnotist.”

According to Ginsburg, the hypnotist profession exists on the stage. In the best case, this job title could be described as something like “employee of the Mosconcert.”

“There are people who have special abilities: some can heal, others can sense certain things, and some can do both,” he said. “I personally know such people. They are simple and friendly in conversation. But when I see a person wearing a black robe, surrounded with candles, skulls and crystal balls, I suddenly suspect that he’s either a charlatan (which is most likely) or has mental health problems.”

It’s better to go to a psychologist

According to unofficial sources, there are nearly 1,000 occult shops successfully operating in Moscow. Representatives of law enforcement agencies say that all magicians are sole proprietors and hold traditional healer certificates, so officially no laws are being broken. Moreover, the police say that a visit to a witch is personal and voluntary. As they say, to each his own… Of course, if one has the desire and is able to pay a large sum of money for career advice, their best choice is to see a clairvoyant.

For example, psychic Aleksandr Litvin, the cost of a consultation with whom starts at 30,000 rubles, not only explains career and business misfortunes with the economic crisis and lack of jobs, but also with incorrect career guidance. In his practice, he meets good bricklayers who have, for some reason, finished secondary education and spent most of their lives in an office chair, or an international businessman who at one time lost a fortune and is now the head of a prosperous well-known children’s center in the capital.

“I will not help anyone in finding a job, as I don’t offer employment,” said Alexandr. “But I will guide them toward an appropriate career choice, teach them how to communicate with recruiters, help select their clothing color-palette and time when it’s best to go for an interview.”

However, Moscow City Service for Psychological Aid to the Population offers similar services. And its specialists are ready to help the unemployed absolutely free of charge.

“I do not know how psychics guide their clients,” said Antonina Lyashenko, head of the Service. “But our psychologists offer career advice strictly based on the results of a serious psychological evaluation and the condition of the labor market.”

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His Su-27 became as well known as the Kalashnikov. It is Russia’s main export and brings billions of dollars to the country. It is recognized as the best fighter jet of the 20th century, and today will serve as a model to any other military machine.

A virtuoso in the skies

As the International Aviation and Space Salon – MAKS announced it would be showing the Su-27 in flight…people crowded at the edge of the airfield. The blue-gray “Su”, with red stars on the wings and tail, leaned toward its landing wheels as if welcoming the audience, turned on the afterburner and quickly took off. The sharp ascent was followed with a universal sigh of admiration. But the truly awe-inspiring spectacle was yet to come: the 30-ton machine, with the ease of a ballet dancer, began performing aerobatics: two and a half loops within 800 meters off the ground with a “flip” at the end, vertical rolls, 90 and 270 degree loops. After doing a double roll, the jet made a turn with a maximum sideways inclination. And, finally, the fighter jet suddenly gained speed, pulled up, but did not fly up as everyone expected – instead, it, at full speed, leading with its fuselage, went forward. A moment later, the angle increased from 90 to 120 degrees; the jet looked as though it was falling on its “back” while rushing with its tail forward.

Professionals call this military maneuver “dynamic braking”; the pilot needs it to sharply drop speed, while still have an advantage over the enemy. Moreover: the pilot is able to simultaneously launch a missile from behind his back. No other aircraft in the world is capable of this. Spectator crowds are screaming in admiration…

“Why don’t you go to your wife...”

“Our jet fighter came out late,” admitted Mikhail Simonov. “The American F-15 was already operating when our machine was only in its design stages.”

T-10 was the prototype of a future Su-27; it first flew on May 20, 1977. But despite all the efforts of the designers and engineers of the Sukhoi Company, it was worse than the American jet.

“This was bad news for us,” recalls Simonov. “The jet was already being produced. Some were making space for military awards on their jackets, while thinking about how they will spend their State Prizes.”

But he mustered the courage to go to the minister of aircraft industry, Ivan Silayev, to honestly tell him that the aircraft did not come out as planned, and he would need to work on it once again.

“It’s a good thing, Petrovich, that today is not 1937,” said the minister. “Okay, re-resign it…”

One thing is to talk, another is to do. When a corporation has hundreds of factories and design bureaus operated by eminent people – how can one tell them that the design “did not come out right”?

“It was a true scandal,” says the designer. “I came to the ministerial meeting. Began presenting my report and explaining that in order to improve the flight characteristics of the jet we will need to move the stowage compartment from the bottom on to the “back” of the aircraft. Then, suddenly, the legendary aircraft designer, Arkhil Lyulka – a cheerful and a kind man, stood up and began yelling at me, nearly cursing me out in Ukrainian. ‘Why don’t you, Mikhail Petrovich, go to your wife and ask her to move her breasts to onto her back?! We’ll see how useful she will be then!’”

There was more. The conflict with the engine designer was only the beginning. The transfer of the stowage compartment meant redesigning the body of the machine. And that implied a scandal with another serious institution – Central State Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI). As a result, Simonov traveled to TsAGI at night and secretly, as to not to let the management know, was designing new fighter jet models. According to him, they were in such a rush that decided to start working on the first model that looked acceptable. And, it was that model that proved to be superior.

“What was left of the fighter jet?” Silayev slyly asked the designer.

“The landing gear and ejection seat,” he admitted.

How the Arabs helped “Su”

Simonov insists that perestroika allowed the Su-27 to become the best of the best. A lack of money in the 1990s forced Sukhoi Company to make a desperate move – try to sell the jet abroad. The first place they looked was the United Arab Emirates.

“At that time, their Air Force was headed by Colonel Khalid,” recalls Simonov. “He wasn’t a flexible man. As he looked at and flew our fighter jet, he said: It’s not bad, but can it sink a destroyer? But these were two different things… It’s one thing to conduct air combat, and completely another to destroy underwater and ground targets…”

This could have been the end of the conversation. But Simonov did not blink an eye. He proposed the Arabs formulate their demands for the machine: if you want the fighter jet to be able to hit targets at a distance of 100 km – that can be done. You want it to sink destroyers – it will do.

“Our industry and engineers are capable of solving any given problem,” he says. “The only thing is – we must have a clear understanding of what is required of us.”

This is how the Su-27 became a multi-functioning machine. Though, the Arabs did not by it. Khalid admitted that the Americans would not have allowed them to do so.

“It is often said that the Su-27 and Su-30 are the best. But they have not been used in a single war. How could you prove their superiority?” I asked the designer.

“That is, of course, a secret,” he smiled.

It’s not difficult to see that the display of its equipment is not simply advertising, but a comparison with competitors – at least with those French “Mirages” that were part of the UAE inventory. How could they be compared? Two of their best pilots took turns flying the aircraft – the “Mirage” and “Su”. All flight information was documented – that is how information for analysis was collected.

The effect of a plastic cup…

Fighter jet Su-30MKI was designed as an order to India, but Simonov learned what the best fighter jet in the world should look like in the UAE.

“Air Vice-Marshal Krishnaswamy came into my office and bluntly stated: ‘Your aircraft is no good’,” even after all this time, the designer effervesces as he remembers this episode. “It’s too heavy and large. Any ‘Phantom’ can knock it down.” I told him that we have better maneuverability, longer range, and have a greater missile and bomb load. But, Krishnaswamy was insistent: “This is a bad plane; we don’t need fighter jets like this. At that point, I exploded. I threw my pen on the floor and told him: if you do not need this contract, then we don’t need it either. Then I sat at the table and paused.”

A week later, the Indians invited Simonov to attend a reception not at an embassy – as was the custom – but in the apartment of the military attaché. For a chief designer of top-secret technologies to accept this invitation would be to commit treason. If he did not agree – he would lose the contract.

“Of course we went,” he says. “We rang the doorbell. I was expecting a maid dressed in a sari to open the door, instead, the vice-marshal himself greeted us in the doorway. I was still upset with him. I saw a plastic cup standing on a small table. I picked it up and asked the marshal to get the same one. We filled it with vodka (about 400 grams each) and I said: Let’s drink. If after this we will still be able to hold talks, then good. If not, then we’ll forget about the entire thing, dismiss it as an empty idea…”

The result of those unusual talks is, fortunately, well known to all.

The best fighter jet of the 20th century

The Su-30MKI is considered an unbeatable fighting machine. This has been proven in air battles with potential adversaries. The first time it was done was in the early 1990s, when our Su-27 pilots were invited to take part in military training with the F-15.

The rules of the “battle” required our planes to “get on the tail” of the American jets, then the opponents changed places. In a real battle, this would allow directing a missile and hitting the target. In both scenarios, our jets were victorious. According to a participant in those exercises, chief of the Lipetsk Air Force Training center Major General Aleksandr Harchevsky, due to its high maneuverability and thrust-to-weight ratio, the Su-27 gained speed on the upward trajectory faster than F-15. The F-15 constantly needed to make a kind of a “step” – fly along a straight line for a certain period of time. The Russian pilots took advantage of that – they persuaded Americans to go upward, at which point they lost speed, and our jets, having made a sharp turn, found themselves on the tail of the enemy. A moment later and the target was, so to speak, “destroyed”.

The defeat was obvious. Thus, when the Americans learned that the Indians acquired the more advanced Su-30s, they decided to pay them a visit. In their exercises they decided to use the improved F-15. The result of the meeting was 6:4 in favor of the Su-30. The Indians had fooled them. Instead of the Su-30MKI, they used the ordinary training Su-30 – a machine without a new radar or engines with thrust vector control. The next time Americans arrived in India, they brought the improved F-16.

“This fighter jet is smaller and lighter than our Su-30,” says Simonov. “Thus, logically, it ought to be more maneuverable and win in close combat. But, everything was exactly the opposite. Su-30MKIs were used. The defeat was unquestionable!”

Supersonic for presidents

At one aerospace show, while watching flight demonstrations of civilian aircraft, Mikhail Simonov turned to journalists and made a surprising statement:

“Fighter jets are nothing; here is our future!”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, only so many fighter jets can be purchased. But, there has always been a large market for passenger planes,” explained the designer. “Everyone needs them.”

In his office, I understood what he meant. Next to his desk stands a two story model airplane, designed for 1,000 passengers, called KR-860 “Krilya Rossii” (Wings of Russia).

“They’re afraid of constructing such machines,” the designer let out a sigh of disappointment. “Even though we do have factories capable of implementing this project, and we could make necessary agreements on engines.”

It isn’t the first time that the country is unable to produce the globally-demanded An-124 heavy transport plane “Ruslan”. Although all necessary components are present: governmental approval, money, factories – where else can such giants be created? But Simonov does not give up. He says that the great Soviet aircraft designer, Roberto Bartini, believed that the aviation design bureau should be like a conveyor belt, at the end of which descends a mass-produced airplane and in the front – a new, trial aircraft. This is to continue forever: today, there are three model supersonic passenger airplanes that stand on Simonov’s desk.

“I observe on television how our leaders move from one region of the country to another,” he says. “But, they do this with subsonic machines – slowly. A great amount of time is lost this way. They lose efficiency.”

Simonov’s supersonic aircraft allow greatly accelerating the time for such flights. It will be given a name only after it starts being produced. Such is the tradition – so as not to “jinx” it. One of the three models is a 40-seat airliner, capable of flying at a speed twice the speed of sound. The second model is 12-passengers smaller, but flies even faster. The third aircraft is of even faster design, but we were asked not to say anything about it – it’s still a secret.

I will repeat myself: in his 80 years, Simonov goes to work every day. Under his table and in the corners of his office stand boxes filled with model airplanes.

“'Paper basket' projects,” I joke.

“Why so?” he disagrees. “Not once has the Sukhoi Company designed a plane that was not later mass-produced. I don’t like to get ahead of myself. Everything happens in its own time. For now, these are only projects. But ideas that have been invested in them are being applied in other machines.”

The Sukhoi Company is one of the world's leading aircraft firms. Its fighter jets are used by dozens of countries. In August, at the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS 2009, our Air Force bought 48 Su-35s. The Indian Air Force wants to, in addition to the existing 105 Su-30MKIs, acquire 50 more units. The current CEO of the company, Mikhail Pogosyan, is successfully implementing the ambitious project of the regional passenger aircraft, Sukhoi Superjet. Before the end of the year, the first mass-produced machine will begin flying on regular airlines. Overall, the company plans to build over 1,000 units. The sky is immense – there will be enough space…

Bolkiah is not only one of the richest people in the world, but is also the field marshal of the Brunei army -- and this title isn’t just nominal. He is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst (UK), and at one time he served in the air force. For this reason, he is very well versed in military technology.

And like a true sultan, Bolkiah has three wives. Protocol requires that his wives be present during his visits, and he arrived in Moscow with two of his wives. But it isn’t his wives that interest Russia's defense industry.

“We hope that this meeting will be the beginning of a mutually beneficial and constructive dialogue in the sphere of military-technical cooperation between our nations,” said Viktor Komardin, deputy general director of Rosoboronexport.

“Southeast Asia has been traditionally attracted to Russia's military helicopters, and today this is one of the most promising markets,” Igor Pshenichny, first deputy general director of the Helicopters of Russia company, told Izvestia.

Rosoboronexport representatives say that Brunei first became interested in Russia’s weaponry in 2005. The country is interested in Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) systems and marine technologies, as well as technologies and weaponry used by special forces units. Ka-52 holds a special place on this list. It was chosen as the main striking force by the experts at the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia. By 2012, intelligence officers plan to receive no less than 30 units.

The Ka-52 is the two-seat version of the famous single-seat Ka-50 “Black Shark.” The helicopter can operate in any weather conditions, at any time of day, and in any climatic and geographical conditions. The machine is capable of effectively destroying enemy armored vehicles, combating slow-flying air targets, and conducting intelligence operations.

Moreover, Ka-52 is also a command vehicle, a type of a “brain center” able to manage an entire squadron of helicopters. The “Alligator” is equipped with supersonic, laser-guided “Vikhr” anti-tank missiles. They have the unique ability to safely and accurately shoot -- even if the pilot is unable to see the target -- by receiving “hints” from military forces on the ground. It is for this reason that Russian troops nicknamed the Ka-52 “flying tank.”

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This will be Hillary Clinton’s first trip to Moscow as Secretary of State. In the summer, she was not able to accompany President Barack Obama on his visit to the Russian capital due to an elbow injury, which occurred after a fall in the State Department building. Now, Moscow is her final stop on a one-week European tour, during which she visited Switzerland, Great Britain, and Ireland.

According to Sergey Lavrov, there are many questions on the agenda for his talks with Ms. Clinton. “We would like to hear a report on the progress that has been achieved in regards to both strategic offensive weapons and Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) issues,” he said. On the eve of the talks between the two heads of diplomatic offices, Russo-American consultations on anti-ballistic missile defense took place in Moscow. Special emphasis was placed on the new approach of the White House to issues relating to BMD.

“This visit may become a true breakthrough in the Russo-American relations,” Vadim Kozyulin, professor at the Academy of Military Sciences, told Izvestia. “After Obama announced his refusal to deploy American BMD systems in Eastern Europe, it became clear that the new White House administration not only took the Kremlin’s opinion into consideration, but also is ready to turn the page on Russo-American relations.”

The symbol of the new page should be a new treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive arms (the current treaty expires in December). According to Major General Vladimir Dvorkin, former head of the Fourth Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense (the institution responsible for planning the use of nuclear weapons), the decision not to deploy BMD systems removed one of the obstacles to the signing of a new treaty. However, it is still not clear what the new agreement will look like. Russia insists that each side should have no more than 500 launchers, the U.S. wants 1,100.

Further, Dvorkin believes that nuclear disarmament is advantageous to Russia: our nuclear capacity is gradually “melting away” without any agreements. According to Strategic Missile Forces commander Nikolay Solovtsov, despite the fact that Moscow spends every fourth ruble of state defense funding on the development of its nuclear forces, it is still unable to maintain a balance with Washington in this regard. If, in mid-2008, Strategic Missile Forces had 415 missile systems of four different types (they were capable of carrying 1,575 nuclear warheads), then, as of January 1, 2009, that number has decreased to 385 missiles and 1,357 warheads, respectively. Solovtsov is convinced that if a new treaty with the U.S. establishes a threshold of somewhere around 1,500 warheads, then Russia will be able to deter U.S. nuclear forces.

However, the BMD issue may be more complicated. According to Vladimir Dvorkin, the U.S. decision not to deploy BMD systems in Eastern Europe does not mean the U.S. will abandon all work in this area. It is simply advancing to a new technological level. Dvorkin noted that Americans have already developed an updated, cheaper and more effective plan for the creation of a global BMD system.

It includes several stages: in the first phase, 18 surface ships are to be equipped with Standard-3 BMD systems by 2011, which will allow having operational readiness on the North and Mediterranean Seas. The second phase involves raising the system’s combat capabilities by 2015 with newly modified interceptor missiles. And finally, by 2020, system capabilities will be brought to a level where it will be possible to effectively intercept ballistic missiles in their boost phase.

“We are strengthening, and not abandoning, BMD systems in Europe,” says Pentagon chief, Robert Gates.

This is where the problem lies. Moscow would like to understand the future BMD configuration, which the U.S. is planning, in place of the third missile defense ring in Europe. Perhaps, it may be far more dangerous for Russia than the one that was being planned for Poland and the Czech Republic. After all, ships armed with missile defense can be on constant alert along the entire perimeter of the European region of Russia.

As for other negotiating topics, Clinton told reporters that “a very broad agenda” has been planned. In Moscow, the head of the State Department intends to visit representatives of the Boeing Company, as well as listen to Sergey Prokofiev's “The Love for Three Oranges” opera performed on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater. She, along with Sergey Lavrov, is expected to dedicate a monument to American poet Walt Whitman and meet with students of Moscow State University. Then, she will head to the capital of Tatarstan.

Why the Secretary of State will travel to Kazan

Hillary Clinton's upcoming trip to Kazan led to speculation on the reason for choosing this region of Russia. My direct question of whether or not the Tatarstan visit is related to U.S. ambitions to “stake out its presence in the republic in the event of the collapse of Russia”, was answered by the spokesman for the U.S. Department of State, Ian Kelly, who began waving his hands, refuting the opinion that no one would dare to say out loud within the ceremonial walls of the department.

However, it’s not a secret that the U.S. government has, in recent years, been displaying a great amount of interest in Tatarstan. Every American ambassador has visited Kazan at least once or twice and met with President Mintimer Shaimiev. An American center is located within the National Library of Tatarstan; it is regarded as a consulate office – though, of a slightly lower status. But most importantly, considering the problems that exist between the U.S. and the Islamic world, the exchange programs that have been established in Tatarstan are regarded as a great achievement by the Islamic republic. It is these achievements that Madam Secretary wants to see. Apparently, the choice of Kazan as a location to be visited “outside of the Moscow Ring Road” was made with the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William Burns, who in February 2006, while he was still ambassador to Russia, visited the Tatar capital. He, too, met with 50 graduates of U.S. student and academic exchange programs. In that year, the number of participants in such programs was approximately 600 people, whom Burns, who is considered to be one of the most influential officials in the State Department, called the “cultural ambassadors”.

In the last three years, the number of participants in exchange programs between the U.S. and Tatarstan has reached almost 3,000 people – according to the State Department. Although the “round tables” that usually take place in the Islamic University in Kazan are no less interesting. There, representatives of the Orthodox Church, Islam, and other religions that exist in Tatarstan meet with U.S. diplomats. Hillary Clinton will take part in a similar meeting in Kazan.

Peter Cheremushkin, Interfax correspondent in Washington – prepared especially for Izvestia.

“The Order of Sorcha Faal was established in 588 B.C.E. in Tara, County Meath, Ireland, and claim as their Founder the oldest daughter of King Zedekiah, Tamar Tephi,” according to the secret organization, which can be found on whatdoesthatmean.com, describes its origins without any false modesty. Incidentally, the website’s authors also do not suffer from self-abasement. According to them, their creation, entitled “What Does That Mean”, is the largest English-language news portal.

Having read further, one learns that the Order of Sorcha Faal has as many as 18 monasteries located in Ireland, Russia, Egypt, Lebanon and the United States. They are headed by the 73rd Sorcha Faal, Sister Maria Teresa, who was born in Ireland and studied at various European and American universities. “Our Order has always striven to provide to this World that Light needed to dispel the myths inherent in Darkness, but which without we could never see the truest balance between the two;” this was, allegedly, her statement upon accepting this high-ranking post.

The Internet is full of websites about various secret societies with fanciful names, creating their stories based upon legendary or semi-legendary times. Sorcha Faal, however, does not only talk about ancient prophecies, but about contemporary politics as well. This is really a large selection of news from public sources, as well as Sorcha Faal’s “exclusive reports”, which are constantly being updated. Her messages are accompanied by the statement: “Western governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagree with in believing that it is every human beings’ right to know the truth”.

“Certainly, special forces are behind this project”

Sorcha Faal is very interested in Russia. For example, recently she has been occupied by the secret visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Moscow and the fire that broke out at the GRU base near Tambov. Sorcha Faal’s news stories - even those that do not pertain to our county – often start as follows: “According to the secret message of the (Federal Security Service) FSB (or the Foreign Ministry of Russia), that has been delivered to the Kremlin today…”

Moreover, there have been assumptions circulating on English-language websites that Sorcha Faal is not a Sister, but a Russian scholar. Some naive conspiracy theorists had even studied member lists of the Russian Academy of Sciences to see if they could find her name listed there. But, no Sorcha was found among our academicians.

Besides, Sorcha Faal’s “messages” are far from academic. “Grim reports are circulating in the Kremlin today detailing a shocking commando attack on the Tambov Air Base located in the Tambov Oblast that holds the most classified files in all of Russia and has killed at least 5 Russian Spetsnaz GRU Guards and left many of the Motherland’s most secret files destroyed, including those detailing the ‘true’ events relating to the CIA-Mossad September 11, 2001 attacks upon the United States,” the secret society informed its readers.

Note the passage about the Motherland, which has clearly been written in the same style as “Russians” are portrayed in James Bond movies. The author is trying to hint to Western reader that this phrase has been directly borrowed from Russian classified documents. Furthermore, due to the numerous quotation marks in the text, it becomes nearly impossible to differentiate the words of Sorcha Faal from the notorious “Kremlin report”. In the tradition of the best detective novels, most interesting facts are usually blanked out – we were not meant to find out the nationality of the foreign Rambos. “Though many of the details of this attack remained censored by the FSB, what can be reported from these files is that at around 0300 hrs on Sunday, 13 September, three Spetsnaz guard towers surrounding the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate underground bunkers on the Tambov Air Base, containing Russia’s most closely guarded secrets, were ‘simultaneously’ attacked by [deleted] commandoes who, in a span of ‘less than 15 minutes’, were able to ‘penetrate the security perimeter, disable the fire suppression system’ and ‘attack the bunker holding these files with incendiary devices’.”

“Russia’s response to this attack on the Motherland is not in our knowing, other than to warn that it will not only be swift in coming, but could quite possibly provide the ‘final spark’ needed to engulf our entire World in Total War that everyone knows is just about upon us anyway,” conclude the Sisters of Sorcha Faal, without the hesitation to abundantly use capital letters. In a nutshell, a spark will kindle a flame…

A fierce debate is taking place on the Internet as to whose work this really is. The disputants agree on one thing – “very knowledgeable people” are behind this project. They hint that the company which the website address is registered to, is located in Langley, Virginia. And, yes, that is where CIA headquarters are located. However, others respond that the server is located in a different state. Thus, the search should continue in another place.

“Certainly special services are behind this project. But, for now, it’s hard to say who it is exactly: the British MI-6, Mossad, CIA, DIA (U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency) or the American National Security Agency, for example,” says Igor Panarin, information warfare expert and a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“This is clearly an element of information warfare within the American elite. And the timing has not been chosen by chance – after all, the crisis is becoming more severe,” he says.

Panarin recalls: in his book The crash of the dollar and the collapse of the U.S., which was excerpted in Izvestia on August 31, he talks about two influential groups within America’s political elite – “Condoleezza Rice and Dick Cheney’s globalists and the Defense Minister, Robert Gates’ statists”.

“Regardless of what caused the fire at the GRU base in Tambov, and whether the documents were burned or not, these events have sparked a true information war. After all, these comments, in themselves, are already information operations,” continues the expert. “As for Israel, the U.S. special services have been categorically opposed to Israel going to war with Iran since December 2007, while the Israeli leadership does not rule out military actions against Iran. So, the Mossad has gotten involved in this information operation. Incidentally, the growing information warfare is confirmed by the recent publication of The Independent that predicted the ‘death of the dollar’. The authors of this sensational publication are most likely members of the British special service groups.” On October 7, Izvestia reported about this article and on its explosive consequences.

An equation with two unknowns

So, is it the secret service or some sort of a secret society? To determine how plausible the information that the Order of Sorcha Faal published about itself, Izvestia turned to an expert in Old Irish, a lecturer at the Department of Ancient Languages of the Moscow State University, Nina Chehonadskaya. “Sorcha means ‘light’ in Irish. But usually it’s written as Sorha and is used as a feminine name in the modern Irish language,” she said. “‘Sorcha’ seems to be an archaic spelling. Faal is also spelled differently. It’s a transferable name for Ireland, which had originated from the standing stones in Tara,” says the expert.

We have already come across this term – the “secret order” claims that it has been established in Tara, the ancient capital of Ireland. But what are these stones? “There was a small throne where the king sat during his inauguration. The throne has been preserved, but whether or not it’s authentic – is questionable. Some say that the ancient artifact isn’t from Tara but from Scotland or England, even,” says the philologist.

Someone who would have surely welcomed this abundance of ancient mystical symbolism is the protagonist of Dan Brown’s novels – professor Robert Langdon, a tireless pursuer of various secret organizations. But there is a reason why secret organizations are secret – it’s very difficult to find out anything about them. And it’s very likely that under the guise of an “ancient order”, a very-much-so modern organization is pursuing its interests.

“The main task of intelligence services and secret organizations – is to conceal their structure. They act unanimously,” says Aleksandr Dugin, professor of sociology at the Moscow State University. “But because ‘the unknown’ awakens imaginations, oftentimes, people simply assume the first thing that comes to mind. Meanwhile, these organizations are in no hurry to reveal all the myths circulating about them – they serve as additional cover ups.”

However, he said that in the case of Sorcha Faal, it can be something entirely different such as a so-called “network war”. “Information is being injected, the source of which is neither intelligence nor secret societies. It could be, for example, ideological divisions, leading the geopolitical struggle,” says Dugin. The emergence of information about events on the GRU base in Tambov could affect the behavior of one or another country, notes Dugin.

“There are special ways that information ‘leaks out’ within network warfare: such as through the prophecies of Nostradamus or interpretations of ancient messages - depending on the needs of the public. To do this, focus groups consisting of various specialists are formed. As a rule, they include members of the military, journalists, psychologists, sociologists, historians, and political scientists. They form a temporary unit assigned to a certain issue. Its mission could be, for example, to change the source of influence in Russo-Iranian relations. Such groups exist in Washington – and, they are very creative and imaginative,” continues Dugin.

“For example, the goal is to spoil Russo-Iranian relations. They can create such sources of informational, social, and psychological influence that Moscow and Tehran would not even notice just what brought them to one or another disagreement,” he says. Dugin recalls a specific example -- the situation that evolved around the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP accident: “We perceived this as a tragic event, meanwhile, a large-scale campaign began in the West. The incident was compared to the Chernobyl accident, which was followed by the collapse of the USSR. Parallels were drawn between the two events. We have reviewed more than 2,000 publications on this subject, and all of them seemed to express the same thing: ‘The end of the Sayano-Shushenskaya power plant is the end of Russia’.”

However, according to Dugin, “network warfare” is not always effective. One example is the 2008 conflict with Georgia. Dugin is convinced that “The Americans conducted a very lengthy and complicated ‘network operation’, which included the participation of Russian experts, some of whom were, until the very last moment, urging countries not to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But, it did not work. In this case, the ‘network strategy’ failed after it encountered the strong will of the countries that wished to continue their sovereign existence. Thus, ‘network war’ is not always victorious. Yet, it cannot be underestimated; it constantly evolves. So, neither friendship nor enmity with the U.S. can guarantee that we will not become subjected to the most intense ‘network strategy’.”

And, this means that we could be expecting more breaking news from Sorcha Faal…

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Katerina very bluntly stated that if the people do not get rid of the monuments of the bygone era, they cannot expect prosperity and God’s blessings. Katerina means what she says -- political strategists still call her husband “the new Ukrainian messiah”.

Katerina, who has lived in Ukraine for several years and bore three children in the country, suddenly became outraged by the Lenin monuments found in front of cathedrals in many towns and villages. Yushchenko's wife is talking about “the post-Soviet deformation of Ukrainian consciousness, freeing from the effects of which will take a long time”. Katerina, however, seems to have avoided this deformation – she grew up in the U.S. and arrived in Kiev in the 1990s.

On the eve of the January presidential election, in which Yushchenko has very little chance of a respectable electoral showing, Katerina decided to take on the role of the head of the family. Just as earlier, she hasn’t made many public appearances, but today she can be seen on television and various forums. She made her anti-Lenin statement during the Second Ecumenical Social Week in Lviv, which was organized by the Ukrainian Catholic University. Katerina would be happy to realize her husband’s dream and replace all Soviet monuments with those of Hetman Mazepa, as well as monuments dedicated to the victims of the 1932-1933 Holodomor. The president’s family dream is beginning to be realized. In Kiev, one Lenin monument was defaced with a sledgehammer. In Kaniv – it was burned, in Rubizhne – blown up, and in Konstantinovka – it was irreversibly damaged with spray paint. In 2007-2008, a total of 400 monuments have disappeared in Ukraine, including war hero monuments. But, things still haven’t improved for Mazepa. Despite all of Yushchenko’s efforts, Poltava authorities, for example, refuse to immortalize the Hetman-betrayer.

Similar stories are occurring in other cities.

Katerina Yushchenko is diverting attention from the scandal revolving around herself by making declarations that Ukrainians should rewrite their history. As it has already been reported by Izvestia, a staff member of the General Prosecutor Office of Ukraine, Larisa Cherednichenko, reported that it wasn’t Yushchenko who was poisoned with dioxin, but his blood sample, which was delivered to experts for analysis. This “enrichment” was allegedly carried out by a certain English-speaking Martha. According to Cherednichenko’s assumptions, it was Youshchenko’s wife who poisoned the blood sample. Cherednichenko says that, in a telephone conversation, Martha disclosed some details as to how Yushchenko’s blood samples were being transported. An analysis of the phone call, conducted in Odessa, confirms that Martha’s voice matches Katerina Chumachenko. Cherednichenko concludes that “Martha” is an alias, and the poisoning – is a carefully planned operation of Ukrainian and foreign intelligence agencies.

An investigative committee of the Verkhovna Rada investigating Yushchenko’s case, confirmed that Katerina consulted and was receiving help from U.S. intelligence officials. The report includes “Ms. Martha’s” conversation with a foreign intelligence employee named “Roman”.

The Ukrainian press is now trying to prove that Roman is not an intelligence officer but Yushchenko’s ally and former Minister of Justice, Zvarych – and Martha is not Katerina Chumachenko, but Zvarych’s wife; after all, they were not at all talking about Yushchenko’s blood. Nevertheless, the story of Katerina being involved with the secret services has resurfaced.

Katerina says that she is outraged by what is happening and that the first time she had ever heard about her being a spy was in her seventh month of being pregnant, and again on her birthday. Chumachenko considers this “spy mania” to be a planned provocation against her husband, an attempt to remove him from power by attacking his family.

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As the cold weather approaches, memories of last winter’s events -- when Ukraine blocked gas supply to Europe, thus causing a major international scandal -- tend to recur more and more often. This happened because a contract on gas supply to Ukraine had not been signed and Gazprom reduced its gas supplies to the level of transit to Europe. Could last year’s events be repeated this year?

Probably not. After all, in the wake of the scandal, an agreement that covers the next 10 years of gas deliveries to Ukraine was signed on January 19. Yesterday Timoshenko said that “a model has been created that will not allow for another gas crisis,” and that is “for many decades.” Ukraine has accumulated “a record volume of gas” in its underground storage. Naftogaz of Ukraine is starting the winter season with 25.4 billion cubic meters of its own gas, whereas in 2008, this figure was 14.7 billion cubic meters. And, according to Timoshenko, this reserve was created without any foreign assistance.

In addition, the prime minister of Ukraine promises that, in the future, Ukraine will continue to settle all accounts with Russia for the consumed gas.

“What happened in 2006-2007, when our debt to Gazprom was 8 to 9 billion hryvnas (more than $1.5 billion), will not happen again. We will comply with all our commitments to Russia,” said Timoshenko.

Indeed, Gazprom confirmed that Ukraine is now diligently paying for all current charges. And Naftogaz representatives announced their readiness to transit Russia's natural gas this winter. This picture is spoiled by only one thing: Yushchenko’s recent statement that the gas deal with Russia can be “reconsidered at any time.” According to him, the contract negates some basic principles, and if Russia benefits from this, then Ukraine will lose. For example, it is compensated less for the transit of gas than any other European country, complains Yushchenko.

However, according to analysts, this does not mean that Russia needs to once again prepare itself for another gas war.

“Yushchenko traditionally makes such statements and, as a rule, they are unsubstantiated,” says Aleksandr Yermin, an analyst at Finam Investment Company. After all, Yushchenko has not mentioned the 20% discount on this year’s gas that was given to Ukraine, and that payments for the transit of gas will continue to increase. Also, elections will be held in Ukraine in January 2010, and Yushchenko needs something to say to the voters.

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In essence, the castration works by injecting an offender, after he has spent time in jail, with a modified form of testosterone. This should be done every year to a year-and-a-half and results in blocking sperm production and fully repressing any sexual desire. Thus, as long as the pedophiles are given the shots, they will remain absolutely harmless, at least sexually. At the same time, if there had been a miscarriage of justice, and the alleged pedophile is not at all a pedophile but someone who had been wrongly accused, then with the cessation of the injections, a man will no longer be “castrated” and his libido will return to its previous levels.

Belyakov explains the necessity of chemical castration with the “incurability of pedophilia.”

“No one has been able to cure pedophilia, not even abroad with all of their progressive medicine,” Belyakov explained to Izvestia. “The probability of a relapse is 85% in Germany and more than 90% here. However, the relapse probability for those Germans who underwent chemical castration is only 2%!”

Meanwhile, among the opponents of castration are not only pedophiles and human rights activists but also some doctors, including those from the Moscow Serbsky Institute. According to several prominent psychiatric specialists, castration is “an uncivilized way” of solving a problem that should be resolved with methods such as prevention of deviations and creation of anonymous crisis centers, where people with disposition to pedophilia could turn to.

Chemical castration is already being performed in some US states and several European countries (for example, the lower house of the Polish Sejm had recently approved the use of this measure on those found guilty of pedophilia and incest).

“Perhaps, if the guilt had been fully proven and there is no possibility of miscarriage of justice, instead of performing chemical castrations on pedophiles, in order to save money and time chasing after them to perform the injections, it would make sense to perform a surgical castration?” Izvestia asked Belyakov.

“You know, honestly, I would have done just that. But, can you imagine the uproar that it would cause among human right activists!” admitted the deputy.

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Network-centric warfare is an American term. This invention of the Pentagon has been tested in all the latest armed conflicts that involved the U.S. Army and its allies. It’s based on a large scale use of electronic surveillance and target indicators (satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles, etc.) and use of mobile force-groupings that are able to quickly move around the combat theater, while attacking the enemy's flank or rear.

“In this case, we don’t need to create solid fences, that is, to deploy troops across the entire line of a possible confrontation with the enemy, but to direct a specific unit or command, stationed in a certain strategic area, to repel aggression,” says Sergey Skokov, chief of the Main Staff of the Ground Troops.

According to the general, in total there are at least three such threatening areas: in the west, east and the south. Each of these directions have unique characteristics and differences in methods of warfare. In the western strategic direction, the Russian military may be countered by innovative forces with the ability to, without contact, use the latest force and capabilities. In the east, the Russian army may face a multi-million-man army force with traditional approaches to combat operations: straightforward, with a large concentration of manpower and firepower in various directions. In the south, Russia may be confronted with irregular formations and sabotage-surveillance groups engaged in guerilla warfare against the federal government.

Within the framework of the network-centric war, units of the 51st Airborne Regiment from Tula were strategically deployed to Belarus and the west of the country. Fifteenth, 21st, and 23rd infantry brigades of the 2nd Combined Arms Army of the Volga-Urals Military District were relocated from Samara. From the Moscow Region, units of the 4th nonintegrated tank division of the 20th Army of the Moscow Military District had been mobilized. It total, there have been 23 military echelons and dozens of aircraft flights mobilized in 5 days. This is not bad for Russia’s modern army. Our Air Force is expected to test the latest high-precision guidance system for unguided missile and bomb weaponry.

“There are 85 brigades that maintain constant alert and are capable of attacking in any direction,” said Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces, General of the Army Vladimir Boldyrev. “These are highly maneuverable forces that are capable of operating without mobilization operations and additional training on all fronts, especially those where the most probable threat to Russia’s national and military security exist.”

“After a year of transformations, and especially after the war in South Ossetia where we were, for the first time, confronted with an enemy that was trained and armed according to the standards of NATO, it seems that our military not only realized the need to change its tactics of warfare, but began putting them in practice,” Vadim Kozyulin, professor at the Academy of Military Sciences, told Izvestia. “All of this clearly suggests that a true reform is taking place within our Armed Forces.”

“Ladoga” and “Zapad”, according to General Skokov, are meant to repel the aggression of “innovative armies”. Meanwhile, the “unnamed enemy” exists not only “virtually” but is quite tangibly operating near our borders. In the airspace of the Baltic States, Denmark and Britain, NATO air exercises “Bold Avenger 2009” are taking place simultaneously with Russo-Belarusian training. So, the militaries on both sides of the border are actively working on countermeasures against each other.

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Question: Mama Sarah, when was the last time Barack Obama told you – hi, Grammy, how are you?

Answer: Well, you consider the fact that I don’t speak English and Barack doesn’t know our local language Luo, then you can imagine that it has been a while. Last time I saw my grandson was at his inauguration at the White House in January. But he was too busy at the time to talk to us. He was last here in 2006. At the time he couldn’t even pronounce “musava”, which means “how are you?”. That was all as far as his language abilities went. So we mostly spoke through a translator, just like we are doing right now with you (Another relative of the President, Auma Obama, is translating Mama Sarah’s words).

Q: But you did see him when he was young?

A: Yes, he came to visit in 1982 – after his Dad, my son, died (Mama Sarah takes a sad look at the grave of Barack Obama Senior, it is right there in her backyard). Then he was here in 1992 to introduce us to his wife. A very sweet girl, by the way, we really liked her.

Q: What did you feed him when he was here? What was his favorite Kenyan dish?

A: Barack really liked our traditional bread – chapatti, he even asked for seconds.

Q: What do you think is truly African, Kenyan, in Barack’s personality?

A: Barack is a true son of Africa: he has a kind African heart and an open soul. He is liked by all people, no matter what their skin color and nationality are.

"We’ve seen America. Nothing special"

Q: Has Barack offered to help you move to the US?

A: No, because he knows very well that we love Kenya and will never leave it for good. And it would be hard to move anywhere at my age. I am already 87. And we have been in the States. Visited Washington, walked around the White House, met George Bush. Nothing special. I could not live in the USA for a long time, because of the climate. Too hot in the summer – hotter than here, and too cold in the winter. My granddaughter, Barack’s step-sister, would like to visit the States again. In January she came with me to the inauguration, but we were surrounded by bodyguards the whole time. We didn’t really get to see the country, traveled everywhere in a car with tinted windows. Now she wants to go on her own and walk around as a regular tourist.

Q: Do you think Barack Obama will help the African economy?

A: First of all, Barack is the President of America. And, naturally his main task is to take care of his own country. But I am sure that Barack will not forget Africa. He will definitely do something in order to help African people. He is our man, after all. But maybe not right a way, maybe later, when he figures out the situation with the financial crisis in America.

Q: Do you expect Barack to help you as a relative, not as the President of USA?

A: We don’t ask for anything. Everything depends on his will and desire. For example, last time he was here, in 2006, he visited our local school, named after him, and allocated money for its reconstruction and modernization. We support Barack because we are one family and not because we plan to get a mansion somewhere in Hawaii.

"My kids and grandchildren jumped up and down and screamed with excitement – we are going to the White House!"

Q: Mama Sarah, you have an American flag. Do you raise it over your house?

A: I now have a Russian flag also, not just the American one (she is waving the Russian flag that we gave her). But we only raise the Kenyan flag, we are patriots.

Q: How did you celebrate your grandson’s victory?

A: If you only knew what was happening here during the vote count! It looked like a stadium during a football game. The whole village rooted for Barack. They didn’t let me sleep till morning, until we found out that Barack won. All my children and grandchildren came over, they were jumping up and down and screamed with excitement – we are going to the White House, we are going to the White House! Then, for several days, they were celebrating and partying. My other grandson – Barack’s step-brother roasted several cows to celebrate the event. What can I say – the whole country was partying, not just our village.

Q: Mama Sarah, how many grandchildren do you have, besides Barack?

A: I have a lot of grandchildren, can’t even name all of them now. I am an international grandma, a world grandma!

Kogelo village has become a national heritage object

The Kenyan village Kogelo, where the US President’s father was born, has become a part of the country’s national heritage, according to BBC news quoting the local media. From now on, any changes at the location have to be approved by the authorities.

Kogelo village was granted a special status by a decree from the head of the Kenyan National Heritage and Culture Minister William ole Ntimama. The local newspaper, the Daily Nation, sees this as the first step to establishing a thematic library and a cultural center in the library. These could attract tourists to the motherland of Obama’s father, RIA Novosti reports.

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At first glance, this story may seem quite absurd. Markov was accused of organizing hacker attacks on Estonian websites in 2007 - shortly after the transfer of the Bronze Soldier epic. After being accused, he was found guilty in absentia and sentenced, after which the sentence was enforced. Meanwhile, the deputy hadn’t the slightest idea about these events. In April of this year, upon his arrival in Germany, he was detained by border guards. Germans were at a loss: there’s nothing we can do, the “black list” equally applies to all EU members.

Since then, fierce, though not reported in the press, diplomatic battles continued – with the EU in general, and Estonia in particular. According to Izvestia, Moscow took a harsh stance and did not exclude issuing a similar response. Finally, the pressure yielded results – Estonians retreated. Instead, Rein Lang is the one who now suffers.

In his defense, the minister says that Markov has been only partially decriminalized – while he is once again allowed to travel to the counties of the EU, entry to Estonia remains off-limits for the “cyber terrorist”. In addition, Lang said that he refused to follow the recommendations of the Foreign Ministry and did not remove another “enemy of the Estonian state” from the “black list” – the former head of the Nashi movement, Vasily Yakemenko.

“There are thousands of Russians whom Estonians have included on ‘black lists’,” Sergey Markov told Izvestia. “They are mostly youth movement activists whose crime lies in being politically active. That is, people are being punished for their views, for their political opinions. And, the most infuriating thing in this entire situation – is the fact that there is no one to whom people can appeal. Estonians make a decision – and, that’s that; you are denied entry. We have discussed this issue with colleagues in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Many of them agree that this situation is abnormal. Now, a special commission is being established that would deal with these ‘black lists’ and determine who had been included on these lists and on what basis.”

However, it is clear without any commissions that the Schengen mechanism has experienced a system failure. If Estonia considers someone to be a threat to its interests, then, as a sovereign state, it has every right to ban that person from entering the country. But this ban should only apply to the territory of Estonia! Why should someone’s opinions about the transfer of the Bronze Soldier prevent them from traveling to a scientific conference in Paris, fishing in Finland or going to a football match in Milan?
Many countries have their “painful subjects”, historical complexes and phobias. Now, it turns out that they can – as do the Estonians - punish all those who have an alternative view on these issues. If you don’t recognize the killing of Polish officers in Katyn as genocide, or criticize the Slovak government for repressing the Hungarians, or the Latvian government for closing Russian schools, then – farewell Schengen?! This really does not accord with the notion of human rights.

Commissioner of the Nashi movement, Mariana Skvortsova: “Because of Estonian authorities, I was denied entry to Europe.”

Mariana Skvortsova, commissioner of the Nashi movement, is one of those people whom Tallinn included in the “black list” of undesirable people. In her interview with Izvestia’s Ivan Antonov she shared the following: “In 2007 we held a number of protests against the removal of the Bronze Soldier monument. I participated in the events that took place in St. Petersburg. The protests, as you may recall, took place in April. And, in December of 2007, some friends invited me to spend the New Year holidays in Finland. I was held at the Finnish border due to some ‘black list’, where my name had been placed by Estonian authorities. I was given a document that testified that it was the Estonians who included me on this list. Then the Finns told me: ‘Our state does not have any problems with you; you need to resolve your problems with Estonia’. I wrote a letter to the Estonian authorities and sent it to Tallinn through the embassy.

I received a reply from the Ministry of Internal Affairs that read that my name was entered onto the ‘black list’ on the grounds that I constitute a threat to Estonia’s national security. One can check whether or not he has been banned from entering the country by visiting the Estonian Ministry of Internal Affairs website. To do this, one needs to specify their first and last name and date of birth, after which the computer provides an answer. As I enter my information, I get a response that says: ‘according to Decree Number 92, signed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, you have been included in the list of those banned entry onto the Schengen territory’. This prohibition is valid for ten years. I tried to appeal this decision in court and filed all the necessary documents, but to no avail. A year after my appeal, my request has not even passed the first instance, and there are three. So, in the meantime, Europe is off limits.”

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If successful, the reconciliation process of the two neighboring countries could significantly alter the status quo in the Greater Caucasus, which was established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, on a scale comparable to the results of the Five Day War. The opening of the Armenian-Turkish land border (which has remained closed, even during the 1993 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict) will fundamentally change Armenia’s geopolitical situation. If this decision is adopted, Yerevan will no longer be as dependent upon the outcome of the two regional conflicts, as it is today.

First – is the Russo-Georgian conflict (Armenia does not share a land border with Russia; Russia is a strategic partner of Yerevan; and Georgia became a strategic adversary of Moscow). Another is the US-Iranian confrontation. For Armenia, Iran is the second “window” to the world. The risk of Tehran’s entanglement in a serious confrontation with Washington has also significantly aggravated the already-difficult situation in Armenia. A new open border will diversify Armenian policies even more than they are today. With the appearance of Turkish business (which will inevitably happen with the opening of the borders), Russia's economic presence (according to 2008 end-of-year data, Russia is Armenia’s largest investor) will no longer be dominant. Moreover, with such a development, the advisability of the presence of the Russian military base in Gyumri and Russian border guards in Armenia will sooner or later be questioned.

In this case, Ankara’s appearance in the Caucasus will not simply be a declaration of intent. Today, Turkey is demonstrating that it has outgrown the level of an “elder brother” and protector of Azerbaijan. Ankara is actively cooperating with Georgia and – unlike all NATO members - conducting its policies in Abkhazia and trying to play the role of an “honest broker” between the U.S., EU and the Middle East.

The warming of relations with Turkey will theoretically enable Yerevan to separate the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the general spectrum of Armenian-Turkish relations. The two recently signed bilateral protocols do not so much as contain a hint of “parallelism” between the solution to the Karabakh conflict and Armenian-Turkish reconciliation. In this case, Azerbaijan's position will be weakened; it will basically be deprived of even the theoretical prospect of military revenge. However, some nuances exist here as well. If, today, Ankara is refraining from discussing the problem, it does not mean that it has been “buried”. During the six-week national consultations, this question can be raised by parliamentarians as well as community activists.

In considering the prospects for defusing tensions between Yerevan and Ankara, the emphasis is still being placed on geopolitical aspects. Will Russia’s position in the region be compromised with the opening of the land border? How distant will Baku and Ankara become as a result of successful negotiations between Armenia and Turkey? What are the interests of the US administration? Meanwhile, the progress in Turkish-Armenian relations does not solely rest upon the leaders of the two countries and the position of the great powers. An important element in this progress is the domestic political support of the normalization process.

Clearly, in Armenia and Turkey, the rational arguments of the supporters of reconciliation will not be well-received by many, including politicians, experts and ordinary citizens. In both societies, the level of mutual enmity has, over the years, been at a “steadily high level”. As a matter of fact, the current Armenian-Turkish negotiation process is not unique. One should recall how the Nobel Peace Prize award to the signatories of the Middle East peace agreement was followed by the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin (not by an Arab, but one of “their own”, a Jewish terrorist) and a surge of Islamist extremism in Palestine.

All of this could deter the necessary, yet complex, rapprochement between the two countries. Thus, it is too early to celebrate. The path toward peace is not a set of stairs but a winding road, full of surprises and bumps, for which people must prepare in advance so as to avoid high expectations and disappointments.

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It took the oppositionists one week to promise that lawyers and human rights defenders will be assigned to the case of the 31-year-old resident of Darcheli village, who was detained on August 30. Meanwhile, the Georgian weekly newspaper Asaval Dasavali published on September 7 not only the name of the “shoe thrower,” but also information on the proceedings of the Zugdidsky district court. What prevented the opposition from immediately responding to the ruling of the “sham court” is unknown.

Journalists argue that the proceedings against the widowed father of three began on September 1 at 4:00 a.m., and that he wasindeed sentenced to seven years in prison. The newspaper’s correspondent, Ilia Chachibaya, was able to get several interviews with not only witnesses of the Ganmukhuri events, but also visited the mother of the convicted in Darcheli. She refused to comment. According to the correspondent, the only thing Neli Todua said was, “Jimsher will be killed in jail. The police threatened to burn my house if I said anything.”

Eyewitnesses in Ganmukhuri later recalled details of the incident, saying that Chapandze allegedly tried to, unsuccessfully, to pass a letter to the president in which he was asking for employment.

“Then, he suddenly got angry and yelled: ‘They can’t do anything, they’ve destroyed our country!’, and threw a shoe at the president,” remembers one of the eyewitnesses. “Meanwhile, barefooted Saakashvili stood in the sand and spoke with journalists. The guards were about 10 meters away with their backs turned to us, and, of course, did not see anything.”

Georgian national television channels also continue to argue that the “shoe story” was invented by the Russian media. The television station Imedi, for example, dedicated a large segment on “exposing the instigators,”, he main idea of which was that the president simply found some shoes that had been tossed by someone and nearly began to scream “Who threw this shoe?!” But the media personnel did not so much as mention that it was Georgian newspapers and Internet publications that were the first ones to publish information about the “Ganmukhuri incident.”

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The Japanese diplomat is known as a supporter of the US who holds a pro-Western position on all controversial issues. At the Governing Council meeting, Russia did not vote for Yukiya Amano; first, it supported a representative from Spain and, during the second round, a representative from South Africa. If the former chairman, Mohamed ElBaradei, had a full understanding with Russia and experienced tensions with the US then, after the election of the Japanese diplomat, the situation may turn in the opposite direction. His election was made possible when one of his opponents, representing Africa, did not show up for the second round of the elections due to unknown reasons.

Yukiya Amano said that under his leadership the IAEA would maintain a policy of negotiations and persuasion, including on issues concerning Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, about which the IAEA has many doubts. Yukiya Amano expressed hope that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will soon return to six-party talks on assuring that the Korean Peninsula becomes a nuclear-free zone and will reopen its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspectors. Amano also said that he is paying special attention to the proposal made by the US President Barack Obama to convene the first world nuclear security summit in Washington in March of 2010. Yukiya Amano favors the widespread use of radioactive isotopes in medicine – something which Russia cannot boast about, though it once was a pioneer in nuclear medicine.

The meeting between the head of Rosatom, Sergey Kirienko, and Yukiya Amano took place in Vienna. The new director general of the IAEA acknowledged that Russia remains the only country that continues to systematically recycle weapons-grade uranium. It has already recycled 370 tons of military materials, from which it would have been possible to produce 14,700 nuclear warheads. By the end of 2013, Russia will dispose of another 130 tons, which is enough to make 5,200 nuclear warheads. Sergey Kirienko informed the new director general that Russia continues to return fresh and irradiated fuel from research reactors of third-world countries, which was delivered by the USSR. On the day of the talks, a vessel with 500 kg of irradiated fuel, which is enough to produce 7-8 nuclear warheads, arrived at one of Russia’s ports. The fuel will be made safe after being processed at Russia's refineries.

Many negotiations are taking place in Vienna. It became known that Russia was granted another site for the construction of a nuclear power plant in India and the head of Rosatom, Sergey Kirienko will, in the upcoming month, visit the United States, where he will hold talks on the expansion of collaborative research in the nuclear field. A year ago, after the hostilities in Georgia, the Bush administration curtailed such joint programs.

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Vladimir Churov, chairman of the Central Election Commission:
“A well-captured image of a place that he had visited, but did not have the chance to photograph himself.”

Karen Shakhnazarov, film producer, cultural representative of the Public Chamber:
“With a photo-camera! Medvedev loves to take photographs. I saw his shots; they’re very good, by the way. The camera should not be a modern one, but a, you know, an old, rare camera that only good photographers can appreciate. That’s what I would give.”

Sergey Mironov, chairman of the Federation Council:
“Against the backdrop of the not-always-pleasant events and news that the president must deal with, he deserves to have at least one peaceful day. And, hopefully, he and the country will have those kind of days more frequently. So, if September 14 turns out to simply be Dmitry Medvedev’s birthday, then, I think that would be a good present.”

Ramzan Kadyrov, president of Chechnya:
“I’m confident that, for Dmitry Anatolyevich, as the head of state, a personal gift is not quite as important as one that relates to the well-being of the country. For this reason, I think that he would enjoy getting a present of full stability - political, economic, and social – on the North Caucasus. And, we will do everything to ensure that he only receives good news from our region.”

Irina Khakamada, social activist and a 2004 presidential candidate:
“I think a very simple one. Well, for example, an ordinary, underbred kitten from the street. That could surprise him. But, the more fuss there is around the present, the less he will be surprised!”

Anatoly Lukyanov, member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), former chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR:
“Gifts are not given to presidents. Presidents give the people peace. So, the present must come from the president to the people, and not from the people – to the president. It should be enough for him that he was elected.”

Nikolay Svanidze, TV anchor, author of the book, “Medvedev”
“A consensus that a barrel of oil costs $150 would be a good present. But, this gift can be made only by the world community. First, a call to OPEC should be made. But, seriously speaking, while preparing the book, Dmitry Anatolyevich and I did not discuss any presents. I think that it is unlikely that a person of his rank could be surprised by material things. Thus, it should be a gift that signifies something, a sweet, pleasant trifle.”

Gennady Gudkov, State Duma deputy, Lieutenant Colonel of the Federal Security Service reserve:
“Putin has a small tiger, so Medvedev can be given a puma. I think it would be an original, beautiful, and a worthy present. The puma is a very adaptive animal. And, it’s not dangerous – a good house pet. In Latin America, pumas are often bred on a ranch.”

Nikolay Kharitonov, State Duma deputy, 2004 presidential candidate:
“At one time, as you may remember, observance days and presidential birthdays were marked with completions of high-powered construction projects or the launching of operations of a certain facility. I think that today, too, there is one thing that could surprise a President: people uniting and performing high-powered work!”

Sergey Filatov, chief of the Presidential Administration of Russia from 1993 to 1996:
“If the Ministry of Economic Development drafts a plan to stop the economic crisis in a year, he will, of course, be pleasantly surprised. We tried to give non-material gifts to Yeltsin. I, for example, gave him old, restored books several times. Sometimes, we brought him Ural stones. I think that any president would not find a typical gift interesting. He would appreciate, however, something that is located at the depth of our wealth.”

Klara Novikova, popular comedian, People’s Artist of Russia:
“If nothing else other than the president’s birthday happens on that day – then it would be a great present for him. He has a good sense of humor because he is an educated man. But, a president without a sense of humor is not a president. Besides, how could anyone survive without it? He could not so much as run in the election without a sense of humor.”

Maksim Kononenko, journalist, founder of vladimir.vladimirovich.ru:
“The most surprising gift for Medvedev would be the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by, say, Britain. And, the fact that Hugo Chavez recognized them…well, who is Hugo Chavez? Besides, I think that doesn’t count. For some reason, everyone keeps insisting that Nicaragua and Venezuela recognized them as sovereign territories, but the Nicaraguan parliament still has not ratified this decision.”

Telman Gdlyan, former chief investigator for high-profile cases of the Prosecutor General of the USSR:
“Considering his weakness for modern technology, and more so electronics, the best present for the young president of Russia would be a supercomputer or a computing machine unlike any other in the world. That would be the best present that would surely surprise and cheer him up.”

Georgy Bovt, co-chair of the Right Cause Party:
“An offer to fly to outer space. Generally speaking, politicians are so accustomed to various presents (both chic and ordinary) that it does not really matter what they will get next.”

Viktor Sukhodrev, personal translator for Khrushchev and Brezhnev:
“A person who holds this position cannot be surprised by anything. Except for, maybe, with some “Kulibin-like” invention – a robot of some sort that he would place in his home or a waiting room to show his guests: look at this miracle! In the USSR, I must say, there have been several gift funds: Ministry of Foreign Affairs (so that a minister could make a gift to his foreign colleague), the Council of Ministers fund had more resources, and the one that had the most resources was the fund of the Central Committee. There was also a gift fund of the Supreme Council. Leonid Brezhnev enjoyed receiving presents more than anyone else.”

Valery Yarantsev, former captain of the trawler “Elektron”, and now the head of the fishing village, Teriberka, in the Murmansk region:
“I would give the president our Russian Kamchatka Crab and ask him: ‘Dmitry Anatolyevich, who is to blame for the fact that it became known as the Norwegian Crab?’ Our Kamchatka Crab became known as the Norwegian Crab on the European markets because Russian fishermen were banned from catching crab here, in the North; while the Norwegians welcome crab fishing, and are doing so in unlimited quantities! Any Norwegian resident can come to the coast and catch as many crabs as he likes. That is how the Norwegian Crab brand originated. They established that the crab there is a bit redder than in Kamchatka. But it is our crab!”

Dmitry Verner, creator of the Website “Anekdoty iz Rossii” (Jokes from Russia):
“It is well-known that President Medvedev likes heavy rock music. I think that Dmitry Anatolyevich would be quite surprised if Ian Gillan and Ozzy Osbourne, together, sang the Russian hymn especially for him. As for me, I will drink beer to the president’s health – but, only the 0.33 liter bottle.”

Olga Kryshtanovskaya, head of the Center for the Study of Elites at the Sociology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS):
“A president should be presented with gifts of a global scale. So, the best present for any head of state would be a new type of weapon that has been developed domestically. But, politicians usually receive ceremonial gifts, most often, representations of themselves. I, at one time, conducted a study on people who were members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the Politburo. I have visited many of them in their homes. Well, many had vases with their images or portraits of themselves hanging on their walls. I must say that, in general, these presents, such as an oil rig covered in pure gold, are lavish and meaningless; they resemble the large horse from the film “Office Romance”. I would say, it’s all crap --that is absolutely unnecessary but that one would feel bad throwing away. For this reason, without any regret, presidents usually give their gifts to special museums. This only says that truly useful gifts are hard to come by.”

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According to Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, the nature of the document, which was introduced by Tbilisi, is politicized and confrontational and can only complicate the situation in the region. Though the resolution primarily deals with the return of all refugees and displaced persons, it primarily focuses on Georgians who fled the region during the wars in the 1990's. The document calls for the “interested parties” to create a timetable for their return and “guarantee their property rights”. Lastly, it says that Abkhazia and South Ossetia – are integral parts of Georgia.

However, Georgians clearly decided to celebrate their “great diplomatic victory over Moscow” too soon. Seventy eight delegations – i.e. the majority – abstained from voting. In doing so, according to Vitaly Churkin, they demonstrated their attitude toward Georgia’s “raw” proposals. The resolution was supported by 48 countries, including all members of the EU. Nineteen states, including Russia, Armenia and Belarus, opposed them.

According to Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, the Russian delegation was the only one that was not given the opportunity to read the resolution prior to the vote. Meanwhile, Churkin says that the resolution is categorically unacceptable for Moscow because it does not take into account the interests of Sukhum and Tskhinval, and “has nothing to do with the high humanitarian goals, which its authors claim”. In addition to that, a package of 17 amendments, which were prepared by Russia, were never brought up for discussion.

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Question: Vladimir Vladimirovich, the first thought that comes to mind regarding the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is - Cyclopean masonry. But unlike the Egyptian pyramids and ancient fortifications, the walls of the plant are equipped with sophisticated equipment - from power generating units to sensitive tensors. To an outsider, the dam is a monolith while, in reality, it is an ant hill with thousands of pits. Isn’t the plant too complicated? And what is an arch-gravity structure that has not been seen anywhere else in the world?

Answer: Gravity dams are supported by the bottom of the river, arched dams - are attached to the river bank. Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP, the length of which is greater than 1 kilometer and its height is close to 250 meters, is both an arch and a gravity dam. This makes the dam extremely sensitive to environmental conditions. It isn’t visible under water, but the sole of the dam is over 100 meters. The left bank of the Yenisei River is made of malleable orthoschist with high levels of plasticity.
For hydraulic engineers, the drop of water before the dam is crucial. Fluctuations of the higher pool are very large and reach 40 meters in one season, fluctuations in temperature are from -30 to +30 degrees Celsius. These are powerful factors, but in the era in which the dam was designed, which is known for industrialization and megalomania, there was so much enthusiasm that no one paid much attention to the environmental factors. Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is a gigantic black box that operates according to laws that are unknown to people.

Q: I saw an impressive figure: the sum of hydrostatic loads on the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP reaches 22 million tons – that is 500,000 tanks, which constantly press on the dam.

A: In 1985, a fracture was discovered in the first, and the tallest, column of the dam. It stretched from one river bank to another. Nearly 550 liters of underground water passed through the fracture every second.

Q: Cracks may form on a wing of an airplane, but that is normal. The durability of the wing is characterized by the way it how it upholds the fracture.

A: Fractures are not allowed in hydraulic engineering. The concrete was eroding for 8 years; it wasn’t until 1996 when French specialists were able to restore the solidity of the dam with polymeric material. Although, erosion of the dam continued, and today, instead of four columns, the dam is attached to the ground by one, last column. In other words, Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP does not function as a gravity dam – only as an arch dam.

The slant of the top of the dam toward the lower pool of water, i.e. downstream of the Yenisei, presents the greatest danger. The body of the dam consists of 67 sections. In 2006, a 142 mm shift of the central, 33rd section was recorded; due to the arch effect, the irreversible deformation along the crest of the dam amounted to 60 mm. With regard to the 18th section, where the destroyed 2nd unit is located, it had shifted by 107 mm, although the symmetrical 45th section on the opposite river bank shifted by only 97 mm. All this created significant internal tensions in the body of the dam.

According to the law “On safety of hydraulic structures”, a shift of 108 mm has a critical effect on safety. That is, in 2006, the safety margin was only 1 mm. The section where the accident occurred has been working at its limit for the last several years. In three years, the shift could have been much greater than 1 mm. By law, the load is needed to be urgently reduced. Instead, in the pursuit for profit, it was increased.

Q: Shifts in tens of millimeters are incompatible with the size of the dam. Is there a way to detect such shifts?

A: The dam has 3,000 gauges and 3,000 strain meters. There are 3,000 points of observation of geodetic phenomena and 3,000 points for control of water filtering. A fixed anchor is located 40 meters below Yenisei – it detects shifts. The data is officially recorded and acknowledged by RusHydro. Thus, there is no doubt that shifts and pressure in the body of the dam increased yearly, especially in the upper belt of the arch and in the lower zone, which is adjoining the equipment hall.

Q: This is all very unfortunate, but how is the destruction of the second unit relevant? There is a 50 mm dividing seam between the body of the dam and the equipment hall that prevents the dam from coming into contact with the equipment.

A: That’s the thing. The dam gradually shifted onto the equipment room. In addition, the dam is connected to the equipment hall through pipes with water gushing at the pressure level of 20 atm. The pressure in the body of the dam eventually transfers to the hydraulic unit. My hypothesis is that the dam was putting pressure on the equipment room, thus creating misalignment of the unit. The alignment of the 2700-ton unit must be precise down to a micron! Pulsation and vibrations began occurring. They were noticed days before the accident, yet no one called for an emergency stop. The unit was destroyed, which is typical of imbalance and misalignment. My hypothesis is also supported by the fact that the bolts of the hydraulic unit, which were found in the equipment room, weren’t only cracked but covered in rust. In other words, they were in a deteriorating condition for quite some time.

Q: Can you make a prediction as to how the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP situation will continue to unfold and whether or not misalignments will continue to occur?

A: Not all factors have been taken into account. The mass of the giant reservoir before the dam – is billions of tons. According to my calculations, the surface underneath the dam has already subsided by 30 cm – that is from new pressure alone. The effects of explosions during the construction of a shore spillway have not been studied. Also, the global impact of the hydroelectric complex on the earth's crust and tectonic processes are not fully understood. These are such complex issues that, in the US for example, they no longer build large hydroelectric power stations. After all, the same load can be removed from the top of a medium-power station.

But the greatest danger lies in the fact that in the winter months, because the units are not working, pipes can freeze and stop propping the dam - and it could shift onto other units that are, so far, intact.
The only solution would be to sharply reduce the pressure on the station. Potential economic losses are minuscule compared to the damage that could result from further destruction of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HHP.

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Peace to the world and…a new Bretton Woods

The UN report states that the set of rules regarding currencies and capital that unite the global economy are ineffective and are the main reason for financial and economic crises. According to the authors of the report, the current system, in which the dollar holds the status of a world reserve currency, must be reconsidered. But, what should be used in place of the dollar?

According to UN specialists, UN member countries must agree to establish a world reserve bank that would imitate this currency and monitor foreign exchange rates of the establishing countries. The UN proposal has far-reaching goals – the world needs a new initiative, similar to the Bretton Woods or the European Monetary System.

An alternative without an alternative base

Who could have predicted last year that the dollar’s position as a primary world currency might falter. But, it did; and events leading to this were accumulating rapidly. In February, a well-known financier, George Soros, proposed to create a new reserve currency based on the SDR (Special Drawing Rights – an International Monetary Fund (IMF) non-cash accounting unit. What interests guided the fan of the currency-exchange game, no one really knows. But be that as it may, the idea was voiced and quickly gained support.

Then, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s proposal to consider a new reserve currency followed in March. Later – more proposals were made. The Russian initiative was supported by China, which is the largest US creditor. Of course, this idea was accepted with gratitude by the IMF, which saw a real opportunity to become the most influential global organization in the creation of a new currency.
Moreover, the Fund has taken the first step – it quickly released its bonds. Already in July, the IMF prepared all necessary regulatory framework; and, last week, China signed an agreement for the purchase of bonds in the amount of $50 billion. We are next in line. Russian Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin stated that within one to two months our country will sign a similar agreement for the amount of $10 billion. In other words, even if by a millimeter, the world has made a shift towards a new supranational money.

The UN has its own idea of a currency market revolution. In the UN, it is believed that the SDR clearly does not qualify for the role of the new world currency because countries with “‘new’ markets are poorly represented by the IMF, due to which the efficiency of the new drawing rights, according to the new scheme, decreases”. Indeed, countries’ influential positions in the IMF were established a long time ago and do not consider today’s realities, such as the sharp increase in development level of Asian countries and Russia.

And, that is not all of the shortcomings of the SDR. This quasi-currency is not independent, because it is tied to the four main currencies (dollar, euro, yen and pound sterling). And, the dollar carries the largest weight. As a result, it is not exactly an alternative.

In any case, the important thing is that talks about a new currency are no longer hypothetical ideas, but are being seriously discussed on a global level. And, that is understandable – this question is long overdue. Third world countries became stronger and have acquired a new descriptive term, “developing”. Their riches are not disputed. But their economic influence can’t seem to secure political influence. It is precisely the fight for political power, and with political power – the fight for financial control, that explains the desire to create a new world currency -- especially because today’s world currency is reminiscent of a “soap bubble”.

A “printing machine” will help them

Americans should be given credit where it’s due – they’ve put themselves in a good position. Private corporations, which have been established by bankers, and the Federal Reserve System, have in their possession a printing machine that issues dollars in exchange for government bonds. They aren’t only issued domestically, but to other countries as well. But, what to do – after all, the dollar is the main accounting currency. One can’t bargain without it. And, everything would be tolerable if the US was not running an enormous budget deficit and a national debt.

For this reason, the country is forced to take loans left and right while issuing more and more unsecured dollars. Here, the crisis played a role by forcing authorities to extinguish the catastrophic fire with large monetary injections. As a result, national debt is growing at an alarming rate, inexorably approaching $12 trillion; meanwhile, the “printing machine” is working at full capacity. According to the Federal Reserve, from July 2008 to September 2009, the monetary base more than doubled. And the Federal Reserve System is not planning on restraining itself in its printing freedom.

Foreign creditors to the US are, of course, displeased. They cannot escape the vicious circle. If they don’t invest in US equities today, they are risking a significant part of already made investments. Either way, they are bound to great losses. This became clear after the recent meeting of finance ministers of the G-20 where it was announced that it is still too early to start curtailing anti-crisis measures. In other words, the “printing machine” will continue to work at an increased capacity mode.

“Due to the high volumes of monetary infusions into the economy, governments managed to overcome the recession and prevent the emergence of a vicious deflationary spiral. But the main problems have now shifted from businesses on to governments. For example, the US, which is already suffering from budget deficits, incurred an even greater deficit,” says Aleksandr Kuptsikevich, FxPro financial analyst.

There are three ways to solve this problem – by increasing budget revenues, reducing spending, or by an indirect reduction of debt.

“The US will unambiguously choose the third option,” Kuptsikevich says confidently. “Debt can be reduced with the “printing machine”, which is capable of increasing the monetary base at a much faster rate than the economic growth rate. This is not devaluation, which everyone is afraid of, but something that we are experiencing in the early 2000s.”

Kuptsikevich recalls that after the burst of the “.com” bubble and the 2001 recession, the euro rose by 90% against the dollar, and almost doubled from 2002 to mid-2008, while the American economy was growing at faster rates than the European economy. As a result of indirect debt reduction, investments in government securities will greatly depreciate.

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This time “Padosha” (Tortladze’s nickname) is confident he will succeed – mainly because of the August events of last year. By working with the outcome of the war in South Ossetia, he was able to persuade his colleagues, and even the president, to once again review this topic. The brainchild of the politician, who after the Rose Revolution was a part of almost every party, has a lengthy name: “Law of Georgia on registration, volunteer recognition and production of a roster of undercover special services agents of the former USSR, high-ranking officials of the Communist Party and Lenin Komsomol.”

The main point of the law is simple: The bill prohibits former leaders of the Communist Party and the Komsomol, the KGB and the MVD from taking more or less significant governmental positions. The veto applies even to the chairmen of the State Committee for Broadcasting of the Georgian SSR.

Its breadth is enormous: It applies to anyone from common secret informers and safe-house owners to secretaries of city and district Komsomol committees. A timeframe has also been outlined. The bill applies to everyone who was involved in the Communist Party, the Komsomol or the secret services from February 25, 1921 (the day Georgia became part of the Soviet Union) to April 9, 1991 (the restoration of the country’s independence).

These people will not be able to run for president of Georgia, be elected parliamentarians, mayors, heads of autonomous and regional administrations, or be appointed to the post of a governor or a judge. Also, they will be disallowed from working in the presidential administration, apparatus of the Parliament and Chancellery of the Government as well as holding high-ranking positions in the Cabinet of Georgia, working in the Security Council, holding a rank higher than vice colonel in the Ministry of Defense or the Interior Ministry. They could not even manage a university.

The law obliges those whom it concerns to voluntarily resign from their current posts within a month. Another six months is given to recognize all sins before a commission established by the president. Meanwhile, they must “squeal” on their former colleagues. If these provisions are not followed, information about the offender will be published. Those who spread false information about themselves or other citizens will be criminally liable.

Box: a lustrum or a “witch hunt”?

The word “lustration” comes from the Latin “lustratio” – “purification through sacrifice.” These are legislative measures that restrict the rights of certain types of citizens from taking governmental posts or working in certain spheres. Lustration is a complex legal case. After all, lustration laws have a post facto potency by making it possible to convict people for acts that were not considered criminal at the time when they were committed.

After the collapse of the Soviet bloc, many governments of the Eastern European countries began “sacrificing.” Many political leaders, such as Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel, spoke out against such practices. Lustration critics often point out that this practice can be used as justification for a “witch hunt” or suppression of political opponents.

That is what happened in Germany, where the Stasi (state security) archives were revealed. Sometimes when employers discovered the names of their staff members in these documents, their employment was soon terminated. The archives were also used as an attempt to discredit the politicians – this was the case with the leader of the Party of Democratic Socialism, Gregor Gysi, who was repeatedly accused of being “an unofficial member” of the Stasi.

In Hungary, a law was passed in 1992 that established criminal liability and up to life imprisonment for people who “between December 1944 and May 1990 committed the betrayal of the motherland.” This definition was so broad that the Constitutional Court soon overturned the law.

In Poland, a law on lustration was adopted in 1977 after a long dispute; it required all contenders for parliamentary positions to report about any relations with the communist secret services. This resulted in numerous political scandals, where even ex-presidents Lech Walesa and Aleksander Kwasniewski were mentioned. In 2005, the Sejm speaker, Jozef Oleksy, who was found guilty by a special lustration court of cooperating with Polish military intelligence in the 1970s and forced to resign.

In order to punish these opportunists, the CIS intelligence and counter-intelligence agreed to intensify their exchange of information on various extremist groups operating in the territories of the former Soviet Union, and to ensure the safety of financial flows.

All the alleged meeting participants, with the exception of Georgia, arrived at the Kremlin. There have been doubts that the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, Nikolai Malomuzh, would arrive in Moscow. However, he not only arrived, but displayed a great interest in cooperating with Russia in combating terrorism.

However, the main topic of the meeting was not terrorism, but crime under the current economic crisis conditions. Participants did not dispute that the reduction of the foreign labor quota in Russia resulted in an increased crime rate in Central Asia. Usually, these crimes tend to involve the sale of weapons or drug trafficking. To minimize cross-border crime, Medvedev asked security services to tighten control over migration processes within the CIS.

In addition to the continuing terrorist threats, a new threat to financial savings has emerged. Medvedev warned that under the current economic crisis conditions, criminals have begun using the most modern technological means for money laundering.

“The world is developing,” said Russia’s president. “Today, we are in the epicenter of the technological boom. Ten years ago, we could not have even dreamt the things that can be accomplished with the use of electronic media today. Daily, billions of dollars are being transferred from various accounts. Naturally, most of these transactions are legal. But, among them, there are unconstitutional, illegal and criminal transactions.”

These illegal transactions need to be jointly monitored by the CIS special services. To do this, they will need to improve their technology, which allows locating illegal financial flows, and intensify the exchange of relevant databases.

“There are various ways to control legitimate operations by using various kinds of technological devices and software products that currently exist in large numbers,” said the Russian president, calling the intelligence and counter-intelligence services to action.

He noted that the agreements reached between the security services are an important step before the G-20 summit in the US, where international crisis-combating measures will be discussed.

However, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Mikhail Fradkov, cast doubt on the success of the joint efforts between the CIS countries to combat organized crime. While addressing the president, he said that all the participants of the meeting are, despite the agreement to work together, acting based on their political and economic interests. Medvedev was quick to note that no one ever doubted that fact.

“Of course, all the security agencies and intelligence services operate in their national interest,” the president said. “That is exactly how it should be. At the same time, given our shared historical experience, and with the consideration of integration processes on the territory of the CIS, and, finally, given the fact that we all live in a globalized world -- virtually any task that we try to complete cannot be resolved by national means alone. And, terrorism, organized crime, and extremism -- are all processes that do not have a national character.”

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Religious leaders in Russia share these fears. Yesterday, they said that five years after the Beslan tragedy, the terrorist threat has not diminished. Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, for one, is afraid that terrorists will obtain access to nuclear weapons.

The religious leaders’ press conference began with the traditional statements about the ungodliness of murders and their absolute incompatibility with the commandments. Then they proposed a number of measures that would, in their view, improve the situation.

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations, recalled that there are discussions in the society about reinstating the death penalty and increasing prison sentences for terrorists. However, according to Father Vsevolod, the principle of unavoidability of punishment is much more important. But that’s not all.

“It is important to have an understanding that the name of a terrorist, alive or dead, will be covered in shame,” said the priest. He issued a call for resolving regional social problems and creating conditions that would allow for communities to build their lives without the involvement of corrupt authorities. Father Vsevolod also said that religion remains an important factor for peaceful relations.

“A true believer who values his religion will be respectful toward others,” he said. “There are shared holidays. Our brothers visit us, and we them. I, for example, very much enjoy the Jewish New Year.”

The deputy chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims, Albir Krganov, is concerned about the unregulated departure abroad of young people in order to obtain religious education.

“Some time ago, 15-year old teenagers left abroad, and when they returned, they were sympathetic to religious radicals,” Krganov said.

The head of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities in Russia, Zinovy Kogan, echoed Krganov’s concerns.

“A priest should be a Russian patriot, and receive his religious education only in Russia,” he said.
While answering journalists' questions, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin noted that five years after Beslan, in the Caucasus neither schools nor hospitals are being targeted – instead, it is government officials that are being killed.

“Perhaps, someone suggested to them that killing children causes them more harm than good, but what is happening is still terrorism,” said the priest. According to him, five years later, the criminals are no longer called freedom fighters. But not all countries have walked this path, and not to the end.

In the coming days, temples, mosques and synagogues will hold a memorial service for the victims of Beslan.

The presidential strategy

Even Saakashvili’s opponents admit that one of the reasons the opposition has been unsuccessful has been the president’s effective course of conduct. Before his fellow citizens, Mikhail Nikolayevich appears in the guise of an energetic leader who is has grown tired of the opposition’s foolish escapades. The president “did not notice” the thousands of protests. He was generating “democratic” ideas and blaming the “Kremlin occupiers” for everything that went wrong. He went to various towns and villages, promising their residents money, work and happiness. And he constantly repeated that he will remain in power until the end of his constitutional term – until 2013.

The opposition lost courage. Its leaders did not know where to direct the energy of the discontented masses. The senseless trampling at protests had resulted in only a greater aggravation among the demonstrators. Plan A was unsuccessful, and Plan B – well, there wasn’t one. If it wasn’t one person, then it was someone else who took upon themselves the initiative to break the agreed-upon decisions. The opposition also failed to provoke the president to use his power inappropriately.

In the end, the demonstrators quietly dispersed. Meanwhile, the most zealous of the protesters promised, in a couple of months, to “unscrew the heads of those and the others” – those who have the power and those who are going to take it.

“Hitler rests”

What’s funny is that the protests were beneficial to the president. Propaganda played a decisive role in this. The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Shalva Natelashvili, says that “if Hitler had the Rustavi-2 channel, then Germans would still be thinking that Germany won the Second World War”. Saakashvili has nine such national channels. The two minor Tbilisi opposition television companies could not stand against them. The province did not support the capital.

Outside of Tbilisi there was unprecedented pressure on political descendants. Citizens who were sympathetic to the opposition received official letters signed by the police. They expressed confidence that the recipients will not participate in “organized extremist protests”.

And in the capital, special forces, staffed with police and activists of the ruling party, terrorized the picketers. At night, they were beaten with clubs, stoned, crushed by cars, and provoked to fight. In general, human rights activists argue that during the “spring escalations” there were 120 new political prisoners.

The opposition without a position

Many believe that the opposition got itself into a corner. The reason for the political impotence of Tbilisi’s Marats and Dantons is that they, with the exception of themselves and their loved ones, have nothing to offer to the people. Most of the opposition leaders promise to do the same that Saakashvili is already doing in both domestic and foreign policy. Except to do it better, softer, and more thoughtfully than Saakashvili.

Oppositionists are sure that Mr. Saakashvili’s replacement will be chosen by the Americans. Here the decisive factor will be the faithfulness to the political course that was born in November 2003. So, the mood of the voters is not very important. It is believed that the former Permanent Representative of Georgia to the UN Irakli Alasania meets most of Washington’s criteria.

During his visit to Tbilisi, Vice President Joe Biden met with Saakashvili and the main contenders for his place. He made a near-Shakespearian conclusion: “It’s better to make peace with the familiar evil than to strive to escape to the unfamiliar”. Incidentally, there is a similar aphorism in Georgian folklore. Only in translation, along with “evil”, words such as “trouble” and “plague” may be used.

Are “Messiahs” going out of fashion?

Some Georgian parties demand Georgia’s transformation into a parliamentary republic. Some of these parties are the National Forum, the Protect Georgia movement, and the Georgian Labor Party. They are most popular among the opposition-minded voters. According to the recent polls, the leaders of these parties are in the list of the top five realistic contenders for the presidency. Specifically, Professor Gubaz Sanikidze and businessman Levan Gachechiladze.

The majority of voters also support a parliamentary form of government. According to some surveys, that is more than 70% of the voters. It seems that a turning point has occurred in the minds of Georgians. They no longer expect a “messiah”, in the role of which Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Eduard Shevardnadze, and now Saakashvili had unsuccessfully presented themselves.

Most of the other parties are pursuing more materialistic goals. Thus, any trifle of the opposition, under the guise of a “combat against the usurper” that ended up in the parliament, switched to the presidential camp. The behavior of Saakashvili's former allies, who became his enemies, is most common. By the way, they became his rich enemies, which automatically give them special authority in the impoverished opposition camp.

The ardent Nino

Nino Burjanadze, for example, used the spring protests for her political resurrection. She carried out her objective perfectly well. Although she did earn a label of an ultra-radical. According to rumors, even Biden hinted to the former speaker of parliament that Washington is surprised by her behavior. But Nino did not have any other way out – any backtracking on her position would result in irreplaceable losses.

Former Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli holds a similar position. He quickly became a stranger to Saakashvili, but has not yet been admitted in the general opposition camp. It’s interesting that the ex-speaker of parliament and former prime minister often accuse the president of starting the war in South Ossetia.

Opposition leaders are in no hurry to sprinkle ashes upon one’s head and admit their mistakes. They are confident that the spring “attack on Saakashvili” bore fruit. The president was forced to make some concessions, though not particularly significant ones. The unofficial boycott, which was declared by the leaders of Western countries, remains in force. The economic situation in the country is deteriorating. The number of those dissatisfied with the situation continues to grow. So, time is working against Saakashvili. Sooner or later he will make a wrong move. So why not this fall?

The most important thing is not to be considered a Russophile

What unites almost all the Georgian opposition parties is the extreme caution in their statements about Russia. The opposition only briefly mentions the need to resume dialogue with Moscow without going into any details.

The speeches made by the leader of the National Forum, Gubaz Sanikidze, provide the most typical example.

“We need to talk to Russia in order to understand what it wants. But it’s more important to understand what we want, we Georgians,” he said in the television studio of the opposition channel, Kavkasia.

“We are beginning a dialogue with the Russian political circles and getting started on the intensive work to save the country. The Georgian leadership is incompetent in the international arena, particularly in regard to Russia,” said the leader of the Labour Party, Shalva Natelashvili.

This restraint is understandable. It’s caused by tactical considerations and the ignorance regarding the basic attitudes of the voters after the Five-Day War and Moscow's recognition of independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The increasing anti-Russian sentiment in Georgia is indisputable, but one can only guess how deeply it is enrooted within the “common people”. Sociology won’t help here. Therefore, the opposition is only guessing when they are trying to please the public. Yet they are not tying their hands and keeping an eye on the future. It should be taken into account that in Georgia, no one will ever agree with alienation of territory – at least in the foreseeable future.

The opposition leaders also don’t want to be labeled as a “Russophile” or a “Kremlin agent”. Saakashvili will always be very generous in assigning these labels. So, the president’s opponents prefer not to give him any more reason to do so. Moreover, they themselves accuse the head of state in “hidden collaborationism”, by hypocritically saying that Saakashvili is heightening this confrontation with Russia on purpose, because it's the only way to stay in power, all the while he sells Georgian economic assets to Russian businessmen.

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First. Firstly it is necessary to review the conditions during which the oligarchic enterprises were able to receive assistance at the end of last year. A year ago, the extent and the time frame of the crisis did not seem to be as severe as they are today. That is where the potential loan repayment problems come from.

In November - December 2008, Roman Abramovich’s Evraz Group received a loan in the amount of $1.8 billion from the Vnesheconombank. The first tranche ($1.0 billion) is to be paid on November 21, 2009, the second ($ 0.8 billion) – on December 10, 2009. The West Siberian and the Nizhny Tagil metallurgical plants’ export earnings in the amount of $1 billion for each contract, as well as a warranty in the amount of $800 million from each of the plants, became the collateral for this loan.

According to the results of the first two quarters of this year, only the Nizhny Tagil Plant, and only in the second quarter, stopped running at a loss (net profit amounted to just 2.2 billion rubles), and in the first half of the year, export earnings from the two plants amounted to 20.1 billion rubles . Meanwhile, in just a few months, Evraz Group will need to return the 56.8 billion rubles (at the current Central Bank rate), not counting interest. Even if the entire export earnings of the two plants are directed toward loan repayment, that amount is likely to be insufficient. It is also likely that the plants won’t have enough funds for the fulfillment of the provided guarantees.

What to do? The terms of collateral agreements need to be reviewed, “export earnings”, “floating assets”, and “guarantees” need to be replaced with blocks of stock at a substantially discounted price. At the same time, repayment of the owed debts on wages to the budgetary and extra-budgetary funds must be demanded from the oligarchic enterprises.

Second. If the oligarchic enterprises are unable to repay loans from Vnesheconombank, Sberbank and state-owned banks, instead of rolling over these credit contracts, the debtors need to initiate bankruptcy and the companies need to be transferred to state ownership. Foreign liabilities of the bankrupt enterprises (excluding the debt to offshore owners, affiliates and subsidiaries) must be restructured into government bonds, of course, on terms acceptable to the country's conditions. While the enterprises are being transferred to the state, their interim management should be handled by governmental institutions and not by state corporations. The purpose of this is the financial recovery and subsequent re-privatization of the bankrupt enterprises.

Nowadays, there are a lot more people in favor of the nationalization of oligarchic companies. But, for some reason, all existing laws presume nationalization under the conditions of preliminary and fair (read: on market conditions) compensation for the nationalized assets. Again, an example.

The nationalization of the four, based upon the first quarter of 2009, unprofitable enterprises of the Alisher Umanov’s Metalloinvest Holding, which are nominally owned by offshore companies, would cost the budget “only” 101.6 billion rubles. That number is based on the total value of net assets on March 31, 2009. But there are also unpaid taxes, outstanding credits, loans and guarantees.

That is why the State Duma and the Federation Council must not allow the adoption of a law on nationalization, which presumes preliminary and fair compensation for nationalization of assets. In crisis conditions, nationalization must only be conducted through the debtors’ bankruptcy procedure.
Third. The report proposes to introduce a turnover of corporate bonds as another mechanism of financial assistance to enterprises. Only those companies that have been registered within the Russian tax jurisdiction should be allowed to issue these securities. Not only banks, but the government too, will be able to redeem their debt; the government will be allowed to do so at up to 90% of output volume. All accrued state bond payments should be solely directed toward financing of anti-crisis measures. Ultimately, corporate bonds may be traded on the stock market.

The report specifies that the state should abandon the special funding provisions of the “backbone” banks. Such practice destroys the market foundations of the banking sector and undermines competition.

Fourth. Full inspections of the financial and economic activity must be conducted on all enterprises that have received state assistance. The inspecting authorities must pay special attention to the nature of production cost growth, reasons for increasing administrative costs, and the scope and volume of “shady” export-import operation schemes. In addition, all companies applying for state assistance in the form of loans, state guarantees, tax exemptions and other preferences must, without any preconditions, withhold from making dividend payments, giving bonuses and other rewards while using government aid. It is also advisable to set a dependency ratio between the income of management and the average wage of workers of the companies.

Fifth. Crisis – is the best time to review the current tax law and social policy. It is necessary to eliminate tax advantages for dividend payments to offshore companies, other non-residents, as well as Russia's shareholders. Instead of the dividend tax, paid by Russian organizations to foreign entities, being from 0.5% to 9%, it needs to be at a flat rate of 15%. Dividend tax rates for foreign nationals need to be increased to 15% and up to 30%. Here is another, perhaps controversial, proposal: dividends received by our fellow citizens should, instead of being taxed at the rate of 9%, be taxed at the current income tax rate, which is 13%.

The government must begin a fundamental social policy reform, specifically, regarding the protection of the employed population from social risks. The employment insurance, discontinued in 2001, needs to be recreated; also, a system of guarantees of physical and social workers’ rights needs to be established in case of employer’s failure to comply with conditions outlines in the employment contract. The judicial system alone, and this is clearly demonstrated by the crisis, does not allow to quickly resolve employment disputes and meet the just demands of the working population. As for the voluntary “social responsibility” of the oligarchs – today, we are witnessing its manifestation in all its glory.

The full version of the report can be found at http://www.krichevsky.ru/images/book/doklad.pdf.

P.S. Suggestions made, are certainly not the final solution. By publishing this article, Izvestia intends not only to draw attention to the problem, but also to continue the public debate in search of answers to how this problem can be resolved. Please send us your feedback to business@izvestia.ru.

Yushchenko brought the cult of death, especially at the hands of Muscovites, to the extreme. Crosses and black ribbons have been set up all over Ukraine, including in the smallest villages, as monuments commemorating the victims of Holodomor. One could find large monuments, as well, which have been erected using large sums of the state’s money. One of the most striking monuments is located in Yushchenko’s hometown of Khoruzhivka, near a river with the name of Khus. Yushchenko’s last name is written on the monument – it’s no wonder because the president used to talk about the hunger bringing down his family history. Priests of all Ukrainian churches followed the instructions of the country’s leader and sung a prayer for the victims of Holodomor - including residents of the Andriyashevka village, who happen to be alive.

This caused a panic among the town’s residents, according to whom, they fear they will soon die. Almost immediately after the memorial service, the first death occurred when 46-year-old Anatoly Antonenko did die. And, no matter how much the villagers were convinced that the reason for his death was not the Memorial Book of Holodomor Victims, but cancer, they were sure that their names were written on a death list, stopped going to work, and began beleaguering a local priest to “sing them all back”. All he could do was shrug his shoulders – according to the rules, he is not allowed to undo a memorial service.

Events, in the humiliated and insulted Andriyashevka, a large village of many streets, unfolded as follows. Local librarian Nadezhda Ovcharenko received the Memorial Book of Holodomor Victims in order to increase the library’s inventory. When she opened it she found her name in the book, and then the names of all her neighbors. She ran to the village council, reported about her discovery, but they tried to conceal the news. However, that attempt proved to be unsuccessful. The rumor began to spread; people became nervous and started to gather at the village council, while blaming everything on the local senior accountant, Lyubov Zubach, who had worked there for 34 years. A second council employee, Chairman Mikhail Yurchenko, was not there at the time - he spontaneously took off on vacation. Meanwhile, Lyubov was terrorized, she was nearly chased with pitchforks and harassed to the point that she could not step outside in peace.

Then, Chairman Yurchenko returned from his vacation. Not knowing anything about the scandal, he returned right during a village holiday to congratulate the people. Instead, he was met with a scandal that nearly ended with vigilantism. The chairman was barely able to convince the villagers to allow an investigation, which led straight to the Romny city administration.

As it turns out, the mistake was made by the head of domestic policy of the Romny regional administration. She was apparently too lazy to go through the archives and took the easy way out by copying lists of voters. Though the woman was fired, she was not handed over to the residents of Andriyashevka to be torn apart.

The Memorial Book of Holodomor Victims case is not the first in a series of falsifications regarding Holodomor. In March, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) was caught in forging works at the “Ukrainian Holocaust” exhibition that took place in Sevastopol. Local deputy Vladimir Tyunin discovered that of six Holodomor photographs displayed on the SSU stand, four were of the American Great Depression in Arkansas, California, and Oklahoma, and two were of a famine in the Volga region. Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, head of the SSU, had to apologize though the special service did not end its fight with the dead.

Nalyvaichenko stated that he, along with researchers, would soon finish the Holodomor case indictment. The SSU and the Prosecutor General's Office sent special investigation teams to all Ukrainian regions in order to conduct a pre-trial investigation and a scientific demographic analysis. The latter is supposed to identify the Holodomor perpetrators and determine the impact of their actions on Ukraine’s demographics. The SSU is giving Yushchenko a last chance: to blame the dead for what is currently happening with the living in Ukraine.

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According to the Investigation Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, six of the eight pirates arrested had spent time in jail for criminal offenses. The Investigation Committee, however, has not yet uncovered their leader. One thing is clear: the hijacking of vessels with cargo and crew present indicates that there might be a black market for stolen ships and goods.

The sailors, who were transferred to Moscow, are still being held under protective watch, their whereabouts have not been disclosed, and any contact is forbidden, including with family members and the four sailors that remained on board.

How are ships stolen?

The dry-cargo vessel story exposed a problem, the existence of which has not been given much thought by even industry experts: the hijacking of ships. Yes, ships. As it turns out, they can be stolen just like cars. There is plenty of information about the existence of a stolen-car market. At one time, Izvestia uncovered the existence of an illegal nationwide market for stolen heavy-duty and construction equipment. But now ships are being stolen?
Specialists don’t believe such a market exists.

“Such a market does not exist in the world!” Artem Alyabiev, chief of Ship Security Section of the Federal Agency of Maritime Security Service, told Izvestia. “Hijacking a ship is something from the realm of science fiction. Since 2004, when the International Ship and Port Facility Code (ISPS Code) was enacted, each vessel contains a special journal which is followed in accordance with international laws -- it is called a Continuous Synopsis Record (CSR). This record contains a copy of the certificate of title which contains the complete history of vessel ownership. It is impossible to sell a vessel without making a legal record in the journal.”

However, if one can manage to forge an entry in the certificate of title, then with the current level of criminal art development, to forge a record in the log would be, as they say, a technical matter.

There have been cases of missing ships in inland waters of Russia as well, particularly in Siberia. These crimes are discovered by chance. Ship owners recognize the subtle features resembling their vessels in the repainted ships. They look at the documents only to find out that they sold the barge to the owner -- the signature of the former owner and the seal and signature of a notary were forged. And it was only the difference between the number indicated in the vessel’s sale documents and that of the notary’s journal that proved a forgery.

Sergei Polevoi, a renowned expert on maritime law and Inyurcollegiya attorney, says he has never heard of a black market for ships.

“Any vessel is identifiable,” he told Izvestia, “by the engine, by the custom radio call signal -- analogous to a computer ID number or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) in a car. Ship's documents contain information about the engine, such as number and manufacturer information.”

Hijacking a modern cargo or passenger vessel is a very complex undertaking,” Polevoi continued. “And not only because it is very difficult to conceal, but because it is technically difficult: one must possess ship navigation skills. After all, we’re not talking about some junk in Southeast Asia. While talking to you, I was able to recall one case: 10-12 years ago, a vessel was stolen on the Caspian Sea, it then surfaced in Klaipeda Port.”

Though there are few cases like the one noted by Polevoi, they do occasionally happen. For example, recently a dry-cargo vessel left the Port of Tallinn, like the “Arctic Sea” carrying timber on board. No one knew about its whereabouts for a long time. Later it was discovered somewhere near the coast of Africa – without cargo or crew.

When people want to steal a car and the owner happens to be present, they, as a rule, usually kill the owner. In the best-case scenario, they throw him on the side of the road. There is no need to speculate about what fate awaited the Russian crew if the pirates were able to complete their job: overboard with a heavy weight attached to their feet.

Filibusters from the “Russian” street

So, who was courageous enough to make this daring raid? The Investigation Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said that the eight arrested in this case are men from 30 to 45 years of age, and are “well prepared, physically.” Now, investigators are verifying that from 2001 to 2005, six suspects were serving sentences “for various crimes against personal property” on Estonian territory. The Estonian police have also identified the detainees as repeat criminal offenders. One small but telling detail: some of the “pirates” were lavishly decorated with tattoos.

For obvious reasons, official sources are disclosing very little information about the criminals. It is only being reported that two men presented themselves as Russian citizens permanently residing in Estonia, one presented an Estonian passport and another called himself a citizen of Latvia. The others are stateless, including three Estonian and one Latvian non-citizens. Meanwhile, the last names of the “21st-century pirates” have been revealed. Those whose traces lead to Estonia turned out to be almost neighbors -- they came from one of the “Russian streets” of Tallinn. Andrei Andropov, a Nochnoy Dozor (Night Watch) activist, confirmed this information to Izvestia.

As it turns out, some of these alleged gentlemen of fortune knew first hand about maritime affairs. 42-year-old Dmitry Bartenev, who was imprisoned for drugs, once finished nautical school. However, he recently turned to the construction business (which in Estonia is predominantly “Russian”), and when the crisis struck, he headed to Spain to work as a security guard. By the way, Bartenev’s “business partner,” Igor Borisov, who also had previous convictions, happened to be on the same boat, the “Arctic Sea.”

Another “ecologist” who took part in the attack on the dry-cargo vessel is 44-year-old Andrey Lunev. He was unexpectedly identified by his relatives as being involved in the Kursk disaster in 2006, as a sailor who sank in his fishing boat near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Despite the fact that evidence of his death never surfaced, Lunev was presumed dead the entire time.

The youngest heroes of this pirate saga were 28-year-old Alex Andryushin (although that age does not coincide with investigation data), 30-year-old Yevgeny Mironov (his Tallinn friends call him a man with the “most respectable” reputation, who, incidentally, spent time in jail for only a minor offense), as well as 33-year-old adventurer Alex Booleans. Booleans’ life, by contrast, has been full of sharp turns, especially in the daring 1990s. They say that he even tried to hijack a bus in one Estonian city.

In Tallinn, there are many rumors about the homegrown filibusters. There is no doubt about their criminal history, yet the detainees are hardly well-known characters in local criminal circles. One Izvestia source suggested that they could have simply been randomly set up.

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It is a 40-minute helicopter ride from the capital of Khakassia, Abakan, to Cheremushki. First appears the village covered in pine trees, then, after the chopper follows the river and takes a 70-degree turn, the visitors face an enormous dam. The water under us is covered in iridescent spots. The environmental situation is under control, assure the rescuers. There are about 2,000 rescuers working at the ruined power plant. They work in shifts, and live in tents right on the bank of the Yenisei River. When viewed from above, it seems that the entire bank is painted bright spots: red, blue, green.

The only thing that remains form the turbine hall is the top floor, resembling a balcony. The water is pumped by 13 pumps that are drying the place out for rescuers to step in. Part of debris has already been cleaned out, and the eye catches the monstrous proportions of the third hydraulic unit, torn from the base of the turbine.

“Imagine how forceful the water flow must have been to destroy such a great structure,” says a man wearing overalls that read “RusHydro.” “After all, it weighs 900 tons!”

“What is your name?” I ask.

“Well…I’m simply a station worker,” he evasively answers the question -- currently, everyone is afraid to speak too honestly using their real name; there are too many rumors and speculations going on around the accident. But he’s not a simple worker. On his overalls are embroidered “Toloshinov A.V.” He is a former director of the station and is currently a board member of RusHydro.

“At night, two bodies were discovered, today, three more,” he counts.

The numbers change at 10-minute intervals. On a diagram of possible locations where people may be found, a pink marker continuously notes: date, time, last name. In some places, there are no last names: unidentified. Yesterday, the most recent data was announced: 77 dead, of them, 68 have been identified, and 14 rescued.

“Why do you need my name? You have already written a lot… many lies,” the short-built man waives at journalists. It’s obvious that it’s been a while since he’s closed his eyes, but they are still capable of crying. I introduce myself and my colleagues: “We will write what you say.”

Vladimir Kochetov is in luck: he was able to hold on, wait, and then he was tossed out by the water flow. He managed to walk away with a couple of scrapes on his face.

“All of my friends were there…” He waits and doesn’t leave the station.

“I want to ask the prime minister a favor – to ask that those who were left behind in this mass grave not be forgotten,” Kochetov said through tears.

Putin squeezed his shoulder. He promised they won’t be forgotten. RusHydro promised to pay the families of the deceased 1 million rubles.

“These are correct but insufficient measures,” said the prime minister. “These payments need to be extended to families of missing persons. There’s no need to pretend that everyone is unclear about what happened here.”

According to Putin, families of the deceased and missing persons will receive the same amount from the federal budget. As soon as he returned to Moscow, Putin signed a corresponding order. According to the order, families of victims will also receive financial support.

100,000 rubles. In addition to that, the prime minister ordered the allocation of 4 million rubles from the Social Insurance Fund for mental treatment of victims and families of those deceased or missing.

What's next?

What’s next is restoration of the station.

“A clear plan needs to be developed,” Putin ordered. “Ministry of Energy and RusHydro must use all available industrial resources. A plan must be delivered in six weeks.”

The prime minister noted that the newest technologies can be purchased at a relatively low price, “and we will be able to start getting new generation.”

“We will have the money as well as oversight,” warned Putin. The Investigation Committee has already been instructed to monitor the process. Everything has been centralized – there is only one general contractor.

“I don’t want so much as to see a trace of affiliate structures here,” warned Putin -- or, by the way, price hikes for electricity. Although, “it’s clear that a correction is possible.” In the next three weeks, the Ministry of Energy needs to develop a temporary state price regulation regime in the energy wholesale market, just in case such a situation occurs.

The prime minister opened a diamond mine and an oil field

With his blitz visit to two federal districts, the Far East and Siberia, the prime minister proved that the capabilities of a human body are almost limitless. In one day he was on eight flights, including four helicopter flights, participated in three meetings, two ceremonies and several serious meetings.

In the presence of Putin, a start-up diamond mine complex was introduced in the city of Mirny. There are enough discovered reserves to last a half a century, the only trouble is that today, no one particularly needs diamonds. But no one will let the industry die out. State fund purchases of the precious stones increased from 3.7 to 14.5 billion rubles; more funds will be given to the industry.

“The total support for the industry should amount to 30-35 billion rubles this year,” said the prime minister. “Also, a system of state guarantees for the Alrosa Co. debt restructuring must be developed.”

And, near Igarka (north of Krasnoyarsk Krai) is the Vankor oilfield -- the base of the future oil province, which will supply the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline with oil. When the oil field was discovered in 1988, its oil reserves were estimated at 125 million tons, but exploration showed that there is almost four times more reserves. Also, the oil here is of high quality, the president of Rosneft, Sergey Bogdanchikov, reported to Putin yesterday. The prime minister pressed the symbolic button, and the first Vankor oil began flowing through the pipes.

Whether it is because of negligence or greed, Burjanadze is being forced to pay. Last year, after resigning from the post of speaker, Nino Anzorovna received a government cottage on the outskirts of Tbilisi. The order for transfer of ownership of land in the amount of 31,696 square meters and several buildings in Tshneti, a resort village on the outskirts of Tbilisi, was personally signed by Mikhail Saakashvili on May 8, 2008. The ex-speaker paid him a token amount for the gifts: one lari.

The gift was akin to a “Greek gift.” As long as one of the leaders of the Rose Revolution remained loyal to the president, no one seemed to recall that taxes needed to be paid on the newly acquired property. But as soon as she merged with the opposition, the state demanded that she pay up.

Theoretically, Burjanadze is ready to pay. But according to her lawyers, the cottage is overpriced, and thus the tax amount is overstated. According to them, all of the buildings and land were originally estimated at 2.8 million lari. So the tax should not exceed 300,000 lari. However, after the main player in this case joined the opposition, the cottage was re-audited and its price was estimated at 12,109,997 lari, with the accompanying tax liability rising in kind.

Burjanadze considers this to be a question of principal and is going to appeal against the verdict in the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Meanwhile, the total tax amount will be increased by 0.7% for each day that it’s overdue. And in the event that she refuses to pay, the cottage will be sold at an auction.

The sale of this property, however, certainly won’t impoverish Burdjanadze. She is considered to be from one of the richest families in Georgia. The issue that worries her supporters is why she accepted such an expensive gift in the first place. After all, she could have been just fine with the existing property, especially because Burjanadze’s transition to the opposition was very predictable.

The “cottage process” is not the only case where the former speaker and the government or the parliament, and to be more specific, Mikhail Saakashvili, have clashed. Burjanadze is demanding the return of state protection and her service vehicle, to which she had the rights to upon her resignation, through the courts. She was deprived of her benefits due to the “severe economic crisis and Georgia’s transition into a saving mode.”

Also, Nino Anzorovna is demanding that Mikhail Nekolayevich prove in court that she is in fact a Kremlin agent. At his first meeting with the leaders of the opposition, Saakashvili accused Burjanadze of cooperating with the Russian secret services and of receiving funds from Moscow to finance her party.

Four days in August 2009

This year, the opening of the MAKS air show has been marred by two tragedies. On Sunday, commander of the ‘Russian Knights’ flight team, Igor Tkachenko, lost his life during a test flight, with another pilot from the team suffering serious spinal injuries. This means that this year there will no air show by the “Russian Knights” or the ‘Swifts’ - a tradition at MAKS. Also absent will be the Yak-52, with European Champion and world championships winner, Svetlana Fedorenko. Her light-engine plane also crashed on Sunday in Kaluga Oblast. The sportswoman and a student-trainee, son of a “Russkie Vityazi” pilot Dmitry Khotkovsky – Andrey, died.

Organisers of MAKS 2009 say these tragedies will not diminish the show, and that its summer program will be carry on. We believe them – the show must go on. But there is still remembrance of what has occurred. At first, it seems unimportant how many contracts our aircraft producers sign and with whom. But life goes on. MAKS 2009 will have an audience, new contracts…

Cash on the nail

MAKS 2009 is smaller than the previous show. In 2007, 550 firms took part in the show. This years show is down by several hundred, with major space corporations also disappearing – including Energomash Scientific Production Association, NPO Molniya, and Kosmotras, which launches spacecraft with the help of conversion rockets. Why? Is it the financial crisis or pressure from MAKS organisers?

The answer is that both are true. Many MAKS participants have complained about the high participation costs, with the Russian Ministry of Defense citing this as a factor in its non participation. Judge for yourselves. This year, the price for one meter of stand is anywhere from €210 to €350. That’s almost the same as what it was in 2007, except with the current exchange rate, it is now 30%more expensive. Parking fees have also increased, with entrance tickets jumping from 350 Roubles to 450 Roubles. It’s the same elsewhere. As the organizers of the show had promised, this MAKS will be sober, with alcohol sold in only 3 restaurants. How much do you think these drinks will cost?

On the ground and in the air

For the United Aircraft Company, the main focus at the exhibition is “commercial samples of new aircraft being developed”. In this regard, Russian producers are putting on a strong show, with the first display of for An-148-100V regional liners, IL-96-400T cargo planes, and new Tu-204-300A “Salon”, along with the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional passenger airliner.

Sukhoi had already exhibited its promising airliner at the recent Le Bourget show. Company representatives are promising that, at Zhukovsky, everyone will be able examine the great hope of our aircraft industry inside and out and gain an insight into its comforts.
Military aircraft on display will include the 4+ multi-generation fighters Su-35 and MiG-35, as well as the Yak-130 combat-training jet. All three combat machines are becoming more prominent in domestic and foreign markets. It is expected that the show will see the Russian Air Force sign its largest contract for the purchase of 48 Su-35 fighters, four Su-30M2 and 12 Su-27M. A single Su-35 costs more than $40 million, and the Su-27 and Su-30 cost more than $30 million. In addition to the aircraft, the Russian Air Force will order additional equipment and armaments, making the total value of the contract worth about $3 billion. The Su-35 is considered to be the last transition stage towards a fifth-generation fighter jet. According to Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief, Aleksandr Zelin, Komsomolsk-on-Amur already has three machines for land-based tests. A fourth machine will be aloft by December of this year, with mass production due to begin in 2015.

With a focus on contracts

MiG will exhibit its air acrobat MiG-35: a fighter jet with a variable thrust vectoring engine. At the recent Bangalore, India air show, our plane was the undisputed favorite. No other jet is able to “somersault” through the tail in the same spot or to “fall” into a flat spin while swinging in the wind like a leaf and easily come out of this – a maneuvre fatal for aircraft around the world. The fantastically maneuverable machine can fly up or down, and remain almost stationary in the air, and even twisting as though on a pan.

It is expected that in late August - early September, the MiG-35 will arrive in India, where it will show off before the Indian Air Force who are in the process of buying 126 light fighter jets, with the potential contract estimated to be worth $10 billion. Six of the world's leading fighter jet manufacturers are competing for the contract: France’s Dassault Aviación with the Rafale fighter jet, America’s Lockheed Martin with its F-16 Falcon, and Boeing displaying the F-18 Super Hornet. Sweden’s SAAB is displaying the Gripen jet fighter, and European consortium EADS its Eurofighter. These are serious competitors. But as they say in MiG, our fighter jet has a few tricks that make it stand out against the competition. For example, an engine with controlled thrust vector, the newest avionics, and a radar with an active phased antenna array.

What is a digital jet?

Irkut Corp. will show their new combat-training jet Yak-130. It was named a “educational simulator” by the troops, for its ability to simulate a flight of any aircraft in the world. This time it will be simulating a light strike-fighter jet. The Yak-130 will patrol Zhukovsky skies in full battle gear with high-precision missiles and bombs. The 9 suspension points allow the aircraft to carry up to 3 tons of weapons. For the “small”, but nimble training plane, this is a major achievement.

The Yak-130 is also interesting for being the first Russian mass produced aircraft built using cross-digital technology. Previously, digital production methods have been almost rarely used.

The Irkut Corporation says it hopes to take over 50% of the global combat-training aircraft market in the future. Confidence largely stems from the fact that the Yak-130 is the only machine of its kind that fully meets fourth and fifth generation fighter aircraft pilot preparation requirements. The jet can be easily re-programmed to simulate domestic aircraft, Su and MiG, as well as any other modern fighter jets from F-16 to F-22 Raptor. The combat-training jet can not only teach, but be used as a light fighter jet, while having a market price significantly lower than competitors. Currently, there are a total of 4,500 combat-training jets in the world. Almost all of them are outdated and will soon require replacement. Irkut already has an order for 200 Yak-130.

There are no large contracts on the horizon for MAKS-2009. The only exception will be a transaction between the leasing company Ilyushin Finance Co. and Atlant-Soyuz to supply 30 AN-148 jets and 15 Tu-204SM. The companies have signed a pre-contract agreement at Le Bourget in June 2009. Nevertheless, organisers of the show expect to compensate the “business” part of the show by collecting funds from general aviation enthusiasts. Flight teams from France and Italy have already arrived in Zhukovsky. The Russian part of the show, after the “Russkie Vityazi” tragedy, will be carried out by pilots from Lipetsk, “Sokoly Rossii” (Russian Falcons).

Despite the allocations of large funding resources for economic support, according to some estimates up to 10% of GDP, signs of recovery in Russia’s national economy are not noticeable. If (compared to the first quarter) in the second quarter of 2009 the rate of GDP decrease in the US fell by more than six times (from 6.4% to 1%), and in the third quarter economic growth is expected to be from 0.8% to 2% - then in Russia the recession has a protracted character.

All of this indicates that the implemented anti-crisis measures were ineffective. Why? Because, according to the authors of the report, these measures were not directed towards modernization of the economy and development of entrepreneurship, but on conservation of the current economic model based upon production of raw materials in hopes of a rapid stabilization of world markets. State support was shared by companies that were recognized as “strategic”, and it’s not likely that the support of individual banks and companies under the conditions of a monopolized and bureaucratic economy supported keeping other companies afloat.

Three features of oligarchy

The reason for the inclination of state support towards the “selected few” is the existence of a phenomena in our country that authors of the report call “oligarchy”. The report states that in recent years, oligarchic structures have established a nearly total control over the Russian economy. With that said, the oligarchs who seek state support have three traits that define specific characteristics of the economic crisis in Russia.

The first trait: the majority of companies that receive financial support from the authorities are, de jure, not Russian. Their formal owners are registered outside of the territories where Russian tax laws apply. Similar companies in the US and Europe receive state support only after parliamentary approval and public discussions of the problem have taken place. In Russia, however, budgetary resources, without undue formalities, are allocated towards the support of those who have long ago transferred their capital abroad.

The second trait: in recent years all of these companies have developed a mechanism of transfer of corporate assets to personal ownership. The actual revenues of the richest Russians are mostly accumulated in the accounts of offshore companies. These companies hold assets of the oligarchs and pay for their personal expenses. And the subject of taxation in Russia became, not the real incomes of the richest people in the country, but only the smaller part of their income that they are willing to “recognize” and declare.

The third trait: debt. From January, 2002 to July 1, 2009, foreign liabilities of corporations increased by 12 times, from $24 billion to $294 billion. And the fall of the stock market, which began in June 2008, made many large companies technically bankrupt.

These three traits explain the dual position of the Russian oligarchy in the new situation. On the one hand, it serves as an extraterritorial force that is, above all, interested in the stabilization of the economy and guaranteeing the security of assets, including those abroad. On the other hand, by employing a significant number of Russians the oligarchy has an opportunity to dictate its terms to the authorities and uncontrollably “milk” the budget, and do so more and more actively. As a result, a large part of the governmental assistance results in not affecting the domestic economy.

How they “milk” the government

When asking for money from the government, the oligarchs demonstrate remarkable inventiveness. Scientists believe that their final goal is to transfer the inefficient businesses that have accumulated large debts to governmental control. But before that, as much money as possible needs to be obtained from the government. “Major Russian business owners, with the support of corrupt officials, representatives of power structures and trade union extremists, began to openly blackmail the executive power with the use of the social power of labor collectives of their enterprises,” reads the report.
A striking example of social blackmail were the events of June 2 to June 4 of 2009 in Pikalyovo in Leningradskaya Oblast, when one of many problems of the Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, were being personally resolved by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The authors of the report are confident that this was a demonstration of an effective way of “forcing the state to provide aide” – i.e. use of public shares and statements of employees of enterprises, often led by trade unions, whose interests often coincide with the interests of the owners, to solve the owners’ personal problems.

Meanwhile, the oligarchs have enough money for more than a few yachts and football clubs. The partial dividends received earlier will be returned to the Russian economy in the form of foreign investment, although their influx will be much smaller than the amount of financial resources that were transferred offshore.

Burdened by debts

In the recent years, enterprise owners have not only “pumped” profits, but also gotten themselves into large debt. Here is an example: three of Evraz Group’s businesses owe 54.4 billion rubles. But the total amount of dividends that Evraz Group received from these enterprises in 2005-2008 was 112.7 billion rubles. That’s twice as much as their debt. In the first quarter of 2009 these three enterprises were unprofitable, and practically had no chances to pay off their debt.

An even more dismal situation, according to the authors of the report, is occurring at the Metalloinvest Holding Co. On March 31, 2009 the total outstanding debt for credits and loans for the holding’s enterprises reached 185.5 billion rubles, and almost 49 billion rubles need to be paid within a year. It’s obvious that the 29 billion rubles of state securities will be enough to deal with nearly half of all short-term credit problems. At the end of the first quarter of 2009 all Metalloinvest enterprises were also unprofitable.

The situation of the Unlimited Joint-Stock Company, Mechel, is also close to catastrophic. The total debt for loans and credits of the company for March 31, 2009 amounted to 87 billion rubles, and 71 billion rubles needs to be paid by the end of the year. According to the results of the first quarter of 2009, Mechel will not have these funds by the end of the year.

The appointment of a new ambassador includes two key phases: obtaining the consent of the host country, the so-called agrément, and presentation of a letter of credence, which usually occurs soon after arrival in the country. Only after he presents his credentials does the ambassador assume full power. As a rule, interruptions between the two phases are quite rare and, according to interview with Izvestia’s experts, they usually happen not for political but for personal reasons – due to illness, for example. In Russia’s experience, after receiving the agrément an ambassador failed to arrive in a country only once – this was the case with Dmitry Ayatskov who had made remarks that were unacceptable for a diplomat. But this is clearly not the same as the current situation.

What will change if Zurabov does not go to Ukraine?

“Without exaggerating the role of an ambassador, I have to say that his prolonged absence during a critical time affects the quality of information exchanges,” Dmitry Ryurikov, former Russian ambassador to Denmark, explained to Izvestia, “and, of course, specific matters, including those in the economic sphere.”

The Russian Embassy in Kiev will, of course, continue its work. And while there’s there is no ambassador, our country will be represented by the Chargé d'affaires of Russia in Ukraine, Vsevolod Loskutov. The international legal definition of a chargé d'affaires was, for the first time, recorded in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 (Article 19). He is appointed, if the post of a head of a diplomatic mission has not been filled or if the head of mission is unable to perform his functions (due to departure, illness, withdrawal, etc.). The appointment usually takes place under a simplified scheme, which does not require the agrément. Chargé d'affaires enjoy the rights and privileges of heads of diplomatic missions, except for certain protocol honors.

However, there is a significant difference between an ambassador and a chargé d'affaires. It is considered that the former, unlike the latter, represents not only the country but also the head of state, by having his special trust. Thus he can accordingly, if it becomes necessary, address issues while avoiding any sort of formalities. On the one hand, the status of a chargé d'affaires priory is lower; on the other, not everything is determined by formalities and tradition in diplomacy.

“Theoretically, the presence of a chargé d'affaires, rather than the ambassador, should not affect normal relations,” said Ryurikov. “That is, of course, if the host country is constructively determined. Here, a lot depends on its wisdom. So far, the wisdom prerequisite has been lagging.”

“In Komsomolsk-on-Amur, three samples of fifth-generation combat aircraft have been made for a state defense order,” said the commander-in-chief. “The construction of the flying model is already coming to an end. I think the aircraft will fly this year.”

The fifth-generation fighter jet won’t be displayed at MAKS-2009. The Sukhoi company is focusing on the promotion of its new mid-range plane, the Sukhoi Super Jet. So it’s not the time for the prospective Aircraft System of Front-line Aviation (PAK FA). But the suppliers, on the other hand, are ready to advertise all its developmental achievements in full force. That’s understandable. The concept of the new fighter jet includes modularity of equipment, which makes it possible to integrate it, not only with the prospective fighter, but also those that are already operating.

Appearance does not matter?

The fifth-generation combat aircraft has been discussed for several years, but so far, no one has outlined its exact technical specifications. Commander-in-Chief Zelin only vaguely hints that the aircraft will have super-maneuverability, high intellectualization, a circular field of information, low visibility, and have the ability to fire targets from all angles. Some of the other capabilities are: multi-weapon-use capability, ability to simultaneously attack several air and ground targets with precision weapons, a powerful set of on-board defenses, and high flight efficiency and safety.

What this technological miracle looks like is a mystery. But experts say that aerodynamics is a very tricky science and has no surprises. Look at the American fighter F-22. If it were “crossbred” with the Su-35, then you would be likely to get an adequate picture of the PAK FA shape. There are many images on the Internet, but to us it seems that the designer, Alexander Dultsev, has more closely and precisely painted the prospective machine. And he did it in two variations at once: the common version with a normal wing such as the one of the Su-35 and F-22, and one that could result if the Sukhoi Company took over the Su-47 Berkut prototype that has swept-forward wings.

The eyes and ears of the fifth generation

“At the Salon, we will for the first time show the X-Band Active Phased-Array Antenna (APAA) for prospective fighter aircraft,” Yuriy Beliy, head of the Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design told Izvestia. “No country in the world has ever before displayed a similar functioning technology anywhere else.”

The frankness of our designers is understandable. The new APAA-based radar should become the main export of the country in the near future. Russia is the leader in development of such technology, and today, it’s important to show potential customers that that is precisely the case. Yuriy Beliy says that the antenna is primarily being created for the fifth-generation jet fighter, but with its capabilities and characteristics, it can be integrated with any other modern Russian jet fighter, be it Su-30 or MiG-35. In the Russian Air Force, the antenna will be placed on the Su-35s jet fighters. And it will be, according to the designer, just as good if not better than those antennae that stand on the American F-22 and F-35.

The Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute antenna is 1600 miniature receiver-transmitter modules combined into a single antenna field. Their power is equal to 10 Watts. According to Beliy, there is nothing like it in the world. This radar can see everything that takes place in the air and on the ground at a distance of several hundred kilometers. It can follow up to 30 targets, and simultaneously direct the weaponry of the jet to ten of these targets. And, as the designers say, simultaneously fire at them.

Virtual flight

“The fifth-generation jet,” says Givi Djandjgava, head of the Avionika Concern, “should handle large amounts of information that a person is unable adequately to absorb. Therefore, we are creating a highly intelligent military information machine that will independently sort through data and issue only the necessary information to the pilot.“

Avionika Concern has already shown the prototype fifth-generation fighter aircraft cockpit at a previous MAKS exhibition. Now, it is actively being worked on within the Su-35. Its key feature is the lack of analogous switch devices. Instead, there are two color LCD panels. The fifth-generation jet fighter will have the same feature.

The panels will provide the pilot with all necessary information by using a mode similar to the “picture-in-picture” television mode. And, according to Djandjgava, due to its complexity, the altitude and distance indicators are not displayed in a traditional manner, but as a picture representation. That is, the pilot can switch to a three-dimensional display of the surrounding areas: relief of the terrain, location of targets. Just as in a flight-simulator computer. And some of this information may be broadcast to the protective glass on the pilot’s helmet.

“Wouldn’t the person lose the feeling of reality from such a ‘computerized’ flight?” I asked the designer.

“No, the helmet glass will be transparent,” said Givi Djandjgava. “So he will be able to see what the devices are showing him as well as what is going on in reality.”

One of the main concepts of the Avionika Concern is the openness and modular architecture of the on-board equipment of aircraft. Therefore, fifth-generation developments will be useful to the Su-35, MiG-35, Ka-52 and even the prospective long-range civil airliner MS-21. Based on these developments, modernization of aircraft Tu-204, Tu-334 and other projects may be conducted.

Russia lags behind America in building the fifth-generation combat aircraft. Their "Predator" is already flying. But is that really so frightening? Much of what is needed for the new domestic machine has already been created, and is being upgraded and improved according to the demands of our time. This means that by the time our “fifth-generationist” takes off, it will be at the level of, and maybe better than its competitors.

The merit of this assertion is that it does not require any modern (to what extent have Russia’s relations been damaged with Germany, or say, China?) nor any historic (what was it like in 1999 and what is it like today?) confirmations. All that is needed is the mechanical repetition of a thesis – from which the thesis will start being accepted as is, and no one will ask to open the brackets.
In the meantime, why not open them and begin counting.

Relations with Japan have for many years depended on the problem with islands, which has neither regressed nor made any progress. Here, V.V. Putin neither added anything new nor did he subtract anything. No one has observed a deterioration of relations with China, India, Iran, or Latin America – rather, the opposite has occurred. Speaking of relations with leading Western powers, specifically the US, it’s worth mentioning that in 1999 Russia was openly called a “failed state” and ideas about introducing outside leadership were being openly discussed. In the summer of 1999, it became commonly accepted as good form to wipe one’s feet on Russia; every Western newspaper served as evidence to this. From such a point of reference, it’s not entirely clear what could have become worse. Unless surrendering the idea of outside leadership to the archives is considered as worsening the situation.

As for the post-Soviet space, towards which the deterioration thesis is applied with a special force, it’s worth listing all of the countries. If the relations with despotic Central Asian countries were shaky, it was in a narrow framework of statistical and historical errors. Turkmenistan remains a thing in itself, just as it was before. In Kyrgyzstan, the weak despot Akayev was replaced with a stronger tyrant, Bakiyev, a change which had little impact on relations with the more enlightened and reasonable Nazarbayev - they have always been smooth and fair, there is no need to talk about the fundamental deterioration in relations between the Tajik and Uzbek despots. This is nothing more than a statistical mistake.

In the Caucasus, relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia have remained normal and stable. With Georgia, they were completely broken off, but it’s not a fact that the case of Georgia is a fair reflection of all post-Soviet territory. Relations with Moldova have a jagged history, but to argue that, while ideal in the ’90s, they are now worse than ever is also impossible. In the ’90s, there were serious tensions with Ukraine under Kuchma, but the former Ukrainian president possessed a great skill in maintaining a balance, while keeping in mind Russian gas subsidies. Yushchenko fully rejected being balanced and took the European road – the results of which are well-known. Although it’s too early to read the final verdict to Russian-Ukrainian relations – it’s not quite the same case as with Georgia. Yushchenko, with the road that he chose to follow, is politically dead, while the pretenders for his post are more inclined towards the politics of Kuchma who, by killing with kindness, tried to get the best of both worlds. The Belarusian ally, with all of his Punic loyalty was quite stubborn under Yeltsin; he remains the same as he was. One may think that in the ’90s the phrase “casus foederis” (following treaty obligations - Izvestia), provoked Lukashenko immediately to lay down his life for Russia, and Putin ruined everything.

Relations with the Baltic States became cold immediately after 1991, and since then, have not warmed up in the least. The reason is simple: having gained their freedom and discovered that generally they are not needed by anyone, the Baltic States began selling their only asset and declaring themselves the outpost of Europe, protecting it from the darkness from the East. Whether the president of Russia was Putin, Kasyanov, or even Kasparov, in the sense of Baltic trade with the “darkness from the East”, nothing would have changed.

The most that can be imputed to Russian foreign policy is a great tendency to call things what they are. Although in the ’90s this wasn’t the case, which was just as ineffectual.

Read the article on the newspaper’s site (in Russian)

August 7 marked 200 days of the Barack Obama presidency, and I realized that I’m having a nocebo response: I simply cannot convince myself that our lives have become better with the newly elected US president. Globally, people like myself, are clearly a minority. Views on US foreign policy, in almost in all major countries which participated in the recent New Global Attitudes study, changed for the better by jumping by as much as 33 points in Germany and France, 22 point on Mexico, and 10 in India. If under George Bush 17% of respondents in 21 countries believed in the adequacy of the US actions in the international arena, then now swap the numbers – 71%.

But I remain skeptical. Not so much because US foreign policy is still determined by the ace of trumps, and kings and queens from a bethumbed deck, from which the wrap was removed decades ago. And not because many appointments, at the jacks-level, cast doubt on the substance of the 44th head of the White House. For example, more than half of the 60 newly appointed ambassadors are low level political functionaries who collected money for the president’s electoral campaign, and are not professionals in their field. Yet, they are being sent to work in countries such as Japan, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium (where the NATO and the EU headquarters are located) South Africa, and Switzerland. My reason for being skeptical is different. I will refer to the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua: “The president changed the tone of American policy ... But the world is still waiting, will Obama’s good gestures be followed by real actions.”

What continues to happen time after time? First, the US leader – accompanied by the usual applause - makes some strong statement on an important international issue and pledges to seek change. Then comes the period of ominous silence. Nothing positive or concrete happens.

One of Obama’s favorite expressions is “let me be clear”. It is assumed that this expression must indicate firm beliefs and adherence to principles. But there are more and more inconsistencies. It used to be: “I want to clearly say: the United States assumed a long-term commitment to support the democratically elected sovereign governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan”. Now it’s: “I want to clearly say: we cannot turn a blind eye to corruption, due to which the Afghanis are losing faith in their leaders”. According to Alexander Cockburn, The Nation columnist, just as George Bush’s particularly shifty eyes indicated that he was lying, now Obama’s oft mentioned catch phrase is the precursor of embarrassment.

The American administration has been the only one in the world that did not officially condemn the military coup in Honduras while it was still ‘hot’. In the end, the US president said that he considered the coup “illegal”, but later, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked at a press conference, whether or not the restoration of democracy will return the ousted President Zelaya to power, she avoided answering the question twice.

About 130,000 American troops and the same number (or more) of mercenaries remain stationed in Iraq. When, who and where to will they be withdrawn?

July was the bloodiest month for the US and its allies in Afghanistan, since the invasion in 2001. The Guantanamo Bay prison continues to operate, and there are doubts that it will be closed this year, with the signing of the presidential order number one. (But how beautifully, in terms of PR, did he sign it – just a few hours after the inauguration!)

As the bill on preventing climate change moves through the Congress, it increasingly “begins to resemble a huge fish from the Hemingway novel, The Old Man and the Sea, eaten to the bone” (a metaphor from the Newsweek magazine).

The US talks about the importance of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and condemns the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, but it is difficult to lose the impression that Tel-Aviv (Jerusalem) will continue doing as it wants. Last Tuesday, Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said that in a few weeks the US will present a plan for the resolution of the conflict in the Middle East, and Israel will have to be one of the first countries to adopt it. An enviable awareness.

Other than the president, a leading player in the conduct of American foreign policy is played by the Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. “If I were a leader of a foreign country and could not reach Obama,” wrote David Rothkopf in the Foreign Policy journal, “I would probably first - even before Hillary and Jim Jones (national security advisor) – go to Rahm.” Shortly after the appointment of this driven person, nicknamed “Rambo”, who served as a volunteer at an Israeli military base during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, his father commented on his new position in an interview with Maariv newspaper: “Of course he will be influencing the president to take a pro-Israeli position… What is he, an Arab or something? He’s not planning on washing the floors in the While House after all.”

If you can find the time, watch the famous old movie Casablanca –Barak Obama’s favorite movie. You may notice some similarities between a charming main character Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, and the President of the United States. In addition to the purely external similarities (not considering skin color), there is also the way they speak and hold themselves, even the tone of their voice. The only difference is that Rick was able to act.

The question that many ask is: in 2005, in the new “National Security Strategy”, George Bush proclaimed the right and intention of the US to strike any country at any time and as Washington wishes - why not withdraw from this aggressive doctrine, Obama? Naive. The key to the current US administration is to pretend, and not to “be”. But a placebo does not cure severe illnesses, and one day, an end comes to even the most intrusive, most tremulous expectations.

Read the article on newspaper's website (in Russian)

The nuclear era began in the hope that science could bring happiness to the human race. In the 21st century, epochal discoveries were followed by machine gun fire. As Pitirim Sorokin calculated, the 21st century brought 8,527 discoveries and innovations – more than in all previous centuries combined. Anyone living in that era believed that thanks to scientific progress, a golden age would soon follow. Science became the new religion; this was vividly demonstrated in Jules Verne's novels, which were the triumphant anthem of its omnipotence. The new romantic hero became the pontiff of science, a scientist who dreaded romantic affections and was solely enraptured by serving his scientific muse. Jules Verne foresaw many things, but the idea of a nuclear bomb was not noticed in the fog by the great futurist.

The Machine Age, with its triumph of machines, led to a revision of secular values. As a result, man gradually began to transform into machine. The 20th century became the century of never-before-seen brutality in war, mass genocide, repressions and the cutting down of entire countries.

Hiroshima, however, is still a special case. While humankind's ability to innovate undoubtedly increased enormously, whether or not man began to look more human and less like a machine remained an open question. Despite the universal ban on nuclear tests, leading powers continue to perfect nuclear weapons, and some countries are very likely to be preparing a hollow nuclear bomb.

Ten years after the first nuclear explosion, we know a little about the damaging effects of radiation, but we also know that it’s not so difficult to make an atomic bomb. To do that, no strong economy or universities are needed. In addition, without any special efforts, the lethal factor of the nuclear weapons can be increased many times over. It's easy – the bomb’s shell needs to be made out of metal that absorbs all neutrons, and then for many years gives off high levels of radioactivity. Zinc bombs are good, cobalt ones are even better. The best ones are bombs with bismuth shells, which will result in highly poisonous polonium. To make precise calculations of the damaging effects of such a bomb is impossible.

The main characteristic of a nuclear weapon is that it’s easier to destroy all humanity than a part of it. The Atomic Era is a complete haze. Could Hitler have made a nuclear bomb? Why didn’t the Soviet Union fear the German bomb as much as the US? If the USSR did not make its bomb, would America continue to multiply Hiroshimas? How would the world look like if only one country had nuclear weapons? And how would things look if there were no nuclear weapons at all? Would the USSR have made a bomb if the United States were not successful with theirs? And if the USSR acquired the bomb first, would a Soviet Hiroshima have happened? These questions are not abstract -- they are crucial for future policy.

Was Hiroshima a victim used to ensure that nuclear weapons were not used again? In that case, it would be more appropriate to speak of sacrifice, for the residents of Hiroshima did not agree to the nuclear bombardment. How should the pontiff be named then?

The separate portal model, developed in the style of the official Kremlin website, should be completed by November. More information about this is available at www.zakupki.gov.ru. On the website, it is expected that one could find phone numbers of the Kremlin “postman”, evaluate its staff (“the page will contain detailed information on officials”), and to see what other countries are writing to the president.

One could send the president an email even today (by going to the official website www.kremlin.ru); but an opportunity to be personally seen is an important novelty. And, if not by the head of state himself, then certainly by some key figures of his administration. Officials are obliged to receive citizens no less than twice a year. This applies to the head of the presidential administration, all deputies, heads of departments, presidential assistants and advisers. The schedule has already been confirmed and will be published on the web portal.

Starting this year Medvedev began to actively restructure the foundations laid under Yeltsin and Putin of the system of communication with constituents. In January, it became possible to leave comments on his video blog (there are already over 25,000 comments). In April, a presidential blog was launched on LiveJournal (it’s followed by almost 10,000 people) and in May, the status of the public reception room of the presidential administration was upgraded to the status of the public reception room of the president himself. In June, Medvedev replaced the head of the constituent services department. And, in addition to everything, he held two personal videoconferences, assigned plenipotentiaries to open receptions in federal district centers, and confirmed a meeting timetable between constituents and senior officials of his administration.

“I believe that it is highly necessary to ensure that our citizens have a direct channel of communication,” Medvedev said recently, while lamenting about the fact that “even in order to make a decision to establish a pedestrian underpass, we often have to turn to Moscow to the president.”

According to experts, Medvedev is trying to change the bureaucratic machine, which traditionally poorly transfers the signals from the “bottom”: departments are writing run-around replies, no one keeps a record of repeat messages, and complaints are “slipping into” that same structure about which people are complaining.

“After the collapse of the Soviet Union, perhaps it was the reply system that suffered most of all,” says Olga Kryshtanovskaya, head of the Center for Elite Studies at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “Committees of public control disappeared, people simply ceased to understand where they could turn to regarding their problems. It seems that Medvedev is trying to establish a valuable system of feedback.”

Bets have been placed on the electronic format. According to the Director of the Institute for Information Freedom Development Elena Golubeva, it’s much cheaper (“it won’t be necessary to travel to Moscow”) and faster (“to make an appointment, one won’t need to knock on numerous doors”). Finally, this is exactly what’s necessary during a crisis, when there is less money and a greater desire to reach those at the top.

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Question: Why did you decide to share the full story now and not a year ago when you were still following the hot traces of the events?

Answer: For many reasons. First, I was not fired immediately – I was fired slowly and painfully. I was basically banned from being on air, but I was formally employed by the TVP until April 30. For this reason, I tried to follow corporate etiquette. One cannot publicize “in house” conflicts if the “house” is still technically theirs. Second, until the last moment, I wanted to believe that it was some sort of a misunderstanding, and that people, who swore that they weren’t aware of any plots against me, told the truth, but alas… Recently I was in Warsaw and saw my case file. Any doubts I might have had melted away. Some of these people, who not only were aware of what was going on, but were personally compiling paperwork with requests for my dismissal also. So, there are no more reasons for me to be silent.

Q: So what was the terrible thing that you committed?

A: My main crime was my attempt to cover the South Ossetian events from a different point of view by not taking Mikhail Saakashvili’s position (as did most of our media sources). As soon as the night bombing of Tskhinval became known, I went on air and said: to drop missiles on a sleeping city is a true crime. Many in Warsaw did not like this. Back there, the conflict was covered from an entirely different position. It’s worth mentioning that the leadership of the TVP informational programs then directly answered to the Presidential Palace, and our president Lech Kaczynski is friends with Saakashvili.

Though, until the time when Russia entered the war, my commentary was permitted to go on air. But after Russian tanks moved in to help South Ossetian residents, no dissent was possible. Everyone was repeating, as if they were programmed: Russia has committed acts of aggression; it attacked the sovereign, democratic Georgia. However, I was able to once or twice ask questions regarding this issue live on air. I asked: why doesn’t anyone recall who started the war, who attacked Tskhinval? After one such escapade, my boss called me from Warsaw and severely criticized me.

Q: How did she formulate her claims? After all, she couldn’t have openly said that this was a political order – to support Saakashvili and accuse Russia.

A: She said that I was to be balanced in my evaluations and not to give in to my emotions. She also said that the leadership made a decision not to send me to Tskhinval, that a second TVP Moscow correspondent is now on vacation and cannot return and that I was to cover the capital – just in case something happened there.

Even when I worked at a different Polish TV company, TVN, similar situations arose – a substitute was immediately sent from Warsaw. I went to “hot zones” in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine. I am considered a war correspondent and I cover all major conflicts. The viewers are accustomed to seeing, as soon as shots are fired somewhere, Bater on the frontlines. And here, they’re shooting not somewhere in Afghanistan, but right here by my side. Moreover, by using my old connections, I got the Russian authorities to allow me to enter Tskhinval. That wasn’t easy to do. After all, in the past, we often had some friction. But this time, everything went smoothly. And TVP could have become the only international channel to report from the city. But, I was being told: stay in Moscow. It was terribly upsetting!

Q: In other words, your channel covered the war from one side only – the Georgian side?

A: Well, yes. Several filming crews flew into Tbilisi. I was only able to accomplish getting my operator, Ilya Dobrishevsky, to Tskhinval. He spent two days filming a story there. I made a voiceover for it and sent it to Warsaw. I was hoping it would get sent to air and this improper situation would be corrected, at least a little. I mean, you just can’t cover a conflict from only one side. One cannot so blatantly demonstrate their double standard. This is blazing unprofessionalism. This is not journalism, but pure propaganda. We have never worked like this!

Q: But did that story air?

A: That’s the thing – no! An hour after I sent the story, my friends from Warsaw began calling me and telling me that the management was enraged: “How could Bater send us such coverage? Does he really think that we’ll allow saying such things about Georgia on air?!”

Q: And what were those terrible things that were said?

A: Well, what do you think the people who were caught in artillery bombardment and lived through the invasion of a foreign army were going to say? We did not add anything personal – we let the residents of Tskhinval speak for themselves. They spoke about the genocide of the Ossetian people; about them never being able to live in the same state as Georgians, that Saakashvili is a war criminal. I’m sure that if some Georgian in Gori or Kutaisi called Putin or Medvedev a war criminal – TVP would allow that phrase to go on air without any problems.

Q: Did the management explain to you why the story wasn’t aired?

A: No one explained anything to me. Actually, they practically stopped talking to me altogether. Among the TVP staff members, however, the story became a hit. The film was copied several times and given to friends. Everyone wanted to know what the reason for such a scandal was, why Bater was not allowed to go on air. Then, passions subsided and the story was put on a shelf – just as during the communist times.

Q: But you continued to work for TVP?

A: Formally – yes. But I was removed from the latest stories. The second Moscow correspondent returned. And from Warsaw’s point of view, she worked flawlessly. And as for me, my bewildered colleagues called me to let me know what the management was saying about me. Bater, as it turns out, is the “fifth column”. He sold out to Russians and works for the special services. And, of course, only a lazy person did not recall my “special interest” in the Caucasus.

Q: What is this “special interest”?

A: I have a wife – she’s Abkhazian. We have been married for 13 years. We met here, in Moscow, in a café. So, now these same people that came to visit us and sat at our table are now telling us that due to family and personal connections I cannot objectively cover the conflict in Caucasus.

Q: So the Caucasus stories were off-limits for you since that time?

A: I remember I was once called to go on air as a “hot zones” expert. This was in November when a peculiar incident occurred during President Kaczynski’s visit to Georgia. Together with Saakashvili, he went to a frontline zone, where their cortege was allegedly fired at from a Russian checkpoint. Then I said that I did not believe this version. I carefully reviewed the film and followed Saakashvili’s guards. They were surprisingly calm. Bodyguards simply do not behave this way when there is an emergency situation and the head of state is facing real danger. There was a feeling that they were expecting the shots. And then – remember how Saakashvili fled in panic from Russian aircraft in Gori, hiding behind his bodyguards. How is it that he so cold-bloodily survived the shooting?

That is what I reported on air and once again departed from the general line. The line was to celebrate Kaczynski’s heroism. “Pan President was fearless and did not cringe in fear of the Russian bullets,” said various reports.

Q: What a nasty, soviet pathos. Is all Polish press the same?

A: Fortunately, not all. There are newspapers and TV channels that do not stoop down to such blatant flattery. But in TVP, the situation with freedom of speech is not good. And I’m not only talking about the war in Caucasus, but about how the recent European Parliament elections were covered. All news stories began with pre-election meetings of the Libertas Party, who are extreme right with a nationalistic slant. It ultimately failed in the elections by winning slightly over 1% of the vote. But the chief government-sponsored television (TVP in Poland – it is your first and second button in one) was fully pushing the nationalists forward. All because it is now headed by a man who sympathizes with Libertas.

When I hear about how these people teach others how to live, and criticize them for suppressing freedom of speech, I cannot suppress my laughter. Who are they to talk?

Q: So, it turns out that you are currently unemployed?

A: Yes, DHL sent me the official notice of termination of contract. Of course, no one says anything about the hidden political motives. The official version is economizing. I am too costly for the company. It’s ironic that two years ago, when I came to work for TVP, all Polish cities were covered with giant posters where I stood on the foreground on St. Basil’s Cathedral. They read: “Wiktor Bater: here the information is born”. In other words, they lured the “star” away from the competitors, and now Bater will be reporting on Russia and “hot zones” to our viewers. That advertising campaign cost millions of zloty. And for some reason, at that time, no one mentioned economizing…

Q: Will you really remain like this, out of work?

A: No, I hope not. And, I definitely don’t regret anything. There are some very interesting offers. But, I don’t want to talk about them now – I’m afraid I’ll jinx them.

Read the article in Russian

Judicial hello from the USSR

The legal search system gave 5,133 documents dated from 1917 to 1990 marked as “active”. We began to flip the pages, and immediately stumbled upon a decision of the Moscow Soviet of People's Deputies (Mossovet) executive committee on censorship (“On the procedure of opening and operating entertainment business” from February 20, 1953).

One article is simply priceless: “Public performance of any production without prior permission from the authorities controlling the repertoire is forbidden.” It seemed to us that the Main Administration for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press (Glavlit) was dissolved in 1991, but who knows… We called [popular singer] Andrey Makarevich, just to make sure.

“Are there many restrictions now?”
“No, thank God,” said Makarevich. “Neither in Moscow nor in any other city has anyone demanded to adjust the repertoire since the Gorbachev times – and I hope it stays like that forever.”
“During Soviet times, who was your main censor – Ministry of Culture or Glavlit?”
“Ha ha! First it was the editor of RosConcert. Then, it was the Ministry of Culture corresponding editor, and after everything was approved by the Art Council of the Ministry of Culture – it was sent to Glavlit. In general, it was quite a meaningless procedure. We simply spent months without work. That’s all.”
The texts were not fully enforced, nor were they annulled.

Today, the 1953 document contradicts the Constitution without consequences. The next discovery (September 30, 1980 Mossovet decision “On the liability for breach of the peace in Moscow”) contradicted common sense. Those playing musical instruments on the street, square or courtyard, for example, faced fines. And, it is forbidden to use tape recorders and radios “set on maximum volume” (apparently there were no headphones).
“The document isn’t fully enforced, nor has it been annulled,” says Nikolai Averchenko, senior lawyer at the Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners. “Although, legally, a person can be sued for the use of radios and still be fined for cheering on sports stands (the document forbids the creation noise at sporting events).”
“Why hasn’t it been annulled – did they forget about it?”
“Of course, this is a basic legislative negligence. And the court is likely to be on the side of the accused, because the modern Administrative Violations Code (AVC) does not have such formulations of administrative offenses.
Discounts for Bolsheviks

We would like to mention separately the benefits that survive to this day in non-monetary form. To this day, the decree by the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, dated February 28, 1930, is still active. Based on this decree, many not-so-poor people in Russia qualify for additional living space (room or 10 sq. m.) from the state.
These people include, for example, those in charge “of party workers, co-operatives and other public organizations”, and “mixed joint-stock institutions” (say, an especially-needy general director of a firm) - even former members of the society of political convicts and old Bolsheviks, if there are any. And finally, dentists who have a private practice at home. If they wish, researchers, Soviet artists and sculptors, writers and composers may claim additional space of “no less than 20 sq. m.” (Council of People's Commissars [Sovnarkom] RSFSR ruling, 1933).

“There is practically no chance of winning in court,” smiles Nikolai Averchenko. “But to be able to go to court in Russia with 1930 documents is amusing.”

The problem, he believes, is that when the new Housing Code was adopted, the old legislation was not fully cleaned out. In this sense, the 1967 rule on the exchange of living accommodation looks even more absurd. Quote: “exchange is not permitted”, if it is “speculative”. By presenting this 1960s document in court, one could, theoretically, cancel most of today’s transactions on apartment exchanges.

As we continue to flip through the pages, we find the Supreme Soviet RSFSR decree dated November 1, 1990. It guarantees pregnant women and nursing mothers “free distribution of food produced by state farms” (however, “the rules of distribution are established by the labor collective”, and it may get greedy during the crisis).

For those who do not give birth, but travel (or send others to business trips), it will be interesting to know what hotel costs are allowed in accordance with the instruction “On official business trips within the USSR”, published by order of the USSR Council of Ministers on March 18, 1988 (and not canceled). So: “no more than 5 rubles per day in Moscow, Leningrad and the capitals of Soviet republics, 4 rubles per day in other cities and regional centers, and 3 rubles per day in other locations”. As the saying goes – don’t deny yourselves anything. Feel as if you are comrades, ladies and gentlemen!

And, if you were a farmer and sold goods not at the market price, pocketing the difference, then theoretically you could still be sentenced to jail according to the article “On theft of Public Property” (see the USSR Supreme Court ruling March 14, 1975 “On judicial practice in cases of misleading customers”). This is also equated with speculative buying and resale of alcoholic beverages with the goal of profit. So it turns out that all stores selling alcohol must urgently be shut down and the owners sent to jail.
Amusing incidents of the wild ‘90s

Today, it’s funny to read that “an owner of radio-electronic means, using Wi-Fi technology, must obtain permission to use a radio frequency spectrum”. Though a similar decision by the State Commission on radio frequencies was passed not so long ago - in 2004. So, if one bought a mobile phone or a laptop – they had to march through bureaucracy.

What is there to say about the wild ‘90s? The rule that color printers were required to be put on record at a police station was canceled ... only this year. And, “Standard time for cleaning the toilet floors” approved by the Ministry of Construction and Architecture (Minstroi) order of November 15, 1994 is still active. To wash the floor in a toilet – 1.33 minutes are allocated to mopping - exactly 0.686 minutes per square meter.
“Someone must have measured the time for cleaning toilets as done by professional janitors,” laughs Alexei Tikhomirov of Nikolayev & Partners.

As a modern amusing incident, lawyer, Andrei Knyazev cited the “Memo for those traveling abroad” as an example, signed by the head of the Russian Agency for Health and Consumer Rights, Gennady Onishchenko last year. The language vividly recalled the stupid American taboos, such as “singing in bathing suits is prohibited”. Russian tourists abroad are “forbidden to lie on the beach without an underlay and walk without shoes”.
“Every rule should foresee sanctions for its violation. It’s good to know that in this case there are no sanctions,” smiles Andrei Knyazev.

The Mossovet decision from March 20, 1953 relates to a series of the amusing taboos: in a shooting range, it is unacceptable ... to have “simultaneous shooting by children and adults”. Here, a fine is applied. Keep in mind, this document was never canceled.

Also, we are no worse than Denmark, where a law exists that allows driving only if in the front of the vehicle there is a person running, or waving a red flag while warning horse carriages and pedestrians of danger. In Russia, on the other hand, traffic rules from 1993 continue to be applied…

“On the eve of the adoption of a new law, whether or not a definition of a driver will include a: ‘driver, leading trained horses or simply a herd’, will be decided by the lawmakers; but this looks not only amusing but also dangerous,” believes Pavel Astakhov, lawyer. “In the list of failures and conditions which prohibit the operation of vehicles, almost every item is out of date.”

Street cleaners and the People’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (NKVD)
We asked the Chairman of the State Duma Legislation Committee, Pavel Krasheninnikov, what other anachronisms remain, and how the members of parliament are wrestling with them.

“Many have buried the law on cooperation in the USSR of 1988, but some of its articles are still valid,” Krasheninnikov said. “People even manage to register garage co-operatives under a separate law that does not exist. But in general, there are practically no old system acts left.”

They were gradually replaced. Thousands of obsolete regulations have gone into history in connection with the adoption of the Civil, Water, Land and Housing Codes.
“When the latter was being adopted,” continued Krasheninnikov, “several thousand obsolete acts were canceled on a federal level – they got mixed into a sort of granary of books. You know, after all, who was in charge of the Housing and Public Utilities in the USSR?”
Izvestia: The Ministry of Public Utilities

“That was at the end. Primarily the NKVD {predecessor of the KGB] took care of that. Street sweepers were agents – fighters against crime. For this reason, these acts, which were signed by Beria and Yezhov, survived until the adoption of the Housing Code in Russia. Can you imagine? Until 2005!” exclaims Krasheninnikov.
Izvestia: And now, who is working on cleaning out the legislation of old regulations?
“Now, as a matter of fact, we are cleaning by adopting new codes. For every code, we are preparing an enactment law and specify the acts that are to be canceled. There are also backup files that state that acts which contradict the law are not active. But before, the scheme was as follows: a law, decree or governmental order passed - and the Ministry of Justice compiled a list of acts that were to be declared null and void, and a second list - which acts should be amended. Today, unfortunately, this work is not being done,” the committee chairman says.

Read on the newspaper's website (in Russian)

“The Perfect Storm” for Deripaska

The video with a memorable scene between Vladimir Putin and Oleg Deripaska during a meeting in Pikalevo is still very popular on the Internet. Remember that the prime minister not only made the oligarch sign the contract on the settlement of debt owed to employees of the rebellious city, but eloquently demanded for him to even return the pen. This scene best describes the situation of the, until recently, country's wealthiest businessman, as do the prime minister’s offensive words: “You have made thousands of people hostages of your ambitions, lack of professionalism, or perhaps, simply greed. This is unacceptable.”

Although it must be said that Deripaska always said that he was prepared to hand over his business to the state. When, last fall, he was on the verge of bankruptcy, and asked for a multi-billion ruble assistance from the government, that is exactly what happened: in exchange for their assistance, government representatives took over all managing bodies of Oleg Deripaska’s empire.

This businessman’s losses related to the crisis are worthy of the Guinness Book of Records. According to various estimates, he lost $25 - $38 billion. Not too long ago, he was among the 10 richest people in the world, and now he doesn’t know how to pay off his debts. For Deripaska, the crisis was the “perfect storm” because he bought precisely those assets that the global financial disaster hit hardest. From metallurgy (the aluminum industry carries the greatest losses) to engineering (he has several auto businesses, the sales of which dropped drastically) and property developments (the real estate market froze).

But the crisis teaches its lessons and it seems that, with the help of the government, Deripaska, after having lost almost everything, began to once again rebuild his empire by applying the “who has never tasted bitter, knows not what is sweet” principle. Just yesterday it was reported that Deripaska was able to reschedule the Gorky Automobile Plant debt, postponing it for 5 years. This week, United Company Rusal transferred 300 million rubles for the construction of Boguchanskaya hydroelectric power plant (HPP). And, according to the results of the first half of this year, the aluminum giant managed to reduce costs by as much as 27% - an unprecedented result. This means that the production became more efficient by one-fourth. By the end of the year, the company plans to “shed” another 7%, and in the third quarter, United Company Rusal simply expects a global price increase for aluminum. In an extreme case, it could sell some assets (Vladimir Potanin still hasn’t lost his interest in the NorNikel package). So, one could expect him to get out of the situation.

Abramovich economizes…

The story about how Roman Abramovich, in Baku, ordered sushi from a London restaurant, Ubon, which, including delivery fees, cost him $40,000 is being discussed in England. However, in reality, the times of such gestures have passed – even for the owner of Chelsea FC. Of course, he lost less than some other oligarchs because he acted at the right time and advantageously sold his oil business. But he held on to the metallurgic business, meanwhile the price of all assets, according to some estimates, fell by more than $10 billion.

So, now he economizes. Not on yachts, of course, but at least on dividends. He doesn’t have his old force. According to a business resource, Solon.ru, Evraz Group dividends, which Abramovich co-owns, in 2008 could have become the greatest in the history of Russian ferrous metallurgy. After just the first half of 2008, the shareholders could have been paid slightly less than $1 billion. But the crisis redrew the plans of the company that is burdened by large debts (in 2009 $2 billion was to be paid to creditors): dividends for 2008 won’t be paid and, for the semi-annual interest payment, the shareholders will receive only about $700 million. Though it must be said that Evraz, along with Alexei Mordashov’s Severstal, remains one of the first companies in the country to pay dividends. So, Abramovich won’t run out of money.

…and Mordashov is buying Canadian gold

Another leading Russian ferrous metallurgist – Alexei Mordashov, CEO of Severstal, is also not wasting any of his time. Recently, he proposed to literally “shower with gold” the shareholders of the Canadian gold mining company, High River Gold. He paid them for their shares almost double what they cost before they were purchased. And that’s for minority shareholders – Mordashov had already received the High River control package of shares. For him, the Canadian company is not only the mines in Burkina Faso but also in our Buryatia. This was his latest revenge for the lost battle over the control of Arcelor company against the Indian magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

One does not need to get into the details of mergers and acquisitions to understand that Mordashov is not doing so badly. Yes, at the height of the crisis he lost up to $18 billion. Yes, the company still has debts, estimated at almost $7 billion. But the debt is declining, and in June Sberbank delivered a credit in the amount of $300 million. The overall situation in the industry has also stabilized. So, there’s even the possibility to engage in acquisitions.

Lisin – media-magnet

One of the most cautious oligarchs, Vladimir Lisin, also does not feel too bad against the backdrop of the crisis. Having lost up to $13 billion at the height of financial cataclysms, and having fallen from 21st spot of world’s richest people rating to 93rd he, as if nothing happened, continued to count his profits and contemplate increasing his business.

Some time ago, Lisin began his work as a steelmaker’s assistant and now, his main asset is the Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), one of the most modern steel companies in Russia. This week, NLMK published a second quarter report for 2009 which makes it clear that the situation at the plant is greatly improving. Operational revenues skyrocketed by 322% and reached $49 million. Of course, that’s less than in the last year. World prices on metal are still low. But the price of raw materials also declined sharply, so metallurgists are not feeling too badly. They can even allow themselves certain luxuries.

Lisin, for example, in July of this year bought the United Media Holding, which includes Business FM, 98 Hits, and Kino FM. The deal is estimated at $20 million. The oligarch already has the newspaper Gazeta, so this won’t be his first media asset.

Potanin and Prokhorov: divorce against protocol

Mikhail Prokhorov was the luckiest in the crisis. The young businessman, who always stood in the back rows of the union of oligarch, overnight became a star and almost the business poster for the “young aggressive Russian business”. All because Prokhorov successfully sold his assets, which he acquired during the division of property with Vladimir Potanin. There was enough Interros wealth to make two billionaires.

Potanin’s main problem was that the complicated and protracted division of property with his former partner overlapped with the economic crisis. And while Prokhorov was happy about the timely shares he sold, Potanin tried to turn the difficult situation around with his considerable assets. Potanin’s former partner also put a lot of effort into making sure that his future did not seem too easy: he sold his NorNikel assets to Deripaska (the transaction was marred only by the fact that the head of Rusal was not yet able to fully pay his dues), he voted against allocating energy shares, launched the idea of merging NorNikel with other companies, and at the height of the crisis refused to financially support the Potanin development company, which he co-owned.

Potanin opposed the fiery and outrageous style of his former partner with an outwardly unenviable image of someone who follows the rules, unavailingly appealing to the obligations of the opponent in the numerous, but resulting to be useless, joint protocols.

The different tactics in the crisis yielded various results for the partners. Mikhail Prokhorov, who became a permanent character of the high-society chronicles, has an army of Internet fans, and took first place in the Forbes rating, is the only businessman “without problems” in this crisis era. One of the “main victims” of the crisis, on the other hand, Vladimir Potanin, kept almost all previously assets jointly owned with Prokhorov, including NorNikel, and even declared his willingness, if need be, to buy out Rusal’s 25% stake in the company that at one point belonged to Prokhorov. So it seems that he, too, is not doing so badly.

Besides, Potanin managed to find a remedy to oppose his former partner’s tactics. Now, if an agreement on joint assets is not met, the head of Interros simply sells them - including to himself - at a discount. And, suddenly, Prokhorov will need to play the role of a follower. Recently, he had to protest the sale of the assets of the debt-burdened company, Open Investments, to certain Interros partners. However, the transaction took place quickly and without unnecessary protocols. So, it’s most likely that this fall, this protracted business saga will be finalized. And, despite the crisis, Potanin and Prokhorov will come out of it with what they wanted.

BOX Berezovsky sues everyone

When speaking of oligarchs, it’s impossible not to remember the classics. Residing in London, their patriarch, Boris Berezovsky, became dramatically active during the crisis. He also does not leave any hope to wrap the ongoing redistribution in his favor. Time Magazine recently reported about how, in two adjacent rooms of a London court, two high-profile cases involving Berezovsky were heard. In one courtroom his lawsuit against Roman Abramovich was being played out: Berezovsky is trying to win $3.3 billion from the world-famous billionaire claiming that he, with help from Kremlin, had allegedly forced him to sell Sibneft and Rusal shares. In the courtroom next door, Oleg Deripaska was trying to appeal against the decision of a British court that allowed Mikhail Cherney to sue him in England. Cherney is demanding from Deripaska a 20% stake in Rusal, and Berezovsky, according to the publication, is testifying in favor of Cherney.

At the same time, Berezovsky is making claims for a share of the Metalloinvest company, divorcing his wife, suing a television company for slander and trying to win back the commission he paid on a yacht – Time notes with humor. In addition, the disgraced oligarch is also fighting for the inheritance of his partner, Badri Patarkatsishvili, who left him in an untimely manner.

But, all of this activity has not yet yielded any results: Berezovskiy’s attempts to regain at least the shadow of his former influence in Russian industry have been to no avail. And, Abramovich and Deripaska simply don’t notice him: they are using all of their strength for the salvation of the metallurgical business.

“That’s it! Enough with bacchanalia in our units! It’s embarrassing to look at these reports!” With these words began yesterday’s video-conference between the Minister of Interior, Rashid Nurgaliev and regional leaders and of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate (STSI) and Main Internal Affairs Directorate. The minister recalled several sensational road traffic accidents that occurred due to the fault of police officers. And, the majority of these accidents occurred while they were operating official government vehicles. He said that such nuisance has become so common that he, himself, even witnessed one such accident.
In short, this cannot continue any longer. The minister reminded everyone that police officers do not have more rights on the roads than anyone else.
“Everyone – government officials, law enforcement officials – has equal rights and obligations, the same as any other driver. And, I demand that from now on this be observed,” frowned the minister.
The interior minister’s anger is understandable. Even the Russian government has become concerned, due to recent major traffic accidents. State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov has proposed to increase the severity of punishment for drink driving, and Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Legislation, Pavel Krasheninnikov, has demanded the transfer of the Traffic Law to federal jurisdiction.

“A person who gets behind the wheel of a car drunk is a criminal!” Nurgaliev told regional police authorities. “Be ruthless when dealing with these issues and deny licenses to drunk drivers.”
Theoretically, the average number of traffic law offenses has recently decreased. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs data, in the first half of the year there were more than 10,000 fatalities related to traffic accidents – that’s 13.4% less than during the same time period of last year. However, all these statistics are spoiled by high-profile traffic accidents committed by law enforcement officials.

“I order all Main Internal Affairs Directorate officials to conduct re-licensing of all staff in charge of auto-transport, and to generate a report in one month,” ordered Nurgaliev.
Moreover, police officials will have to undergo a medical re-examination and re-evaluation for driving in extreme conditions.
“After all, if an official is unable to act in extreme situations, then he must immediately be discharged. We don’t have the right to be negligent when it comes to people’s lives,” explained the minister.
“This is a driving skills test, including in extreme situations,” explained the Ministry of Interior press-service. “It aims to ensure that, during a criminal chase, for example, innocent people do not suffer from the unskilled actions of law enforcement officials.”

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For those curious about the world government web site, there is a video of a meeting of the “organizers.” It ends in the best tradition of conspiracy theories, with the words: “We must disappear, as if we had never existed.” What it could mean is not absolutely clear, but it is very intriguing. Surely every government must have their own currency. So, dhana is the currency of that Republic of the Earth.

“Money is nothing more than a fake timeless promissory note” says the proclamation. “Dollar, euro, pound, yen, are used only to burden the government with debt… How can the situation be changed? The only way to change it would be the appearance of a monetary means with a real value, which represented labor and was produced by the workers. Dhana was released especially for this.”

The new monetary system is simple. One dhana is equal to one gram of platinum, or one hour of any kind of labor. Some problems, however, may arise with labor. By having established a fixed price (1 dhana) for an hour of work, the organizers have instantaneously brought all inhabitants of the Earth to communism. Theoretically any person could receive as many dhanas as he wants. If you like the simple and unassuming existence, dig up a tree in six minutes, get one dhana to pay for your lunch, and then you’re free to continue napping. If you want more, work for at least a day. Also, there won’t be any difference between a loader and a mathematics professor. If you want, you can write a book, or rule the government -- either way, you will be getting 1 dhana per hour. In practice, everything is much more complicated.

Italian MMM

Where does one need to work in order to receive the new money? It turns out that your labor is not needed by anyone in the Republic of the Earth – dhanas will be exchanged for very real money like rubles, dollars or euros. On the dhana Web site, its rate is calculated based on the market price of one gram of platinum. In other words, today it can be purchased for 1,164 rubles, $37 or €26.

There is another discrepancy. It is proposed that no more than 100 dhanas be issued per person. The world government reasons that there may soon be not enough money, and just as in any deficit, the value of dhana will rise. In short, buy those beautiful papers and wait until they make you richer.

So upon closer examination, dhana suspiciously resembles the memorable MMM tickets. They were also sold for real rubles, after which people were told to wait until they increased in value -- until the moment Sergey Mavrodi became the focus of a criminal investigation.

The whole situation with dhanas is very similar to the MMM story. Izvestia learned that dhanas have already been investigated by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza (Finance Police). In 2004, the Italian National Commission for Listed Companies and Stock Exchange -- Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB) -- warned that dhanas are part of a financial pyramid scheme. According to CONSOB, dhanas are not money, but an instrument for financial speculations, such as the bonds tied to the rate of platinum. Dhanas, as a financial instrument, are illegal in Italy because they were never registered with the government. Perhaps that is the reason why dhanas are now being sold so far from Italian borders.

Who is behind all of this?

So who is issuing these dhanas? Where does this world government convene? We received the letter from Italy with dhana samples via the regular Italian postal service; as it was indicated on the stamp, the letter wasn’t paid for with dhanas, but with euros. The sender is also an actual business, Holos Holding, registered in Luxembourg as a joint-stock company. We were able to reach them by phone, but Izvestia’s questions were not answered. We were told to send them an email. We still have not received an answer.

However, we were able to establish that Holos Holding (as well as the Republic of the Earth) was created and is being governed by a very real person: 59-year-old Italian Rodolfo Guareschi. It is his signature that is stamped on the dhana. Mr. Guareschi created many companies in his lifetime, all of which went bankrupt, until one day in 1998, a brilliant idea hit him: to start printing his own money. To support his idea, he not only created the Republic of the Earth with its government and army, but also something similar to a new bible, Pentakos. The mysterious word, dhana, in ancient Sanskrit means prosperity. In modern Hindi, it simply means money.

As a result, the new world currency, dhana, turns out to be a beautiful wrapper for which we are being asked to pay with very real rubles, dollars and euros. We decided to uncover this story because Guareschi is clearly planning to spread his dhanas to Russia. First, most of the information on the Web site that deals with dhanas is translated into Russian. Second, the dhana’s exchange rate is also calculated in rubles. And third, a pack of commercial “bank notes” from Holos Holding was sent to one of Russia’s national newspapers. So if you receive an envelope with dhanas in your mail, don’t be surprised – con artists, together with the world government, found their way to you from distant Italy.

It would be interesting to know how Biden would have responded if he knew that a few hours before his arrival, Georgian police made every effort to clean out the landscape of Tbilisi. In the morning, police squads rushed to clean out the central Rustaveli Avenue of the makeshift cells that have been holding protesters for already three months. Then they cut off the city center.

"I never thought that we had so many police officers,” murmured a resident of the Sololaki district who for a long time had been begging the police to let him through to his home. “And where am I supposed to go now?"

Men in uniform went through the highway connecting the airport and the city center. Roadsides were selectively “cleaned out.” Young Saakashvili supporters armed with US and Georgian flags weren’t paid the slightest attention, even if they came face to face with law enforcement. But political prisoners’ family members, who were asking for help from Biden, were chased from one place to another. They were finally cornered in front of a house about 100 meters away from the road.

The same fate befell a couple thousand opposition supporters, who weren’t allowed by the police to gather at the central Independence Square. Their demand for Saakashvili’s resignation was relegated to a small space in front of the Philharmonic Hall. Presidential opponents, however, didn’t deny themselves the pleasure of shutting down the neighboring avenue while holding placards that read: "Misha - this is war! We want peace!", "Independent justice", and "Stop the repression!”

By contrast, a crowd of government supporters, consisting mostly of retirement-age women, was prominently placed by authorities on a square near Saakashvili’s residence. They were supposed to represent refugees from South Ossetia. For this reason, the deliberately sloppy banner inscriptions, seemingly made in a hurry, read along these lines: "We suffer because of our thirst for freedom!", "Yes, you can!", "We are victims of ethnic cleansing."

To make the crowd seem larger than it actually was, Georgia’s Channel One placed two film crews on the small Avlabari Square, about 20 meters away from each other. There weren’t many television viewers who were able to hold back a smile when they heard journalists going back and forth to each other, saying, “And now, my colleague will tell you about what’s going on around her!”

All in all, Saakashvili reaffirmed his ability to put on a show. During a formal dinner in his residence, Saakashvili proudly announced that when speaking recently in the parliament, he launched a new “way of reforms.” He called the actions of his opponents the achievement of Georgian democracy, which is being built despite the fact that “Russian cannons are aimed at this palace.” Then he handed Biden the second most significant Georgian award, St. George’s Victory Order.

“I would like thank President Obama for saying that, in the 21st century, there should be no spheres of influence,” said Saakashvili. “For Georgia, these words are like music to the ears.”

In response, the US vice president raised a toast to Georgia. He promised to support it in all of its new beginnings, but hinted at the necessity of democratizing the country. He added a somewhat ambiguous phrase, something along the lines of “it’ll be interesting to know how the Rose Revolution will end. And the journalists there noticed.

At the president’s table sat Saakashvili’swife, Biden, the US ambassador to Georgia and…the Georgian deputy minister of internal affairs, Ekaterina Zguladze. More than a 100 guests viewed a special concert with the participation of Georgian stars singing Puccini’s arias as well as folk songs. Specifically, they played Stalin's favorite song, "Gaprindi, shavo mertshalo.” Some say that some of the performers were forced to cancel their international tours for the five-minute performance.

Biden enjoyed the concert. Or at least he was generous with his compliments. According to Saakashvili, the vice president “did not want to let go of him for a long time.” This confession came late in the evening at the “Open Iron Curtain” exhibition, where Mikhail Nikolaevich drank beer, socialized with young people and told them about how he defeated Russia last August.

By the following morning the “party” had ended and official meetings had begun, marked by and honor guard and solo and choral performances of hymns of the two countries. Before the negotiations began, Saakashvili showed Biden his palace, which cost the taxpayers $80 million.

During the day, Biden met with opposition leaders selected by the US embassy – including at least two pretenders to Saakashvili’s post, ex-parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze and former ambassador to the UN Irakli Alasania.

Biden headed home after his speech in the parliament, and Saakashvili said farewell with the same vehemence as when he greeted him.

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The diplomatic scandal was first reported by the Georgian pro-government television station Imedi. According to Imedi, Tbilisi refused entry into the country to two Russian diplomats who were headed to replace their colleagues in the Russian section of the Swiss Embassy in Georgia, which was established after diplomatic relations between Tbilisi and Moscow were broken. In response, two Georgian diplomats, as well as the consul in Moscow, were declared persona non grata.

The story itself is rife with contradictions. Imedi says that it happened two weeks ago, but Russian source from Interfax suggest that it happened in April. Furthermore, the sources say, no one sent the diplomats back to Georgia; they were simply withdrawn.

But most importantly, Interfax source said that the parties agreed “not to publicize this event, not to use it for PR.” However, Georgian authorities couldn’t resist. They decided to give this incident a “spy theme.” The secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia, Eka Tkeshelashvili, said that the diplomats who headed to Tbilisi "may have been from the special services."

The scandal gained little attention, however, once The Wall Street Journal’s revelations about Saakashvili became public. Izvestia had already written about how the Georgian president was accusing the influential publication of distorting his words, specifically that the president did not say anything about Georgia’s hopes of joining NATO being ruined. In response, The Wall Street Journal allegedly apologized.

But the very next day, Kate Dobbin, director of corporate communications at Dow Jones, the Journal’s parent company, said that in fact the newspaper had not apologized. In other words, the Georgian leader had lied to his citizens.

The controversy was sparked by the following words in an article written by Andrew Osborn: “He [Saakashvili – Izvestia] said his country's hopes of joining NATO are ‘almost dead’. It's tragic. It means the Russians fought for the right reasons."

The publication caught the attention of the chair of Georgia’s Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security, Givi Targamadze. He directly accused the Russian media of "spreading idiocy.”

The Georgian president was pushed to make these “improvisations” in regard to the Journal by an argument with one of the opposition leaders during a parliamentary debate. The dialogue, in the midst of which the words “he said – he didn’t say” were heard quite frequently, ended with Saakashvili proudly stating that the newspaper had apologized.

Dobbin said that The Wall Street Journal published the full version of the Georgian president’s statement online, and offered the following statement: “Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said his country's hopes of joining NATO are ‘almost dead’. It's tragic. If they manage to kill NATO [Georgia's hopes of joining the alliance - WSJ], it means the Russians fought for the right reasons."

And you should admit there's almost no difference between the first and the second.

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“This substance affects the p53 gene,” Andrei Gudakov then explained to the readers of our newspaper, “This gene can be called the ‘conscience of the cell’. It monitors whether or not a cell is “good” and if there have been any changes that can cause tumors. If it notices any changes, then it gives the command to “commit suicide” by turning on the mechanism of programmed death – apoptosis.”

P53 is absent from more than half of cancerous tumors, that is why they multiply so rapidly. It also considers healthy cells that have been damaged by chemotherapy or radiation as “bad” cells and forces them to kill themselves while weakening those cells already exhausted by the illness. Scientists have found an off-switch for the “conscience of the cell”.

“With the help of the connection of pifithrin-alpha we were able to temporarily and reversibly disable p53. This allows increasing the dose of chemotherapy without doing harm to the person. We hope to create a cure for the side effects of cancer treatments,” predicted the scientist.

Testing of this drug on monkeys/primates, and then on volunteers, met the expected predictions. In the first test, more than 650 monkeys were involved. Two groups were subjected to the maximum doses of radiation, the same as those endured by people in the Chernobyl accident. Only one group received the new medicine - 24 hours prior to or within 72 hours after radiation.

As a result, 70% of the monkeys who were not given the medication died, and those who survived suffered from various diseases. In the second group, every monkey survived and the majority of them did not suffer any consequences. Clinical trials were also conducted on humans; they showed that the drug was safe.

Scientists will conduct a second series of tests. In 2010 the new drug will be approved and significantly enhance the ability to treat cancer and to protect people from techno-genetic disasters related to radiation. Izvestia will tell more about the sensational discoveries in one of its upcoming publications.

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This race is traditionally the most important political/social event of the summer. It is also a sort of an informal CIS summit. This year, invitations were sent to everyone except for the Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili. The invitees have responded in different ways. Alexander Lukashenko has demonstratively excluded the race from his plans; recently, he had been persistently ignoring all invitations from Moscow (although his mood can change at any minute). Those in the Kremlin spitefully remarked that, "it's a pity that the audience won’t see Viktor Andreevich", when they commented on President Yushchenko’s expected absence from the racecourse. The heads of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan politely refused the invitation. And, the president of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, gave more than a good reason to refuse - elections scheduled for July 23. However, for the first time, Sergei Bagapsh [Abkhazia] and Eduard Kokoity [South Ossetia], will be taking their seats in the VIP-booth as leaders of independent states.

The race itself is also a political intrigue. In order for the guests not to torture themselves with the decision of which horse to place their bets on, the horses will represent the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Moldova - in full accordance with the composition of the leaders who will be coming to Moscow. Although it’s not they who have the likeliest chance of winning; rather the president of the Chechen Republic. If not for any other reason, then based purely on statistics - the owner of the two of the twelve horses is listed as "Kadyrov R.A." In his property declaration there is no indication of possession of such - in every sense - treasures. Alexander Tkachev and Oleg Deripaska will have something to worry about because the Krasnodar Region, governed by Tkachev, is represented by a horse from [businessman] Deripisaka’s stable.

However, experts recommend, when placing bets, to look not only at the horses, but at the jockeys as well. From that point of view, Palander – representing the Volgograd Region - looks very promising. It will be ridden by Mohammed Kappushev, winner of last year's race and a person with whom Vladimir Putin keeps his horses.

Will it be possible to settle the Karabakh problem?

Of course, discussions won’t only be held at the Hippodrome. Dmitry Medvedev is planning to hold a trilateral meeting with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Is progress possible? Experts from RIA Novosti were looking for answers to this question yesterday. For example, Alexey Vlasov, general director of the Center for Study of the Social and Political Processes in the post-Soviet space, Moscow State University, believes that there is now a real opportunity for a breakthrough in solving the Karabakh problem.
The parties involved in the conflict, as well as international mediators, are all interested in seeing the situation shift from a deadlock. In addition, according to Vladimir Zharihin, deputy director of the CIS Institute, without a serious compromise, which requires the will of political leaders, peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict is impossible. Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute, stressed that without the participation of representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh, any progress is “even technically impossible: the people of Karabakh are not infants, whose fate is decided by their adult uncles.”

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This is not the first discovery of this sort made on Nikolskaya Street. A year ago, in the Sheremetevsky metochion basement (building No. 8), builders discovered the remains of 81 people and a pistol – a Browning 1903 (see Izvestia October 5, 2008). According to witnesses, the uncovered skulls had clearly visible bullet holes in them.

Then, the first explanation that surfaced was of “NKVD execution basements”. In fact, during the years of Great Terror (1937 – 1938), virtually all of Nikolskaya Street was controlled by the NKVD. The political division of the special forces was located in building No. 8. In the building across the street (No. 23) the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR was housed, which was the site where “public enemies” were sentenced. Nearby was the main center of terror – the NKVD building on Lubyanka. This version was supported by numerous rumors about the existence of “execution” basements in this part of Moscow. The very fact of their existence was not doubted by anyone – several cases are known where those executed were buried in basements of the court or NKVD divisions.

However, the version that was put forward by historians was quickly rejected by prosecutors following the examinations. According to them, the bones date back to the 18th century and belong to people buried in the old church cemetery.

“Although, this time, there should be no disagreements,” said Yan Rachinsky, co-chairman of Moscow’s Memorial Society. “The remains that were found yesterday have nothing to do with the NKVD. Building 4/5 is located far from the “committee” buildings. What was discovered was the old Bogoyavlensky Monastery (Epiphany Monastery) burial ground. People were buried there beginning in the 14th century. Then, by decree of Peter the Great, the excess ground that was piled on top of the graves was destroyed by the guard service. However, not all the bones were removed. They were simply packed firmly into the ground. Later, in the 19th century, a residential quarter was developed in this quarter. It’s not surprising that fragments of human skeletons were found in the basements. I’m sure that if neighboring houses were looked at closer, more remains could be discovered.”

The official version will be announced by the Investigation Committee following the examination.

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And now Yushchenko’s secretariat is declaring that his intent to dissolve the parliament is more serious than ever. There is even a basis for the dissolution – because, basically, there is no coalition in the Rada. Besides, the idea of the dissolution and early parliamentary elections is supported by the largest faction – the Party of Regions. Its leader, Victor Yanukovich, is not afraid of elections. He is convinced that in the midst of the economic crisis, it is the authorities, who are making one unpopular decision after another, who should be fearful of elections and not the opposition.

Prime Minister Yulia Timoschenko strongly opposes the dissolution. Her popularity is now less than 17%, which is a very weak indicator for the “orange princess”. But Yushchenko, with his 2% of support, has nothing to lose. He can allow himself to aggravate the situation to spite Yulia – his former ally and now, possibly, his main opponent.

In preparing to dissolve the parliament, Yushchenko is strengthening his home front by "cleaning out" the special services and gathering, into a single fist, all those under his power. For instance, the president dismissed Valery Geletey, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine. He was replaced by Alexander Birsan, a trusted associate of Victor Andreevich.

Another significant assignment is underway as Peter Shatkovsky, general of the Security Service of Ukraine, will be appointed as deputy head of the presidential secretariat where he will oversee the power structures. In addition, the secretariat will have another first deputy - former Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov. In making these appointments, the president is trying to place Tymoshenko’s opponents in key positions within the security agencies. They are meant to become a counterbalance to the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, who had recently switched his allegiance to Prime Minister Yulia Timoschenko.

“Yushchenko understands that power structures are his last line of defense. With his recent rotations, he is letting it be known that he is ready to use security services during the elections. Moreover, the president needs something to counter the Ministry of the Interior, which is headed by his opponent and a supporter of Tymoshenko, Yuri Lutsenko,” political scientist Vladimir Fesenko told Izvestia.

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Let's try carefully, and as objectively as possible, with a pencil in hand, to read the printed text of the speech.

Signs of a real desire to restart relations were apparent only in the very beginning and very end of the speech. When talking about the end of the Cold War, the U.S. president said: "The Cold War is over because of many years of efforts of many countries, and also because the people of Russia and Eastern Europe were determined to end the war peacefully.” While finishing his speech, he said: “Let me be clear: America cannot and will not seek to impose any system of government on any other countries...”, then: ”Each country charts its own course”.

Here are two principal theses exposed to resetting, which put a heavy burden on the relationships between the Democratic and Republican administrations of the U.S. with the new Russia. The first, the belief that the West won the Cold War has been rejected. This means the idea that Russia could be treated as a conquered power has also been rejected. The second, the assurance of the American model of society-building has been questioned as being a universal model, and that the effectiveness of Russia’s democracy is best measured against the world standard.

From this moment, with a close examination of the text, inconsistencies and contradictions begin to appear. First, the remarkable words: “... any world order, in which a country or a group of countries will seek to rise above the other, is doomed to failure”. So, will NATO be dissolved? No, because a little later: “... any country can become a member of an organization such as NATO ...” - as if nothing happened, we continue to expand to rise above others.

Furthermore: “State sovereignty must be the cornerstone of international order...this principle should apply to all countries - including Georgia and Ukraine”. Does that mean it should be applied to Serbia, and to Iraq? Does that mean that the US will withdraw its recognition of Kosovo and immediately, with apologies, withdraw their troops from Iraq? Not at all, they only want to restart our computer regarding this issue, and not the American one. A few lines further on is a great phrase that says, “America aspires to the international system, in which we apply the same standards to ourselves as to other countries.” Maybe, it aspires to this in the distant future, but for now it continues to act in a completely different system.

And finally, on the infamous Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense system (ABM) in Europe: “I am clearly saying that the system is designed to prevent potential attacks from Iran and has nothing to do with Russia”. Yes, the anti-missile system has nothing to do with a country that has missiles and is targeted against a country that does not have missiles. Logical. If a Russian computer program was reset with such a message, then I am afraid that it would spontaneously combust. The president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who in Italy reminded others of those Russian counter-measures that will be taken in case this “logical” reasoning is acted upon, agrees.

Many of those who heard the speech were swept off their feet by this beautiful phrase: “America needs a powerful, peaceful and prosperous Russia”. But how does this statement correspond to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent statement that it is necessary to limit the influence of Russia in its interior framework?

Let’s be realistic. The proposal from the new US administration to restart relations has been made. Some positions, that before seemed fundamental, are being reviewed. That’s already a large step forward compared to the inflexible, ideological policies of the Bush administration. But we must realize that we are only at the very beginning of sorting out the rubble of bilateral relations. Understanding of the new role in world politics is painful and controversial, not only for us but also for our partners. Analysis of the program speech of the US President shows that the words about “one foot remaining in the past” could also be applied to his side. But, as they say, the ice is beginning to melt. And, that inspires cautious optimism.

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Izvestia decided to find out who the CIS neighbors that Russia helps are, and how that help will affect Russia.

The world financial crisis has brought many back to earth.

Post-Soviet countries are now looking at the West quite differently. For the former neighbors, and previously Russia’s “sisters,” the real revelation was the fate of the Baltic countries. Only a year ago it seemed that the dividends they received for their hatred of Russia would last them forever. They were accepted into the EU, their roads were built and they were given money – a fairytale.

But suddenly it smelled of smoke from the world financial kitchen, and our former Baltic “sisters” became bankrupt in an instant. There isn’t anyone who can help them, so they resorted to cutting pensions and suppressing riots. The people quickly understood what’s what and on July 1 elected a Russian for the post of Riga’s mayor – pro-Russian politician Nils Ushakov. What else could happen?

The second “bad example” is Ukraine, which kept asking and asking Russia for $5 billion and never got it. It couldn’t explain how it planned to return it. Meanwhile, it doesn’t want to give us access to its companies for political reasons. Now it entered into an agreement with the IMF, which in the past couple of days decided to give Kiev $3.3 billion.

Not bad, but of course everyone knows that money from the IMF basically means losing independence – the fund takes upon itself to make most important financial decisions, including decisions on how that money will be spent. Russia, unfortunately, went through this in 1998 when it, too, stood begging in front of the IMF. Decisions that were made according to the orders of the fund resulted in great losses for Russia that were many times greater than the help that was received. Luckily Russia now has the opportunity to itself be a lender.

Belarus takes rubles

Awareness of this quickly changed the geopolitical map of the former Soviet Union. But not everything is smooth here either. In the fall, Russia decided to help Belarus with a loan in the amount of $2 billion. Minsk had already received 75% of the loan, but that in no way stopped it from not only not recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but also starting a public economic confrontation with Russia – a confrontation that made the entire world decide that it was the end of the union.

However, the situation is probably an exception, one based on the nature of the relationship between the heads of Russia and Belarus. Aleksey Kurdin suspected Belarus was bankrupt, in return, Russians heard about “scumbags,” then Russian milk was banned, then it was allowed again… All in all, everything was as it is in any large family.

Despite everything, Russia and Belarus have a shared Anti-Ballistic Defense System (ABM), and still have no borders. However, Lukashenko is asking the EU for financial help while, at the same time, waiting for another tranche from Russia. He asked Russia for another 100 billion rubles in the spring, but he hasn’t been the money yet. But notice that he asked for rubles, not dollars.

Kyrgyzstan: money in the day, torpedoes at night

The freshest news: Kyrgyzstan will receive a loan from Russia in exchange for its military factories. Remember that Bishkek and Minsk became the largest recipients of Russian aide during the crisis. Each country is allocated $2 billion. Russian interests in Kyrgyzstan are understandable; President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had indicated these interests in his interview with Izvestia.

“Russia is our main strategic partner, including in security issues,” he said. “Recently, a document was signed with the Russian side renewing the Russian military base in Kant for 49 years.”

While the Izvestia interview with the Kyrgyz leader was being prepared, a Russian government delegation was working in Bishkek.

“In their visit to Kyrgyzstan, members of the delegation reached an agreement on transferring a number of military-industrial complexes to Russia as a retaliatory step toward Moscow for the loans that were made earlier,” said a source from the Interfax news agency. “Specifically, we are talking about the torpedo producing factory, Dastan, located on Issyk-Kul Lake.”

For Russia, the logic was obvious: Russia doesn’t have its own torpedo production, though it has stockpiles from the Soviet times. It could build a new factory, but why do that if Russia can get a ready-made one and help its partners at the same time?

Armenia and Moldova will share a billion

Assistance to Yerevan and Chisinau is a long-term investment; moreover, an investment in those with whom the relationship does not always develop favorably. Half a billion dollars was given to Armenia in May with the aim of overcoming the effects of the economic crisis. With these funds, Yerevan decided to create its own stabilization fund. The credit was shared by the “whole world,” including the public and the media. At least everyone knew that Russia did not leave a neighbor in distress.

President Dmitry Medvedev decided to allot another $500 million to Moldova after his meeting with President Vladimir Voronin. Why? After all, in recent years Moldovan authorities have been closing Russian schools, harassing the Russian-speaking national minority, and on orders from the West rejected Russian proposals to settle the Transnistrian issue.

Russia’s kind gesture, especially on the eve of elections in Moldova, has already delivered results. The political rhetoric in the country has already changed to a pro-Russian one, and Chisinau politicians have become frequent visitors in Moscow. At least there is a change in the relationship.

No political obligations?

Diplomacy is a fine science, and money, by itself, is not a guarantor of Russian influence on CIS countries. For many years Moscow helped Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars, and in response all Russia got was gas and political “betrayals.” Fortunately, the situation has now changed. Russia is not, of course, the IMF, and cannot demand a change in government in exchange for money. But Moscow is capable of some things – at a minimum, of bargaining instead of giving the money all at once.

Even if the talks on the reciprocal obligations are being held unofficially and are not secured by any documents, it does not mean that the parties will not fulfill their part of the agreement. They will fulfill the agreements if they feel that a friendship with Russia is advantageous. Help from Russia at a difficult moment – when the EU, the World Bank and the like have suddenly disappeared – is a bold demonstration of the reliability of Moscow’s friendship. Russia helped Abkhazia and South Ossetia coming from a principle that Moscow is “responsible for those who have been tamed.” Russia even allocated $350 million to the once-fraternal Cuba in order to fight the crisis.

There are distinct political undertones to all this, of course. Russia provides $7.5 billion to the anti-crisis fund, EurAsEc. And another billion to Kazakhstan. Thus, Russia is not only helping its neighbors. Moscow is promoting cross-border education, in which it has a self-interest, and creating a new geopolitical center of gravity. Subsequently, all this will have an economic effect – from saving on torpedoes to promoting the ruble as a regional currency. This is the case when the economy has fully intertwined with politics. The US has learned to use such entwinement to its benefit, and Russia is just beginning to learn.

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A few days ago, Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed a law on creation of Manas Center in Bishkek airport, which will be used by the Pentagon to supply military operations in Afghanistan. Formally the situation looks as follows: on August 18, according to the decision of Kyrgyz authorities, the US air base in Manas will be closed. Instead, outside of the air harbor’s borders, a center will be opened that will basically have the same functions as did the air base. So, what is the difference? From a financial point of view, the difference is apparent: now, instead of paying $17.5 million, Washington will be paying Bishkek $60 million for its access to the transit corridor. Plus 30 million for a new air navigation equipment for the airport.

On Tuesday, Vice-Premier of Russia Igor Sechin and Minister of Defense, Anatoly Serdyukov, followed by a delegation of 20 high ranking officials, visited the Kyrgyz capital. They held private talks with Bakiyev in Bishkek. Presumably, the talks were regarding the possibility of opening a Russian military base in southern Kyrgyzstan near the cities of Osh or Batken. There is a high possibility that such decision will be made. By doing this, Bishkek will firstly reduce Moscow’s frustrations regarding the retention of the American military base on Kyrgyz territory. And second, it will strengthen its positions in the southern region, where extremists have noticeably increased. Kyrgyzstan, according to evaluations of Russian experts, is not yet fully capable to ensure its security, and for that reason, depends on the help of international organizations which Kyrgyzstan is a part of – primarily the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Apparently, Bakiyev is still capable of navigating between Moscow and Washington while maintaining a relative political stability and civil obedience in the country. And, by the way, he demonstrates similar qualities in the election campaign, which entered a “hot” phase. Will other candidates consider Russia’s opinions if one of them wins the upcoming election?

It is clear that the Kyrgyz leader is striving to ensure the maximum transparency in the next election does not lead to another “explosion”. Remember that he came to power during a wave of events known as “revolution” in Bishkek. Now he, himself, faces an uneasy test. Here are some examples. The opposition forces have been able to agree to push forward a single candidate in opposition to Bakiyev – Almazbek Atambayev. Nearly 50 non-governmental organizations, financed from abroad, were able to join a Union of Civil Organizations that promised to send 3,000 election observers.
NGO representatives are already saying that the current leadership is using so-called administrative resources in the election campaign. For example, they cite data that many universities had deliberately extended the school year to ensure a student turnout at the election because they are "manipulatable" and would supposedly vote for the candidate chosen by their teachers.

Perhaps for the first time, members of the election race drew attention to the Muslim electorate. Bakiyev, for example, donated funds for the construction of a major new mosque in Bishkek. While it’s too early to say that the "Islamic factor" has a significant impact on the political situation in the country, evidence on radicalization of Muslim community already exists.

Izvestia report

Kyrgyz (official name - the Kyrgyz Republic). Population: more than five million people, mainly Kyrgyz, followed by the Uzbeks. Russian-speaking citizens make up 10% of the total population. Official languages - Kyrgyz and Russian. Predominant religion - Islam, the second largest – Christian Orthodox. Kyrgyzstan is a member of regional organizations such as CIS, EurAsEC, SCO, CSTO, and Organization of Islamic Conference. Form of government - presidential republic. The head of state is elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years. Unicameral parliament consists of 75 deputies who are elected for a term of five years, according to party lists.

Who is running for office

Six officially registered candidates claim Kyrgyz presidential post:

Incumbent President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Born on August 1, 1949. He is the leader of the ruling party Ak Zhol. Education – computer specialist. Married, two children. His oldest son, Marat is the deputy head of the National Security Service. Youngest son, Max is a businessman.

Co-Chair of the opposition party Akshumkar, former member of the parliament, Temir Sariev. Born on June 17, 1963. In 1991 he founded the first in Kyrgyzstan commodity exchanges and became its president.
Former Prime Minister, leader and Co-Chairman of the Social-Democratic Party, Almazbek Atambayev. Born on September 17, 1956. He is supported by several opposition parties and unions.

Jenishbek Nazaraliev. Born May 8, 1961. Doctor of Medical Sciences, well-known narcologist. He is the author of more than 100 scientific papers on drug addiction, corresponding fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and a member of the World Association for Mental Health.

Head of the Association of non-governmental and non-profit organizations of Kyrgyzstan, Toktoayym Umetalieva. Born April 4, 1962. First female candidate for the post of president of Kyrgyzstan. She is married and has three children.
Leader of the patriotic movement, Zhurmat, Co-Chair of the Union of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan, Nurlan Motuyev. Born on December 10, 1969. In 2006, he was arrested and spent nearly a year in pre-trial detention. He was accused of damages to the coal enterprise of more than one million U.S. dollars. He was not proved guilty.

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The first real result from this change in tone already exists -- that is, the signing of Afghan transit agreement during the visit. It allows for the Americans to greatly cut costs on their military presence in Afghanistan (which is certainly important for Obama’s ratings). Fuel and other savings associated with the shorter flight route will add about $140 million to the US economy. Also, Russia decided not to charge for the use of its air space, which equals another $20 million in savings.

It seems that Russia is simply making concessions -- what is the benefit? There is a benefit: the right to examine military cargo at any time. In other words, Washington, after hearing Moscow’s position, did not yell “none of your business, we transport whatever we want,” but simply took a mutual step toward Russia. The agreement outlines specific guidelines on what can be transported and what cannot, as well as rules for examining the cargo. This approach had also been evaluated in Moscow: no one, say Izvestia sources, will search the cargo for the sake of pride; it is most likely that Americans will be flying without obstacles.

Is this “exemplary/significant transit” possible in other spheres? Judging from Obama’s attitude, more likely yes than no. For example, according to our sources, during his breakfast with Vladimir Putin, Obama was asking in great detail what Putin offered George Bush during his presidency, including in regards to Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABM). It seemed that Obama’s advisors (perhaps the same ones who instead of “reset” write “reload”) were not telling him everything, just like when it came to the South Ossetia conflict. On the one hand, Obama highlighted that he supports Georgia’s territorial integrity more than once, including in Moscow. But parallel signals exist as well, signals that allow looking at the picture in more detail: first, that Georgian territorial integrity cannot be restored militarily, and second, the current US administration considers the evaluations made by its predecessors flawed and rushed.

… George Bush “looked into the soul” of Putin. It seems that Obama is not interested in the soul but in rational arguments. His first visit was marked by only words. How those words are put into action will become clear in September, at a follow-up meeting between the Russian and US presidents.

What was the most important thing about Obama’s visit?

By: Natalia Antipova, Vasiliy Voropaev

Ilya Ponomarev, deputy in the Russian State Duma and one of the participants in the meeting with the US president:

“The most important outcome of US President Barack Obama’s visit to Russia, I would say, was him learning more about Russia than the former American administration ever knew. He showed a desire to examine what is actually happening in Russia. I think that America won’t act with its eyes closed, but more intelligibly and with a clear understanding of their actions. US politics will undergo many changes compared to the prior administration, notwithstanding those opinions that the Obama administration might have.

But we shouldn’t talk about any radical changes in US-Russian relations, especially because Obama, when I spoke with him, warned against any illusions and high expectations, saying that any changes will be very gradual but deep and meaningful. There will no longer be the ideological stereotypes that were pushed forward by the neoconservatives in the former administration. The rest depends on us – whether or not we’ll be able to transform the dialogue into concrete actions.”

Alexei Arbatov, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and head of the Center for International Security of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO):

“I would not say that this was a big development or that we reached new horizons. But an important step has been taken toward restoring relations, which were practically destroyed by August of last year. I think that now our relations can be built only on the basis of mutual interests. This important yet fairly modest step has benefited both sides.”

Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs:

“The main result is a change in the climate of relations. By the fall of last year, our mutual trust had fallen to the level of the early 1980s, to the times of Reagan. This was unnatural for the year 2008. Now, our working relations are more or less restored. That is not a guarantee that the mechanism will continue working by the clock, but at least it did begin working. It’s quite a significant result. Both delegations, both presidents, publically and privately said that the climate of the dialogue was very favorable. That is already not bad.”

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Putin met Obama on the porch, and they walked up the wooden spiral steps up to the Executive Office.

“The history of Russian-American relations is a long one and has different coloring,” Putin began the meeting, and Obama, after hearing the translated word “color,” looked directly at the prime minister.

“There were years of undoubted prosperity in the history of our bilateral relations, there were fairly gray days and even confrontation…We are very glad to see you in Russia, welcome!”

“Yesterday we had a wonderful conversation with Dmitri Medvedev,” said Obama. “I think this is a great time to put Russian-American relations on stable ground. I don’t think we will agree on everything, but we will discuss issues based on mutual respect and the interests of the Russian and American people.”

These were truly kind words, and it seems that for Putin they even came as a surprise. He somewhat awkwardly rose from his chair and headed toward the window:

“We made you a Russian-style breakfast,” he said to Obama, who also got up from his chair.

From the window, one could see the veranda where a stout man in a red kosovorotka (Russian-style shirt) struggled to heat up the traditional samovar. The view was complemented by branches of birch trees that hung over the veranda and somewhat disturbed by patio furniture made from rattan, which, incidentally, cannot be found in the cheapest of cafes. On the table there was smoked beluga with pancakes and cranberry marmalade, eggs with black caviar (assumingly not contraband or from Iran) and sour cream, also ravioli filled with quail – the food Russians enjoy eating the most.

“Everything was constructive and on a positive note,” said Dmitri Peskov, the prime minister’s press secretary, after the two-hour meeting.

The deputy head of the apparatus of the Russian Government, Yuri Ushakov, who was present at the Obama–Putin talks, confirmed Peskov’s account. According to him, for example, “there was no conversation on human rights” and “there was nothing mentioned on domestic politics.”

In other words, unlike in the past Obama did not preach morality to Moscow, which greatly delighted the Russian side. According to Ushakov, the president was very interested in how Putin built his relations with Bush, and the premier gladly and in detail shared that with him.

“Putin said that a great chance to build a quality partnership was missed when in his July 2007 meeting with Bush in Kennebunkport, Russia offered to fully redesign the logic of building relations between the two countries and make the most profound cooperation between the United States, Russia and Europe,” said Ushakov. “The sides noted that preferably such mistakes not be made.”

Their talks did not end without discussion of American plans to station anti-ballistic missile batteries (ABM) in Europe, or of Russian interests in the post-Soviet territories, specifically Ukraine and Georgia. According to Ushakov, Obama promised that in both cases the US will consider Russian concerns. Even though Bush said something similar eight years ago, Russian concerns kept increasing each year. Ushakov admitted that “Obama did not make any specific promises” in regards to the ABMs.

Meanwhile, according to Peskov and Ushakov, Putin and Obama’s conversation was not tense. On the contrary: Putin made many jokes.

“In his traditional manner he discussed serious subjects jokingly, to which Obama responded adequately,” said Ushakov.

Although, it must be noted, Obama flatly refused to make at least one joke himself.

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Q: What is your goal?

A: We are not planning to try one particular person – be it Saakashvili or anyone else. We have to provide a legal assessment of how Georgia became humiliated, divided, and ended up in impoverishment. It is this system, the regime prevailing in the country all these years that needs to be put on trial. It needs to be tried for all that’s happened to our democracy, our territorial integrity, to the economy, to science, education, and simply to the people.

“Badri knew that a person died because of Saakashvili”

Q: In the last few days you’ve made several high-profile statements directly related to the president…

A: I was only saying what Badri Patarkatsishvili had a chance to tell me before his death. By the way, I learned about his death from the British Consulate: Bardi had invited me to London and I was submitting some documents to obtain a visa. Not long before his death he told me that the most important thing to him was to save Imedi TV. Then, as he said, such facts will be revealed that will shake Georgia. He was talking about various government actions – from violence against those they disliked to seizing property from large and small businesses. Badri also said that, according to the information he had, Saakashvili was responsible for an accident that killed a person. I cannot say anything else.

“People judge the authorities” is a television project developed by researchers. The truth about what is really happening in the country needs to be spread to all Georgian residents. An office will open on July 15, which will start accepting incriminatory materials for review that are prepared by well-known lawyers. We will appoint judges and choose a jury. If the authorities ignore this process we will provide them with a defense. Court hearings will be broadcast live on one of the television networks. On November 7 a verdict will be reached. Any Georgian citizen can sign it. On January 20, 2010, when Saakashvili will be celebrating the one year anniversary of his election into office, we will distribute the “ratified” verdict by the people to all international organizations and heads of states.

But before that, on August 7, on the eve of the anniversary of the Five-Day War, we will begin national impeachment proceedings of Saakashvili. Leading lawyers are working on preparing this document. I hope that the majority of the citizens will sign this document as well…

“Soros is a modern-day Lenin!”

Q: The majority of opposition parties have a different plan of action. They don’t hide their hopes of an intervention by the new US administration.

A: Georgia’s salvation isn’t in American or Russian hands. Its salvation is within itself, in its democratic development. Those who are currently in leadership positions, and most of those who call themselves the opposition – are all people with similar, if not the same, type of mentality. I don’t see a great difference in their ideological positions. The replacement of one with another won’t change anything.

In Georgia, the majority of political parties are praised by the US and scolded by Russia, while the minority of the parties are praised by Russia and scolded by the US. Saakashvili’s agitprop introduced into the people’s consciousness a virtual America that, in reality, does not exist. He created a virtual Russia that also does not exist, and, of course, a virtual Georgia. As a result, in the real Georgia, anti-American sentiment has increased and hatred of Russia is rising. A disaster is inevitable if this isn’t stopped.

Saakashvili had already created a disaster by turning Georgia into a battle arena for two superpowers. A third power is needed. Pro-Georgian politicians need to come to power. Georgia must realize its interests – with the consideration of combined Russian, US, Europe and surrounding countries. That is what should suit the US, not a puppet president. That is what should suit Russia, not a search for a deputy. I very much regret that various persons with Georgian last names are appearing in Russia as “candidates” for the head of Georgia, who cannot offer anything to our countries. Isn’t it self-evident that these people don’t have the support from Georgian people? Why drive away Georgian people from Russia?

Q: What would you say Georgia’s main problem is?

A: Georgia’s greatest misfortune is “Soros-ism”. George Soros is a modern-day Lenin with his ideology of destroying the Orthodox Church! A few years ago I wrote to Patriarch Aleksey II of Moscow about this trend. I was lucky enough to speak with him in Georgia and in Moscow. So, Soros spent hundreds of millions on the Rose Revolution and then for a long time paid Saakashvili and his “rosanchiki” (Rose Revolution officials) their salaries. “Soros-ism” will be defeated only when friendly relations between Russia and Georgia will be reestablished.

The chances of establishing good neighborly relations between our two Orthodox nations exist. Russia for a long time did not recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia while tolerating Georgian authorities’ escapades. Sergei Bagapsh was right when he told Saakashvili, “thank you for Abkhazia’s independence.”

Realistically, Russia does not need a divided Georgia. And Georgia does not need a divided Russia (the dream of many of Georgian politicians) as it would be the end of everything. Strained relations with Russia led to the rampant anti-democratic forces in Georgia. This is because everyone in the world thinks: Georgia needs help! So, they a turn a blind eye to human rights violations, political prisoners, falsified elections, unjust courts, obedience to the authorities by almost all the media – especially electronic media. All of this is happening because of the Georgian-Russian confrontation.

We must all understand: just as it’s out of character for Russian people to do anything according to orders from abroad, a Georgian president on his knees does not symbolize the Georgian people. We are ready to talk to Russia. Without normal relations with Russia, Georgia doesn’t have a future – just as it doesn’t have a future without reconciliation with the Abkhaz and Ossetians.

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What is “resetting”? Is it changing policy or only rhetoric? We have the right to expect an answer to this crucial question from the Russia-US summit in Moscow. So far, the term “resetting” has expressed a certain mood, or a political wish, if you will, than a real change in the policy.

True, both the Kremlin and the White House have a feeling that something should be changed. The US administration has a feeling that true American priorities, such as the Iran nuclear programme, need revision in terms of the relationship with Russia, and that Iran is significantly more important for the USA than transforming Georgia or South Ossetia into the main problem between Washington and Moscow. It’s obvious that the Obama administration will not recognize Abkhazia or South Ossetia, but it apparently does not want to restrict its own freedom in its attitude to Russia because of a remote regional problem. What’s more, Moscow also seems tired of pulling the incessant rhetorical tug of war, and not only rhetorical.
Besides this, the “cold peace” politics has done little for America. While President George W. Bush was in office, American influence on Moscow noticeably declined. But, does that mean that the Obama administration is ready to update US policy on Russia?
It’s a huge question. Not long ago, Foreign Policy magazine published an article by Condoleezza Rice’s former speech writer, who insisted that the Obama administration would conduct a policy of continuity of Bush’s second term in office [with regard to Russia], simply because there is no better choice. He says the policy of Bush during his second term was rather reserved and well adjusted, so Obama will not need to change it.

According to this viewpoint, there will simply be more of the same presented in a different rhetorical package, with another president who, as can be seen with the naked eye, is different from George W. Bush.

There is another view, based on the fact that the US is rethinking its role in the modern world and its relations with Russia play a central role. In this context, the relationship with Russia is pivotal.

The clash of these two stances reminds me of the well-known dispute about a glass being half full or half empty. The same applies for the “resetting”.

In any approach, we should not forget some issues.

First issue: Russia and the US cannot start with a clean slate. The idea of a “new beginning” - expressed by Dmitriy Medvedev in his article in the Washington Post, and one way or another expressed by Barack Obama - is appealing and promising if it were up to the political elite. But there is a political heritage that needs to be sorted out.

America can’t forget about Georgia and Ukraine, and Russia can’t neglect what’s going on in Kiev and Tbilisi. The USA has not closed the subject of NATO expansion to the east where it has enthusiastic supporters. It is unlikely that both the USA and Russia will forget about the plans of deploying the missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. In short, there is a political legacy that needs to be sorted - hardly to be put outside the “new relationship”.
Problem number one: Russia and the USA can’t start from scratch.
Thirty years ago, Zbigniew Brzezinski (US National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter) created a “cooperation-competition” formula in regard to the Soviet Union – to work together where interests meet and to compete where they collide. The formula was disastrous though; it paved the way for a second Cold War during the Reagan administration.

As a matter of fact, this cooperation-competition was not supposed to bring about anything else. It was obvious that competition was sure to overcome cooperation, and not because of ill will (apparently manifested in Brzezinski though), but due to the fact that, when the negative and the positive are on a par in politics, the negative always wins. The positive needs purposeful and huge efforts, while the negative is a natural manifestation of the conflict of interests of the parties, in addition to the negative psychological features from the past. The USA and Russia can’t say they have definite positive and negative agendas and hope for an improved relationship.
As a matter of fact, unless there is a special effort to overcome the negative agenda and the political heritage, long-term improvements cannot be expected.

Great hopes are invested in the nuclear weapons negotiations that began in mid-May. Perhaps the parties will sign a new agreement. However, in May 2002, Putin and Bush signed a nuclear arms control agreement, but has it greatly influenced the relationship between Russia and the US?

Not at all. It remained in and of itself, without affecting the general context of the relations between Russia and the USA.

At the same time, the Obama administration has said nothing about its readiness to part with such symbols of the Cold War as the Jackson-Vanick Amendment.

And it’s not about the amendment itself, for it only causes laughter in Russia. One feels like proposing that the USA keep it forever as one of the ideological pillars of US foreign policy. A monument could be erected to it, somewhere near the George Washington Memorial – a Jackson-Vanick Amendment Memorial (today, the document is 35 years old).

Each year, when the USA needed Russia’s support on an important issue, Washington would promise to abolish the amendment in exchange for Russia’s support, say, on Iran. Russia would show its interest, though, which was appropriate. Now, there are few who expect its abolition, either in Russia or the US. It looks like everyone has got used to it. And this is a very significant feature from the legacy of the past that the American elite is reluctant to give up.

Thus, it is unlikely that it will be possible to have a fresh start. One should not even pretend it. On May 15, in an interview with Chinese journalists, Dmitry Medvedev said that for Russia, the question of the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia had been settled and is not open for discussion.

However, it is clear that the Obama administration does not agree with us. Vice-President Biden has said the United States will not recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It is also clear that the US will continue supporting and arming Georgia, although perhaps not as actively as it did under Bush. Still it will and is doing so.

It is wise, at a minimum, to show restraint regarding those issues for the sake of creating a constructive dialogue. The USA’s regular reminder it will never recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia does not make the mood in Moscow better, while the USA is not obtaining anything, except tearing the air. It would be expedient for the both parties to give up such tearing for the sake of setting up a constructive dialogue, for one thing.

Second: perhaps we should understand our American counterparts and not wait for immediate shifts in their position. It is more difficult for the US than it is for us to change their policies. Russian policy in the ‘90s was of a “reactive” type.

We have only begun having our own large-scale initiatives in recent years: creation of the rapid reaction forces within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the idea of collective security of Europe, and the development and strengthening of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Until recently, Moscow would only react: to the aggression of the Western alliance against Yugoslavia and the expansion of NATO; to the plans of placement of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMD) in Europe, and to the Iraq occupation and American political pressure on Iran.

Thus, in the sphere of US foreign policy activity, we cannot speak of parities like during the first détente between Moscow and Washington in the 1970s. Now, much more depends on the USA, who initiated major strategic events, ranging from bombing Belgrade to occupying Iraq, from NATO expansion to the east to deploying elements of the missile defense system in Eastern Europe, from creating its own military bases in Central Asia to the war in Afghanistan. So, in terms of US foreign policy, we can’t speak of any parity. The meaningfulness of our dialogue depends on American changes in policy.

Unless the Obama administration is able to, or wants to, change the aims set in American foreign policy under Bush, the dialogue will be even more restricted, and Russian foreign policy will have to face previous approaches established in Washington.

Take the collective security of Europe as an example – an idea put forward for discussion by all. Being incomplete, it expresses Russia’s dissatisfaction about the current European system of security and reflects its objective incompleteness, meaning it is flawed, as being “NATO-centric”, which, in turn, means that the states that are not members of NATO do not enjoy its benefits. But as great as it is, that system is unsatisfactory, because it does not include an important part of Eastern Europe: Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and the Caucasus. And, because any real prospects for Russia joining NATO any time in the foreseeable future do not exist, the depravity of this system will continue for a long time.

What would the US approach towards Russia’s initiative be in the spirit of “resetting” in this situation? One would expect it to be positive. The idea has both common and geopolitical sense, for it reflects the inadequacy of the current system of collective security. Nonetheless, what is being told to us by the American side is different.

Recently, during a public debate in Kiev, with the participation of the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Mr. Taylor, I was told that the whole of Europe is satisfied with the NATO security system. Thus, why should it be changed?

The incompleteness of the situation seems obvious. Instead, we are told the situation is good. Perhaps it is the power of inertia - to reject Russia’s proposals. Perhaps the idea of Moscow has not yet fully reached Washington.

If the Obama administration is earnest, it should heed Russia’s initiatives more attentively.

Obama hadn’t even had the chance to push forward the idea of “resetting” US-Russian relations before it was massively attacked in the US: as if he was planning to “surrender”, to betray “American ideals”, to move towards the “appeasement” of Russia. Thus, the idea of “resetting” faces considerable domestic opposition in the USA, which is not easy to overcome.

Ever since the Cold War, hostility towards Russia has been an integral part of US policy, as a virus living in the American political organism and manifesting at new stages.

In addition, there is the "inertia expansion" – an idea expressed by Charles Krauthammer back in early 1990s and saying that the USA is the biggest power in the world, self-sufficient and capable of doing everything. The United Nations Organisation is merely a children’s recreation camp full of wicked anti-American teenagers, and America does not need the UN. The US has enough power and resources to solve all problems and sustain its own hegemony.
However, in practice, this idea has been disproved. And now many in America, seemingly starting with Obama himself, believe that the US cannot be the master of the world. There was once a "uni-power moment", but it has ended, and it’s time for the US to realize that the world in multi-powered. Notwithstanding that a great inertia of uni-power remains in the US – both psychologically and politically.

Its main motif is that the USA is still the most powerful and most democratic, and therefore has a moral right to do what others can’t do. This deeply-rooted ideology is the main reason for the negative attitude of the US political class to “resetting”.

There is a third point, which is rarely considered in the US: Russia also has public opinion.

During the times of the USSR, we could reach an accord easier: the public reaction to what the Soviet leadership did was predictable. But even then, the Soviet propaganda machine explained to the population why détente with the USA was correct and expedient. Now the public opinion in Russia is much stronger and much more powerful.

Just as in the US, the Russian leadership cannot, without explaining and proving the necessity of foreign policy actions to its citizens, pursue political decisions. It’s time for the US to understand that it cannot achieve anything by continuing the course that is negatively perceived in Russia. The Obama administration - after his predecessor refused for both his terms in office to reckon with Russian interests – needs to take concrete steps to show that the US position has, indeed, changed.

These three issues are extremely important in perceiving the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. Today, we can see a vessel with a pleasant drink in Obama’s hands, and he seems to be willing to fill this glass with it.

So far, not a single drop from the “vessel of promises” has fallen into the “resetting” glass. We are left to hope that at the July summit in Moscow, the obscure ramifications of the “resetting” of US-Russian relations will become clear.

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Experts are sure that he was left without a choice. Belarus had only one way out of the severe money deficit – reach out its hand and borrow from everyone willing to contribute even a little.

Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of the CIS Countries, shared an analogy with Izvestia: once he met with the Ambassador from Singapore and asked him what the situation with democracy and competition looked like in his country. The Ambassador replied that there isn’t any democracy or competition in Singapore. How can that be? Zharikhin’s amazement was met with a thorough answer: Singapore is a corporation-country. Or perhaps, Ford’s departments compete internally? No. And it’s the same story with Belarus. After all, it is also a corporation-country that, until recently, didn’t need to compete with anyone or provide democratic rights. As soon as the crisis broke out, corporations, as well as countries, began to crumble.

One does not need to look far to prove that the situation in Belarus is, indeed, unenviable. Otherwise, why would the IMF become so benevolent and suddenly increase the already-promised $2.5 billion loan by another billion dollars? Be that as it may, Belarus received the first tranche of the credit in the amount of $778 million at the beginning of the year. Yesterday, it received the second payment in the amount of $679 million.

If the IMF decided to help the sinking Belarusian economy, it’s quite apparent that it isn’t just an act of goodwill. The “rescuers” have persistently recommended that Alexander Lukashenko balance the budget by 2009, despite the decline in revenue. Some of these recommendations/requirements included economic reforms, tight monetary policy, a more flexible exchange rate and an increased monetary exchange corridor.

Now the “batka” will have to obey orders. Or at least pretend to. Because, as they say, “a promise does not guarantee a marriage”, and these first payments aren’t the full $3.5 billion. The IMF was pleased when Minsk expanded the exchange rate corridor for the Belarusian ruble, and their action was commended. What will happen next? We’ll have to wait and see.

According to Zharikhin, it was precisely the “corporate” structure of the economy and exports that played a malicious joke on Belarus. As a result of the crisis, there is no place for the chemical fertilizers, mechanical engineering and automotive industry products. But workers still need to get their wages, and the manufactured, but still unsold, goods must be paid for. Meanwhile, the treasury is empty.

If he agreed with all IMF conditions, then Lukashenko is obviously in a desperate financial situation, said Vladimir Zharikhin. The situation in Belarus is complicated. They didn’t have the “safety net” that was set up in Russia which is, unfortunately, being spent today. So, the main thing that Lukashenko faces currently is getting money any way he can.

"Milk War" breaking out again?

As soon as hope dawned for Belarus to get a big tranche from the IMF, Russia's Chief Sanitary Inspector Gennady Onishchenko went on stage again. On Thursday, he made a loud statement that the Belarusian side is trying to thwart the previously achieved agreements on the "milk issue" and the technical regulations, which may lead to cancellation of the transition period and another suspension of milk deliveries from Belarus.

According to Onishchenko, the Russian side, in strict accordance with its obligations, has admitted to the Russian market over 400 dairy product articles in three lists. There was, however, one condition: that Belarus ensure compliance with all requirements of the Russian legislation before the end of July.

"In the meanwhile, from the moment of achieving the agreements (June 17th – Izvestia), Belarus has provided a ridiculously small amount of samples for testing – about 30 of them", Onishchenko said. "We view this situation as a deliberate attempt on the part of Belarus to thwart the agreements that have been achieved."

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The preparations for Biden’s visit were underway as soon as the White House Press Office announced that the vice president was intending to meet with Saakashvili and the opposition. After all, unequivocal support from Barack Obama’s administration, for one side or another, could become an important argument in the prolonged fight for power.

There have been some rumors that Saakashvili decided to repeat the record of the opposition and gather 60,000 to 70,000 supporters to fill the stands of the National Stadium. According to the opposition’s press, all municipal transport will be mobilized in order to transport people from various parts of the country. Further, those who Mikhail Nikolaevich wants to present to Joe Biden will be compensated. They say each person will get a one-time allowance of either 20 or 200 lari ($1.00 = 1.65 lari). They will also be guaranteed their jobs are still waiting for them after returning from their “business trips”.

When the opposition learned about these plans, they promised to lead massive demonstrations. At first, it was reported that at least 100,000 people would surround the stadium and allow neither Saakashvili nor his supporters inside. A while later the opposition leader said that an exact place for demonstrations has not yet been chosen. “It may also be Freedom Square (where Saakashvili welcomed George Bush in 2005), Rustaveli Avenue, or the stadium”, said Eka Baselia, leader of the Movement for A United Georgia.

In the meantime, both sides decided to send their emissaries to Washington. Irakli Alasania, “opposition ambassador” and former Georgia’s ambassador to the UN has been in the US for nearly two weeks. Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, who is also known as Saakashvili’s right hand man, flew there as well. It’s not yet clear what the result of this merger of the two compromising sides will be. Experts predict that Meribishvili will try to convince Barack Obama’s inner circle that the opposition is connected to the Russian special services. Though no one still believes those Georgian secret videos and the phone call monitoring, Washington might.

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Global Zero is nothing new. All signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) agreed more than forty years ago to take steps towards full nuclear disarmament. However, the actual realization of this initiative raises many questions. First of all – zero of what? Creators of the initiative speak of nuclear warheads using a strategic triad (ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, ballistic missile submarines, and strategic bombers). Or, simply put: a proposal to destroy anything that can reach the US from Russia and vice-versa. But what to do with the conventional weaponry? Unlike the US, Russia is surrounded by American military bases, aerodromes, and naval bases. “Zero” in nuclear weapons would result in an absolute American dominance in conventional weaponry.

Furthermore, are we talking about having “zero” deployed warheads or are we also talking about the warheads that are detached from delivery-aircraft and ready for deployment? To this day, Americans are ready to come to an agreement about exclusively-deployed warheads and refuse to count their arsenal (“nuclear relapse potential” problem). The US has plenty of stockpiled weapons.

It’s tough to understand how the advancement towards a “nuclear zero” can be compatible with a sharp increase in conventional weaponry, which is a universal trend. NATO countries by far surpass Russia in conventional weaponry. Strategic missile forces are the most effective and deployable part of the Russian Armed Forces; they are the guarantor of our security. And that is precisely what we’re being asked to reject. In addition, not a single Western country has ratified the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). There are scenarios where Russia would be absolutely defenceless without having nuclear weapons. A typical dialogue with Western counterparts: “Why are you Russians so afraid of NATO expansion? Do you really think you will be attacked?” “Yes. Why not?” – “But, you have nuclear weapons!...” And what if we didn’t?...

It wouldn’t hurt to clarify another issue on the way towards the Global Zero: how other members of the nuclear club feel about this idea. Great Britain: its nuclear power is so greatly integrated with the Americans’, that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it their united nuclear force. France: it reintegrated into NATO. China: it plays an increasingly prominent role in strategic military issues. It also wouldn’t hurt to know how the countries which possess nuclear weapons and are not members of the NNPT – Israel, India, and Pakistan - feel about this. We should add North Korea and possibly Iran to that list. The number of unofficial members of the nuclear club may increase. I have personally heard from representatives of “problem” countries that, after Yugoslavia and Iraq, no one could convince them of the irrelevance of nuclear capacity – America does not attack countries possessing nuclear weapons. What “zero” can we possibly speak of?

Axiom of disarmament – the relationship between offensive and defensive systems.

The movement towards achieving “zero” in the reduction of strategic nuclear forces (SNF) clearly cannot be accompanied by increasing ballistic missile defence (BMD) forces—the US withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty unilaterally. It wouldn’t hurt to know whether or not the US is planning to return to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, if there is a future for control of conventional weaponry, and whether or not our proposals to curtail the militarization of space will be accepted.

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive to come to a concrete agreement for further strategic nuclear weapons reduction at the approaching summit in Moscow. What parameters could be considered wise from the point of view of Russian and global security?

1) The number of abandoned warheads can be less than what was allowed by the Moscow Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions (1,700 – 2,200 units by the end of 2012). Our military says that somewhere around 1,500 warheads is enough to ensure the country’s defense capabilities. In addition, the “nuclear relapse potential” issue needs to be resolved.

2) The number of carriers in the triad can be significantly reduced in comparison to the START-1. But in no way should the destruction of the land-based missiles - a component of the triad where we hold our strength - be given priority.

3) There needs to be an agreement on the interrelation between the reduction of strategic nuclear forces and the non-deployment of ballistic defence missiles. 4) Mechanisms on monitoring compliance with agreements should be clearly defined. It is under these conditions that an agreement will be possible that will enhance our security and not decrease it.

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Neither the Russian or Ukrainian presidents, nor the King of Sweden, got the chance to admire this beauty – they did not attend the celebration. The Ukrainian leader, Viktor Yuschenko, gathered his electorate on the eve of the celebrations and told them that Mazepa was the main hero of the battle, and is not at all a traitor. Yuschenko decided not to prove this in Poltava and sent the deputy head of the Presidential Secretariat, Marina Stavniychuk, in his place.

Town of Swedish Grave left without a store

On the eve of the celebration, the Poltava field was full of the hustle and bustle of the celebration preparations. Dead wood was cut down in the nearby surroundings. The field, on which guests later gathered to look at the reconstruction of the battle, was being leveled out. A road was paved toward the place of the event, and birch trees native to Russia were planted along the way. They soon wilted.

The cultivation of the field went on until nearly an hour before the celebration. It’s true what they say – the Slavic soul is artful in its innovations. For the first time in the history of the battlefield, a bright orange-colored ice-skating rin was laid out (a symbol of Yuschenko’s leadership). This miracle of civil mechanical engineering, albeit with the speed of a snail, had leveled-out intersecting areas in a big way.

“Before the beginning of the celebrations, military warehouses stood on this field; airport oil and lubricants were stored here. Sensitive sites were carefully fenced with barbed wire,” Petro, a local policeman, told us, and asked for forgiveness from his boss for “declassifying military secrets.”
And indeed, a look around the perimeter of the field revealed the visible remains of towers.

The director of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve “Field of the Poltava Battle,” Natalia Bilan, is outraged by what has happened.

“If it weren’t for the anniversary, we would not have driven the military off the field,” she said. “And we’re talking about 771 hectares.”

The surrounding areas of the field are fully developed; the village is called the Swedish Grave. A single main road connects dozens of small streets. As inhabitants of this historical place told Izvestia, many things changed as the preparations of the celebrations began. For example, despite the economic crisis and the fall of the Ukrainian real estate market, the price of the local old huts began to rise.

“Not a month passes by that someone doesn’t comes here to offer me money for my home”, says an old-time resident, Andrei Ivanovich, “though, it is a historic place.”

With all of the chaos related to the 300-year anniversary, no one noticed the closing of the last grocery store near the Swedish Grave. Today inhabitants of the town are remembering the stories of the Ukrainian Cossacks who went to get salt from Crimea.

Peter and Mazepa drank beer together

The most important thing is what was being prepared on the field: reenactment of the battle. It was later replaced with a spectacle in order to avoid the historical Ukrainian-Russian-Swedish confusion.

Two main characters, Peter and Mazepa, are in the middle of the field, drinking beer that’s dripping down from their fake moustaches. They are both actors with a political agenda. Sergey Ozeryanko, who plays the Russian Emperor, shares with Izvestia his views on history: “Peter was an outstanding man. No wonder why people call him Peter the Great. The only thing I have in common with him is my height. I don’t argue with Mazepa. I remember Peter tried to bring him closer in the beginning.”

Actor Aleksandr Zazymko, who plays chieftain Mazepa, does not show mercy toward his character.

“If it weren’t for the similarities in our physical characteristics, I would not have played him,” Zazymko confessed.

“He might have been a good strategist, but he made a big mistake with Poltava,” explained the modern Mazepa, and asked to retreat into his tent to study the new battle plan.

Chernomyrdin was charged cash

One of the many outstanding guests was Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin. He took just a couple of souvenirs with him from the Poltava Battle.

The first was given to him in the Poltava Battle Museum. It was a small pin, approximately one centimeter in diameter. The pin had an image of Peter the Great and read: “Poltava – Peter the Great, 300 years of all-Ukrainian victory.” As soon as he received his present, he began clipping it onto his jacket. The same pins were sold to the guests for five hryvnas each by the local vendors.

The second gift was more exclusive, and Viktor Stepanovich had to partially pay for it. When the Russian delegation walked past the communal grave and was preparing to place flowers for the fallen Russian soldiers, a voice came from somewhere in the crowd: “Victor Stepanovich, Victor Stepanovich… let me through!” The security were on their guard, but did not hear the man’s threats and allowed him through. After reaching the advisor to the Russian president, the man reached over and handed a book to Chernomyrdin.

“Take it, it’s a present from me to you,” he said. “Because, it was you who contributed to this place being like this.”

As we later found out, only six copies of the book have been published. The author paid to have the book published himself, his name is Viktor Blyzen. The book contains some rare photographs of the area and monuments that were built by the locals themselves, including Viktor when he was young. “Have you submitted it to publishers? Why did you publish it yourself?” asked Chernomyrdin.

“I offered it to everyone. Will you buy five copies?” Being an ambassador extraordinaire, he reached into his pocket and handed a note to the author. He did it so fast that those surrounding him barely noticed. “I think it was a green note. Probably rubles or dollars,” whispered people around them.

“No one will stop us from speaking and singing in Russian”

“Did you know that before the battle, Mazepa begged to return to Peter, but he did not accept him?” the ambassador asked Izvestia. We nodded and Viktor Chernomyrdin continued, “Not only I, but all Russians who came here, will bow to those who defended out motherland. We can’t say that it was only this victory that laid the foundation for the Russian Empire, but it began here. This is a shared victory. Because everyone participated in the battle: Russians, Ukrainians, Kalmyks and representatives of many other nationalities who at that time were a part of Russia. And to recreate history is ungrateful. I don’t think that the attempts to edit something will lead to anything positive. No one has succeeded in changing the history. There’s no need to waste time, because sooner or later, everything will come back to its place. To me, it seems that the regular Ukrainian people share my views. No one will ever deny us of this.”

“As far as Mazepa is concerned, many speak of him, write about him, creating some sort of events that are related to him,” Chernomyrdin continued. “But Mazepa did not take part in the Poltava Battle; he had nothing to do with it, nor with conspiring with King Charles. What kind of Ukraine he fought for, who he freed from whom, those are all speculations and fabrications.”

Chernomyrdin finished speaking and headed toward the Samson Church, which was built in honor of the defeat of the Swedes. (June 27 is not only the anniversary of the battle, but also the holiday of St. Samson). Father Konstantin currently presides over the church. He told Izvestia: “Vasnetsov’s students - Somov, Sokalov - painted the church. They worked from the sketches of their master. The church did not suffer from bombardments, but from people’s hands. It’s difficult to understand for what reasons, probably for ideological reasons, the bell tower was taken apart down to the last brick. But that’s okay. We will restore everything.”

The father rolled up the sleeves of his cassock, as if right at that time, while Chernomyrdin stood in the doorway, he would begin the restoration.

Poltava borsch is the best in the whole Ukraine

Despite the abundance of soul food in the Poltava region, the stomach still, from time to time, demands secular food. As it turns out, the museum town has only one establishment where one can get something to eat. Its title is symbolic: Redut. And, if one were to consider that just a few days before the massive reception of guests it was revived with new wood and varnish, they would agree that it has the appearance of a structure from the times of Peter the First.

Many were probably a little thrown off by the sign at the entrance that read: Poltava Borsch. Many believe that Peter the First ate it. Its main secret is that it’s thick, rich and made from local products. Another Poltava miracle: pushka-tea. It is the second largest samovar in the world. It has been made by craftsmen from Zaporozhye and holds 300 liters of tea.

“Don’t think we brought it here to show off,” Sergey Krupenko, one of the leaders of the “Zaporozhye Samovar” project, boasted to Izvestya. “After all, this isn’t a museum piece but a real samovar. So, we will remind all those interested – you can have your tea black, green, and even with sugar, but not for free. This delight costs three hryvnas. We have enough water for all, we brought many buckets and firewood from Zaporozhye.”

He showed the copper tag which says that this samovar is dedicated to the all-Russian czar, Peter the Great, to his military commanders and the Russian soldier.

The anniversary of the Poltava Battle became one of the rare historical celebrations in Ukraine where there was no place for right wing nationalists. Men with kosovorotka shirts mingled with (and almost got married to) women in Ukrainian vyshyvnanka. Swedes, who casually mixed into the crowd, sang “Nece galya Vodu” with a drunken accent.

In the evening, during the final moments of the celebration, everyone was united by the sweltering 40 degrees Celsius heat and an equally scorching stove burner. People wandered off the field that, like 300 years earlier, once again resembled a battlefield. And, behind the church, rows of old, unclean graves were left in silence and oblivion – graves in which, according to local legends, lay those heroic defenders of the motherland about whom they spoke during the celebration.

Sergey Naryshkin: We remember the traitors

The Russian delegation to the anniversary of the Poltava Battle was headed by the head of the Administration of the President of Russia, Sergei Naryshkin. He sat down with Izvestia for a question and answer session.

Q: How do you feel about Ukrainian historians equating Mazepa with Peter the Great?

A: I cannot hide my disappointment. Here, under Poltava, lay soldiers, peasants, citizens, who defended our land. And, I’m sure that Russia and Ukraine will remember and respect the memory of those people. Of course, we will also remember the traitors. But the memory of those who betrayed the interests of our motherland has a different tone.

Q: Russians have greatly contributed to the preparations for this anniversary. Do you consider it a shared holiday for both Russians and Ukrainians?

A: We cherish the memory of the inhabitants of Poltava, of the Cossacks and the soldiers who lost their lives here while defending our motherland, the homeland that we share. And, of course, there have always been and will be Russian people. This is a special place for us and the Ukrainians.

Q: According to Swedish historians who came to the 300th anniversary of the battle, both sides lost that war. It’s self explanatory why Sweden lost. Russia, on the other hand, though it claimed victory, was exhausted from the war and nearly bankrupt.

A: It was after the Poltava Battle, which predetermined the outcome of the Great Northern War, when Russia began a different level of development. After victory, Peter the Great had the opportunity to begin the reforms that made Russia a modern (according to the standards of those times) country. That’s why this victory is the greatest event for Russia.

Opinions

Peter Tolchko, academic at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and director of the Institute of Archeology NASU:

- As time passes, we can look at the Poltava Battle calmly, without undue emotions. Ivan Mazepa had an outstanding personality in acting and intrigues. His whole life he preoccupied himself with finding a suitable suzerain. And after finding them, he betrayed them one by one. Yan Kazimir, Peter Doroshenko, Ivan Samoilovich, Peter the First – they all learned what Mazepa’s “faithfulness” really meant. The most amazing thing was, after he realized his miscalculations he tried to betray Charles XII of Sweden. He sent messengers to Peter the First to make a deal. If he were to forgive Mazepa, then the hetman would be ready to betray the Swedish king. But that was a bluff, because even Charles XII did not believe him. He placed the hetman under house arrest.

Dmitri Tabachnik, professor of historical studies:

- With the initiative from the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yuschenko, a falsified collection of civil history is being imposed. It is being carried out by using the budgetary means and efforts of government agencies. The president and his pseudo-historians are trying to prove that the Swedish attack was beneficial for Ukraine and that Mazepa’s actions opened a way toward Europe. For them, Mazepa isn’t a traitor, but a model to be emulated, almost sacred. It is no wonder why some nationalistic politicians are trying to glorify him as a fighter for independent Ukraine. Justifying betrayal with concern for Ukrainian independence became a tradition. In reality, Mazepa was concerned only with his wellbeing. In his 21-year tenure as a hetman he increased his personal capital by 50 times. If in the beginning of his post of a hetman he owned 500 serfs, then in the beginning of the 18th century he became the richest feudal lord of Europe.

Evgeny Kopatko, head of a sociological research company:

- We conducted a survey in order to examine the way Ukrainians perceive the Poltava Battle. We found that 63.5% see it as a victory over Sweden and only 9.2% consider it a defeat. We also asked on which side of the battle they would have fought. 34.3% said they would fight alongside Peter the Great, 19.2% on Mazepa’s side, and 18.8% would have observed the battle from the side. This can only mean one thing: people have been confused by different historical interpretations.

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He did not just drop in – he came on it, pounced on it right out of the blue. And it was not a grocery well-prepared for the leader’s visit by regional managers, as often happens. But why should a leader go to a grocery? And what will be the result of the visit?

It’s probably because, historically, the time has come for all our leaders to go to a grocery. And the harder the time, the more eager they become to show that they rub through difficulties together with the people of whose stomachs they take care of. It’s evident that when people aren’t hungry, they are satisfied and like the government. Thus the aim is simple but the motives are different.

Is it a farewell to food?

For example Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president, was a well-known shopper. He acquired the habit while working in Sverdlovsk and later developed it in Moscow. His enemies accused him of populism. Maybe it’s partly true. They are politicians – that’s what makes them look for people’s affection, though it seems that Yeltsin had another motive. I may be mistaken but it looks like many actions of the first Russian president were dictated by his own history. A man born into a peasant family of kulaks who lost their fortune and with a wartime childhood he unconsciously was worrying about food provision every day. I judge from my parents’ behavior, also children of war, that there is a great zeal to store as much food as you can and desire to feed all the others. Alas, he did it in an awkward and primitive Soviet way.

To tell the truth, Yeltsin received a damaged economy – empty shelves and counters, a mess in industry and agriculture. You may remember that there was a famous food funeral filmed by a team of humorists named Oba-Na which became the symbol of those times.

Obviously Boris Yeltsin’s actions were naïve and not market-like. He tried to control the way his people are fed like a good-natured landlord. It was his style to come suddenly with a naked sword, demand to restore order, and reprimand all those responsible. And the next day – here comes food. But it did not work for long. Furthermore, no gain – no loss. Even light on his feet Yeltsin could not possibly attend every grocery. He needed a system and not a random raids approach. He realized that. Among his first serious steps taken to improve the economic situation was the liberalization of prices, thanks to which grocery counters then filled with goods. This Shock Therapy, as it was called later, worked. But it also brought skyrocket prices and lost savings…

”It’s not the sausage that ruins us...”

It’s been a long time since Yeltsin quitted his ruling, but the system enabling trade on a competitive market basis has not been worked out yet. Who’s to blame for the high market prices which are among the greatest concerns of the population and automatically the government? The population blames the tradesmen – those grabbers who care about nobody but themselves. Vladimir Putin hinted one of the chain shop owners that “it’s not the sausage that ruins us...” but what? Of course, it’s greed, generated by monopolistic policy.

The law of trade which Vladimir Putin decided to discuss right on the spot – in the capital’s grocery – is supposed to put an end to it. But will there be any result? Now Putin know the prices for milk and meat. But did not he know them before? Or maybe the numerous departments aimed at monitoring prices do not report to him.

Well, he reproached Head of X5 Retail Group (the owner of the ‘Perekrestok’ chain) Yury Kobaladze, who took the heat of anger at the chain holders. He almost made the man promise to reduce the prices. But that did not work. Yesterday he took back his words, saying that the journalists got him wrong, taking his words out of context. It was a prankish conversation, so to say – the Prime Minister made a joke, the director replied a pun.

While drafting a law of trade, there was a lot of speculation on the state regulated prices. At first they actively suggested this measure, later rejected as a non-market one. However, in Russia they understand regulation as control over the addition to price – we’ll fix the range for you, and you should not go beyond it. The current regulation is the creation of a mechanism which enables trade to operate, strange as it is, in the market conditions. But the authorities argue and yet do not know how to do so. That’s why the Prime Minister has to do the manual trade regulation, or to be more exact – an out of office one.

The “Ocean” and a sausage sent in the post

Boris Yeltsin’s predecessors did not strain at visiting shops. But they did it in a very official way, usually during their trips to the province. There are several well-known cases of their visits to groceries. For example, in 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev went to Vladivostok to celebrate its 125th anniversary. Naturally the city authorities were preparing for the visit of the leader. A small variety of products appeared on the shelves. Gorbachev’s choice was a fish and sea products store “Ocean”.

Leonid Brezhnev seldom met with his people. He either did not see any point in it or was properly supplied with high-quality products and it did not come to him that his people might suffer from lack of goods. Though there is an anecdote which was included in the recently made film “Brezhnev”. He was going on a business trip, and suddenly saw a small grocery in the province. He stopped the car and entered the shop, bought a piece of a poor quality sausage and sent it to Nikolay Tikhonov (Chairman of the Cabinet Council at that time) as to show what common people have to eat every day.

“There were no market methods in those times...”

(Extract from “Boris Yeltsin: from dawn to dusk” by Alexander Korzhakov)

While being the First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee, Boris Yeltsin regularly visited groceries with control checks. At first we took one and the same route attending shops along the governmental road. But when the groceries’ owners learned about our visits they organized a better supply to these shops. The habit to personally check the products on the store shelves was acquired by my boss in Sverdlovsk. The conversation in a grocery started like that:

- How many meat types are on sale? How many types of diary products?

We hinted to Yeltsin that the shops further off from the highway got fewer supplies than others. He charged me with choosing the sites for inspection. I would choose a shop, check if it was secure to drive up to, and I didn’t tell any of the staff that the First secretary of the Moscow city committee was about to pay a visit.

By that time, our ZIL (a soviet automobile) already had an additional security convoy. It was attached to us because we frequently drove off the standard routes. I used to warn the guys:

- We’ll be at place X at time Y, but don’t tell anyone in the store.

We used to make unexpected visits, catching the scared managers unawares. At that time, few people knew what Yeltsin looked like and could easily tell him to go to hell. The fact that the visit was unexpected was not a goal in itself – it was the only way to find out the real state of affairs.

One day, Boris came up to a shop assistant and started asking questions in a stern and critical voice. She replied, cheekily:

- Hey, just get out of here…

The manager would run up to see what all the fuss was about, he’d stare at Yeltsin with a frightened look and instantly know what was going on. But Boris, unperturbed, went on with the list of his criticisms, and I was taking them down in a notebook.

It might look funny today, but at the time, he was doing the right thing: he was charged with putting things in order in Moscow, and he was doing just that. Market tools didn’t work back then. For example, in Sverdlovsk, with Yeltsin at the helm, there were always eggs and three kinds of poultry meat in the shops.

Hurrah for the travel pass!

Sergey Chugayev

In 1989, Anatoly Styopov, a well-known journalist, and I worked together as Isvestia commentators at the first Congress of People’s Deputies. This was an unforgettable time. Amazing meetings and episodes. There was one situation that I remember particularly well.

Summertime. Troitsky Bridge. Boris Yeltsin exits the Kremlin through the Troitsky Gate. Aleksandr Korzhakov, Yeltsin’s faithful bodyguard, is the only person accompanying Yeltsin. For this reason, the former nominee to the Politburo looks rather unhappy and lonely, in spite of the nice navy blue business suit which looks great on him. At the time, there was a group of fans who spent all their time on the Troitsky Bridge – perhaps no more than twenty people. They all got excited when Yeltsin appeared on the bridge. They surrounded him and started asking, “Boris Nikolayevich, how are you? Boris Nikolayevich, what about you?”

Now that Yeltsin was in the center of a crowd, albeit a small one, he raised his head and stretched back his shoulders. It was obvious that he was once again in his element, although on a smaller scale. Instead of answering the questions, the future Russian president fished out a small rectangular piece of paper out of his pocket and raised it high over his head.

“This is my one-month public transport pass,” Boris Yeltsin announced to the people gathered around him.

“Hurrah!” shouted the crowd.

“Now I am going to walk to the street and get on a bus. I will take a bus, like all the common people!” he added.

“Hurrah! Hurrah!”

The people were overwhelmed with joy…

Holding the pass high above his head, as if it was a banner, Boris Yeltsin walked outside the Kremlin.

The people were happy.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won’t be attending Kythira. The official explanation is because of problems with a broken elbow. Her appearance was anticipated there. The thing is that the new American administration has not yet established their position on defense. The American representative in the OSCE, for example, is keeping quiet. Why is Washington dragging its feet? Perhaps clarity will be achieved after Barack Obama’s visit to Moscow, which will take place at the beginning of July.

No one is hoping that in Kythira, under the Mediterranean sun, the ministers will languish and make some significant decisions. It is very important, said the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, to have some live discussions in an informal setting to harvest ideas that, in the future, will ensure a breakthrough in aiding the creation of reliable mechanisms for collective security in the region. That is, by the way, the main goal of the Russian European security proposal initiated by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.

A few days ago, in the Austrian capital, during the security conference, Sergei Lavrov said, “Representatives of the NATO countries, while in Vienna, have announced the indivisibility of security between Vancouver and Vladivostok. Nevertheless, representatives of the same countries, this time in Brussels, are recording in NATO documents that the border of such indivisibility actually runs from Vancouver to, not Vladivostok, but Białystok, on the border of Poland and Belarus.”

Certainly, the collision between the EU and the inner blocs leads to a great fragmentation of European territory. “Gray zones” are appearing. For example, Georgia, which is a member of the OSCE, preferred to resolve a domestic conflict by methods of force, thus breaking its international obligations. It still has not received the proper condemnation from the OSCE.

According to Lavrov, for the OSCE, the principle of undivided security is a political obligation, and once it will be proposed to NATO – a legal obligation. It is necessary to eliminate such an imbalance.

Another problem is that the OSCE deals with many organizations such as NATO, the EU, the CIS, and the CSTO. Often they do not work together, but instead compete with each other. This leads to, as Lavrov said, “The scattering of resources and obscuring attempts to oppose security threats.”

As it turns out, there are plenty of issues to discuss at Kythira. It will be hot there even without Hillary Clinton – and not only because of the heat of the Mediterranean sun.

It isn’t the Americanists, but the democracy specialists (and what democracy specialist isn’t an American at heart?) who are more decisive. Some of them had even reproached the American experts on Russia by saying that it is impossible, indecent, and even dangerous, to give bad advice to the new and young American president, which consisted of: one shouldn’t teach Russia how its internal and foreign policy ought to look like. Instead, common interests between Russia and the US should be sought on the basis of more effective cooperation between Moscow and Washington.

The controversy between those who advise Obama to crush the theory and the practice of sovereign democracy and those who say that “crushing” isn’t necessary and instead it’s better to engage in political pragmatism, has reached the level of personal attacks and indiscreet remarks. This, at the very least, implies that a great ideological clash will occur during the course and as an outcome of the first positive dialogue between the newly-elected presidents of Russia and the US.

I share the opinion of those who see this event as being of great importance and, I would say, the political cost as well as each word, every phrase, every jest that we will hear and see in the upcoming talks carries great weight. But, the value of this event is not the ability to catch one or another thing with one pitch, but the kind of thing that can be missed with one throw. What’s at stake is the kind of impression Obama will walk away with from Russia about the country and its politicians and whether or not Russia’s foreign policy will shift after he leaves (although no proof is needed to say that American foreign policy won’t change). To me, Obamamania is a political sin just as Americaphobia is, and we are inclined to fall into extremes.

Because I am not an Americanist (although who in this world doesn’t consider themselves an expert in the American foreign policy?), I will support my explanation of what Obama will bring to Moscow with the assessments of American experts with whom I recently held discussions in New York.

Not one of these experts, and they were all knowledgeable professional people, expressed any significant optimism about the results of the upcoming talks. They said not to wait for any steps towards a compromise or, especially, any concessions from Obama and advised not to follow what new offers he will bring to the table, because he won’t bring any. For example, after Russia vetoed the UN Security Council’s Resolution on Georgia, many demanded from Obama harsh criticism of this action. But, he simply said that all of this does not deserve any special attention and that he is not at all interested in “issues of the 19th century”. With Bush it would have been different. And that is the difference: you make a mistake – Bush would surely point it out, but Obama isn’t planning on reacting to the mistakes and wrong moves you take – assumingly, until you engage in a direct confrontation with American national interests. But just because Obama won’t react to each and every one of your missteps does not mean he won’t notice or take them into account.

The expansion of NATO is not on the horizon, but neither will you hear a declaration on a moratorium of NATO’s expansion from Obama.

Obama doesn’t fully understand what Russia is – he will try to clarify that for himself. On the other hand, the above-mentioned rhetoric on the “issues of the 19th century”, clearly directed towards Russia, bear witness to the fact that an overall clarity on this subject already exists, and it is unlikely that Medvedev will be able to convince Obama to change his mind. No one here (in the US) likes the declarations that you make about having your own way of doing things, and disliking and opposing the West. Russia is a political outsider, and the attitude of its political regime is unnatural.

You idealize many problems. For example, the time to negotiate a new European Collective Security never came. It is a secondhand question.

Of course, it isn’t good that there is no mechanism established that allows constant direct dialogue between Washington and Moscow, even though some things in this world depend on you, on Russia, and, in some cases, many things. Therefore, the fixation on such a mechanism, and especially its establishment, is more than can be expected aside from the possible, but not the necessary, agreements on some of the obvious problems, in the resolution of which Moscow’s presence, according to Washington, is necessary and helpful.

It follows that there will not be a swift shift towards a new American-Russian partnership – that is an idealistic and a distant goal. But there are plenty of specific issues which could be agreed upon on the basis of the American position. We could, as one of the Americans expressed himself, walk down the street chewing bubblegum.

So, for now Russia and the US are offering us to chew bubblegum, but, at least, we will be walking down the street…

I cannot exclude some of my personal assessments made during the course of our discussion. Despite the many assertions that the US and Russia have many national interests in common, I can still see many differences. Unless, of course, someone does not want to work according to one criteria or wants to change Russia to a point where it becomes unrecognizable. It’s possible that Obama considers problems in the Caucasus as well as Russian politics a matter of the “19th century”. Although, even if one were to accept that as self-evident, and to recognize the US as a country, exclusively of the 21st century, then that means as in politics, just like in the army, the test is conducted by those who lag behind, and not by their leaders. Besides, it is highly unlikely that American politics were able to outrun history, thus changing the point of politics. And the methods by which the US is realized are exceptionally modern. Among them there are plenty of traditional and even archaic methods as well. Their scale is, of course, different – global. That is irrefutable.

What would I consider to be a truly innovational step in Obama’s political career? If, having arrived in Moscow, Obama will, for example, invite Russia to join NATO, which would, by the way, eliminate the question of necessity to create a European collective security system. And, at the same time, from the reactions of the NATO members, we would be able to see who lives by the politics of the 19th century, and who lives according to the political systems of the 21st century.

I will leave the question whether or not Russia will need to accept the invitation or not open. Especially when the answer to that question is not as easy as it may seem, even in the 21st century. But will the invitation be made?

I finish my much lengthier than what is described here presentation with this – it’s better to be a skeptic than an idiot. And, by the way, that expression won favorable responses from my American colleagues.

I especially liked the advice that one of the American experts gave Russia for the upcoming meeting between Medvedev and Obama: ask carefully what you want…

I would say that this is a very a friendly and a very wise piece of advice.

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“The fight with the Germans would have revived the Soviet occupation”

Several years ago, with the support from the Ministry of Education of Estonia, a ninth grade textbook for Russian schools came out, titled “The Newest History” (authors: Eynar Barya, Tiny Tannberg and Ago Payur). New, glossy, and lavishly illustrated, it was truly pleasing to the eye. But, to understand who won the war from this textbook is nearly impossible for the students. For example, the phrase “The Great Patriotic War” does not appear in the book even once, only the “Second World War”.

Despite this, the authors don’t play down the role of the Red Army in the fight against the Nazis. The textbook reads, for example: “July 17, 1942 began one of the greatest battles of the Second World War – the Battle of Stalingrad, in which the Soviet Army fought fiercely for four months…The Battle of Stalingrad contributed significantly to the fundamental shift in the course of the Second World War,” the book reads. “The Red Army’s successes on the frontlines inspired those occupied by Hitler to actively resist the enemy, which oftentimes turned into a partisan war,” was also acknowledged.

The Soviet resistance in the Baltic States is given credit as well. “In Latvia and Estonia,” the chapter titled “Baltic Countries in the Second World War” reads, “armed groups of the ‘Forest Brothers’ appeared; as they were attacking the establishments and subdivisions of the Red Army, they destroyed railroad tracks and communication lines.” The authors do not argue the fact that Germans recruited volunteers to the police battalions, and then to the national SS legions. Although solid excuses are offered, “The volunteers were mobilized by their desire to revenge the Soviet regime for causing them sorrow,” whereas “war would weaken Germany and restore the Soviet occupation.” From the preceding chapters, students learn about the “occupation of the Baltic States” in June 1940 and the following reprisals such as Moscow’s “aggressions” in the years prior to the war, and the Moltov-Ribbentrop Pact (the secret protocol is, for some reason, excluded from the textbook).

The textbook does not mention Estonia’s aiding the police battalions of the 20th SS division with their fascist crimes. To the contrary, it says, “many legionaries disapproved of taking part in the SS activities” and “the compulsory mobilization was highly unpopular.” The Nazi brutalities on the Baltic territories were described in great detail, including the killing of the Jews in ghettos and concentration camps. Finally, only for a brief moment, the textbook mentions the “Latvians and Estonians who fought the Nazis alongside with the Red Army”. The name of the Estonian Hero of the Soviet Union, Arnold Mary, cannot be found on the pages of the textbook.

“From the side of the USSR, the war was just in character”

In Kazakhstan’s educational literature, the events of 1941-1945, generally, weren’t reviewed. This is exemplified in the 2005 Russian-language textbook on the newest history for ninth graders (edited by Burkitbay Ayagan) that was recommended by the Ministry of Education of Kazakhstan. Here, the war with Nazi Germany is presented as a “national war” where Kazakhs courageously fought side by side with other peoples of the Soviet Union. Stalin’s diplomacy and his domestic politics were viewed very critically. The character of the war does not raise doubts, “From the side of the USSR, the war was fair and defensive in nature. Germany led an unjust and unfair war. Among the countries that resisted the fascist aggression, Kazakhstan deserves a respectable place. The historic achievements of Kazakhstan, achievements of the Soviet Union (which included Kazakhstan), became great achievements in world-history.”

Kazakhstan’s economy is described in detail as the economy “which with a price of a great struggle and losses helped ensure the USSR’s victory.” One can find some interesting facts on the pages of the textbook, facts that probably aren’t familiar to Russian students. For example, when Kazakhstan began collecting money for the construction of tanks and airplanes, “Kazakhstan’s professional fighter and champion of the world, Khadji Mukan, donated 100,000 roubles of his personal savings.” There is a section dedicated to describing those deported to Kazakhstan, for whom “it would have been difficult to survive the conditions of the highest demoralization and physical hardships had it not been for the support and sympathy of the local population.”

It was fair for the creators of the textbook to include the names of their national heroes. One can find many names and awards of those who served in the war. Their detailed biographies and photographs are translated separately at the end of each chapter. The fates of the military conjunctions and units that formulated in Kazakhstan are described. An object of pride – the 316th, currently 8th, shooting division named after Major General Ivan Panfilov.

Honorable statistics are also included: hundreds of thousands of Kazakhs were awarded orders and medals, 497 people (97 of whom were ethnic Kazakhs) became Heroes of the Soviet Union, four of them – two time Heroes. Special attention was given to the Kazakh women who lost their lives on the frontlines, including machine gunner Manshuk Mametova and sniper Alia Moldagulova, while awarded the hero Award partisans Nurganym Bayseitov, Turgash Zhumabaev, and many others.

There are a few words mentioning the Turkistan legion that was recruited by the Nazis from the Kazakh and the Central Asian prisoners of war. The authors remind the readers that the fascists were, after all, unable to use these battalions in fights: “Many legionnaires, after receiving arms, moved to the Soviet Army’s frontlines, some went to partisans. As a result, the legion was disbanded.” In addition to that, the authors mention that among some of the citizens of the USSR, “who fought with the Germans against their own homeland…were many who were unreasonably reprisal and had every reason to be unhappy with the Soviet government.”

“Stalin’s great role must be noted”

The traditional outlook on the war can be found in Armenian textbooks. In 2004 came out a textbook titled “Armenian People with Questions and Answers”, which, after being translated to Russian, became the most significant of educational textbooks (edited by Vladimir Barkhudaryan). “The Armenian people played an active role in fighting the occupiers”, says the title of a section that is dedicated to the “Great Patriotic War”. “The number of Armenian fighters reached 440,000. They fought on all fronts; they were defenders of the national borders, participated in Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, and Berlin operations, in the ground battles as well as in the air.”

The textbook talks about Armenian divisions and their commanders, about those Armenians who stood out in leadership roles in the Red Army. Among them were Marshal and twice Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Bagramyan, Chief Marshal of armored units Amazasp Babadzhanyan, and Air Marshall Armenak Khanferyants (who was shot in 1950). In total, “107 Armenians received the Hero of the Soviet Union award for their heroism and selflessness, 10 of those included Armenian minorities… 27 Armenians received the Order of Glory in third degree award.”

Another issue - reprisals on the eve of the war’s outbreak and the unfulfilled expectations of the winners: “Victory was not without many sacrifices of the people of the USSR… During the post-war period, contrary to the expectations of the Soviet people, reprisals, once again, escalated. Victory was credited to the Communist Party and to Stalin”. The textbook makes an important point: “It is necessary to note Stalin’s great role in the great Patriotic War. All of the organizational power of the forces who drove away the enemy was in his hands.”

The Georgians began the war a day early

“In June 21, 1941, without declaring a war, Germany attacked the Soviet Union” – such a surprising statement can be found a middle school textbook that was published in Tbilisi in 2007, titled “The World and Georgian History and Geography”. The issue is not so much in the unfortunate misprint, but in the approach itself. The history of the Second World War occupied two pages of the textbook. One can only speculate about the role USSR played in bringing down fascism, similarly, about what fascism was and who was Adolf Hitler, although students recognize that the Nazis treated Soviet prisoners of war cruelly due to USSR’s position to refuse to participate in the 1929 Geneva Convention.

The chronology deserves a special note. Of whole great Patriotic War, two dates are mentioned. In 1941, “a well-organized Moscow defense and the counterattack of the Soviet Army” drove the Germans away from the capital. In 1945, Berlin surrendered. The battles of Stalingrad and Kursk are noted in the small print under the photographs of the destroyed Reichstag. And not a single word about the victims – including the 300,000 Georgians who died while fighting the Nazis. Out of the 750,000 who fought on the frontlines, Meliton Kantaria and Mikhail Egorov, who raised the Banner of Victory over Berlin, are also “forgotten”.

Luckily, our schools have been “fortunate” enough to have a choice in textbooks. Besides, many are going over the history of the Second World War in their textbook titled The Newest History. It describes many aspects in detail – from the birth of fascism in Italy and the Night of Long Knives in Germany to pre-war reprisals in the Red Army and the Katinsky shooting. It even describes the relationship between Stalin and Zhukov. The author’s text is minimal; most of the space is taken up by pieces of historic documents, photo-illustrations and maps.

A separate chapter is dedicated to “Georgians in WWII”. The authors disregard the 90 Heroes of the Soviet Union, let alone the 19,000 members of the “Georgian legion” that fought on the side of the Germans. The latter was limited only to the facts. Much more space is dedicated to the Last Battle of Europe – the anti-fascist uprising of the 800 Georgian war prisoners on the Holland island of Texel.

Parents of Ukrainian students are alarmed. The Ministry of Education is preparing a questionable present for the fall – a new history textbook with a “less-solid” interpretation of the events taking place between 1941 and 1945, for high school students. The young people of Ukraine that took one of the most significant hits from the Wehrmacht, are offered to simply forget the concept of the Great Patriotic War. It has become taboo. Authors of the new textbooks follow the example of their Estonian colleagues and speak only of the “World War”.

Although the “Orange” government wasn’t able to legally equate the veterans of the Red Army and Ukrainian nationalists (who cooperated with the Germans), it decided to, at least, do that in the subconscious of the students. The students will need to carefully study the history of the Bandera Organization and the OUN/UPA and “independently decide” who was right. In addition to that, the authors of the textbook plan to “withhold form judgments”, including those of the National Socialist Germany. It will distance itself from such epithets as, for example, “anti-humanist dictatorship”. It seems that for now, the Ukrainian students are left to hear about the war from their grandparents and hope that common sense and determination to the true objectivity will finally prevail over the political state of affairs.

Home in Zamoskvorechye

Before the Revolution, our building was privately owned. Apartments were rented out; some were bought. After the revolution, of the 27 units, 26 became shared apartments. Each shared apartment housed 4–9 families. They all shared the same bathroom and a faucet with cold water in the kitchen. The unit was heated with one heat-pipe for every two adjacent rooms. Some apartments had a phone, and when time came to pay for this service, it quickly became a bone of contention. The only private apartment (No. 27) belonged to General Zaleski, who received such luxury in return for some service for the Soviet government.

The youngsters, especially the girls, took great interest in embroidery. When it was cold, they sat in the corner, in the summer – in the courtyard in the garden. Billiards was especially popular; it was paid for at the government’s expense. Boys played in the mornings and afternoons; adults – in the evenings. Amongst them was a former officer of the imperial army - straight as a stick and dressed in a service jacket without the shoulder straps. He was married to the activist of our neighborhood. He disappeared at the outbreak of the war.

In June 1941, the war entered our lives and families were overwhelmed with funerals. At times, when the mailman came to our house, our hearts stopped, “What news did he bring? News of the death or life of our loved ones?” When he passed by our apartments, hope was reborn again.

The first funeral

The Ryabenkos, from apartment No.20, were the first in our neighborhood to bury their son, Yura. The death of their only child tore the parents apart. It was the final drop in the family’s misfortune. The Ryabenkos were referred to as “those from the past”. Before the Revolution, Ryabenko was a merchant of the first guild; he owned some perfume shops in Moscow. During the revolution, they lost much of their possessions, and, evidently, many valuable ones. Yura’s parents’ appearance differed from the rest of us by their posture and mannerisms. Though they lived quietly and modestly in their little room, having come to terms with the new order. Yura was just like us. Having lost their son, his parents became indifferent to everything – there was nothing left for the old Ryabenkos.

This first funeral left a significant impression on the neighbors. Everyone greatly sympathized with the deserted Ryabenko family. The spirit of patriotism awoke in us; we were ready and willing to defend our country. And, at the same time, a feeling of resentment began to appear: why is it that my husband, son, father, sister are fighting on the frontlines and my neighbor is hiding behind them?

Troublemaker Shura

The Kostikovy family – mother, father and two children: Zina and Shura. They were well off. The father, Kirill Galaktonovich, was the breadwinner. He worked as the head of the printing department, I think with Pravda. Shura was, as they then used to call him, a little troublemaker. He fought, bossed the younger kids around and taught them to drink. In 1941, the Germans were at Moscow’s borders. There was panic. Many families ran from the city. Shura joined the criminal community; he robbed the apartments of his neighbors after they had evacuated. In 1942, when the Germans were driven away from Moscow, the residents began returning. Witnesses against Shura were found and he was convicted. Years after the war was over, he had finished his time and came back home. But, his father did not take him back. He said that Shura had shamed the family and needed to become a person, to prove himself. Shura moved to Alexandrov in the Vladimir Oblast, got a job, finished a technical secondary school, then graduated from a university, and created a family. He really did become a person.

Tarzan’s fall

The Mishin family had three kids – two boys and one girl, Dusya. When their father was sent on a business trip - I think he worked in commerce - in 1938 or 1939, they left for Persia [Iran]. To see a whole family move to another country, during those times, was an unusual event. But their return at the outbreak of the war left an even greater impression. The Mishin family looked as though they had come from a different planet. Their magnificent attire caused hatred in some, and awe in others. Dusya changed her clothes several times a day and walked around outside to tease the girls.

Boys were especially jealous of the BSA brand-named bikes with handbrakes and headlights. During those times, so much as a scooter was a rarity. And here were these bikes, different models for, both, girls and boys. Their youngest brother, Nikolai, let other kids ride his bike. They usually rode it in the Alexandrov Park. He was an incredible storyteller. He gathered large crowds of listeners, whom he bewitched while retelling films about Tarzan that he had seen in Persia. He was also a great gymnast - his turns and twists on the monkey bars were way beyond his peers.

Later, during the front-line of Moscow, he became the leader of a gang of thieves. He was convicted, and disappeared somewhere in the boot camps. His death, and the deaths of their oldest brother and their father on the frontlines, became irrevocable grief for their mother and sister. Pre-war Mischins – successful and boastful. Post-war Mischins – two women broken by grief and embarrassment…

My hero, Gera

Even in the general poverty that surrounded them, the Shutov family was considered poor. The father drank and didn’t earn much money. His wife and two sons, Sergei and Gera, were dependant on him. Shutov, the father, became famous for getting run over by a train twice. The first time, the train cut off half of his leg and he used a wooden leg. The second time, the train ran over his wooden leg.

His youngest son, Gera, was a sergeant. He was tall and an uncommonly clean and kind person – a great example for many. Even before the war, he went to serve with the underwater fleet in the Pacific Ocean, and fought against Japan in 1945. During the war, his father died and his oldest brother, Sergei, lost his life on the frontline. His mother became seriously ill. Her neighbors took care of her, but she too, died.

Since his childhood, Gera Shutov had been deeply in love with Luda Karelina – the beauty queen of our neighborhood. He wrote to her from everywhere. In the fall of 1944, he returned to Moscow on vacation. Luda lived in the country – in Ilyinka, on the Kzanskaya road. Gera rushed to see her and asked for her hand in marriage. He was rejected. He returned to Moscow and immediately asked a woman he barely knew to marry him. She lived on Novokuznetskaya Street. They immediately signed the marriage certificate. Soon, his vacation, and with it his honeymoon, came to an end. Gera left for the Far East. After the war, Gera was demobilized, returned to his empty apartment in Moscow and started working in journalism.

The quiet Misha Khokhlov

The Khokhlovs were Jews, although with a Russian surname. Misha was an only child. He was weak and quiet, and always distanced himself from playing with the other boys. He was really into books, which set him apart from his peers. In the summer of 1944, he came back home as a corporal. There was not much left of the quiet Misha Khokhlov. He was a grown man with a scar on his cheek and a Hero of the Soviet Union award. He had received the award for the forced crossing of the Dniepr River, securing and holding the base on the opposite riverbank. And, at the same time, he was the same Misha; shy and restrained. After a few days, he left. Then, fate drove us apart, and I don’t know how his life turned out.

Shura Fedotov’ secret

Shura Fedotov – strong and brave. He could stand up for himself and defend others, but he never provoked anything. He went to war unnoticeably, without any loud goodbyes. And in the summer of 1944, he came back home in the company of several similarly strong young men and a young woman. They were all dressed in striped vests and bellbottoms. They spent several days drinking, while sending the neighborhood kids for more alcohol. They disappeared as suddenly as they came back.

Soon after the end of the war, Shura came back. There was not a trace of the strong young man we were used to seeing. The now bony and closed-in Shura began drinking heavily. There were rumors in the communal kitchen that Shura had been a prisoner in a death-camp. Soon, there were details to this speculation appearing from somewhere. The group of paratroopers, which included Shura, was supposed to approach the Germans from behind. But, the pilot ended up being a traitor. And when the group was released to a preplanned location, some of the group of paratroopers were shot in the air, and those who survived were held as prisoners of war. That’s how Shura got into the concentration camp, from where he was released by the Americans. What’s true and what’s fiction – no one knows.

Our family was left untouched

Our family – father, mother and three sons. Our father, Ivan Filipovich, worked as a tanner before the war, and as a caretaker after the war. Our mother, Agrippina Alexandorovna, worked from home as a seamstress, which at times gave the neighbors a reason to report her to the municipal financial participatory body. But during the war, she worked in a factory making mittens for the army. Father was mobilized as a civilian working for the army and stationed at the Moscow military base.

Our oldest brother, Boris, was called into the army in 1942. He ended up serving in Leningrad when it was under siege. After being wounded, he was sent home.

I am the middle son. In September of 1941, I went to work in a printing factory, and in 1942, was transferred to the “Krasny Proletariy” in order to receive 100 grams more of grain ration. For teenagers like myself, the abnormal workday became a great trial. We wouldn’t leave the factory for weeks, sleeping under the workbenches, the factory wasn’t heated. To leave work was considered desertion, so leaving was forbidden. Only after the battles in Stalingrad, were those kids who were enrolled in technical schools and high schools allowed to leave. In April 1945, I turned 17. My youngest brother, Volodya, also worked during the war. The whole Afanasyev family was destined to survive.

Kryuchkov: I often said what a great person he was; he was honest, selfless, modest, and fully dedicated to the common cause. By the way, Andropov died when he was 69, not 70 as it was reported. In his youth, Yuri Vladimirovich added another year to his birth certificate in order to be able to begin working sooner.

Dobrukha: There are rumors that Andropov was a mason who was secretly involved in magic and had extrasensory abilities that, with the mention of the word “KGB” enabled him to turn anyone into a zombie, thus turning the most influential people into his perfectly obedient agents.
Kryuchkov: Those are all just fairytales. Andropov’s KGB may have been the most powerful special service in the world, but it wasn’t such that pushed anyone to resort to such nonsense.

Gorbachev – not our kind of guy!

Dobrukha: There are many rumors that Andropov had something to do with Gorbachev’s promotion.
Kryuchkov: “I would like to clear the air regarding this rumor as well. Andropov did not help bring Gorbachev to power, although initially he wasn’t opposed to his transfer from Stavropol to Moscow as Secretary of Central Committee. The transfer was initiated by Kulakov and Yefremov. Brezhnev, Suslov and Andropov simply supported his nomination. Gorbachev was very different prior to his transfer to Moscow, and showed his true self only after he was fully in power. It was precisely his coming into full power that showed the chameleon side of Gorbachev’s true nature. And yet, eight months before his death, Andropov had already figured him out and began exposing his negative characteristics. He said that Gorbachev was hasty and that his actions were unfounded. In other words – not our kind of guy!

Neither did Shevardnadze so much as mention Georgia’s separation from Russia. On the contrary, I remember he used to say, “In Tbilisi, the sun doesn’t rise from the East, but from the North…” (meaning Russia). Moreover, once, while we were flying from Kabul, Shevardnadze expressed a sudden negativity toward Yakovlev. And Andropov himself, when he was already the General Secretary of CPSU, called Yakovlev a crook and personally told me, “It’s impossible to figure out what the devil he’s thinking! He’s not an honest person…”

When I’m asked what some pros and cons of Andropov’s career are, I answer as follows: Yuri Vladimirovich was actually the first to convince the Chekists (KGB) to abide the law. His weakness was that he should have approached the people with Glasnost with more confidence, while directly speaking on the current situation in the state. Although he started to do that, he was never confident in those actions.

He was sometimes hotheaded

Andropov’s indisputable achievement lies in that, at least for the time of his leadership, he brought back respect for the truly scientific theories of societal development. He, himself, had even initiated the first - since Stalin and Lenin - attempt to theoretically sort out what is happening and may happen with our society in the short and long terms. This was a very serious step considering that, after Stalin, we disregarded any sciences dealing with societal development and moved forward, practically blinded.

By the way, I heard from Andropov that, before working on Stalin’s demise, Khrushchev’s hands were covered in blood, but that it wasn’t his place to say anything. According to Yuri Vladimirovich, even in regards to Berev, Khrushchev fabricated many stories. Andropov told me, “That’s why, eventually, an objective view towards Berev will be re-established.” In regards to Stalin, Andropov always said that Stalin’s name will attain an honorable recognition by all people in the world. Andropov hadn’t ignored the mistakes that were made but, unlike he did with Khrushchev, he did not call Stalin a criminal.

Andropov’s reactions to crisis situations can be exemplified by the Hungarian event of 1956, when the Hungarian government tried to convince the Soviet Embassy to aid them in the stabilization of the situation in Budapest. Despite the call for help, Andropov - serving as the Soviet Ambassador to Hungary - rejected any possibility of driving our forces into Budapest. And then, Hungary appealed directly to Khrushchev. Andropov wasn’t the kind of leader who agreed to just anything. He often engaged in arguments. Sometimes the arguments would become so intense that Andropov, for example, wouldn’t speak with me for two weeks at a time. But then, our relations stabilized and continued as if nothing happened. Andropov didn’t hold grudges.

Though he allowed for others to argue with him, when he saw that his points were being disagreed with, he became hotheaded. And after a decision (that didn’t match his) had been made, he carried it out as honorably as he would have his own. At times, when an argument was headed for a dead-end he would say, “That’s it. I’m all out of common words. I’m switching to a different lexicon.” And, jokingly, would say a couple of Russian words.

“There was always cursing.”

At the same time, his poetic side was not without a poem that did not include a “certain special” word that made its publication impossible. There was always cursing. Some time after his heart attack, he sent a letter to his advisors from the Kuntsevsky Hospital. It read something like this:

I lie in the hospital – exhausted,
Holding on to each minute I’ve left.
Yes! As you know, that is better
Than to land on a hedgehog with your rear

Of course, here I use more appropriate language. After reading his poem I felt pained and amused at the same time. I suggested to him that he change the last line; then it could even be published. He told me, “I don’t write to be published. I write for the soul. And, my soul demands I speak exactly like this…” Unfortunately, a book with Andropov’s poetry was never published. And, there were many reasons for not publishing it. For instance, what to do with those “certain-special” words that aren’t meant to be heard by all? Finally, if Andropov hadn’t become Chairman of the KGB, he could have been a great poet!

In my whole life I never heard Andropov tell a joke. Though he enjoyed listening to jokes that were inoffensive and nontrivial. He didn’t react well to jokes that were offensive. At times, we told him jokes about Khrushchev, Kosygin and Brezhnev. And, if they weren’t malicious, he welcomed even the keenest jokes. He laughed sincerely. He often initiated deep political conversations with me. Thoughts of our present-day reality never left him.

He didn’t pay any personal visits….

Andropov never invited any one over, neither did he visit anyone at their home – even on special occasions like birthdays. Although, he did sometimes, with other members of Politburo, come over to Brezhnev’s house to celebrate New Year. That was probably it. Of course, his “inhospitality” could be explained by his wife’s constant indisposition. Perhaps the only exception was Andropov’s relationship with Ustinov and Gromyko. But the closeness of their friendship wasn’t typical of the kind that is usually present between the closest friends. So, all in all, it appears that Andropov did not have friends.

By appointing Andropov to the position of Chairman of the KGB, Brezhnev strengthened his position by making an important (to him) territory completely safe. After Semichastny’s resignation and Andropov’s appointment to his former position, there was nothing that threatened Brezhnev from that side. Andropov remained loyal to Brezhnev and tried to help him any way he could until the very end.

If it’s even allowed for me to say this about Andropov, I had the chance to have drinks with Yuri Vladimirovich. He would have a sip of wine or beer – and that was all. He never drank vodka. And when people told him that the new, cheap vodka was referred to as “Andropovka”, he laughed sincerely.

There have been many rumors about Andropov’s nationality. Some said he was Greek, Tatar, Swiss, German and even Jewish. Andropov, on the other hand, always insisted that he was Russian. Although, who knows after the many wars and resettlements what other blood has been mixed with ours? But, I knew him as self-proclaimed internationalist.

Epilogue

Kryuchkov didn’t elaborate on that subject. I once asked him, “Did you know that archives revealed that Andropov’s real last name was Fleckenstein?” Although it wasn’t the discovery itself that surprised Kryuchkov, but the fact that the discovery was not public!

It would be interesting to know what the origins of the last name, Fleckenstein, were. People usually have a reason for giving nicknames that eventually become last names. Nicknames and last names usually reflect important things about a person. The Latin-Germanic origins of the word “fleckenstein” translate as “spotty” or “flexible stone”. In other words, a person who appears to be strong as a rock but is in reality very changeable. Figuratively speaking, “fleckenstein” is an elastic and easily adaptable stone! What an unusual phenomenon of the human nature.

Vladimir Semychastny: “Brezhnev possessed documents incriminating Andropov in being involved in the Leningrad Affair”

Semichastny: In the times of Berev and Malenko, when old age was getting the best of even such people as Stalin, a great competition for his power unfolded and turned into the Leningrad Affair. Andropov is not excluded in playing a role in that bloody mess.

Such claims need proof. And, here it is. One time, a question regarding Andropov’s “work” in Karelia was raised when the Leningrad Affair was already underway, and many Leningrad-natives were being arrested. I, as presiding Chairman of the KGB, gave orders to investigate. I soon learned that Kuprianov, who was the former First Secretary of Karelia Obkom Party and who was sentenced to, and completed, his 10-year term in prison, testified that Khrushchev, Brezhnev and the KPK were all Andropov’s doings. Kuplianov had written a two-notebooks-full file on Andropov; which later ended up in Brezhnev’s hands.

Finally came the time when Brezhnev could use that file. The thing is that, after Khrushchev’s resignation “went through”, naturally, without the KGB’s involvement, my being active did not give Brezhnev a rest. Not even a year had passed since Khrushchev was no longer in power, when he (Brezhnev) telephoned me (he called me Volodya) and said, “Volodya, what do you think? Maybe it’s time for you to become a part of our cohort?” I told him, “Leonid Ilyich, what do you mean when you say ‘our cohort’?”

It was then, when I asked, “What do you mean?” that he exclaimed, “It’s time!”. “But, Leonid Ilyich, it’s still too early”, I replied, “The pressure is just now being lifted. We should wait until everything cools off, so to speak. Besides, you will always have time to worry about me later…And, I’m still not ready. What will I do with such a position? Give me some time to learn and prove myself. Why should we make such sudden actions? Besides, I haven’t had the chance to properly get a hang of one thing when all of a sudden there is something else you want me to do. Let’s not rush it?”

Dobrukha: And that probably scared him even more?

Semichastny: You’re absolutely right. He was afraid that if things were handled with such an ease with Khrushchev, then it would be even easier with him! Secret advisors have a lot of information, and the tsars become somewhat dependent on them. That’s why they try to free themselves from the advisor, thus “untying” their hands. And, that is why Brezhnev finally sent me off to Ukraine for 14 years.

Everything started when he wanted to get the KGB closer to the Central Committee, “What’s with us? We are being distant from the Party.” That was that.

Svetlana Allilueva’s escape

And then he found a reason to finally get rid of me: the escape of Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana, to India… When this issue was raised at the Politburo, I asked, “What’s the problem?”
Mzhavanadze replied, “Someone has to take responsibility for Svetlana.” I said, “You know, let the one who let her go be responsible for her.” And then, Kosygin stood up and told everything as it happened: Svetlana had convinced him to grant her permission to go to India. He was one of the most proper and most intelligent members of the Politburo. And though what he was saying could not be ignored, Brezhnev ordered for everyone to answer questions asking “What was Semichastny released for?” with “Because, due to his negligence, Svetlana ended up abroad.”

I was replaced with Andropov. Aside from being “one of their own”, from the Secretariat of the Central Committee, he was also more favorable than I. If I knew too much about Brezhnev, he assumed that he was more dependent on me. But with Andropov, it was the opposite: in Brezhnev’s hands were two heavy Karelia notebooks written by Kuprianov on Andropov’s excessive diligence in the so-called Leningrad Affair.

That was the end of the Chairman of the KGB and beginning of the time of Andropov.

Semichastny, Vladimir Vladimirovich

Born on January 15, 1924 in the Gregorevka village of the Mezhevsky Region in the Dnepropetrovskaya Oblast. He began his career in 1941. From 1950 to 1959 he held positions in the VLSKM Central Committee, including that of General Secretary. In 1961 he became the Chairman of the KGB at the USSR Council of Ministries. After that, he received the title of Vice President of the USSR Council of Ministries. Upon his return to Moscow in 1981, he became the Deputy-Chairman of the All-Union Society, Znaniya, which was clearly a demotion. He retired in 1988. Semachistny is attributed with one of the leading roles in the organization of the Party’s coup of 1964 which removed Khrushchev from power. He died on January 12, 2001. He is buried at the Troekurovsk Cemetery.

Kryuchkov, Vladimir Alexandrovich

He was born on February 29, 1924 in the city of Tsartsin. During the war, he worked in an artillery factory. In 1943 he began his career with the Party. From 1944 to 1946, he held various Komsomol positions in Stalingrad. During 1946-1951 he worked with Stalingrad’s Office of the Prosecutor at different levels. In 1954, upon his completion of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, he was sent to work at the Embassy of the USSR in Budapest, where he worked under the leadership of Yuri Andropov. Upon returning to his homeland, he held various positions in the CPSU Central Committee. In 1967, together with Andropov, he transferred to the KGB, where from 1974 he led the First Main Directorate (foreign intelligence). In 1988 he was appointed to Chairman of the KGB. In 1989 – he was elected member of the Politburo CPSU Central Committee. In August 1991, he became an active member of the GKChP. This resulted in his arrest and detention, lasting 17 months. After being granted amnesty, he became involved in public affairs and writing memoirs. He died on November 23, 2007 and is buried at the Troekursk Cemetery.

To be continued in the next publication.


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They love Russia and hate the US. Thus, it’s not surprising that more than 58% of street children (homeless and uncared for) draw a picture of a Russia that is “rich”, “powerful”, “big” and “beautiful”. At the same time, one-third of these young adults are very upset with the country, they say: “it’s a mess in Russia, like in a dump”, and “I want to leave here, Russia doesn’t like its citizens”, etc.

Who are the enemies of Russia? Here, both the hungry and the fed answered as one – the US, because they are “running wild”, and also Georgia (“the American sidekick”). School kids who are especially advanced in these views suggested “wiping America from the face of the earth” or “eliminate the English language”. Aside from the Americans, the street children have some real enemies – the “churkas” (all non-Russians). That’s why they would like to “drive off all gooks except the Ossetians and the Tatars.”

When the teenagers were asked what nationality the president ought to be, nearly 80% answered: only Russian. “Only Russian male”, added 65% of the street kids. In this case, students are for gender equality. The two different social classes had a nearly identical image of the “perfect president”. Those who were a little older said that the president needs to be “strong, have a brain and, preferably, use it”, also he needs to be somewhat tolerant – tough but kind at the same time.

Valeria Kasamara, the head of the Laboratory for Political Studies at the Higher School of Economics, was surprised by the opinions. “Modern kids have not expressed what is typical in the 21st century. According to their opinions there is this fatherly tsar figure who loves his people but, once in a while, needs to get tough with certain officials”, noted Kasamara. Children from middle-class families note Medvedev’s progressiveness, but still consider Vladimir Putin as the “ideal president” for his “ways of thinking”. Medvedev won the preference of the lower-classes who value work over rigidity. In their opinion, “Medvedev is smarter” and “he has dark circles under his eyes – Putin probably gets more sleep.” Although, overall, they do like Putin as well, saying: “when Putin was in power I never got caught.”

Experts concluded that the teenagers’ political consciousness resembles a quilt. The same street kids who don’t know who the current president is, know Putin and Medvedev. They also know Stalin, Zhirinovsky and Nikita Mikhalkov – and at times they used these names to answer the question of what the “ideal president” should look like.

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Ever since Bishkek rejected agreements with the US regarding the Manas Air Base, it has been regularly suggested that Kyrgyzstan’s government can “come out even” in their decision regarding the base. “The negotiation process is indeed continuing,” noted Noor Omarov, professor of political science, in an interview with Izvestia. “If the Americans weren’t hoping to stay in the region, it is unlikely they would have appointed a new commander”. Omarov did not rule out that a new agreement might allow the continued operation of the base, though in a slightly changed format. Besides, the US has already agreed to pay higher rental fees, which Kyrgyzstan has been asking for.

Kyrgyzstan will hold its election on July 23rd and the map of the Manas Air Base is one of the most important issues on the agenda. Even if the government decides to leave the NATO facility in its current operations in the capital’s airport, it is doubtful that Kurmanbek Bakiev, who is running for a second term, would announce such a decision prior to elections. The voters, the majority of whom, according to surveys, support the removal of the airbase, won’t like the inconsistency of their government regarding such a strategically important question. Moreover, Bishkek does not have enough space, or rather, time remaining to maneuver: to evacuate the entire air base infrastructure in such a short period of time is quite difficult.

Moreover, the “Russian factor” often appears in the numerous discussions regarding the Manas Air Base. It is commonly known that Moscow has their interests in the post-Soviet territories and the presence of NATO troops can raise certain fears. Moreover, Russia is interested in the stabilization of the situation in Afghanistan, and the Kyrgyzstan’s base is very important in the supply of coalition forces. And though the questions of the airbase’s fate will be mentioned in upcoming talks between Russia and the US, Moscow, not once, had made itself clear that, in any case, this will be the sovereign decision of Bishkek. And any suggestions that Russia is participating in that decision-making process are out of place, says officials.

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The Superjet – the first Russian passenger plane for 20 years - is produced under conditions of international cooperation: unprecedented for Russia. More than 30 of the world’s largest companies, suppliers of systems and accessories, are involved in its production. It is also the only passenger plane able to compete with some of the top aircraft manufacturers. In Russia, it will replace the old medium-range Tu-134 and Tu-154. In the West, it is supposed to come close to Boeing and Airbus.
The average cost of the project, which has been in development since the early 2000s, is over $1.5 billion. The jet is still being tested, but the Sukhoi already has a solid portfolio of 100 domestic, as well as international, orders from airlines. And yet, according to Sukhoi’s plans, at least 800 of these planes need to be sold (at a cost of $28 million per unit). Half of the sales will be directed abroad, which is why the Russian exposition at Le Bourget is “aviating” around the Superjet.

The platforms of state corporations Rustechnology, Sukhoi, and MiG will also display their “accomplishments in the aircraft industry”. These are the newest multi-functioning fighter jets Su-35 and MiG-35. Also, the export variety of the Su-34, the Su-32, is already being supplied to military forces. A modernized version of the front-line fighter-jet MiG29 CTM is also standing in the arsenal of the Russian Air Force.

At Le Bourget, the Superjet won’t simply be standing on the show’s platform. Its capabilities will be evaluated by specialists during demonstration flights. According to the General Director of Sukhoi and MiG, Mikhail Pogosyan, such flights in Paris will assure the aircraft community that airplanes produced in Russia are up to global standards. Buyers will be assured of the potential of the company and its ability to successfully complete its projects.

The Superjet sets itself apart from its counterparts first and foremost by being economical. Then there’s the maximum comfort and unprecedented safety for passengers. In other words, someone who transfers from a long trip using the comfortable long-rage airliner, say in Sheremetyevo, to a small regional airplane to fly to Urengoi, won’t sense a difference. Economy class in the Superjet is the same size as the long-range Boeing or Airbus. There is enough space between chairs for even the tallest passenger to stretch out their legs, and the baggage storage shelf has a record volume capacity of 50 liters - or, in other words, big enough to fit a large suitcase. Thus, passengers have the choice to save some time at the airport and take their suitcases with them on board.

The “peace of mind” aspect is another of the positive sides of the airliner. Mikhail Pogosyan told Izvestiya that new safety schemes are being used that haven’t previously been utilized in civil aviation designs: complete electronic and intellectual management of the machine. The system of automated management allows for the avoidance of 20 emergency situations. In foreign jets, of the same 20 emergency situations, the number they are capable of avoiding does not exceed 10-14. For example, it is absolutely impossible for the airplane to go into a corkscrew dive. Even if the pilot suddenly pulls the control and sharply reduces speed, the airplane will not fall. The Superjet does not allow for loops, dives or the execution of sharp corners that exceed 35 degrees. The electronics will correct the “mistake” and won’t allow the pilot such amateur performance.

Another Russian novelty at the Le Bourget Air Show is the long-range commercial passenger aircraft MS-21. However, this jet won’t be able to fly in the French skies just yet. It is still in its developmental stages and will “come to life” in 2012. Some are already calling it one of the most progressive projects in the history of the domestic aircraft industry. According to the designers’ plans, the jet is supposed to surpass the existing long-range airliners by being 30% cheaper and 15% more fuel-efficient than its foreign counterparts. According to experts, transports using this jet will be 20% cheaper than those currently exploited by airplanes of the same class.


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Election observers insisting that the Center-Right have won the election by significantly increasing its representation in the EU legislature, or, that the obvious success had been made by the Right (Left) groups, take a great interest in the formal, and somewhat secondary issues. The number of people who voted for the Christian–Democrats, led by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was one million fewer than before. The racist British National Front, that with much ado received two representatives in the European Parliament, also received fewer votes that before: the party was “dragged” to the top by the proportional representation principle. And, the Green party? Well, they have had a good performance (honor and praise to the charismatic leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit) though it is obvious that they will never play the leading solo in the “European orchestra”.

The Center-Left fiasco, however, is serious and bound to continue for a long time. And, regardless of whether or not they are currently in power, the corresponding powers and associations have been crushed in all leading European powers in France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Poland. The Party of European Socialists, which united the Center-Left in the European Parliament, has shrunk by a quarter.

The chairman of this fraction had called the results of the election “a sad evening”. Even in broad daylight, it will certainly be tough for the Center-Left to find a bright side to the situation. It seems that the deep capitalist crisis had crept in onto our front yards: banks are sinking and unemployment keeps growing. What a perfect time to mock the “fat cats” and bring back the popularity of old slogans about equality and brotherhood. Bring them back, not on a small saucer but on a large silver platter. To paraphrase the Dutch paper, NRC Handelsbald, the Social-Democrats were given a chance to prove their demand and relevance and, to realize the…no, not the October, but the June revolution. But, that did not happen.

The Holland Liberals have created a special group to analyze the pre-election campaign. French specialists decided to preoccupy themselves with the election results for the next six months. But, the main reasons for the humiliating defeat can be formulated without transcendental contemplations. There are two.

First, unlike the rest of the world-flora, in the last fifteen years the crossing, or at least the cross-pollination, of previously hostile to each other ideologies occurring in Europe on the elite-level, has not resulted in the Left having more viable future generations. More likely, it has generated strange hybrids. The present British Liberals are more monetarist, more concerned with commerce than the German Christian Democratic Union / Christian Socialist Union or Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement (which, by the way, is one of the reasons for the decline of socialists in France – the agreeing of many Center-Leftists to ally with the current president.) As soon as the Right wing (which was in power) realized what the scale of the economic crisis was, they without flinching rushed to realize the Social-Democratic agenda: to increase the amount of government-intervention into the economy and government-spending, increase budget deficits in the name of keeping social spending on a high level, fighting tax refuges for the rich, etc.

The Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, has precisely formulated, “Neo-Liberalism of the Right wing has become hyper-Keynesian. The recent defenders of the elimination of government control over the functioning of the market…have forgotten their past and have, in essence, stolen the principles of Social-Democracy. After having committed this theft, they left the Left empty-handed, having compelled them to polemicize the content of the current measures and having deprived them of an opportunity to push forward the arguments of who was initially at fault (in the crisis).”

The Center-Left stopped being viewed as an alternative. For the majority of Europe’s middle and lower classes the Right looked favorable and “above the economy”. Merkel and Sarkozy openly spoke against the prospect of EU membership for Turkey, and in demonstration of the Center-Right parliamentary faction, the European People’s Party, openly spoke of Christian roots and the European civilization. Socialists and Social-Democrats did not dare to be “disrespectful”.

The second reason for the crumbling of the Center-Left comes from the first. In practice, (and, as a rule, rather successfully) being built into a system that wasn’t originally built by them, and is even somewhat hostile, the Left has fallen into decline theoretically and on the world-outlook level. It became unclear what they were defending and how they would respond to the demands of the Twenty-First Century. “The optimistic outlook (of the socialists) on mankind, is not a well-fitting approach to the constrained circumstances”, said Martin Kettle of The Guardian. Let them have at least some outlook, at least an optimistic outlook. Alas, it is impossible to disagree with Slovene newspaper Dnevnik: the left political parties in the EU possess “the least quantity of ideas”. There aren’t modern-day Marxes, bright intellectuals, leaders, ideas. The Swiss Tribune de Geneve is tough but seemingly fair: “Social-Democrats of our continent fell into a coma.”

The argument can be looked at in the form of numbers. Less than 43% of the voters participated in the election, and on the basis of the first statistical data, it is reasonable to say that the European Parliament basically boycotted the Center-Left. Say, the crisis will pass, the fears of the “idealists’” incompetence will pass, and everything will come back to its normal state – the Social-Democrats will again gain people’s love. It would also be worth mentioning that the socialist bloc remains the second largest in the European Parliament.

But, it is difficult to rid oneself from the feeling that all has shifted. Some commentators say that in the 1930s, when the first world economic crisis was under way, people were also giving their preference to the Right, not the Left. Others go further and remind us that, “Between the Wall Street crash in 1929 and the rise of Hitler in 1933 passed just a little more than three years.” These parallels seem a little far-fetched; however, to deny that, say, in Austria or Hungary the extreme Right may take control of the government in the near future is, in my opinion, erroneous.

The following is clear: the magic of socialism, discredited at first by the wild Soviet experiment, and now the social democracy of Europe, has disappeared. And that, as I’ve already stated in the beginning of the article, threatens the hopes of a bright future for all and is a final farewell to the delightful utopia.

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Q: What do you know regarding the new contracts?

A: After the war in South Ossetia, the Georgian army decided to fully rearm. And the work of our investigatory commission is not an impediment. The blatant unlawfulness of the Ukrainian government that had been approving the deliveries of arms is enormously damaging to our government and our defensibility. Ukraine has the right to deliver arms, but not at the price of the refusal of military-technical cooperation with Russia.

Today, Ukraine is the primary supplier of arms to Georgia. This is the first time our weapons were used against the peaceful population. We have clearly established that Viktor Yushchenko was fully aware of the Georgian plan of aggression. After all, we had supplied Georgia with a great amount of ammunition and offensive arms one and a half months prior to the offensive. All of these supplies were possible due to a special relationship between Viktor Andreyevich [Yushchenko] and the Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili.

Q: What type of ammunition does Ukraine supply to Georgia?

A: There are heavy armored personnel carriers, antiaircraft systems, small arms, modern radar-surveillance, and multiple-rocket launcher “Grads”. Supplies to Georgia are going at the price of rearming the Ukrainian army. Basically, new items are sold for next-to-nothing in Georgia. As a result, at military parades in Ukraine we see technology of which half aren’t ready for military deployment.

In the Kharkiv oblast, in the city of Balakliiya, there is a factory that produces air defense systems. The deliveries of the antiaircraft artillery were carried out at the cost of Ukraine’s defense. Yushchenko had insisted on selling anti-aircraft rockets to Georgia. This deal alone cost the Ministry of Defense 110 million grivni. (approximately $22 million. – Izvestia) In four years two and a half billion dollars worth of arms have been sold, and only $200 million have been accounted for in the budget. The difference was accounted for in firms that were created around “UkrSpetsExport”, which has the official right to trade arms.

Georgia owes us around $200 million for the supply of arms. This debt has accumulated over the past two years. Our commission discovered schemes to minimize estimates with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in exchange for an Il-76 transport plane and two armored Mercedes for Yushchenko.

Q: The Ukrainian authorities did not respond to your commission’s conclusions. What action are you planning to take?

A: The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) will hold a session on June 22 in Strasbourg. I plan to share the conclusions made by our commission.

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The main reason for Nogaideli’s resignation was Saskashvili’s demands to publicly blame the leaders of the opposition for having “connections with the Russian special service”. Nagaideli was to especially single out ex Minister of Defense, Irakli Okruashvili, and the now deceased billionaire Bardi Patarkacishvili, who had previously financed the opposition. “I had never complied with such demands, nor am I planning to comply with them”, Nogaideli said.

The public had never seen him so furious. What happened to that droopy facial expression and those eyes that earned him the name of “tired donkey”? On several occasions he described the President as having become “a hysterical coward”. And he repeated several times: “I’m not afraid of them! If they even touch me…” (implying Saakashvili and Minister of Internal Affairs, Vano Merabishvili).

“There will either be elections this fall, or some sort of a revolutionary scenario will play out”, Nogaideli predicted, “and not necessarily without blood, as in 2003. Saakashvili will need to decide the direction in which the State will move. We are standing on the verge of civil opposition.”

The ex-Premier’s declarations were caused by Saakashvili’s sudden “attack” on the leaders of the opposition – Nogaideli, Nino Burdzhanadze and Iralki Okrushavili. The President blamed the lady, whom he previously called “a woman of steel”, of pursuing clan interests, and the men of corruption.

“I tried to put the country on its feet, but they tried to get into your pockets, get rich, and then form political parties in order to blackmail you”, the President angrily yelled in front of bewildered tea growers.

“When I left my post, Saakashvili granted me the Saint George Award [highest governmental honor in Georgia –“Izvestiya”]. At that time, for some reason, my work was not raising any questions”, Nogaideli protested.

The ex-Premier threatened to spend all of his funds on his war with Saakashvili. He almost word for word repeated the promise of Badri Patarkatsishvili, which was made two years ago.

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What is going on in Afghanistan? When will the long-awaited lasting peace finally be brought there? Answering these and other questions is the President of the National Coalition for Dialogue with the Tribes of Afghanistan, Prince Abdul Ali Seraj - nephew of Shah Amanullah Khan (1892-1960), who signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union in 1921.

[Q] The situation in Afghanistan is said to be disastrous. Is there light in the end of the tunnel, in your opinion?

[A] In the past 30 years we have had many changes of government, but no one has ever asked the people of Afghanistan what they want. All the rulers have been leaving only disaster and poverty behind. In the past seven years the situation has grown particularly hard. Afghanistan has never been so helpless. In winter I saw a woman on a bridge. It was very cold and it was snowing. Sitting right on the ground she held twin babies, offering one of them for sale for six thousand Afghani, or a bit more than one hundred dollars!

[Q] Not long ago the Americans promised to allocate more money for social and economic projects in Afghanistan…

[A] The Americans are spending billions of dollars for various programmes, but what do common people gain from that? Indeed, a highway has been built from Kabul to Herat. But this is what the Americans need themselves – as they need to control the Taliban. Indeed, schools and hospitals have opened. But where can we find teachers and doctors? Not far away from Jalalabad there are 20,000 families living in tents provided by the Americans, but people don’t even have water to perform religious ablution and they have to use mud. More than once I would ask Americans, “What do you want?” They keep saying, “We are fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda”, but they never work with the tribes and they have no sensible policy towards the people of Afghanistan.

There is much hype about narcotic drugs, but they are the only means of survival for the farmers. There is only one way to fight drug trafficking – to raise the level of agriculture. Saffron has been successfully grown in Herat – it’s very valuable. Cattle-breeding is also possible. And we’ll be very glad about any assistance from Russia. Many people are waiting for help on a governmental level, but what about small projects, on a private level?

[Q] How can one invest into areas that are not under the government’s control?

[A] The government is not in control of them because the people are not with the government. Common Afghanis are on one side, but the authorities are on the opposite. We need a dialogue with the tribes. We must feed the people and provide them with jobs – this is the only way to unite the Afghan people. We don’t need a US model. We have our own, Afghan, way, enabling the country’s survival for thousands of years.

[Q] There has been more and more talk that’s it’s high time for the USA to leave Afghanistan.

[A] I can say our people do not want the Taliban to return. When the USA and NATO came here in 2001, the Afghan people perceived that as a wish to help them. Now, however, the coalition forces have completely lost their trust. The more bombing of civilians, the more deadly enemies they make. Afghanistan has never been an occupied territory. There are residents, of course, who do not see the Americans as invaders. But the anger about their actions has been growing. And should the Afghanis declare a Jihad, everything will be lost. A rabbit is harmless, but if cornered, it is sure to attack.

[Q] What do you think of Washington’s idea to put the Taliban at the negotiating table?

[A] I don’t understand who precisely of the Taliban they are proposing to talk and seek agreement with. Lybians, Sudanese? There is also the so-called Black Taliban – foreign mercenaries – bands of terrorists and murderers. There are from the “Grey Taliban” – “merchants” – the Afghanis who make money on narcotic drugs. And, finally, there is the White Taliban who are conducting a war against the government and the coalition forces out of despair. Nobody can help them. If they take the coalition’s side, the Taliban will kill them. If they take the Taliban’s side, the coalition forces will kill them. And how can one say all the Afghanis, and the Pashtuns, are Taliban? The Afghanis are not Taliban, but just Afghanis. If you want to deal with the Afghanis, you need to learn how to talk to them.

[Q] You intended to run for the Afghanistan presidency but later changed your mind. Why?

[A] I withdrew after the Farah Province had been bombed and many innocent people had died. Then, President Hamid Karzai urged the US air attacks in Afghanistan to be stopped, to which a US general replied, “My soldiers can’t fight with their hands tied.” So I thought, “How would I be able to defend my people if I became president?” I represent the fifteenth generation of a royal bloodline, with 300 years of history behind us. But what could I say to my people when they came up asking for help? Today, I am in close contact with local tribes and they trust me. So, I opted for remaining with the people here rather than finding myself on the other side unable to do anything.

Message of the King of Afghanistan Amanullah Khan to Vladimir Lenin

“To His Majesty President of the Great Russian State. King of Afghanistan Amir Amanullah is sending his friendly greeting and utmost respect…

For you, Your Majesty, my Great and Kind friend… along with your other comrades – friends of humanity – have undertaken an honourable and noble mission of taking care of the world and well-being of people and declared the principle of freedom and equality of countries and peoples of the whole world, I am happy, for the first time every on behalf of the Afghan people striving for progress to be sending You this friendly message of the independent and free Afghanistan…

7 April 1919
Your friend Amanullah"

The trouble is that in recent years the issue has been, albeit behind the scenes, leading to bargaining whether we are willing to return all four Kuril Islands, or only two. The Japanese sense this trend and have not stopped bargaining. Now, at the semi-official level, Tokyo has suggested splitting the islands ‘equally’ according to their space so that Russia would end up with three thirds of Iturup.

“Defending our Fatherland is our holy duty; it is the moral basis for all the generations,” President Medvedev said on May 9 in his address to the Parade on Red Square. The same relates to the Kuril Islands, the current status of which is the same: a result of the Second World War, and a brick of the Yalta system that still keeps many aspects of the current world order together.

Chinese manufacturers tend to trust less and less the weakened dollar, for which reason the PRC has decided to stage an experiment. Four hundred companies from five cities have been allowed to export their products for yuans. And this is only the beginning. According to Stanley Wong, as much as a half of Chinese exports will be Yuan-based next year when the experiment is extended to the entire national territory.

This is a reaction to the continual weakening of the dollar. In annual terms, the Yuan is likely to grow 3-5% stronger in relation to the dollar, something that will create some additional currency risks for the exporters; but these risks can be avoided if we use Chinese currency, said Mr. Wong (as quoted by Bloomberg).

One can glean from the PRC’s latest official statements that the dollar is in for both a nominal and political weakening. Let me remind the reader that PRC representatives already spoke about the necessity of introducing a new reserve currency before the G20 summit in London. As is obvious, the present experiment is one of the first steps in that direction. Experts believe the PRC Yuan is likely to emerge quite soon as a leading currency for payments in the Asian region. If all of this is put into practice, the Asian countries, considering their immense trade, will no longer have to accumulate huge dollar reserves.

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International terrorism, illegal immigration and drug trafficking will disappear; democracy will win in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan; the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, the Somali pirates and the Sudanese Janjaweed will lay down arms; Iran’s peaceful nuclear program will be a model for the ‘threshold states’; the Islamic world will stop having conflicts with the West; the wolf and the lamb will lie side by side and all will live happily ever after.

“At first sight, it’s business as usual. Arab newspapers inveigh against Israel, leaders criticize Israel, the street urges a fight against Israel, and in that they are supported by the entire Islamic world, including Malaysia and Indonesia. But it is only at first sight.”

In the space of two decades, the Madrid process has been replaced by the Oslo process, Al-Aqsa intifada, unilateral delimitation, a civil war between Hamas and Fatah, the Second Lebanese War, Annapolis, Operation Cast Lead, and the expectation of an international Mideast conference in Moscow. But as is evident from the record of a recent UN conference against racism, world politics depend little on diplomats. In the course of the preliminary debates, the Russian Foreign Ministry delegation managed to defeat the radicals who were attempting to turn this mostly Russian-funded Geneva undertaking into a Witches’ Sabbath like the previous Durban conference. Eventually the Geneva forum approved Durban’s racist resolutions, while the Iranian president, who, God knows why, was expected to be polite, remained true to himself and made a speech, on the Holocaust Remembrance Day, devoted to Israel and Holocaust, after which Israel dubbed him a second Hitler. If this is a diplomatic success, what is failure? This is why we should forget the stereotypes filling official reports on events in the Middle East and take a look at what is happening there in real fact.

At first sight, it is business as usual. Arab newspapers inveigh against Israel, leaders criticize Israel, the street urges a fight against Israel, and in that they are supported by the entire Islamic world, including Malaysia and Indonesia… but this is only at first sight. In reality, the Islamic world and its Arab component are divided, and their three main forces are fighting each other tooth and nail.

The first one includes Iran and its allies. Fighting Israel is the pivot of the Iranian ideology, but the most important thing for the IRI is to spread it in the Islamic world to Shiite communities, to Sunnis attracted by the anti-Israeli rhetoric, to Caspian and Persian Gulf countries. Iran regards itself as a regional superpower and acts accordingly. Orientated to it are those who see it as a future dominant force: Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Qatar.

The second force is the neo-Salafite Sunni radicals, the nucleus of the ‘world Islamic revolution’, whose symbol is al-Qaeda and which has its main bases in Afghanistan, North Western Pakistan, and Somalia. The Sunni monarchies and authoritarian republics are as hostile to those movements as are the Shiites and their supporters in the person of Iran, Israel, the West, China, India and Russia.

The third force is the ruling regimes that are opposed by the former two groups. It comprises Bin Laden and his supporters (openly) and Ahmadinejad plus those behind him (under diplomatic cover). Israel is their secret ally in the fight against Iran and its own radicals.

The saying, “Don’t be too fond of your friends, for they can be your enemies. Don’t hate your enemies too much, for they may become your friends” reflects the essence of the Iranian-Israeli confrontation in an area stretching from the Atlantic coast of Sahel to western Hindustan. The President and PM of Turkey criticize Israel and develop cooperation with Iran and Syria, while the Turkish army buys Israeli weapons and holds military exercises jointly with the Israeli Air Force.

Mauritania breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel and announces that the building of an Israeli medical center in its capital will be completed by Iran, while Morocco breaks off diplomatic relations with Iran and expels Iranian diplomats.

The Maghreb countries have no diplomatic relations with Israel, but Tunisia welcomes the coming of Israeli politicians, while the President of Algeria estimates highly Israel’s military-industrial complex products.

Egypt refuses to do business with the Israeli Foreign Minister, but simultaneously it is sealing off Gaza, is crushing Hezbollah’s terrorist rings in Sinai, and is cooperating with the Israeli secret services so as to cut short the smuggling of weapons to Hamas. (As a result, an arms-carrying lorry convoy is destroyed in Sudan in the course of Israel’s first post-Entebbe operation in Africa.)

Eritrea provides Israel with military outposts in its territory, but it also allows Iran to build a naval base not far from Djibouti, thus laying the foundation for a future Iranian-Israeli conflict in the Horn of Africa, which is all the more probable for the fact that the Somali pirates are in cooperation with Iran’s KSIR and organize arms shipments to Sinai.

Saudi Arabia is irritated that Israel is disregarding the ‘Arab peace initiative’, but Hezbollah is, for it, Iran’s ‘fifth column’ in the Arab rear and Hamas is a betrayer of Arab unity. The ruling dynasty in Bahrain reacts to the statement that the islands are a historical province of Iran by giving high government posts to members of the Jewish community. And so on, and so forth.

Alliances may change, but Israel has become a component of the inner regional politics. No matter what is said at the summits of the League of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, no matter what accounts are presented to the great powers or what resolutions are approved by the UN, each country in the region proceeds from its pragmatic interests where its relations with neighbors near and far, including Iran and Israel, are concerned.

Islamic unity, Arab unity, a Palestinian state – they’re all good slogans, but the region is getting ready for an Iranian-Israeli conflict, and this is the most important thing. It is of importance how it will develop and what its consequences will be… but this is a different story.

A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Foodprom

It’s not hard to understand what the westerners are scared of. Before the summit, experts were warning that the future of the world food suppliers didn’t look serene at all. Thus, the sown areas in America had been reduced by 7% this year. And even though China had expanded its fields, it had suffered greatly from drought during the recent months. Now the crops of wheat will be reduced by one third, local agrarians are crying. Australia, another world granary, had suffered from drought as well…

Grain crops are also likely to be reduced in Russia. According to the Agriculture Ministry forecast, the future harvest may amount to 85 or 90 million tons, which would be 17-21% less than the record harvest of this year. But so far, Russia has been the third world wheat exporter. To terrify the overly sensitive Europeans even more, the ‘United Grain Company’ has been formed to regulate this field. They cannot help but panic! What if Russia suddenly closes its grain ‘valve’?

In order to calm her colleagues, Elena Skrynnik invited them to the World Grain Forum in St. Petersburg in June 2009. According to her, "we’ll continue the discussion started in Italy on the issues of price formation for food and its quality control."

However, the summit participants have more issues to discuss than the grain market situation...

‘The fridge of horrors’

Today, participants in the summit have to tell the world what should be done to resolve the food crisis. We are obviously not expecting a really efficient remedy. The final document is likely to be a usual declaration of intentions. Something along the lines of 'we have to stimulate investments, to help our poor neighbours, and to increase our labour productivity,' and so on, and so forth. But Italy’s Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia had already managed to dilute this bureaucratic casuistry even before the summit. The ‘agro-pirates’ got their share of complaints.

"The situation where one out of ten Italian goods is counterfeit is unacceptable. I have a whole ‘fridge of horrors,’ the contents of which I’d like to introduce to you," he proclaimed to a shocked audience. First, about the Italian cheeses: According to the Minister, counterfeit parmesan is the same as the fake Swiss watches which you wear for a week or two and then throw away.

After such a report, participants in the summit forgot that they came to fight against the food crisis, not the counterfeit delicacies. Even though the world crisis doesn’t somehow dispose one to eating them.

‘Increase of the agricultural production often does not seem efficient, neither for manufacturers nor for consumers. Thus, development of ways to support the level of consumption is our main task today. This in turn, would motivate support of manufacturers," Ms. Skrynnik informed the disillusioned audience.

But developing the global system of managing the food stocks which in the future could become a sort of regulator for the world food markets was the main point suggested by Russia. But, according to Ms. Skrynnik, it implies everyone would play fair. So far, the western countries have been reacting very sensitively to the fact that Russia reduced its purchase from abroad. Even so, we were buying such amounts of European pork and overseas chickens under conditions of future integration into the WTO. However, this has never happened.

Today, our prospects of entering the WTO (as well as its future) are veiled in obscurity. And the new ‘rules of the game’ haven’t been invented yet. Perhaps participants in the agriculture summit will manage to formulate, or at least outline them. Otherwise, while they complain about speculating in food, we’ll end up with a ‘unilateral game’ again.

Housebreaker agents

The thriving of ‘black brokers’, as they’re known, is a sure sign of a crisis. Most are earnest real estate agents who have lost their jobs and have thus been forced to steal. But at times, experienced thieves hide behind the mask of being an agent.

“Last month we were forced to fire one of our employees. He wasn’t making any deals and wasn’t really trying to either,” says one security services supervisor of a large real estate agency. “After his dismissal he had some freelance jobs but, when he failed at them, he decided to take to the highway. He started robbing flat owners. He would show up to inspect a flat and would leave carrying something in his pocket. He even went as far as stealing clothes”.

But, Mikhail Razdolsky, supervisor at the Octyabrskoe police department, says the Income Nedvizhimost Company suffered a worse fate: a swindler who had managed to bamboozle not the client only but his former employer as well. Having worked for the agency for a while, the thief was smart enough to make a spare set of keys for the VIP meeting room. Some time later he stopped showing up at the office. He appeared only once with a rich client who was willing to make an advance payment for an elite apartment in Moscow. The unsuspicious client was ushered into the respectable meeting room where the ‘deal was made’. As a result several million rubles became the property of the rascal.

Hull insurance frauds

The insurance business has been attracting fraud for a long time. Fictional accidents, counterfeit documents and false car thefts are among the tricks swindlers play to cheat the insurance industry. But now they’ve come up with a new, more advanced method.

“The biggest problem which has arisen from the crisis is people not taking out insurance until after an accident’s happened – and then claiming. In the past we faced very few cases like that, but their number has been growing lately," Alexander Knyazev, Deputy Director General of the Yugoria Insurance Group explains.

In order to perform the fraud, car owners make arrangements with light-fingered agents. It’s a mutual temptation: many drivers who had been buying their insurance annually have no money for its renewal, and the companies’ employees have had their salaries cut.

Tricky shops

One would imagine the financial crisis would make shops fight for the attention of customers. Nonetheless the situation seems to be quite the opposite. Today some shop assistants have started fooling their clients.

“The number of frauds associated with remote trade has increased. People order goods from an internet shop which then later vanish," Mikhail Anshakov, Chairman of the Consumer Rights Protection Society says.

In recent months complaints against car dealers have grown. In a crisis people don’t buy many cars, so some disreputable salesmen try to save on their clients in every way possible. For example, they sell a car; but when a buyer returns complaining about its quality, they shrug their shoulders and say it’s not their car and it’s the first time they see it.

“It may be a car dealer with a well-promoted signboard. But every three or four months the companies change. After a certain number of complaints they close that company down and open a new one. When a customer returns to this car dealer they tell him, we are sorry but we are not the Romashka Company anymore; we are the Romaska Plus Company,” Anshakov explains.

It is also popular to cheat clients who want to sell their used cars as second-hand ones. Initially a car dealer employee sets a price for a car and helps de-register it. But when it comes to paying the money to the customer, it turns out that the car costs 40,000 rubles less. ‘I told you the market price, but we buy cars with a discount here,’ they explain to an unlucky car owner. If he starts complaining they suggest he should take his car back and pay them 15,000 rubles for the deregistration. This is the so-called ‘services tax’.

Strawberry heaven

Sellers of miraculous plants have also sprung up in spring. So maybe all Russian country house owners and gardeners have heard about Giganta strawberries fruits, which are supposed to be as large as a truck driver’s fist. But some ‘lucky’ buyers cannot help but share their concerns.

“I was captivated by the advertisement,” says Elena FK tells on one of the gardeners’ forums. “I received some rotten plants which never grew. But the persistent guys sent me their ads and new offers by mail again. My mother was quick to reply and tell them everything she thought about their products. Since the advertisements have stopped, I believe they must have received the letter".

One luckier gardener, Sergey M, writes: "I received a box which was mostly filled with some purple advertisement envelopes. A couple of these Giganta sickly plants were included as well. They are barely surviving now".

Don’t believe those who suggest buying the ‘creeping’ strawberries which allegedly would twist around your fence or greenhouse. It doesn’t exist in nature. Another trouble which consumers face daily is counterfeit seeds on the market.

“Importing has become more expensive now, but many seeds are produced only in Europe,” says agriculturist Engueny Zharikov. “But why waste currency when you can just put rubbish in a plastic bag and stick a pretty picture on it”.

Cadres are non-important

The unemployed are desired targets for con artists. An amateur method is to sell a list of phone numbers with highly-paid vacancies to an unfortunate jobseeker. A more advanced way is to charge an advance payment for promised employment and then keeping clients dangling for months. But the most sophisticated method which has arisen during the crisis is to fool clients into the ‘SMS trap’.

“I found a shaop assistant vacancy on one of the well-promoted employment websites,” says an unlucky candidate in her blog. “The promised salary was 1.5 times higher than my previous job. I text-messaged them as required and 200 rubles were removed from my account”.

The scheme is relatively simple. The con artist buys or rents (using someone else’s documents as a rule) a short SMS-number. Then they start advertising different ‘services’ - from a choice of vacancies to registration in an internet social network (see the story below). But even earnest employers have started cheating recently. For example, they attempt making a civil agreement rather than a job one with employees. Legally-unaware people are completely ignorant of the potential threats of this system.

“An employee faces a number of negative consequences in this case. First of all he loses his rights to paid sick lave and paid holiday as the employer doesn’t pay his social insurance taxes. And such an employee can be fired instantly too,” Elena Avilova, supervisor of the Glavbukh System Project explains.

Facebook swindlers

Cyber criminals don’t twiddle their thumbs either. Izvestia has already reported on a new wave of ‘letters from Nigeria’ sent by email. They used to write letters on behalf of the African brides who allegedly wanted to find their life partners. However it was a method of deceiving simpletons into paying money for nothing. Today ‘the Nigerians’ have become smarter. They suggest transferring a certain sum of money to a bank in order to support it during the crisis, promising enormous interest on deposits. But the money goes to a setup account.

And this is a recent example of a trick played on an overly trusting journalist colleague.

“Recently I was deceived on the Vkontakte webpage,” (a popular social network – Izvestia). “Several seconds after my registration I received a message saying that there were too many users in the network and requiring a new user to send a free text message to a certain number with a certain word in it. I was in a hurry so I did this automatically. I realised it was a fraud the moment I sent my text message but it was too late. Approximately 100 rubles were written off my account immediately", he says.

Potion or water?

Dominance of counterfeit goods is another sign of our times. Importing Chinese and Vietnamese fake goods to Russia is much more profitable now than establishing trade with copyright holders.

“Agencies which we work with note that the number of discovered counterfeit products had increased four-fold in March compared to January. Consumer demand falls; and industries close down. There are numerous excuses for a wave of counterfeit goods", Aleksey Popovichev, Executive Director of the Rusbrand Association says.

But counterfeit products can be different. It’s one thing buying fake Adidas trainers which would last you for some time. But it’s a totally different thing buying counterfeit medicines which have flooded pharmacies recently. The Russian Health Supervision Service confirms this.

"We’ve seen increased activity among dishonest pharmaceutical market dealers in form of major violation of the licence requirements as well as in the large number of improper and falsified medicines," the service states.

If a cold remedy or aspirin bought in a local pharmacy doesn’t cure you, it might be that you’ve become a victim of the crisis.

Scotch tape or wallet

One would think nothing new could be invented in the area of the bank fraud. But just recently two clients of a large bank were robbed by means of an ‘innovation’ method. The victims were using their accounts through the internet and their cell phones. This system requires a disposable password sent via text message. The swindlers showed up at the office of the cell phone operator which the clients were using, and obtained new SIM cards using fake powers of attorney. All the rest was mere paperwork.

Recently, a swindler was detained in Kaliningrad. He stole money from an ATM machine using - scotch tape! He would block the dispensing slot in the machines, and people fell under the impression that the machines were not working. But the money was actually accumulating inside the slot, waiting for the witty scoundrel to pocket later.

Is it difficult for you to get a loan? Swindlers are willing to ‘help’ you. Today flyers on nearly every lamp post offer assistance in getting loans. They don’t require any income certificates and ask for a minimal number of documents. In reality the unfortunate borrower may end up a victim of debt bondage - not with a real bank but with a setup company or businessman. The amount of interest may reach as much as 100%.

Looking for women, but not for dates

This ad had appeared not long ago on several websites from the city of Tomsk. A young man called Yuri wanted a responce from women who gave birth to their children and received a maternity capital certificate in 2007.

“Our employees called this man as if on behalf of a woman who had a certificate of 2007,” explains Marina Kinyaikina, Deputy Supervisor of the Tomsk Region pension fund. It turned out that he was offering to cash in the funds of the family for a significant reward of half of the amount which is 150,000 rubles today.

The venturesome Tomsk citizen suggested the following deal. He would make a real estate purchase agreement with a young mother. The pension fund would transfer 30,000 rubles of the maternity capital to him which could be used for improving the housing conditions starting from this year. But the woman would not receive any property; she would receive half of the money she was entitled to. At present the law enforcement agencies are searching for Yuri. Luckily he hasn’t managed to bamboozle anyone yet.

But since one swindler had come up with such idea there would be more to follow. So be alert and don’t agree to participate in any questionable deals. Keep in mind that you could be as liable as an accomplice.

– The operation in Chechnya is completed as it has fulfilled its task, – the head of the Republic explains. – The numerous terrorist gangs which had been terrifying the peaceful citizens have recently been eliminated. At the moment we are dealing with odd groups of gangsters which can be handled by the law enforcement agencies in their daily work.

For Chechnya the end of the war means removing a number of limitations imposed by the decree of 23 September 1999 of Boris Yeltsin, the first Russian President.

– In spite of the fact that the Republic is the most stable region in the North Caucasus, we don‘t have the customs controls yet, Kadyrov says. Only the planes of domestic airlines fly from Grozny airport.

There are other limitations in accordance with the federal law ‘On counterterrorism’. For example, telephone conversations and correspondence of the citizens are still under control. All citizens get searched when entering or leaving the territory of the Republic.

– Lack of customs means thousands of Chechen businessmen travel to Khasavyurt in Dagestan to buy wholesale goods and then resell them to residents of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov says. This means the price of goods are almost double. We’ve been doing many construction works in the region now. We import many construction materials from abroad. And since we don’t have customs officers we are forced to use the customs facilities of neighbouring regions. As a result ordinary citizens are forced to cover these expenses. Moreover, huge funds which should stay in the Republic’s budget go to the neighbouring regions.

Ordinary Chechen citizens face many problems when travelling abroad.

– There is a very important moral and psychological factor as well, the Chechen President explains. Many citizens who have left Chechnya during the years of the counterterrorist operation are living in Europe now. In their minds the war in Chechnya is still going on. Cessation of the counterterrorist operation will help them understand that they can return to the Republic.