Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin Speak out Against Putin’s Reforms

mosnews.com ^ | 9/16/2004 | Staff

[Luis Gonzalez]

Soviet Union’s last president Mikhail Gorbachev and Russia’s first president Boris Yeltsin expressed criticism regarding Vladimir Putin’s proposed reforms in Russian electoral system. Statements by Yeltsin and Gorbachev were made in exclusive interviews to Moskovskie Novosti (The Moscow News) weekly, and will be published in that newspaper’s Friday issue. MosNews, which is a partner publication of Moskovskie Novosti, posted full translation of both statements on our website on Thursday.

Our common goal is to do everything possible to make sure that bills, which, in essence, mean a step back from democracy, don’t come into force as law. I hope that the politicians, voters, and the president himself keep the democratic freedoms that were so hard to obtain, — reads Mikhail Gorbachev’s statement. Soviet Union’s last president, who ruled the country from 1985 to 1992, is convinced that Russian authorities “must search for political solutions, negotiate with the middle-of-the-road militants, separating them from the unappeasable extremists”.

His successor Boris Yeltsin, whose second presidential term ended on December 31, 1999, with a surprise announcement of his voluntary resignation (Vladimir Putin was named acting president three months before actually getting elected in March 2000), calls on the Kremlin to refrain from undermining the existing constitutional framework, despite the necessity of fighting terrorist threats.

I firmly believe that the measures that the country’s leadership will undertake after Beslan will remain within the framework of democratic freedoms that have become Russia’s most valuable achievement over the past decade. We will not give up on the letter of the law, and most importantly, the spirit of the Constitution our country had voted for at the public referendum in 1993. If only because the stifling of freedom and the curtailing of democratic rights is a victory by the terrorists. Only a democratic country can successfully resist terrorism and count on standing shoulder to shoulder with all of the world’s civilized countries, — Yeltsin says in his statement.

Boris Yeltsin’s statement is viewed as a surprise move by many observers in Moscow. Unlike Mikhail Gorbachev, who is still active on Russian political scene, Yeltsin chose to refrain from public comments about Vladimir Putin’s politics ever since his retirement. Recently Boris Berezovsky, an exiled tycoon, renowned for his criticisms of Kremlin and Putin, published an open letter to Russia’s first president, urging Yeltsin to speak up and reminding him of his responsibility for the establishment of Russian constitutional democracy. Yeltsin makes no mention of Berezovsky’s call in his statement, but some observers tend to link his decision to break silence with the exiled oligarch’s request.

[Destro]

The UK of course has no written constitution and no protection of rights. Most Americans don't know that and probably would be shocked to hear that London's mayor for example was always appointed by the party in power and not elected by elections until the year 2000! And guess who won that first election for London's mayor? A communist!! 'Red Ken' elected London mayor despite Blair opposition - May 5, 2000

Ah yes - English Democracy:

Bill to ban fox hunting passed to Lords

A nation that has no constitutional rights, is about to ban hunting and has a House of unelected Lords - sounds almost Soviet to me.

[CWOJackson]

LOL! Sorry, but England is not a Soviet style dictatorship run by a mad man...

[Destro]

Ah yes, Bush. Bush trusts Putin's soul does he not? Maybe you think Bush was drunk when he said it?

[Luis Gonzalez]

"The authorities must act in a tough and speedy manner" to meet "the bloody challenges thrown at us by the new enemy," Yeltsin said in a rare interview Thursday with the paper Moscow News. "But at the same time, I firmly believe that the measures that the country's leadership will undertake after Beslan will lie within the framework of the democratic freedoms that have become some of Russia's most valuable achievements over the last decade."

Yes, The Washington comPost got it wrong.

How could you describe taking away the people's rights to elect their own governors and representatives as something within "the framework of democratic freedoms that have become Russia's most valuable achievements over the last decade"?

[CWOJackson]

Kerry's "image" people are having a hard time selling him as an American Hero as well.

Granted, trying to make an ex-HGB agent who is trying to set himself up as a Soviet dictator come across as a warm and fuzzy nice guy is a little tougher.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Bush trusts Putin's soul does he not?"

No he doesn't...you don't keep up with the news, do you?

[CWOJackson]

"La Times is ok for link and excerpt, which is what I did..."

Posting the entire article is not excepting...LOL!

[MarMema]

but *I* am going to sit back and watch the fireworks as Putin flattens Chechnya.

I will bring the popcorn. I first learned of the chechens while in Russia adopting a child. The news was filled with the video taken by chechen kidnappers of a six year old daughter of a wealthy Muscovite who had been taken from her bedroom in Moscow in the middle of the night.

The videos were of them removing her fingers, with a not very sharp knife.

She made it home, btw, though with a few less fingers.

After that I worked with resident freeper johnathonrgalt by monitoring chechen websites, my assignment. I read Russian pretty well back then and learned a great deal about the chechens firsthand from their own lists and sites, many of which are now unavailable.

I have tried to post the truth here since that time.

Robert Fisk believes the chechens taught the Iraqui rebels about kidnapping and beheading, and I do as well. I saw those videos way before they were ever created in Iraq, and not just beheadings, but castrations, burning children, and there was one going around I never could make myself watch - of an infant being disemboweled by a chechen.

A lot of it is no longer there, since the Nord-Ost attack. But I speak the truth about these people, they are barbaric enough to make the word seem meaningless. And that goes for many of them, not just a few.

[MarMema]

Posting the entire article is not excepting...LOL!

That's right. Which is why I posted two excerpts, and not the entire article. As I have many times here.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"...an infant being disemboweled by a chechen..."

And of course, you know it was a Chechen because they all have an extra head, and Putin told you that it was a Chechen.

[MarMema]

Thanks for being willing to read them all.

[Luis Gonzalez]

By the way, there is a memo on Bush's TANG service that would probably interest you.

Call Dan Rather for a copy.

[Destro]

I find very crazy. Blair is banning hunting after all - because the fox gets killed by dogs and foxes like all animals have feelings and rights. Sounds like a mad man to me. Blair also banned all gun ownership....and is of the LABOUR party.........

By the way - do you guys actually think Putin is going to rearm communist movements around the world?

Worst case scenario...Lets say Putin revokes democracy at home the way Mushariff did in Pakistan to stop the terrorists would that not stabalize a nuclear power? At most he is a regional dicator of a local power with ambitions near his borders but not beyond them - or are you saying Putin goes on to re-spread Red revolution around the world like the USSR did?

[CWOJackson]

"I find very crazy."

I won't dispute that...the most intellectually honest thing you've posted yet.

[MarMema]

This tragedy is being used as an excuse to destroy freedom within Russia. The Russian government started this war, they started the atrocities, and they probably had something to do with the deaths at that school.

Luis is definitely anti-Russian. here is a good write up on the chechen situation.

The Russians gave them independence twice and they showed their true colors, sadly, both times.

[Destro]

How could you describe taking away the people's rights to elect their own governors and representatives as something within "the framework of democratic freedoms that have become Russia's most valuable achievements over the last decade"?

You mean like how we can't directly elect our American president? Or how the American Senate until just recently was appointed by the States and were not elected? Was America a dictatorship back then also?

England used to appoint her mayors until 2000 - was she not "democratic" then either?

There is no clear democratic system that applies to all nations - democracies have to be tailor made for each country.

[CWOJackson]

Russia blamed for Chechnya 'abuses'

By Sarah Rainsford

BBC Moscow correspondent, July 2003

An international human rights group has called for an investigation into the disappearance of hundreds of civilians in Chechnya.

Returning from a five-day visit to the region, a team from the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHFHR) delivered a damning assessment of the situation, citing what it called a high level of grave abuses.

The IHFHR says things are getting worse in Chechnya, despite the Kremlin's statement that life inside the breakaway republic is returning to normal.

The group is now calling on Russia to invite a United Nations special rapporteur to the region to investigate the disappearance of hundreds of civilians.

Authorities 'implicated'

After the visit to the region, the team says the security situation remains grave and the people of Chechnya are living in a state of terror.

At best, it reports, the Russian authorities are making insufficient effort to tackle human rights abuses. At worst, it says, they themselves are directly implicated.

It also says the practice of arbitrary detention is now spreading over the border into Ingushetia.

Moscow points to the referendum it staged in March as proof that the military campaign in Chechnya is over.

It says it is time for the people forced to flee the conflict to make their way home.

Most refugees in Ingushetia, though, do not believe it is safe.

This latest report offers little to persuade them.

[Destro]

I find your posts sadly delusional though - not the dislike for Putin which is fine and acceptable - but your reasons for the dislike - a re-emergence of the USSR is delusional.

If you said Putin would become a new Franco or Pinochet or Mousselini - I would not automatically attack that but you are fixated on the delusional "Soviet" angle.

I am not actually a "fan" of Putin. But I will defend errors and falsehoods. I do think the Russian cause in Chechnya is just (if the execution sloppy) and I do think that Russia under Putin has made positive growth away from the crippling legacy of the USSR.

[CWOJackson]

Russian envoy admits rights abuses OLIVIA WARD STAFF REPORTER, Toronto Star, Jul7 2003

Moscow is aware that Russian forces in Chechnya are committing human rights abuses, says newly appointed Ambassador Georgiy Enverovich Mamedov.

But, he said, ongoing bloodshed and suicide bombings by Chechen separatists are reasons that Canada and other Western countries must support Russia's latest attempts to end the conflict in the embattled separatist republic.

"President (Vladimir) Putin is betting on a new political process," he told the Star yesterday. "It is imperfect, perhaps. But in the situation that exists today, there is absolutely no other choice.

"We know there are violations against the civil population (in Chechnya). But rather than criticizing us, it would be better to help us in our efforts."

Mamedov, one of Russia's most senior foreign ministry officials, was deputy foreign minister in charge of North American relations and disarmament issues before taking the Ottawa posting a month ago.

His suggestion came after another day of bloodshed and recrimination, during which a leading European human rights body condemned Russia for taking no steps to investigate allegations of torture by Russian forces, and explosives intended for a suicide bombing in a Moscow main street killed a 29-year-old bomb disposal expert.

Facing a presidential election next March, Putin has been trying to quell the rebellion in Chechnya with a peace plan that included a referendum on a new constitution to reassure Chechens they would enjoy autonomy under Russian rule, and the installation of a pro-Moscow Chechen leadership.

Putin has also ordered a new presidential election for Chechnya in October, which will sideline the Muslim republic's current president, Aslan Maskhadov — who has been in hiding since the 1999 war began, but is considered by most Chechens to be their legitimately elected leader. Putin has been sharply criticized for refusing to negotiate with him.

"Numerous approaches have been made to Maskhadov, but he isn't capable of controlling the lunatic fringe," Mamedov said.

Both the referendum held last March, and the planned election, have been widely condemned by human rights bodies as fraudulent, and they point out that Russia cannot hold democratic polls under conditions of martial law.

"Unfortunately we can't wait for ideal conditions," said Mamedov. "It won't be an ideal Canadian-style election, but it is better than just letting things go on as they are."

And, he said, human rights abuses by Russian forces have been investigated and some perpetrators punished.

But the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, part of the 45-state Council of Europe, said allegations of beatings, asphyxiation and other forms of torture have not been probed. After an initial warning in 2001, the watchdog body issued a rare second rebuke, citing interviews with detainees and medical evidence of torture.

Human rights groups have also reported increasing attacks on women, including beatings and sexual assault.

In Moscow, meanwhile, Putin condemned a spate of recent suicide bombings — all carried out by embittered Chechen women — as "terrorism," and vowed to root out and destroy the rebels who plan and carry out the attacks from "the cellars and caves in which they are hiding."

Although Putin's popularity is still substantial, measuring 53 per cent in a recent poll, it has slipped from its onetime high of more than 80 per cent, at the time when Putin began the second war of the 1990s against Chechnya.

Since then, hundreds of Russian troops have been killed in ongoing attacks, suicide bombings and hostage takings have struck the heart of the capital, and human rights groups say 60 Chechens a month are disappearing without a trace in retaliatory raids by Russian forces.

"The difficulty is that we're dealing with a generation of Chechens who grew up fighting against Russia," said Mamedov. "There is bloodshed, mixed with anger and frustration."

The longer it continues, Mamedov added, the more alarming the situation will be for Chechnya, which is destroyed and destitute, and Russia, which is increasingly traumatized by the suicide attacks and the prospect of chaos in its volatile southern region.

The struggle for Chechnya is of central importance to Putin because the rode to power as a strongman who could crush the separatist rebellion, pull Russia out of its political and economic slump and restore the country to a place of pride on the world stage.

Since taking power, the once-obscure former KGB official has become a charismatic figure, with new Russian cult of personality dedicated to him.

With demand for Russian oil jump-starting the flagging economy, Putin has seen an impressive 7 per cent growth rate, a 40 per cent rise in the stock market last year, and for the first time since communism crumbled, a net inflow of investment from Russians as well as foreigners.

But the darkest cloud on the political horizon is Chechnya — a republic of less than 900,000 that has resisted Russian rule for two centuries. In 1994, President Boris Yeltsin declared war on Chechnya when its leader, Djokhar Dudayev, declared independence.

Yeltsin's war ended in a stunning victory for the rebels in 1996. Putin launched another war three years later after Chechens were accused of bombing apartment buildings in Moscow and southern Russia, killing 300 people.

But the violence has continued unabated. There are now fears Putin's peace plan will lead to even greater bloodshed, as well as civil war in Chechnya, as pro-Moscow and pro-separatist factions battle for control.

"Whatever the risk, we can't afford the status quo," said Mamedov. "This is the smaller of two evils."

[CWOJackson]

"I find your posts sadly delusional though..."

Of course you would...exposing Putin for the evil he is must displease you a lot. Get used to it...the world is wising up to your Soviet hero.