PRESIDENT OF THE TATARSTANI TRUST OF PROTECTION OF MOTHERS AND CHILDREN CONVICTED OF CORRUPTION OF KIDS
Komsomolskaya Pravda, November 4, 1999, p. 2
Oleg Yamov was charged for “corruption of juveniles under 14”.
Everything began when Kazan investigators discovered a pornostudio in a flat. Yamov, former official of law enforcement agencies and assistant of a Duma deputy from LDPR (he used to introduce himself as Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s associate), preferred to find “stars” at the Boarding House No 1 for mentally deranged kids.
Sixteen kids testified against Yamov. Law enforcement agencies confiscated more than 300 “video-hours” of juvenile pornography.
Yamov drew 2.5 years in a strict regime colony, and his associate Vladimir Zakharov a year. The third criminal, Yevgeny Novikov, hit the road and is wanted by law enforcement agencies now. Investigation does not rule out the possibility that Novikov was quitely murdered already.
The convicts plead innocent and plan to apply to a higher court.
SUSPECTED KINGPIN WILL RUN FOR DEPUTY
Komsomolskaya Pravda, November 4, 1999, p. 3
Sergei Mikhailov aka Mikhas, 41, was not put off at all by the failure to get into the Duma through LDPR federal lists. He is promoted for a deputy from a single-mandate district on the initiative of the Russian Conservative Movement. Mikhas will run for deputy not in Moscow where he lives but in the distant city of Taganrog. Yesterday, the local election commission made the decision to register Mikhailov.
According to the data he forwarded to the election commission, Mikhailov’s income in 1998 amounted to 1,388.79 rubles. Poor man that he is, he did not bother to collect the necessary number of signatures in his support and merely paid 83,490 rubles to the election commission. Mikhailov said that the money was his. In other words, he parted with 60 annual incomes.
TURKISH PREMIER IN MOSCOW
Trud-7, November 4, 1999, p. 3
The visit of Turkish Premier Bjulent Egevit to Moscow begins today. The Kremlin hopes that the visit will facilitate neighborly and mutually beneficial relations between our countries. The premier will stay in Moscow until November 6. Negotiations with the Russian leadership will be convened. A number of agreements and documents are supposed to be signed, specifically, a protocol to the Russian-Turkish agreement on construction of the Blue Stream gas pipeline across the Black Sea. All preliminary documents are ready. Rem Vyakhirev of Gazprom says that the signing of the protocol by Istanbul is impeded by external factors, specifically by the pressure applied by the United States.
PERSONS DEPORTED FROM THE CAPITAL
Moskovskaya Pravda, November 4, 1999, p. 1
Almost 500 persons were deported from the capital and almost 8,000 more left Moscow of their own volition. On insistence of the Moscow Municipal immigration Service, charges were pressed against 147 companies for improper deployment of foreign workers. More than 5 million rubles worth of fines were collected from the said companies.
AN ACCIDENT IN KUBINKA
Moskovsky Komsomolets, November 4, 1999, p. 1
An accident took place at the Kubinka airfield near Moscow where the best Russian pilots train. A MIG-29 crashed. Steering for the touchdown, the MIG collided with another aircraft and fell near the designated runway, as official reports indicate.
LUZHKOV TRUSTS KORZHAKOV
Vechernyaya Moskva, November 4, 1999, p. 1
Yuri Luzhkov says that he trusts Alexander Korzhakov’s stories of Boris Berezovsky’s criminal intentions: Yeltsin’s ex-bodyguard says that the notorious oligarch once tried to persuade Korzhakov to assassinate Vladimir Gusinsky, Iosif Kobzon, and the mayor of Moscow.
Luzhkov made clear his attitude towards Korzhakov during his meeting with voters in the Agin Buryat Autonomous District.
At the same time, Luzhkov cannot appraise his attitude towards Korzhakov as “positive”.
COAL MINERS THREATEN TO ORGANIZE A MARCH TO MOSCOW AGAIN
Izvestia, November 4, 1999, p. 2
The Kemerovo Regional Council of Workers plans a Kuzbass-wide action of protest in the near future, according to delegates of the All-Kuzbass Congress of Working Collectives who gave a press conference on November 3 in Moscow. Coal miners’ protests are attributed to “catastrophic deterioration of the sociopolitical situation in the region.” Delegates of the congress say that the ongoing redistribution of property may result in senseless reorganizations and mass unemployment.
Vitaly Malanyin, Chairman of the Council of Working Collectives: Only one opinion has weight in Kuzbass. Mr. Tuleev’s. The media is in his pocket, financially and economically. It does not dare speak up against the governor.
According to Malanyin, protest actions this year will be as serious as the “railroad war” in 1998.
Malanyin does not doubt that coal miners’ protest actions will spark similar protests all over the country.
The form of the action will be decided on at the next Congress of Working Collectives scheduled for November 13. Delegates of the Congress will also decide whether or not protest actions in Moscow will be organized. Kuzbass representatives do not rule our the possibility of sending some coal miners to Moscow to organize another picket at the Gorbaty Most near the Government House.
THE PRESIDENT TERMINATES HIS VACATION
ORT (Russian Public Television), News program, November 3, 1999, 12:00
President’s decision to terminate his vacation was a surprise for everybody including Premier Vladimir Putin who intended to update Boris Yeltsin on the state of affairs in the country. Putin planned to go to the spa town of Sochi, but the trip was postponed for a day. Now it is cancelled altogether. Yeltsin’s meeting with Armenian President Robert Kocharjan scheduled to take place in Sochi on November 5 will probably be organized in Moscow.
As for the Russian premier, the meeting with him will probably take place in the near future. Nobody can say for a fact exactly what will be discussed there: situation in the country or something else. Yeltsin’s sudden returns to the Kremlin are frequently a prologue to drastic personnel shuffles in the government or in the presidential administration.
On the other hand, the presidential circles have always said that Yeltsin will take only a seven-day rest. Today is the seventh day since his appearance in Sochi.
LUZHKOV TOURS THE REGIONS
TV-Center (3rd Channel), News program, November 3, 1999, 08:00
Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow and leader of the movement Fatherland, made a two-day tour of the Chita region and the Agin Buryat Autonomous District of the Trans-Baikal region.
Luzhkov’s visit coincided in time with the beginning of the election campaign of his friend Iosif Kobzon, famous singer and Duma deputy from this district. A deputy for a year already, Kobzon will run for re-election. His chances are estimated as high because he has wholehearted support of the local administration. Over the twelve months of his being a deputy, Kobzon has never been in the opposition to the local authorities. Even now the administration there says that could not wish for a better deputy. Perhaps, Luzhkov’s appearance improved Kobzon’s chances even more.
Meeting with voters, Luzhkov was mostly asked questions on political matters.
Question: How do you regard Premier Putin’s growing rating?
Answer: I’m all for it and glad for him, but we should be careful so as not to make a mistake. After all, we do not know him that well.
As for the business part of the visit, Luzhkov came forth with the proposal of delivering a mini-bakery, meat and dairy processing workshops, and a mini-brewery from Moscow to the autonomous district. Some local businessmen were vividly interested in the project.
CHECHEN UPDATE
ORT (Russian Public Television), News program, November 3, 1999, 15:00
Last night, Chechen commandos set fire to a school in the settlement of Naurskaya in northern Chechnya on the territory liberated by the federal forces. The school was opened on November 1 for local kids. No casualties are reported.
The federal troops are about to complete the blocking of the major settlements in Chechnya, Defense Minister Igor Sergeev announced today. Sergeev emphasized that the federals are out to take over all of Chechnya.
Last night, the federals established control over the road from Gudermes to Argun. The town of Gudermes is in a complete ring now. Sergeev says that all commandos will be soon driven from the town. Over the last twenty-four hours the federals raided commandos near the settlements of Samashki, Zandak, Nozhai-Yurt, Mekety, Serzhen-Yurt, and Dolgotoi. Three convoys with military hardware and several terrorist bases were destroyed. Bridges across the rivers Argun and Sunzha were wrecked.
PR Department of the eastern group reports that over the last twenty-four hours small groups of commandos opened fire on the federal troops on eleven occasions. Fifteen commandos were killed by retaliatory fire. No information is available on the losses sustained by the federals.
According to secret services, foreign mercenaries are still coming to Chechnya. Over 300 commandos came to Chechnya from the Middle East in October. Not so long ago a detachment of Afghani Taleban fighters up to 120 men strong moved into the settlement of Shatoi. Mercenaries openly settle in the villages of the Intukalin, Nozhai-Yurt, and Vedeno districts. Commandos sustain heavy losses and are reported to run out of weapons and ordnance. Assembly of grenade launchers began at the factory Krasny Molot in Grozny.
