THE MEETING BETWEEN PUTIN AND BLAIR WAS NOT SO INFORMAL
ORT, Novosti, March 11, 2000, 18:00
The organizers of the meeting of Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have done their best to portray this visit as an informal summit. The negotiations concerned the Chechen issue. The British prime minister explained once again why the UK is anxious about the situation in the North Caucasus: the cause is the infringement of human rights.
Vladimir Putin expressed his point of view on the events in the North Caucasus rather harshly: the bandits, who are currently trying to use all democratic mechanisms to achieve their own ends, do not obey laws. But to all appearances the main goal of this visit has been reached. The acting president confirmed that Russia is prepared to allow observers from international organizations into Chechnya. The British prime minister stated in his turn that he intends to support the Russian economy.
TITOV SAYS PUTIN SHOULD QUIT THE RACE
Russian Television, March 11, 2000, 20:00
The idea of democratic forces nominating a common candidate for president has failed. Konstantin Titov, who said that all democratic candidates should in his favor, summed up the results of his negotiations with Grigory Yavlinsky. Konstantin Titov is worried about the threat of a military-bureaucratic resurgence. According to him, the bargain between the CPRF and Unity in the Duma, the incident with Babitsky, and also the statements of certain regional governors about extension of the presidential term are the signs of this resurgence. Titov called Communist Gennady Zyuganov and leader of Yabloko Grigory Yavlinsky the main revenge-seekers. As is known, Yavlinsky refused to withdraw his candidacy from the presidential elections in favor of Titov. Titov counts Vladimir Putin (but without his team), Sevastyanov, and Pamfilova among the supporters of democracy. At the same time, he suggests that they should withdraw their candidacies in his favor too.
RUSSIA IS TIRED OF SAME OLD POLITICIANS
ORT, Vremya, March 11, 2000, 21:00
The Public Opinion Foundation conducted an opinion poll last weekend, about the presidential elections. The presidential rating of acting president Vladimir Putin is 53% this week (54% a week ago). Gennady Zyuganov has retained second place and his 19%. Grigory Yavlinsky takes third place, at the same time he is losing his supporters: this week only 4% of respondents supported him (6% last week). Aman Tuleev takes fourth place (2%).
Ella Pamfilova, Stanislav Govorukhin, Konstantin Titov, and Yury Skuratov have collected 1% each.
Yury Skuratov is the only candidate who apologized to prostitutes about not managing to do his best.
Another question of the poll concerns the credibility of the candidates: 55% of respondents trust Vladimir Putin, 16% don’t; 27% of respondents trust Gennady Zyuganov, 55% of respondents don’t. Grigory Yavlinsky has the confidence of 15% of respondents, 55% of respondents distrust him. Ella Pamfilova takes fourth place in this poll: 12% and 45% respectively.
The results of the poll testify that respondents are skeptical about the candidates who have been engaged in politics for a long time. Russia is tired of old politicians and needs new ones. The trouble is that each new politician becomes old very quickly.
