THE NEXT CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY WILL TAKE PLACE IN THREE WEEKS TIME
Moskovsky Komsomolets, November 13, 2000, p. 2
The congress is supposed to answer a question that is of paramount importance for the whole left-wing opposition: The question of how the largest party of the country will enter into the next century.
Will “separatist” Seleznev be condemned for forming his own political organization? Will Zyuganov resign from one of the top positions he holds in the party as rank communists demand? These and many other questions are pending.
Unlike the plenums of the Central Committee, the congress may bring certain surprises to the top echelons of the Communist Party. After all, nobody knows how one obscure delegate or the other will behave when given the microphone. Moscow communists elected their delegates for the congress during a meeting held at the Compressor Cultural Center last Saturday, and Zyuganov was in the presidium.
Alexander Kuvayev, First Secretary of the Moscow Municipal Committee of the Communist Party, stunned everybody with an avalanche of grudges against the party leadership. Citing proposals from six district organizations in Moscow, he urged the party leadership to put an end to the practice of combining the posts of party leader and head of Duma faction. Zyuganov made it clear that he objected to the idea, saying that it was something believed by Moscow communists only and therefore not important enough to be brought up at the congress. At the same time, Zyuganov agreed with Kuvayev’s criticism of Seleznev’s movement Rossiya.
Zyuganov: We have always doubted its necessity…
This means that Seleznev will probably find himself in trouble with party comrades come December.
As it turns out, Kiev, Krasnaya Presnya and some other district organizations of the Communist Party (that is Moscow districts) “have only two or three young men each. Many district organizations did not admit new members in 1999”. These days, “most communists are persons over 70…” according to Kuvayev.
AN INTERVIEW WITH MONGOLIAN PRESIDENT NATSAIGIN BAGABANDI
Izvestia, November 13, 2000, p. 2
Question: Relations between our countries have deteriorated since 1999. Why is this so?
Answer: Serious changes took place in the world and in our respective countries. The intensity of political contacts went down. So was cooperation in the trading-economic and humanitarian spheres. All of these are a logical aftermath of the failed system of cooperation which was based on ideology. On the other hand, they were attributed to the objective complexities of socioeconomic and political reforms in our countries. There was a need to change the model of Russian-Mongolian relations.
Fortunately, both countries have adapted to the new realities and are prepared to establish cooperation on a new basis, cooperation that rests on the principles of equality and mutual benefit.
Question: What is Mongolia trying to do to improve its relations with Russia? What are the difficulties being encountered?
Answer: I would like to emphasize that relations with Russia are a priority for Mongolia’s foreign policy. No unsolved political problems divide us.
Question: The Shanghai Five was formed several years ago. Leaders of Russia, China, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan now discuss geopolitical and economic problems together. Perhaps, Mongolia plans to join the structure?
Answer: There used to be a G-7 which was transformed into a G-8 with Russia’s admission. Even China’s membership in the organization is being discussed. Similar process are taking place on all continents. Events taking place in the Shanghai Five have their history rooted in the Soviet Union. Mongolia did not have anything to do with it then. Still, I would like to comment on the successes of Shanghai Five members in matters of joint security…
Not so long ago your Security Council Secretary, Sergei Ivanov, visited Mongolia. We agreed that we should pool efforts in combating international terrorism, organized crime, and drug-trafficking.
THE FEDERALS ARE HUNTING KHATTAB
Moskovsky Komsomolets, November 14, 2000, p. 2
The relative calm in Chechnya is history. The federals are out to get Khattab and Basayev. The operation was initiated specially to do away with these ringleaders.
It seems, however, that everything is not as smooth as the military command and the federal center would have us believe. The guerrillas have put up a fight. A battle took place near the settlement of Nizhniye Kurchaly, 50 kilometers south-west of Grozny the other day. Movladi Udugov says that 35 federal soldiers were killed and about 50 sustained injuries of varying degrees. A federal convoy there was allegedly attacked by a detachment of the 1st group of suicide bomber controlled by Shamil Basayev. According to the Chechen side, the battle lasted over 4 hours.
Moscow denies the reports. Military sources say that the illegal armed groups were dispersed by dense fire near Nizhniye Kurchaly and that four guerrillas were killed. The federals did not sustain casualties. According to the federals, their losses in the last forty-eight hours totaled four servicemen.
Battles have resumed in south-western Chechnya as well. All federal checkpoints along the mountains there received reinforcements. Stricter passport regime was enforced in the settlements. Heavy artillery was used around the Chechen-Ingush administrative border.
AN AGREEMENT HAS REPORTEDLY BEEN REACHED BUT GUSINSKY IS NOT OFF THE HOOK
Izvestia, November 14, 2000, p. 1
On the morning of November 13, news agencies reported that Media-Most and Gazprom had reached an agreement on debt settlement. The Prosecutor General’s Office immediately pressed charges of fraud against Vladimir Gusinsky, and several hours later an arrest warrant was signed.
Gusinsky’s lawyers, Henry Reznik and Mikhail Burmistrov, say that their client cannot come for questioning because he is abroad.
Reznik: No, I do not know where he is exactly, but I have never advised him to answer summons following his illegitimate detention and a spell in the Butyrka detention prison.
The Prosecutor General’s Office accuses Gusinsky of having taken loans worth millions using nonexistent assets as collateral.
