MIKHAIL GORBACHEV’S HAS AMBITIOUS PLANS
Vremya Novostei, June 25, 2001, p. 2
Mikhail Gorbachev intends to unite all social democrats into a single party. Ex-president of the Soviet Union and leader of the Russian united Social Democratic Party has come up with the appropriate initiative, but only Samara Governor Konstantin Titov’s Russian Party of Social Democracy responded so far. Gorbachev and Titov met last Saturday and agreed to set up an organizational committee which will convene a unification congress of the two parties this November.
According to Gorbachev, 12 social democratic movements have no objections to the proposed unification. He says that his and Titov’s parties unite because “both feel responsible for the fate of the Russian Federation.” United in a single party, “social democrats will strive for fortification of statehood and establishment of a true free-market economy.” The organizational committee is open for consultations with all interested organizations and parties. Gorbachev says that the latter include some members of the Communist Party and Gennadi Seleznev’s Russia…
The matter of leadership “has not been discussed yet”. Titov says that “We will never unite if the matter is brought up now.” He is convinced that the process of unification will become inevitable as soon as the president signed the law on political parties adopted by the Duma.
WORLD CONGRESS FOR INFORMATIONAL COOPERATION TAKES PLACE IN MOSCOW
Moskovsky Komsomolets, June 26, 2001, p. 2
Day One of the congress was centered around the discussion over the conditions the media would have to exist under in the 21st century. Ex-president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev was quoted as complaining in his speech that the dialogue between the authorities and society was weakening (Gorbachev meant protests of antiglobalists).
Deputy Premier Valentina Matvienko assured those present that the executive power structures in Russia were bent on making the conditions for journalists and the media as comfortable as possible. She called journalism “a great medicine from totalitarianism” but warned that “there is no such a thing as complete independence.”
Presidential Advisor Sergei Yastrzhembsky announced that positive changes taking place in Russia were ignored by the Western media. he is of the opinion that Russia needs a system of forming a positive image in the eyes of the international community. The system will be expensive, and private capitals will be asked to contribute.
GEORGE W. BUSH WILL STRIVE TO FACILITATE RELATIONS WITH HIS RUSSIAN COUNTERPART
Trud, June 26, 2001, p. 4
US President Bush said in his interview with The Wall Street Journal the other day that the meeting in Ljubljana allowed the two leaders to establish good contacts.
According to Bush, he saw in Putin a man who understands that “the United States and Russia are both concerned over problems of security, and particularly problems of Islamic fundamentalism.”
Bush reiterates his intention to deploy a national anti-ballistic missile defense system and expresses a hope that “an agreement with Putin” will be reached. According to Bush, Putin and he agreed in Ljubljana that a direct dialogue on the matters of anti-ballistic missile defense was to be organized between Russian and American defense ministers.
Bush is of the opinion that development of relations with the United States and the West is within the geopolitical interests of the Russian leader. “You are a European, Mr. President. You do not have enemies in NATO,” Bush quoted himself as having told Putin. Bush says that the idea of Russia’s membership in NATO “is interesting”. On the one hand, he thinks “Why not?”, on the other, he admits that he has not yet “thought out all the nuances.”
Bush said he was going to develop personal relations with Putin as well. “This is why I’m going to invite him to my ranch,” he said.
TERRORIST KILLED
Trud, June 26, 2001, p. 2
Yevgeny Krivosheev, head of the PR center of the united federal group: Intelligence reported criminal amassed in the vicinity of the settlements of Alkhan-Kala and Kulary. Special operation began on June 21. Similar operations were conducted in eighteen other settlements.
Question: It means the Caucasus-Center is lying when it claim that there were a lot of Russian armored vehicles and servicemen near Alkhan-Kala?
Krivosheev: Yes. The house with Barayev and his eighteen subordinates was taken in a ring. Fire was opened. Fifteen criminals were killed when the rest tried an escape. The attempt was thwarted. Barayev was not found among the captives or among the dead.
Wounded, he tried to escape too but fell in the yard. His pals tried to get him out but in the end merely hid the body in the bricks. That is why we did not find Barayev all at once. Identified, the body was handed over to relatives for interment.
A SCANDAL IN LE BOURGE
Rossiiskaya Gazeta, June 26, 2001, p. 1
The 44th air show in Le Bourge closed on Sunday. Paris law enforcement agencies made an attempt to arrest a part of the Russian display citing a lawsuit filed by the Swiss company Noga.
An official spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Paris: No, our aircraft have not been arrested. As for the saga with the company Noga, it will last long yet… We hope this small scandal will not affect the meeting of presidents Putin and Chirac scheduled for July 1.
GENNADI SELEZNEV SAYS UKRAINE, MOLDOVA, AND ARMENIA MAY OPT TO JOIN THE RUSSIAN-BELARUSSIAN UNION AT A FUTURE DATE
Parlamentskaya Gazeta, June 26, 2001, p. 1
Toting up the results of the first five years of the Russian-Belarussian Union and activities of the Parliamentary Assembly, Seleznev recalled the necessity of formation of common power structures of the Union state.
Seleznev also emphasized the necessity of work on the Constitutional Act which would define the form of the new alliance of the two states.
STRUCTURE AND PERSONNEL COMPOSITION OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT WILL BE DETERMINED AFTER THE SPRING SESSION OF THE DUMA
Rossiya, June 25, 2001, p. 3
As Premier Mikhail Kasianov announced in the town of Cheboksary, these changes are not an objective in themselves and are only needed to make the Cabinet more effective. No radical changes are planned.
