Russia 090813 Basic Political Developments

Opposition Allowed to Run

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/1010/42/380638.htm
13 August 2009The Moscow Times

The presidential administration has ordered that opposition candidates be allowed to run in October regional elections after their disbarment from previous elections prompted a backlash against United Russia, Vedomosti reported Wednesday.

Instructions have been sent out to judges, election committees and prosecutors that those who remove opposition activists will have to reinstate them, Vedomosti said, citing a source close to the presidential administration and an unidentified United Russia official.

“You remove your opponent, [but] all the same our candidates aren’t the ones who win,” the United Russia official said.

Refusing to register opposition candidates on technicalities has proved an unsuccessful tactic, leading to a protest vote against United Russia, analysts told Vedomosti. For example, Communist candidates weren’t allowed to run for the city legislature in Vyshny Volochyok last fall, but the Liberal Democrat Party beat United Russia. In Tver, the Communists won a local election after candidates from several grass-roots organizations were barred.

On Oct. 11, regional elections will be held in Moscow, the Marii-El republic and the Tula region. Voters will elect mayors in Grozny, Astrakhan and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

Kemerovo deputies suspected of embezzling four mln rbls of funds

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14229113&PageNum=0

KEMEROVO, August 13 (Itar-Tass) - Embezzlement of funds from the regional budget, allocated to pay salaries to workers of educational establishments, was confirmed in the city of Myski, Kemerovo Region, Itar-Tass learnt at the regional administration on Thursday.

Specialists of the educational department and the main financial agency of the Kemerovo Region examined facts of improper use of budgetary funds. It was established that between 2006 and 2008, repeated payments were made to people who were not on the staff of educations establishments in Myski as well as to private accounts, opened at bank officers, from the salary fund of local educational establishments. “At the time, Alexander Pavlenko headed the municipal educational department, while Vera Ananyeva was his deputy. Later, they were elected deputies of the city council, and Pavlenko was elected its head,” the regional administration noted.

It was established during inspections that four million roubles were illegally deposited to their accounts over the above period. On a demand from the regional governor, materials on the embezzlement of budgetary funds were forwarded to the local branch of the Federal Security Service for the Kemerovo Region. A criminal case was instituted, and investigation is underway.

The local branch of the United Russia Party will hold a meeting in Myski on Thursday to discuss the question on expelling Pavlenko and Ananyeva from the party.

Would Russians In Ferghana Valley Guarantee Stability Or Spell Disaster?

http://www.rferl.org/content/Would_Russians_In_Ferghana_Valley_Guarantee_Stability_Or_Spell_Disaster/1798381.html
August 12, 2009

By Farangis Najibullah

Russia's recently announced plan to set up a second military base in Kyrgyzstan has evoked considerable reaction as proponents and detractors debate whether such a facility will boost or strain security efforts the region.

Moscow appears to be eyeing two possible sites in southern Kyrgyzstan that lie in the Central Asia's most densely populated and volatile region, the Ferghana Valley.

Ferghana straddles the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, is home to a combustible mix of high unemployment, diverse ethnicity, and religious conservatism.

Each of the sites shortlisted for the facility, Osh and Batken, is also near Kyrgyzstan's border with Uzbekistan.

Uzbek officials are reportedly concerned that such a base might provoke religious and extremist groups, and rumors of the deal prompted alarm from Tashkent even before the details were agreed during a recent Collective Security Treaty Organization Treaty (CSTO) summit on August 1.

Kyrgyz authorities have repeatedly asserted that the main security threats are from the south -- from areas bordering Uzbekistan.

But the Uzbek Foreign Ministry's Jahon news agency published a statement saying there was no need for a Russian base in the area, and that it would help destabilize all of Central Asia.

'The Pulse Of Central Asia'

The Ferghana Valley has a long history of ethnic tension and uprisings, and is home to a number of groups banned in many Central Asian states. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), an alleged terrorist group whose operations now span South and Central Asia, was created there, and the banned Islamist Hizb-ut-Tahrir has been more active there than in any other part of Central Asia.

It has also witnessed periodic bloodshed, such as when ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz clashes in Osh killed nearly 300 people in 1990 or a popular uprising in the Uzbek city of Andijon was crushed by government forces in May 2005, killing or injuring hundreds more.

More recently, three attacks by unknown groups took place along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border within a span of 24 hours on May 26.

Such incidents appear to lend credence to Uzbekistan's fears of provoking extremists in the region.

But regional experts say Tashkent's opposition to a second Russian base in Kyrgyzstan has little to do with its stated objections. They suggest Uzbekistan, which considers itself a regional power, is wary of seeing increased Russian influence in Central Asia.

"Being present in a potentially unstable area, the Ferghana Valley, would mean that Russia has put its hands on the pulse of Central Asia," Andrei Grozin, the head Central Asia department at the Institute of the CIS Countries in Moscow, says. "Besides, Moscow wants to show who's the boss in Central Asia."

Hackles are already up among outsiders over draft legislation making the rounds in Russia that would make it easier to deploy troops internationally to counter aggression against Russian or foreign militaries. Russia's current counterterrorism law allows for deployments abroad to fight terrorism.

Grozin argues that an increased Russian presence would make it increasingly difficult for Uzbekistan to bully its neighbors.

"The presence of a Russian military base is perceived by many in Tashkent like the presence of a Russian military base in [Georgia's breakaway republics of] South Ossetia or Abkhazia, for example," Grozin tells RFE/RL.

"They all understand that when a Russian military structure emerges in the area of Uzbek interests, it will be harder for Tashkent to put pressure on Bishkek and Dushanbe."

Tashkent Intransigence?

Uzbekistan has a history of isolating itself when it comes to multilateral efforts. Taskhent has threatened to leave the Russia-dominated CSTO, and along with Belarus has refused to sign off on the organization's creation of a rapid-reaction force to fight terrorism.

Anna Matveeva, a visiting fellow with the Crisis States Research Centre at the London School of Economics, says that by setting up a second base in Kyrgyzstan, Russia would demonstrate that it does not consider Uzbekistan its favored partner in Central Asia.

"Uzbekistan has not been a stable partner to anyone," Matveeva says. "It frequently changes its foreign policy, shifting from Russia to the West, from the U.S. to China and so on. Kyrgyzstan, however, has been much more loyal to Russia."

Matveeva says Uzbekistan's warning about a new Russian military presence increasing the threat of militancy is "baseless."

"There is also quite a lot of military presence in Ferghana Valley and especially a huge Uzbek military buildup," Matveeva says. "The Russian base -- it will still take time until something of that order materializes -- will still be a very limited presence, we are not talking about deployment of a kind of big army unit there."

She notes the presence of a larger Russian military facility in Tajikistan "in a very devout area" near the border with Afghanistan and says, "It doesn't really provoke any passions of any kind."
TV case tests Russian gay rights

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8197735.stm
By Ben Tavener
BBC Russian Service

A former reality show celebrity has become the first person in Russia to go to court over claims that he is gay.

Vasily Pechen, who appeared on Russian reality shows Big Brother and Dom 2, made Russian legal history by bringing the case to a Moscow court this week.

He says that publications in a tabloid newspaper and gay news website, which also claimed he regularly frequented gay clubs and even received money in return for sex, caused irreparable damage to his TV career.

Mr Pechen also said the publications, which were accompanied by revealing pictures of the Z-list celebrity, even contributed to his mother's death due to the stress caused by the claims.

In total, he is seeking up to four million roubles (£76,000) by way of compensation: the sum he claims his career would be worth if not for false claims about his sexual orientation.

Second attempt at fame?

However, legal expert and Moscow gay pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev said that the case would be baseless if the claims only concerned Mr Pechen's orientation.

"Being gay in Russia is no longer a criminal offence and no longer considered a mental illness," Mr Alekseev told the BBC Russian Service.

"If he tries to take someone to court because they said he was gay, he probably will not get very far.

"The second part of the claim concerning the publication of indecent photos of the claimant and accusations that he worked as a prostitute have a better chance of success."

However, when approached for further information about the reality show participant, Russian TV company TNT said they could barely remember who he was.

"Perhaps he just wants to remind the world of his existence," said the company's press office.

Changing attitudes?

Attitudes towards gay people in Russia remain generally negative, which might explain Mr Pechen's desire to refute the claims over his sexuality so robustly and so publicly.

However, human rights activist Edward Murzin - who tried to apply for a same-sex partnership in Russia in 2005, although not gay himself - says reality shows like Big Brother and Dom 2 have gone a long way to break down taboos in Russian society, especially among youngsters.

The website GayRussia.ru, which is also run by Mr Alekseev, carried out a survey in 2005 with the Levada Center into public attitudes towards sexual minorities in Russia.

The poll showed that the majority of Russians still oppose gay marriage and the idea of a gay president, but support a ban on sexual orientation discrimination.

Although larger Russian cities do have active gay communities and gay scenes, and attitudes towards gay people are slowly changing, few people in Russia are openly gay and discrimination remains widespread and virtually unchallenged.

All applications for organising a gay pride march in Moscow have been blocked by the Russian authorities, and any attempts to hold the event without permission have ended in violence, with demonstrators being arrested and beaten by the security forces.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993 and was removed from the official list of mental illnesses in 1999.

However, there is equally no legislation protecting people from discrimination or harassment on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

There is also no formal recognition of same-sex relationships.