Putin rolls back Russian democracy in name of terror war

[Rspaight]

Gorbachev, Yeltsin blast Putin's changes

By MARK MacKINNON
From Friday's Globe and Mail

Moscow — Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev, the two men credited with bringing democracy to Russia, stepped back into the limelight yesterday to criticize their successor, Vladimir Putin, indirectly for jeopardizing what they accomplished.

In separate interviews that will be published in today's Moscow News, Mr. Yeltsin and Mr. Gorbachev both said that Russia must not accept a further drift toward authoritarianism under Mr. Putin.

The comments, the first public criticism of the President by either man, came days after Mr. Putin gave a speech calling for a further centralization of power in the Kremlin as a response to a wave of terrorism in Russia that left more than 450 people dead: the bloody hostage-taking at a school in the southern city of Beslan, the downing of two passenger aircraft and a suicide bombing in Moscow.

Mr. Putin called for radical and constitutionally questionable measures that would eliminate direct elections for the country's 89 regional governors, who would instead be nominated by the President himself in the future. A second part of the plan would make it harder for independent deputies to get elected to the federal parliament, the Duma.

Mr. Putin said a further centralization of power was necessary since the aim of the Beslan hostage-takers was to break the Russian state apart. Mr. Yeltsin, however, warned Mr. Putin to tread carefully.

"The stifling of freedom and the curtailing of democratic rights is a victory by the terrorists," the 73-year-old ex-president said, according to the Moscow News website. "Only a democratic country can successfully resist terrorism and count on standing shoulder to shoulder with all of the world's civilized countries."

Mr. Gorbachev, also 73, was more direct in his remarks. While Mr. Yeltsin has avoided public life since stepping aside in favour of Mr. Putin in 1999, the last Soviet leader formed his own political party for last year's parliamentary elections and had previously expressed his desire to work with Mr. Putin, although he has been largely ignored in recent years.

"Under the motto of war on terror, there are suggestions of sharply limiting democratic freedoms: Citizens are stripped of opportunity to directly express their attitude toward the government by giving up elections in single-seat constituencies," Mr. Gorbachev said.

"I hope that this is only one of [a number of] possible solutions for President Putin, an idea being brainstormed, not a final solution. Our common goal is to do everything possible to make sure that bills which in essence mean a step back from democracy don't come into force as law. I hope that the politicians, voters, and the President himself keep the democratic freedoms that were so hard to obtain."

U.S. President George W. Bush, as well as the European Union, have criticized the recent moves, which follow other steps to curb political pluralism in recent years. Since Mr. Putin came to power, all major national television networks have been brought under state control; the parliament has been dominated by his allies since elections that international observers called unfair, and several business tycoons who opposed him are either in exile or in jail.

The owner of Moscow News, Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has been in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion since October. Observers view his arrest as a Kremlin-orchestrated punishment for his growing clout and forays into politics.

Mr. Putin's speech Monday made no direct mention of the bloody war in Chechnya, which he launched in 1999 while still prime minister under Mr. Yeltsin. The main demand of the hostage-takers was a withdrawal of Russian troops from the breakaway Muslim republic.

Five years of fighting have left thousands of civilians, Russian soldiers and Chechen rebels dead, with no end in sight, and Mr. Gorbachev said the recent acts of terrorism on Russian soil were caused directly by the Chechen war.

Meanwhile, in the latest dramatic about-face, the State Duma moved yesterday to consider ending an eight-year moratorium on the death penalty in the country.

Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said yesterday that although he personally opposes reinstating the death penalty, there has been sufficient public pressure since Beslan to force lawmakers to examine whether or not the threat of execution might deter would-be terrorists.

"Circumstances at present force us to return to this issue over and over again. We will consider this question," Mr. Gryzlov said. While the death penalty is still on the books in Russia, there has been a moratorium on executions since the country joined the Council of Europe in 1996.

While ending the moratorium might jeopardize Russia's membership in the 45-member Council, Russian lawmakers have said the need to fight terrorism makes drastic changes necessary.