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BBC Monitoring Quotes From Russian Press Monday 26 September 2005

Posted on: Monday, 26 September 2005, 03:00 CDT

The following is a selection of quotes from articles published in the 26 September editions of Russian newspapers:

IAEA resolution: Washington's success, Moscow's loss

Kommersant "Last Saturday [24 September], the IAEA board in Vienna adopted an extremely tough resolution on the Iranian nuclear programme... The outcome of the vote in Vienna is an obvious success for Washington, which has been pushing the IAEA to condemn Tehran for many years now. The adoption of such a resolution means that the use of force to resolve the standoff between Iran and the USA is almost inevitable...

"And, according to Kommersant's sources, it is exactly at this moment that Moscow stepped up its military-technical cooperation with Tehran. The newspaper's source in the leadership of the Russian defence industry states that this tactic has at least two explanations. First of all, it is necessary to sell Iran as many weapons as possible before an international embargo against it comes into force. Secondly, as some officials in [Russian] security departments believe, if war is inevitable it makes sense for Russia to provide Iran with enough weapons so that the USA will get bogged down there at least as badly as in Iraq. However, in both cases such an approach is fraught at least with a large-scale international scandal. (from article by Mikhail Zygar, headlined "A resolution has begun in Iran")

Kommersant "The worst thing is that the biggest loser in this situation is not Iran, who is steadily moving towards UN Security Council sanctions, but Russia. No matter how Tehran's standoff with the international community is resolved, any scenario bodes tangible losses for Moscow. The only thing that is left for it to do is not to aggravate the situation but to make every effort to minimize those losses.

"If Moscow continues to shield Iran and try to help it avoid punishment for its reluctance to cooperate with the IAEA, its already problematic relations with the West will seriously deteriorate. On the other hand, by joining the emerging anti- Iranian alliance of America and Europe Russia will somewhat improve its geopolitical interaction with the world's leading countries, having demonstrated that it aligns itself with them on key issues...

"The Russian abstention during the latest vote in Vienna reflects the state of confusion in which Russian diplomacy found itself: one wants to sit between two stools, preserving excellent relations with US President George Bush and the new Iranian president." (from article by Sergey Strokan, headlined "The price of the issue")

North Caucasus threatened with external control

Izvestiya "Dmitriy Kozak, the president's envoy in the Southern Federal District, has embarked on implementing his sensational idea: to introduce external control in subsidized regions. Last Friday [23 September], he chaired a government meeting, where this subject was among the first to be discussed. After the meeting, Kozak and governors from his domain headed for the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin, having described the situation in the region in harsh tones, effectively endorsed Kozak's initiative\

"The tone of Friday's discussions of the situation in the Southern Federal District, both in the Kremlin and in the government building, was quite tough. It is not clear yet whether their consequences will be as tough. If only because external control the only concrete measure mentioned during the discussions will not radically alter the situation just by itself, while all the other measures are more like prescriptions. As for external control, it is too no more than a threat at the moment, as the governors themselves understand only too well." (from article by Nataliya Alekseyeva, headlined "The Kremlin threatened external control")

Gazeta "Gazeta's experts are not convinced of the success of Dmitriy Kozak's initiative. In the opinion of an expert of the Moscow Carnegie Centre, Aleksey Malashenko, the implementation of amendments depends on Dmitriy Kozak and his staff's determination as well as on the centre's appointees. 'If the law does not provide for the principle of rotation, local elites will be able to exert influence on the centre's representatives after awhile. This means that the size of 'payoff' will simply increase,' he told Gazeta.

"The chairman of a section at the Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Sergey Markedonov, believes that, following the introduction of external financial control, the centre should also appoint a temporary head of the region. 'Otherwise, this may result in the heads of republics, unhappy with their reduced authority, provoking insurgency and thus blackmailing Moscow,' the expert said." (from article by Pavel Aptekar, headlined "Accept your fate, Caucasus!")

Nezavisimaya Gazeta "Dmitriy Kozak was appointment presidential envoy in the Southern Federal District a year ago... It looks like he has not managed to achieve any particular success over the past year. At least, not within the terms of competence granted to presidential envoys by the current legislation. Dmitriy Kozak now suggests amending the legislation in order to provide for 'crisis management in subsidized regions'. Considering that these are the majority of republics in the Northern Caucasus, he is effectively talking of full transfer of power to the federal centre. It is totally unclear whether the centre will be able to digest this piece." (from article by Andrey Riskin and Andrey Serenko, headlined "Dmitriy Kozak has been accused on 10 counts")

More power to parliament and not to government

Vedomosti "The former prime minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, proposes to considerably reduce presidential powers in favour of the government. In case of his victory at the next presidential election, Kasyanov promises to transfer supervisory control over the ministries of the security bloc to the future prime minister. Kasyanov explains his proposal, saying that the government now does not have a serious status and is effectively an 'appendix of the president's power'...

"If Mikhail Kasyanov is indeed concerned with the state of democracy he should consider not the expansion of government functions but upgrading the role of parliament, which could in future act as counterbalance to 'superpresidential' power...

"The elevation of parliament's authority does not require amending the constitution or the law on government, unlike the redistribution of power between the president and government. All that is needed to boost parliament's authority is for a large number of independent and responsible people to enter the Duma." (from editorial article, headlined "It is not about the security bloc")

Sources: as listed

Source: BBC Monitoring Newsfile

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