Address to the Presidents of Finland and the Russian Federation by participants of the 4th annual Finnish-Russian Civic Forum, FINROSFORUM 2010

Helsinki, 20 July 2010

Dear President Halonen,
Dear President Medvedev,

While you are meeting today in Finland, we, representatives of Russian and Finnish civil societies, are also gathering here to discuss how non-governmental actors can contribute to cooperation between our two nations and to building a common European space based on the principles of democracy, rule of law and human rights. We would like to draw your attention to the following concerns, which are in the centre of our discussions today.

Like you, dear Presidents, we also want to see Russia a modern and prosperous country. However, we believe that without ensuring fundamental freedoms, building strong democratic institutions and an independent judiciary any technological modernisation efforts will fail. It goes without saying that free and fair elections and independence of the media are essential to this process.

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Medvedev: Russians ready for introduction of online public services

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday many Russians were ready to receive online electronic public services. The Russian government aims to create an electronic public service system, intended to help fight corruption and red tape among regional officials.

"Perhaps [Russia is] less [prepared] than other European states, but we know that tens of millions of our citizens regularly use the Internet. They make a significant part of the population... If they use the Internet, then they are ready to receive such [online] services," he said.

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The global financial crisis has hit Russia hard. The country’s gross domestic product declined almost 9 percent in 2009, and income from energy sales have dropped sharply. Inflation and unemployment are both rising, and the number of anti-government protests is increasing across the country. Against this background, Medvedev has sought to highlight the need for a thorough political and economic modernization of Russia. He has described Russia as "a primitive and chronically corrupt economy based on raw materials" and fixated on the old habit of relying on the state to solve its problems.

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Russia is like George Orwell's Animal Farm, where the pigs set the rules, writes independent journalist Dmitry Sidorov, former bureau chief for Kommersant Publishing in Washington, D.C., in Forbes.

Since Putin became Russia's undisputed leader, he has rapidly eliminated critique and dissent. The Kremlin has tens, or hundreds, of thousands of sheep capable of endlessly bleating "Putin and Medvedev are good, the opposition is bad." For hundreds of years Russia has known no other rules, making every resident mimic the pattern of elite behavior no matter how much money he had or didn't have. Together they stole, and stole big, throughout the history of the country.

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How long can Moscow ignore the mounting evidence against its Chechen puppet?

In the summer of 2004, two years and four months before she was gunned down in the entrance to her Moscow apartment, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya made a bold visit to Chechnya to interview 27-year-old Ramzan Kadyrov, who had recently become (with the Kremlin’s blessing) the republic’s de-facto leader. It proved to be a harrowing experience. When they met face to face, Kadyrov could not contain his rage at Politkovskaya for reporting on his brutal rise to power, even threatening to have her shot. Politkovskaya concluded later that “a little dragon has been raised by the Kremlin. Now they need to feed it. Otherwise it will spit fire.”

Politkovskaya was all too right. Since becoming president of Chechnya in 2007, Kadyrov has made the republic into his own fiefdom, which he rules by violence and terror. He has also, apparently, had his gunmen carry out a series of brazen killings of his perceived enemies in Moscow, Dubai, Istanbul and the North Caucasus.

Until recently, the Kremlin, which has provided military and economic support to Kadyrov’s regime, consistently brushed off the murder allegations against him. Since April, prosecutors in two separate cases—a murder in Vienna and a murder attempt in Moscow—have for the first time implicated Kadyrov directly. And in the weeks since those revelations, the Kremlin leadership appears to be showing misgivings about its unconditional support for Kadyrov. How these cases play out could have profound effects on the future of Moscow’s Chechen policy.

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In a confidential report, Russia outlined a shift toward a more pragmatic foreign policy aimed at building closer ties with the United States and Europe to help modernize its outdated industries. The program detailed a shift away from the more confrontational line the Kremlin had taken in past years. It singled out the Obama administration for praise for its more cooperative approach to Moscow. A Russian official confirmed the authenticity of the document, which was addressed to President Dmitry Medvedev by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It was first reported by Russian Newsweek, which ran the document's full text on its website.

A Kremlin spokesman said the program has not been officially approved. But some elements, such as a deal with the US to reduce nuclear weapons, have already been implemented. Its spirit was reflected when US and European troops for the first time marched alongside Russian forces during Moscow's annual military parade marking the end of World War II. The report also includes insights into Moscow's relationships with former Soviet republics. It calls for taking advantage of the global financial crisis to acquire industrial and energy assets in the Baltics, Belarus, Ukraine and Central Asia -- all areas where Russian influence is a sensitive political issue.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703565804575238291897667152.html

The Kremlin is again considering the creation of yet another political project for "right-wing democrats." RBC Daily reports that the idea to establish a new Kremlin-sponsored political party to unite right-wing businessmen comes from the former head of the presidential administration, Alexander Voloshin.

The new party would be headed by Tatyana Dyachenko, daughter of Russia's late president Boris Yeltsin, who is making a comeback into public life. The new party would replace the defunct Right Cause (Pravoe Delo) project and would promote President Dmitry Medvedev's idea for modernising Russia's economy.

Russia's ruling United Russia party, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has called another meeting of its "liberal wing," which will bring together representatives of Russian business and culture. Sources in the presidential administration say that the gathering will serve as the launchpad for the new right-wing party.

http://www.rbcdaily.ru/2010/03/16/focus/464694

On Friday, Putin warned against the dangers of totalitarianism and despotism:

We should not allow the "Ukraine-ization" of political life in Russia but we should on no account slide in the other direction, towards totalitarianism and despotism.

Putin also called for cautious reform of the Russian political system:

We need to bring in necessary amendments but we need to act extremely carefully. Any effective political system needs a healthy level of conservatism. A political system should not wobble like liquid jelly every time it's touched.

Putin harshly rejected a call for officials to examine complaints on the Internet about vote rigging in the recent regional elections:

On the Internet, 50 percent is porn material. Why should we refer to the Internet?

Putin was speaking at a major meeting chaired by President Dmitry Medvedev and attended by Russia's political elite. Putin's stern comments contrasted with a speech by Medvedev, who called for a shake-up of the country's political system to promote opposition parties, criticising "non-existent" competition in local government. The more tech-savvy Medvedev is also a keen user of the Internet and has a video blog.

Source AFP.

When Russia's leaders spoke of modernization prior to the economic crisis, their words lacked conviction. Now some members of the ruling elite seem to sincerely believe that the goal can be reached. The only thing left is to determine what is meant by “modernization,” writes Boris Kagarlitsky, director of the Moscow-based Institute of Globalization Studies.

The speeches and documents that the authorities have issued on the subject create the impression that a modernized Russia would be one with computers all over the place, wonderful roads, nanotechnology wherever we turn, and officials who, if they do take bribes, will be careful not to take too much. But for some reason this picture of the future fails to inspire.

What is needed are competent, professional public officials. Yet the current system is designed to perpetuate itself indefinitely into the future without any alteration. Even the most sincere and noble initiatives run up against a brick wall the moment that they require that something be changed. But how can Russia carry out radical modernization without changing anything?

The peculiar form of capitalism that has developed in Russia is incompatible with modernization and democracy alike. Anyone wanting to serve in  Russian government is invariably driven by a desire for power, money or both. True modernization is capable of delivering a deathblow to the existing system -- something that nobody in power is likely to welcome.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/the-modernization-trap/397855.html

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has established a new federal district in Muslim-dominated North Caucasus. The President appointed Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin, governor of the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk and former board chairman of Norilsk Nickel, to head the North-Caucasian Federal District. The new federal district comprises Russia's volatile republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachay-Cherkessia, as well as the Stavropol region, with the administrative centre in Pyatigorsk.

http://rt.com/Politics/2010-01-19/north-caucasus-federal-district.html