Putin voices ire on Chechnya

[Guest]

Putin voices ire on Chechnya

 

By Patrick Lannin, Reuters, 7/6/2000

 

 

OSCOW - President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian security officials to improve their performance in Chechnya in the wake of bomb attacks that have killed more than 30 people in the breakaway province.

 

 

A new bomb explosion early today killed two people in the neighboring region of Dagestan, which has often seen spillover from the Chechnya conflict.

 

 

Putin issued the warning to ministers and officials attending late night talks yesterday at a military base in the North Caucasus region. He had made an unscheduled stop on his way back from a summit in Central Asia.

 

 

''Many of the losses could have been avoided. For this we need discipline, professionalism, and responsibility,'' news agencies quoted Putin as saying as a meeting started at the Mozdok base in North Ossetia.

 

 

The talks with his defense and interior ministers, a top Kremlin envoy to the North Caucasus, and other regional leaders followed an increase in violence in Chechnya, where rebel attacks killed more than 30 on Sunday.

 

 

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said the Dagestan bomb went off in a car near the railway station in the capital Makhachkala. One of the dead was a resident of the town.

 

 

''It is unknown so far whether [the bomb] was planted there or it was there with the knowledge of the car owner,'' said the agency.

 

 

Putin said in Mozdok he would not apportion blame for the latest attacks, but reminded Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev that he was still in charge of the war and that other officials had to obey him.

 

 

Putin, whose rise to the presidency was helped by his hard line on Chechnya, also told Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo he had to act more quickly to build forces from local uinhabitants rather than draft police from other regions.

 

 

''People from the local population know better who is a real bandit and terrorist,'' Putin was quoted as saying.

 

 

On Tuesday, the director of Russia's domestic intelligence agency, Nikolai Patrushev, said local commanders had failed, despite warnings, to take measures to prevent the bomb attacks.

 

 

''This was a mistake on the part of commanders in the field,'' Patrushev, Putin's predecessor at the head of the agency, was quoted as saying.

 

 

Before he arrived in North Ossetia, Putin sent condolences to relatives burying soldiers who died in the deadliest blast on Sunday, a suicide truck bombing that killed more than 20 people.

 

 

In the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, weeping women filed past the coffins of two officers from an elite police force who died in that attack.

 

 

The two were among those killed when the suicide truck bomb plowed into their hostel in the town of Argun, 6 miles outside the capital, Grozny.

 

 

Putin said the Russian campaign had forced the rebels into hit-and-run attacks rather than fighting full-blown battles.

 

 

''But we will put a stop to this,'' he said of the latest raids.

 

 

This story ran on page A20 of the Boston Globe on 7/6/2000.

© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company

[Guest]

Putin To Reveal Vision Of Russia In Kremlin Address

 

MOSCOW, Jul 8, 2000 -- (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin makes his first state of the nation address to parliament on Saturday in which he is expected to offer firm rule and an open economy as a cure for the ailing country.

 

Promises to restore order have made the ex-KGB spy Russia's most popular politician. Opinion polls released earlier this week to mark Putin's 100 days in office gave him over 50 percent of popular support.

 

"I see a rich Russia, a country where its citizens live well and the state is able not only to defend itself but to inspire respect due to its wellbeing and sufficiency," said a draft copy of the speech obtained by Reuters.

 

At noon (0800 GMT) Putin will appear in the Kremlin to face deputies of both parliamentary chambers already deeply involved in his effort to reshape Russia in a strikingly different manner from the one carved by his predecessor Boris Yeltsin.

 

The State Duma lower house, where the new Kremlin leader has strong support, has backed his bills aimed at taming the leaders of Russia's 89 regions, who had won strong powers under Yeltsin.

 

But the Federation Council, the upper chamber where the regional bosses sit, has rejected the bills saying they were ruining the balance of power and could pave the way for tyranny.

 

A deal to set up a conciliatory commission on the bills, which deprive the regional leaders of parliamentary immunity, was reached by the parliamentary chambers on Friday.

 

KREMLIN LOOKS FOR STRONGER POWERS

 

The Kremlin justifies its desire for tougher control over Russia with the need to avoid the disintegration of a country stretched along 11 time zones.

 

The argument appears to be largely accepted by the populace.

 

Moscow's second large-scale military operation against the breakaway region of Chechnya in six years remains popular in Russia despite fierce criticism in the West.

 

Another reason why the Kremlin says it is looking for stronger powers is the need to kick-start economic growth by carrying out long-delayed structural reforms and encouraging the activity of foreign and national investors.

 

Putin has said he wants to introduce "the rule of law" in Russia, which also includes political stability and fair play for everyone.

 

Such equal conditions with precise, clear rules are seen by Putin as vital to give the economy a long-term boost and make business profitable by sweeping away bureaucratic meddling.

 

Putin said the state's role was to make sure courts were impartial and strong so they could fairly uphold laws regulating business and have a less complicated bureaucracy.

 

"The state should move from the practice of excessive interference in business and lift administrative restrictions on the movement of goods, capital and labor," his draft speech said.

 

LIBERALS SCARED

 

Putin's bid to consolidate power has alarmed many Russian liberals, who are scared that Putin, with his KGB background, will turn the country into a police state. The detention of media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky, owner of the country's only independent media empire and fierce critic of Putin's administration, has been interpreted by many liberals as the start of a clampdown on a free press.

 

Putin has more than once said that liberal freedoms are paramount for his vision of a strong and economically effective Russia.

 

He has said the arrest of Gusinsky, who was later charged with embezzlement, was in no way connected with the position of his media outlets. But in his draft speech, he took a swipe at the media.

 

"Journalistic freedom has very quickly become a tasty morsel, not only for politicians but for big financial groups," he said. "It has become a convenient tool for fights between clans and for illegal pressure on the authorities."

 

©2000 Copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters Limited.