EDITORIAL
Scandal in Sochi
Alexander Lebedev
Last week, the Kremlin disqualified the outspoken billionaire Alexander Lebedev from appearing on the April 26 ballot for mayor of the southern Russian city of Sochi, where the 2014 winter olympics are scheduled to be held.
Lebedev, whose name means “swan,” is easily the most enigmatic living Russian. A former KGB agent just like Vladimir Putin (he worked in the UK while Putin was in Germany), he somehow found the capital to create a bank holding company which purchased a tiny struggling bank called National Reserve in 1995. Within three years that bank had grown to become one of the ten largest in Russia, and it was one of only two of those top ten to survive the 1998 financial collapse that brought Putin to power. Today, Lebedev (who is close friends with former Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev) not ony owns part of the Russia’s most strident opposition newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, but also owns the major British paper The Evening Standard. He also owns big chunks of Aeroflot, Gazprom and Sberbank. Forbes says he’s worth $3 billion and the 385th-richest man on the planet.
In 2003, Lebedev challenged incumbent Yuri Luzhkov for the mayoralty of Moscow, and lost. When firebrand Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politikovskaya was assassinated in 2006, he posted a $1 million reward for information leading to the conviction of her killers and wrote an article praising her reporting skills. NG reporter Yulia Latynina, Politkovskaya’s successor, has high praise for him. But he has briefly been a member of Putin’s United Russia party of power and is even more closely associated with the weird Rodina (“Motherland”) outfit founded by wacko nationalist Dmitri Rogozin. Now, however, he is reported to be working on creating a new party alongside Gorbachev.
26 candidates declared themselves a few months ago for the Sochi post, and now that a court has struck Lebedev’s name only 8 of them have a chance of appearing on the ballot, including the acting mayor who is United Russia’s candidate and who has virtually exclusive access to local TV and radio. The court found Lebedev had failed to file a key financial disclosure document, but Lebedev says the authorities are simply lying. His spokesman called the decision “absolutely illegal” and opposed by both the local elections commission and the local prosecutor. The challenge was made in court by one of the other candidates, a local businessman.
Political analyst Alexei Tikhov points out that excluding Lebedev from the race is a risky move that shows the Kremlin is panicking. It reduces the amount of division in the opposition camp and may redound to the
benefit of Boris Nemtsov, the toughtest critic of Vladimir Putin left on the ballot and a Sochi native.
And the Kremlin wasn’t done when it liquidated Lebedev. Next on the hit list came the Just Russia candidate, Viktor Kurpitko, again on the charge of improper registration paperwork and again at the complaint of the same rival candidate. The Moscow Times observed that this move “effectively turned the race into a face-off between United Russia and opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.”
So either the Kremlin is planning to strike Nemtsov from the ballot as well, or it believes that the field of candidates wold draw more votes from United Russia than it would from Nemtsov.
They won’t take Nemtsov off of the ballot, he will lose of course, but, it will keep the ploy alive with the brain dead sheeple that believe all that they ingest from Putin’s tv that it was a fair and decisive election for United Russia.
Pretending like Medvedev does that Russia is a democracy makes everyone happy. There are no limits to Russian self-duplicity.
It’s going to be Lugovoy.
He may be competing against Delimkhanov.
Have to agree, he is one of Putins fav arse lickers, and will win the “election” such as it is.
All this Republics have their own presidents, own national flag, own parliaments, hymn and all other things that an independent state needs. These republics are not Russian linguistically, they have their own culture, traditions and religion.
Full independence for Russian colonies:
The Adygea Republic
The Tatarstan Republic
The Chechnya Republic
The Dagestan Republic
The North Ossetia
The Bashkortostan Republic
The Karelia Republic
The Altai Republic
The Kabardino-Balkaria
The Buryatia Republic
The Chuvash Rebublic
The Ingushetia Republic
The Kalmykia Republic
The Karachayevo-Circassian Republic
The Khakasia Republic
The Komi Republic
The Mari Republic
The Mordovian Republic
The Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
The Tyva Republic
The Udmurtia Republic
THEY DREAM ABOUT IT EVERY DAY.
It is only Putin’s bloody regime, that does not tolerate freedom
of speech, makes them afraid to speak about this.
These republics are in fact independent, they are not
Russians and never want to be. Chechnya for example has
already issued a declaration of independence, that is one
step away recognition. How cynical can you be to demand
independence for regions in Georgia and not to allow this
for republics in Russia.
Thanks for posting. Your blog is a wealth of information.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry said Armenia “will definitely take part” in a planned NATO military exercise in Georgia on May 6-June 1, an exercise Russia has been protesting at. Wow is there something going wrong for the Kremlin? These little republics are starting to act up. Do they sense that the Mongs in Moscow are weakening?
What I think it comes down to in Armenia is this:
Up to this point, Russian influence had won by default in Armenia. The other security options were Georgia (fairly weak and generally disliked), Azerbaijan (stronger, but fiercely hated – see Nagorno-Karabakh), and Turkey (the strongest, but the most despised as the Armenian equivalent of a Holocaust-denying German Government.) America was generally liked (and furthermore possessed of a large, rich, and generous Armenian diaspora), but perceived as too distant. (In other words, they had a better view of what the West could do than Georgia did.) Now that Turkey is beginning to make serious overtures, a new option for Western engagement is opening up. And it doesn’t hurt that Obama is pushing for formal recognition of the Armenian genocide.
John:
Most of the non-Caucasian republics are cursed by geography and demographics- surrounded by Russia and populated by large Russian minorities (or, in some cases, outright majorities.) Independence is simply not a viable option for most of them, as much as they may want it.
I think that it would be a mistake to take the Armenian side, as Armenia has already sided with Russia taking the Rashian military base out of Georgia for itself. Too bad they can’t take the Black Sea Fleet. Armenia Genocide resolution as Armenians have committed some atrocities of their own, in Nagorno-Karabakh. They really want it both ways. Turkey is a critical and key ally in the region we do not want to piss off, or Azerbaijan for that matter. Fool President Obama is getting involved by passing hot air resolutions, while Turkey and Armenia are just starting to talk to one another. Turkey sees Russia already as an ally in the region, it is a huge trading partner. The US president better watch it, as he is way over his head.
George, I think the point here is that Russia has been weakened so much in the last year that even Armenia (that aligned with Russia for most of post-Soviet history) doesn’t see any benefits of it any more and is looking for other friends.
Armenian-Turkish history, or Obama’s cavalier speech in Turkey, or Karabakh situation are different issues.
Felix I would agree with you on past history and being different issues. That is unless you live in the region. The fact that Armenia took a Russian Military Base that the Georgians ejected says volumes. Especially as Moscali like to overstay their welcome even if uninvited.
I would also like to disagree with you on the fact that Russia has been “weakened enough” as more war is expected in Georgia this summer, other than ongoing demonstrations in Tbilisi. These are organized by Moscow as part of “regime change”. I still think that Obama has lost his Mystique in Europe. Hillary and her plastic button is another example. We need a Ronald Reagan for these times.
George,
Sorry, we will have to agree to disagree here. The two main sources for this statement are kavkazcentr, whom you give way more credibility than they deserve; and South Ossetian “government” who started saying it when Moscow requested some transparency in the money flows.
Obviously, a war is always a possibility, and a lot can happen between now and summer both economically and politically – but I would bet that no military action happens.
And of course, we need Ronald Reagan for any times :)
Russia moves troops closer to Georgia’s capital
By LYNN BERRY, Associated Press Writer Lynn Berry, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 21, 4:31 pm ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_georgia_russian_troops
“It will be Russia,” said a Russian army lieutenant as the Ossetian soldiers under his command nodded.
(…)
Local police chief Timur Burduli said the vehicles appeared during the first week of April and are the Russian forces closest to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. “A tank needs only 40 minutes,” he said.
Along the highway to Tbilisi, a freshly dug anti-tank trench stretches across a long field. Steve Bird, spokesman for the EU monitors, said the Georgians have been building such defenses in recent weeks.
Felix, Yes I was using those sources. Still the possibility of war does exist, if the US falters, in some stupid way. European, other than British are not to be counted on in Afghanistan. Which is more of an Indian and Pakistani Problem for now. Could it be the US would sell out Georgia for Moscal cooperation in transporting supplies to Afghanistan, cooperation on Iran (no anti aircraft missiles that the Chinese by the way have already been supplying). and keeping the feared Pantsyr-S1 air defense missile system, the BUK-M1 surface-to-air medium-range missile system and SS18 missiles out of Syria where the Moscali are building a Naval Base to house some of the BS Fleet? Henry Kissinger once said something to the effect; that it is more dangerous to be a friend of the United States. Frankly, I opposed the first and second Iraq war because it was possible to manage the situation differently. Afghanistan is historically a “sink hole” that will absorb everything and is a no win situation. Obama is continuing the previous policies that failed. I really do not know the answer except that some solution is available with the cooperation of Kazakhstan on a bank of Nuclear Material involving Iran so that enrichment is avoided. Pakistan’s Nuclear status is also a worry. Anyway, I am cautious about the situation in Georgia as the whole supply route of Energy to Europe is being threatened. I can see fundamental mistakes being made already, Iran in particular. Iran will eventually influence and dominate in the region and is too big to start another war with at this time. Moscali have always been the real danger and have 6,000 more warheads than the US.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Military_Matters_US_losing_Afghan_war_999.html
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Gates_cool_to_Iran_proposal_to_train_Afghan_police_999.html
So now Obama is downplaying the Russian role of Transporting supplies to Afghanistan. At the same time, the United States reached an agreement with Ukraine for the trans-shipment of supplies – a mostly symbolic gesture. There is a Molotov-Ribentrop Pact of sorts going on with the Germans anyway, nothing new.
Turkish opening to Armenia has potentially significant implications for the balance of power in the Caucasus. The August 2008 Russo-Georgian war created an unstable situation in an area of vital importance to Russia. Russian troops remain deployed, and NATO has called for their withdrawal from the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. There are Russian troops in Armenia, meaning Russia has Georgia surrounded. In addition, there is talk of an alternative natural gas pipeline network from Azerbaijan to Europe.
Turkey is the key to all of this. If Ankara collaborates with Russia, Georgia’s position is precarious and Azerbaijan’s route to Europe is blocked. If it cooperates with the United States and also manages to reach a stable treaty with Armenia under US auspices, the Russian position in the Caucasus is weakened and an alternative route for natural gas to Europe opens up, decreasing Russian leverage against Europe.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KD21Ak02.html