Russia’s Sunday Crummies, 16.09.07
Suspect wanted in Litvinenko case to run for Duma seat
A former KGB agent sought by British authorities in the murder investigation of the Alexander Litvinenko has announced that he will run for parliamentary in elections slated for December. Andrei Lugovoy has made his intentions known to run alongside ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky as a lead candidate for Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) for the Duma.
Reuters had a chance to interview Lugovoy . . .
“I will participate tomorrow in the Liberal Democratic Party conference,” Lugovoy told Reuters by telephone. LDPR is due to hold a party conference on Monday to approve its candidate list. “I intend to stand for election as a member of the LDPR party list,” Lugovoy said.
Putin’s Firing Spree
Vladimir Putin has been on a firing spree this week.
Although not considered an actual firing, the push for an alignment of power in the run-up to an eventual bid for Putin’s job motivated Russian PM Fradkov this week to do the right thing and fall on his sword for a virtual unknown bureaucrat.
NPR’s Morning Edition had this report from its Moscow correspondent Gregory Feifer (listen) . . .
Russian President Vladimir Putin has picked an unknown official to be the country’s new prime minister. The surprise nomination has confounded Russians trying to guess who will succeed the highly popular president next year.
Putin was widely expected to nominate a new prime minister ahead of key parliamentary elections in December. So there was no astonishment when state television showed Mikhail Fradkov in Putin’s Kremlin office, asking to step down after 3 1/2 years.
“Understanding the political processes going on today,” Fradkov said, “I think it would be right on my part to take the initiative and leave my position as prime minister.”
Fradkov said he wanted Putin to have full freedom to make decisions. The outgoing prime minister was widely seen as a powerless figure who carried out the Kremlin’s bidding. Putin said he fully agreed with Fradkov, and praised him for achieving “very positive results.”
“But maybe you’re right. Maybe we all have to think together about how to arrange the structure of authority so it corresponds to the election season and prepares the country for the post-election period,” Putin said.
RussiaToday has more on Russia’s on former PM Fradkov and incoming PM Zubkov . . .
In another (unrelated) casualty in the Putin power shuffle, The Moscow Times reported on Friday that President Putin relieved Vladimir Masorin, of his command of Russia’s navy.
Russia’s top brass have been falling like flies recently.
Recounting The Moscow Times story, Reuters reports that Masorin may have pissed off a few of the Kremlin higher-ups, including Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, when he failed to follow protocol on a U.S. award ceremony in Washington – the Legion of Merit. It remains unclear whether this is actually the reason, but the timing (as in all things relating to Kremlin power moves) is certainly suspicious.
The Kremlin insists they simply wanted someone else after Masorin reached the maximum age of service in the capacity of a high-level commander. On Friday, The Moscow Times had reported on speculation of Masorin’s replacement . . .
Admiral Vladimir Masorin turned 60, the maximum age for senior commanders, on Aug. 24. As required by law, he submitted his resignation to the president, who is allowed to extend commanders’ service on an annual basis until they reach the age of 65. Putin chose not to extend Masorin’s service and appointed in his place the commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, 52, a source in the Defense Ministry told Interfax on Thursday.
Cool runnings for Zubkov as he checks out his new digs
On Friday, Putin referred to his new PM, Viktor Zubkov, as a possible successor when the Russian President will be forced to step down due to term limits.
BBC quoted Putin as saying . . .
Mr Putin described Mr Zubkov as “a real professional, a brilliant administrator”
. . .”Now there are a minimum of five people who can stand for president.”[Zubkov was the only one whose was referred to by name]
. . . “Russian citizens will have a choice,” Mr Putin said.
Will they? More like Mr. Putin’s choice.
Unfortunately, PM Zubkov did not get as warm a reception at the White House [the head of the Russian government] following kind words by Mr. Putin and an overwhelmingly strong vote of approval in the Duma.
Russian daily, Kommersant, gives the blow-by-blow. It was really not that exciting, but provides some insight as to the shark tank that is Russia’s pool of presidential contenders.
Candidate for prime minister Victor Zubkov was ready to deliver his address to the State Duma by 12:30 p.m. sharp. His speech lasted for 20 minutes. In its first half, Zubkov said “a few words” about himself. Then, he outlined the new government’s priorities: to create innovative economy, to raise the defense industry sector, to rationally use nature resources, to improve the quality of education and healthcare, and to modernize the housing maintenance service.
“There is hardly a sphere in which we should not fight for our place in the sun,” announced Victor Zubkov. Later, 381 Duma deputies voted for approving Zubkov as new prime minister. The Duma supported Zubkov by a storm of applause.
The new PM arrived to the White House at 4:45 p.m. –not earlier than the presidential website had published the president’s order on Zubkov’s appointment as prime minister. However, when Zubkov arrived to the PM’s fifth floor of the White House, it was only Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Government’s staff, who greeted him. First Deputy PMs Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov did not come out to welcome Zubkov. Neither did Deputy PM Alexander Zhukov.
Former PM Mikhail Fradkov was waiting for his successor in the reception room of the PM’s office. There, he gave Zubkov a hug, and led him into the office, holding him by the arm. The old PM talked to the new one for over an hour. Then Fradkov left.
It is important to note how Medvedev and Ivanov did not show their faces to pay their respects to Mr. Putin’s new government commander. All three of these men are now considered to be in the running for president as the end of Putin’s final term draws near.
Terror exercises tests limits of Russian nuclear security
Termed Forpost 2007, this week’s exercises in the Chelyabinsk region tested Russia’s resilience to terror attacks against its nuclear assets.
Russia Today has more . . .
The aim of Forpost 2007 was to see how secure Russia’s nuclear sites really are. Playing the part of terrorists, members of FSB’s Special Forces penetrated a secret nuclear site in the city of Trechgorny. The region is home to one of the Russian Nuclear Agency’s restricted areas.
The scenario involved the taking of hostages at the facility. The ‘terrorists’ also planted a bomb, threatening widescale nuclear contamination.
The exercise required a high level of co-ordination between various agencies and services. Railway, aviation, interior troops, emergency units, the centre for medical catastrophes as well as the administrations of ten other cities near Trechgorny were involved.
During the exercises, the ‘terrorists’ had some success. They captured a train carriage with nuclear components and took several hostages. At the peak of the staged crisis, they planted explosives at the nuclear site and attempted to flee using their captives as human shields.
FSB Special Forces stormed the moving train, while military engineers destroyed a bomb left behind using a robot equipped with with a hydro cannon.
Former Chechen official arrested in Politkovskaya investigation
VOA reports on the latest turn in this seemingly ever-lasting investigation into the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot to death in her apartment building last October.
Russian police have detained a former Chechen government official in connection with last year’s murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Saturday that officers arrested Shamil Burayev, former head of the administration of the Achkoi-Martan district in the southern republic of Chechnya. The newspaper report says Burayev was arrested on suspicion of “organizing a murder.”
. . . Russia’s Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika has said her murder was organized by a Chechen criminal group in Moscow that specialized in contract killings. Chaika has announced the detention of 10 suspects in the case. At least two have been released.
