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Power vertical: Russians increasingly angry at flouting of the law

Reading Time: 4 minutes While Russians remain more deferential or even indifferent to the actions of the powers that be than many nations, they are increasingly agitated by two high profile cases in which members of the post-Soviet Russian elite have signaled their contempt not only for laws that other Russians must obey but also for those who are not in the elite.

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By Paul Goble

While Russians remain more deferential or even indifferent to the actions of the powers that be than many nations, they are increasingly agitated by two high profile cases in which members of the post-Soviet Russian elite have signaled their contempt not only for laws that other Russians must obey but also for those who are not in the elite.

And that anger has been fueled over the past week not only by numerous stories in the Moscow media that Stalin, for all his crimes, insisted that his son fight in the Red Army alongside other Soviet soldiers but also by an interview with the current Estonian president in a Moscow paper on March 5 in which he talks about his son’s service in that country’s military.

The contrast between the behavior of many members of the post-Soviet elites and that of others, both Soviet and non-Soviet, is so stark that it is clearly stoking class anger and possibly leading to increased support for those Russian organizations and groups which are calling for a wholesale change at the top of the Russian political and social system.

The two cases featured in the Moscow media this week show the Russian powers that be to have a sense of entitlement and arrogance that would offend almost anyone. In the first, a senior LUKOIL official is seeking to evade responsibility for an automobile accident; and in the second, prosecutors are homing in on Russian officials who have ignored hunting laws.

Yesterday, in an article significantly entitled “Their Own among Aliens,” “Novyye izvestiya” reported that LUKOIL is now “seeking ‘needed’ witnesses” in order to ensure that its vice president Anatoly Barkov will not be convicted of running down and killing two women in a February 25th automobile accident.

The paper pointed out that the LUKOIL maneuver follows reports that “rights activists have already found three witnesses to the accident who speak about the guilt of the car of the [LUKOIL] vice president and are prepared to confirm this officially.” Only one of the seven other witnesses is ready to support the oil company executive’s version of events.

According to a “Svobodnaya pressa” report on March 5, the two fatalities were Olga Aleksandrina and Vera Sidelnikova, the latter an honored doctor of Russia who headed a department of pregnancy pathologies at Moscow’s Kulakov Center. LUKOIL spokesman express regret but admit no responsibility.

But, the portal continues, “representatives of the families of those who died consider that the version of [the traffic police] and LUKOIL “ is “’falsified,’” and they insist on several blogs that they can and will present evidence to that effect, including that the traffic police failed to come to the accident site or talk to them.

Meanwhile, as “Novyye izvestiya” reported on March 4, the investigations committee of the Russian prosecutors office announced that it has decided to conduct a new investigation into the circumstance of the January 2009 helicopter accident in which several senior officials were killed while illegally hunting endangered species.

Not only has this announcement renewed interest in a case that sparked widespread popular anger a year ago, but it has also led to additional reports about the contempt that many Russian officials show about hunting laws. As the paper said, “the tragic incident [of last year] has not taught Russian bureaucrats anything.”

Such illegal activities, ecologist Vladimir Kuznetsov told the paper, are “no rare thing in Russia.” The problem is that “with us, it is not considered appropriate to punish bureaucrats for the killing of animals, even of those which are included in the Red Book [of endangered species].” Those in the elite who violate the law, he said, do not suffer in any way.

Vladimir Krever, the coordinator for biodiversity of the World Wildlife Foundation of Russia, agreed. He said that illegal hunting “today is carried out primarily by ‘representatives of the powers that be and businessmen,’” because it requires either “a lot of money or administrative resources which can take the place of funds.”

A major reason why these crimes of the powers that be and their business partners look so bad to so many Russians just now is that the latter have been presented with examples of a very different kind of behavior by officials of the most different kind imaginable, including Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

Today marks the 57th anniversary of Stalin’s death, and this week the Russian media have been filled with stories about him. While many of the reports call attention to his massive crimes against humanity, others are more positive, presenting aspects of his behavior that many Russians today would be likely to approve.

One of those is Stalin’s insistence that his son serve in the Red Army during World War II, something other Soviet leaders did at that time but that few Soviet leaders of a later generation and that even fewer members of the current post-Soviet Russian elite have done, even as Moscow has maintained a draft for other sons not similarly positioned.

Not surprisingly, that is a major irritant among many Russians, and it is also an indication that at least in part one Moscow commentator is right when he suggests that in Russia today, “Stalinophilia is to a significant degree not a cause but the result of heightened attention to Stalin” by the government and the media (www.apn.ru/publications/article22444.htm).

But it is not so much figures from the past who pose a challenge to Russian feelings about their own elites. On March 5, “Nezavisimaya gazeta” carried an interview with Estonian President Ilves, who clearly surprised his interlocutor by his saying that his son now serves as a regular Estonian soldier.

Mikhail Veller pointed out to the Estonian leader that “children of big people in Russia today study in foreign universities, they go into top management, and into big business. What do your children, the children of the president of Estonia occupy themselves with?”

Ilves replied that his son graduated from Stanford University “with distinction” but now “serves in the Defense Forces of Estonia.” Clearly expecting that the Estonian leader had made special arrangements for his son, Veller asked if the president saw him often. Ilves replied that he did so only “rarely” because Estonian soldiers are not given home leave during their training.

“He hasn’t complained?” Veller continued, to which the Estonian president replied, “Luukas is an adult, he’s 22, and he is responsible for his own life. It is entirely normal for a young person to fulfill his civic responsibility” and to serve in the Estonian army, all the more so because Estonia “doesn’t have ‘dedovshchina.’”

The contrast between the situation with regard to elites in Estonia and that in the Russian Federation of Putin and LUKOIL could hardly be more stark, and this was certainly not lost on any of those who read President Ilves’ interview or looked at the picture of him and his soldier son in the Moscow paper today.

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FC Sheriff Tiraspol victory: can national pride go hand in hand with political separatism?

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A new football club has earned a leading place in the UEFA Champions League groups and starred in the headlines of worldwide football news yesterday. The Football Club Sheriff Tiraspol claimed a win with the score 2-1 against Real Madrid on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. That made Sheriff Tiraspol the leader in Group D of the Champions League, including the football club in the groups of the most important European interclub competition for the first time ever.

International media outlets called it a miracle, a shock and a historic event, while strongly emphasizing the origin of the team and the existing political conflict between the two banks of the Dniester. “Football club from a pro-Russian separatist enclave in Moldova pulls off one of the greatest upsets in Champions League history,” claimed the news portals. “Sheriff crushed Real!” they said.

Moldovans made a big fuss out of it on social media, splitting into two groups: those who praised the team and the Republic of Moldova for making history and those who declared that the football club and their merits belong to Transnistria – a problematic breakaway region that claims to be a separate country.

Both groups are right and not right at the same time, as there is a bunch of ethical, political, social and practical matters that need to be considered.

Is it Moldova?

First of all, every Moldovan either from the right or left bank of Dniester (Transnistria) is free to identify himself with this achievement or not to do so, said Vitalie Spranceana, a sociologist, blogger, journalist and urban activist. According to him, boycotting the football club for being a separatist team is wrong.

At the same time, “it’s an illusion to think that territory matters when it comes to football clubs,” Spranceana claimed. “Big teams, the ones included in the Champions League, have long lost their connection both with the countries in which they operate, and with the cities in which they appeared and to which they linked their history. […] In the age of globalized commercial football, teams, including the so-called local ones, are nothing more than global traveling commercial circuses, incidentally linked to cities, but more closely linked to all sorts of dirty, semi-dirty and cleaner cash flows.”

What is more important in this case is the consistency, not so much of citizens, as of politicians from the government who have “no right to celebrate the success of separatism,” as they represent “the national interests, not the personal or collective pleasures of certain segments of the population,” believes the political expert Dionis Cenusa. The victory of FC Sheriff encourages Transnistrian separatism, which receives validation now, he also stated.

“I don’t know how it happens that the “proud Moldovans who chose democracy”, in their enthusiasm for Sheriff Tiraspol’s victory over Real Madrid, forget the need for total and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria!” declared the journalist Vitalie Ciobanu.

Nowadays, FC Sheriff Tiraspol has no other choice than to represent Moldova internationally. For many years, the team used the Moldovan Football Federation in order to be able to participate in championships, including international ones. That is because the region remains unrecognised by the international community. However, the club’s victory is presented as that of Transnistria within the region, without any reference to the Republic of Moldova, its separatist character being applied in this case especially.

Is it a victory?

In fact, FC Sheriff Tiraspol joining the Champions League is a huge image breakthrough for the Transnistrian region, as the journalist Madalin Necsutu claimed. It is the success of the Tiraspol Club oligarchic patrons. From the practical point of view, FC Sheriff Tiraspol is a sports entity that serves its own interests and the interests of its owners, being dependent on the money invested by Tiraspol (but not only) oligarchs.

Here comes the real dilemma: the Transnistrian team, which is generously funded by money received from corruption schemes and money laundering, is waging an unequal fight with the rest of the Moldovan football clubs, the journalist also declared. The Tiraspol team is about to raise 15.6 million euro for reaching the Champions League groups and the amounts increase depending on their future performance. According to Necsutu, these money will go directly on the account of the club, not to the Moldovan Football Federation, creating an even bigger gab between FC Sheriff and other football clubs from Moldova who have much more modest financial possibilities.

“I do not see anything useful for Moldovan football, not a single Moldovan player is part of FC Sheriff Tiraspol. I do not see anything beneficial for the Moldovan Football Federation or any national team.”

Is it only about football?

FC Sheriff Tiraspol, with a total estimated value of 12.8 million euros, is controlled by Victor Gusan and Ilya Kazmala, being part of Sheriff Holding – a company that controls the trade of wholesale, retail food, fuels and medicine by having monopolies on these markets in Transnistria. The holding carries out car trading activities, but also operates in the field of construction and real estate. Gusan’s people also hold all of the main leadership offices in the breakaway region, from Parliament to the Prime Minister’s seat or the Presidency.

The football club is supported by a holding alleged of smuggling, corruption, money laundering and organised crime. Moldovan media outlets published investigations about the signals regarding the Sheriff’s holding involvement in the vote mobilization and remuneration of citizens on the left bank of the Dniester who participated in the snap parliamentary elections this summer and who were eager to vote for the pro-Russian socialist-communist bloc.

Considering the above, there is a great probability that the Republic of Moldova will still be represented by a football club that is not identified as being Moldovan, being funded from obscure money, growing in power and promoting the Transnistrian conflict in the future as well.

Photo: unknown

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Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita meets high-ranking EU officials in Brussels

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Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, together with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicu Popescu, pay an official visit to Brussels, between September 27-28, being invited by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles.

Today, Prime Minister had a meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. The Moldovan PM thanked the senior European official for the support of the institution in strengthening democratic processes, reforming the judiciary and state institutions, economic recovery and job creation, as well as increasing citizens’ welfare. Natalia Gavrilita expressed her confidence that the current visit laid the foundations for boosting relations between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, so that, in the next period, it would be possible to advance high-level dialogues on security, justice and energy. Officials also exchanged views on priorities for the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in December.

“The EU is open to continue to support the Republic of Moldova and the ambitious reform agenda it proposes. Moldova is an important and priority partner for us,” said Charles Michel.

Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita also met with Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economy, expressing her gratitude for the support received through the OMNIBUS macro-financial assistance program. The two officials discussed the need to advance the recovery of money from bank fraud, to strengthen sustainable mechanisms for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova, and to standardize the customs and taxes as one of the main conditions for deepening cooperation with the EU in this field.

Additionally, Prime Minister spoke about the importance of the Eastern Partnership and the Deep Free Trade Agreement, noting that the Government’s policies are aimed at developing an economic model aligned with the European economic model, focused on digitalization, energy efficiency and the green economy.

A common press release of the Moldovan Prime Minister with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelles, took place today, where the agenda of Moldova’s reforms and the main priorities to focus on in the coming months were presented: judiciary reform; fighting COVID-19 pandemic; promoting economic recovery and conditions for growth and job creation; strengthening state institutions and resilience of the country.

“I am here to relaunch the dialogue between my country and the European Union. Our partnership is strong, but I believe there is room for even deeper cooperation and stronger political, economic and sectoral ties. I am convinced that this partnership is the key to the prosperity of our country and I hope that we will continue to strengthen cooperation.”

The Moldovan delegation met Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice. Tomorrow, there are scheduled common meetings with Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport and Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy.

Prime Minister will also attend a public event, along with Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.

Photo: gov.md

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Promo-LEX about Maia Sandu’s UN speech: The president must insist on appointing a rapporteur to monitor the situation of human rights in Transnistria

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The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, pays an official visit to New York, USA, between September 21-22. There, she participates in the work of the United Nations General Assembly. According to a press release of the President’s Office, the official will deliver a speech at the tribune of the United Nations.

In this context, the Promo-LEX Association suggested the president to request the appointment of a special rapporteur in order to monitor the situation of human rights in the Transnistrian region. According to Promo-LEX, the responsibility for human rights violations in the Transnistrian region arises as a result of the Russian Federation’s military, economic and political control over the Tiraspol regime.

“We consider it imperative to insist on the observance of the international commitments assumed by the Russian Federation regarding the withdrawal of the armed forces and ammunition from the territory of the country,” the representatives of Promo-LEX stated. They consider the speech before the UN an opportunity “to demand the observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the Russian Federation with reference to this territory which is in its full control.”

“It is important to remember about the numerous cases of murder, torture, ill-treatment, forced enlistment in illegal military structures, the application of pseudo-justice in the Transnistrian region, all carried out under the tacit agreement of the Russian Federation. These findings stem from dozens of rulings and decisions issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Russia is responsible for human rights violations in the region.”

The association representatives expressed their hope that the president of the country would give priority to issues related to the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region and would call on relevant international actors to contribute to guaranteeing fundamental human rights and freedoms throughout Moldova.

They asked Maia Sandu to insist on the observance of the obligation to evacuate the ammunition and the military units of the Russian Federation from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, to publicly support the need for the Russian Federation to implement the ECtHR rulings on human rights violations in the Transnistrian region, and to request the appointment of an UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur  to monitor the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.

**

The Promo-LEX Association concluded that 14 out of 25 actions planned within the National Action Plan for the years 2018–2022 concerning respecting human rights in Transnistria were not carried out by the responsible authorities.

The association expressed its concern and mentioned that there are a large number of delays in the planned results. “There is a lack of communication and coordination between the designated institutions, which do not yet have a common vision of interaction for the implementation of the plan.”

Promo-LEX requested the Government of the Republic of Moldova to re-assess the reported activities and to take urgent measures, “which would exclude superficial implementation of future activities and increase the level of accountability of the authorities.”

Photo: peacekeeping.un.org

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