Russia lurches towards parliamentary crisis

MOSCOW, Jan 19 (AFP) -

Russia lurched deeper into parliamentary crisis on Wednesday when a third of lawmakers boycotted a key session in response to acting President Vladimir Putin's stunning alliance with the Communists.

Putin remained silent on the liberal and centrist groups' furious response to a Communist-Kremlin union that may reshape Russia's political landscape only two months before the nation elects a new president.

The pro-Putin bloc Unity's alliance with the left allowed Communist Gennady Seleznyov to win re-election as speaker to the State Duma lower house of parliament.

Unity and the Communists then divided nearly all of the Duma's main committees among themselves.

The alliance prompted questions from Putin's friends and foes alike about whether the popular Kremlin chief had made his first serious political miscalculation.

Several analysts suggested that liberal presidential hopefuls like Yabloko chief Grigory Yavlinsky may capitalize on the mayhem by casting Putin as an admirer of the Soviet-era left and a foe of reforms.

Liberals in the Union of Rightist Forces (SPS), and Yabloko -- whom many expected to work alongside Putin's group in the Duma -- along with ex-prime minister Yevgeny Primakov's Fatherland-All Russia alliance were all left out in the cold.

Seleznyov, after consulting with Putin on the walkout, said the acting president "did not really expect such a situation to develop."

Yavlinsky, in a rare attack on the immensely popular Putin, accused him of pushing Russia into its worst crisis since ex-president Boris Yeltsin pounded parliament into submission with tanks in 1993.

"I firmly believe that the acting president is responsible for the fact that parliament is no longer able to function, that we have our first parliamentary crisis since 1993," Yavlinsky said.

Primakov demanded that the Duma "stop discriminating against the parliamentary minority," while his ally Yury Luzhkov, the Moscow mayor, said the Putin-Communist tryst pointed to "one of the first signs of the upcoming Bolshevik dictatorship."

The three angry factions formed a separate coordination committee and boycotted the Duma's first organizational meeting of the year.

The centrist Russia Regions group also voiced its sympathies for the emerging alliance, vowing that all four would continue their boycott until the Duma agreed to divide up the committee assignments more fairly.

Some analysts suggested that Putin had struck the deal in order to keep more dangerous rivals like Primakov from acquiring the high-profile speaker post ahead of the presidential elections.

Yavlinsky for his part said he refused to believe that Putin had decided to unite with the hard left -- which battled with Yeltsin throughout the last decade -- and instead was poorly advised by Kremlin political strategists.

Putin has struggled to develop a clear economic agenda since being appointed prime minister in August but he has nevertheless climbed in popularity ratings due to widespread support among ordinary Russians for the Chechen war.

He emerged as the clear favorite to succeed Yeltsin when the ailing Russian leader resigned and called early elections on New Year's Eve.

Some Moscow media meanwhile reported that Putin had made a concerted decision to distance himself from pro-reform forces who have fallen out of public favor during the post-Soviet economic malaise.

However some Western observers cautioned against quickly concluding that Putin, a former KGB spy, was displaying his true stripes by supporting Duma Communists.

"While at first blush it appears as if Putin is alienating a large portion of his potential supporters ... by linking up with the Communists, it is too soon to tell whether the alliance truly reflects his policy leanings," Renaissance Capital said in a research note.

-- Ivan (@ .), January 19, 2000

Answers

A YEAR ago, when the defector (and I'm experiencing a senior moment and can't remember his name) made news by telling the world that the Communists had PLANNED their apparent downfall and would be back, ANYONE who espoused the above scenario got flamed UNMERCIFULLY. Where are those flamers NOW when it comes to fruition???

WHY would this be a shock?? It was spread ALL OVER the papers, and TVEE-news magazines.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), January 19, 2000.

NOT TO MENTION that this guy is STRAIGHT out of KGB-STASI.

C

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), January 19, 2000.

Putin is to em, eh? War coming. Watch for alliance between Russia and radical Muslims. Target: Europe. Diversions in far east as China goes open war of conquest. Two front war. WWIII in the wings.

-- ..- (dit@dot.dash), January 19, 2000.

Agence France Presse reported today: Russia and China said they had cemented ties Tuesday in a Kremlin meeting between acting President Vladimir Putin and China's Defense Minister Chi Haotian. Putin and Chi held 40 minutes of talks after strategic negotiations between Russian and Chinese defense ministry officials on Monday. Kremlin aides refused to divulge details of the talks but trumpeted them as a success. All questions which are beneficial to China-Russia relations were discussed, said Kremlin foreign policy advisory Sergei Prikhodko. The strategic partnership between Russia and China is firmly heading into the 21st century...."

-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.net), January 19, 2000.

...i agree..been looking very strange in the bedfellows category all around the world over the last couple years!....no way ole` yeltsen just walked away on his own....and the russians and the chinese have certainly buddied up lately!...just wondering if mr. president will run THIS war from the ORAL office?

-- mutter (mumble@ya.com), January 19, 2000.

Chuck, the following link to Stratfor is a lengthly and darn hair-raising look at Putin, his KGB background, and just about says that he was one of the guiding lights in the mastroika that your recent reply in this thread referred to.

http://www.stratfor.com/CIS/countries/Russia/russia2000/putinmaintemp. htm

This guy is a bigtime and hardball player. What he's doing now is more consolidation of power, obviously. Now, add in the recent alliances between Russia and the Chinese whichare already bearing fruit via-a-vis weapons development and sales. Now, from other oil-related posts seen today in this forum, add in OPEC's extending production restrictions out into Summertime, what looks like an already-realized 4% drop in domestic availability.

This is NOT looking like a favorable situation. Oh, almost forgot -- oil is always priced in dollars, as another recent post here pointed out. Dollars aren't going to get more valuable when this economy feels this little northern breeze, are they? Implications for trade deficits/balance of trade, dumping of foreign (bank/government) dollar holdings -- ah, the toiletbowl spiral effect!

Wednesday, 19-Jan-2000, 2:36 PM EST

-- Redeye in Ohio (cannot@work.com), January 19, 2000.

wonder if history will say the nato bombing of kosovo was the first battle of WWIII?.....

-- mutter (murmur@ya.com), January 19, 2000.

Mo beans, mo beans, gots to has me mo beans,

Kook

-- Y2Kook (Y2Kook@usa.net), January 19, 2000.

What an excellent time for Russia and China to make their move. The United States is asleep at the wheel, focused on bullshit domestic (non) issues because it is an election year.

CNN will just keep trotting out Bernie and Judy to hash over the sound clips of the day. And if it aint on CNN, it ain't news.

-- semper paratus (still_here_with@my.pals), January 19, 2000.

"stunning alliance with the Communists"

ROTFLMAO, press sounds surprised!!! Putin's entire esteem came from the communists empowering him as head of the KGB! Without them he's just another mediocre dickless wonder.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 19, 2000.