REPRESSION AND FEAR IN RUSSIA Introduction Since the fall of communism and the turn back the reform program of Com- Focus end of the Soviet Union in 1991, a new munist Party chief Mikhail Gorbachev, This CBC News in Russia has been emerging. It is a coun- the Russian people united to stop them. Review story fo- try full of contradictions and uncertain- Boris Yeltsin, then president of the cuses on the new Russia under the ties, whose people hope for a freer, Russian Federation and a strong propo- rule of President more prosperous life under a demo- nent of change, was catapulted into the Vladimir Putin. It cratic political system and an economy leadership. He soon overshadowed analyzes the signifi- liberated from the shackles of state Gorbachev and orchestrated the formal cant changes that control. For some in Russia’s rising dissolution of the Soviet Union and have taken place since the fall of new class of wealthy entrepreneurs, the communist rule at the end of 1991. communism a changes have been liberating and Yeltsin went on to become the first decade and a half enriching, as previously government- president of post-communist Russia. He ago and reveals run enterprises fell into private hands, promised a multi-party political system that Russia still has sometimes at bargain-basement prices. and greater freedom under a new con- a long way to go The members of this privileged new stitution. But when Yeltsin left office in before its system of government can Russian jet set, many of whom enjoy 2000, his regime was largely discredited truly be considered close ties with the country’s political over corruption charges and economic democratic. leadership, lead an enviable life, with mismanagement. A brutal civil conflict access to luxurious international travel in Chechnya, a breakaway republic in and all of the upscale consumer goods the Caucasus, had led to thousands of Definition Coup d’état is Western societies have to offer. deaths with no peaceful resolution. French and refers Yet for most ordinary Russians, the Vladimir Putin, who assumed office to an attack made standard of living has actually deterio- as Russia’s second post-communist upon the leader- rated. Many elderly people eke out a president, promised to crack down on ship of a political meagre subsistence on vastly shrunken corruption, end the war in Chechnya, regime. state pensions, and the country’s health- and restore the country’s badly tar- care system, once the pride of commu- nished international image. A former nism, has practically collapsed. The KGB (secret police) intelligence officer average life expectancy for a Russian in the Soviet regime, Putin had worked male has seriously declined—by almost his way up through the old communist a decade—since 1991. Rates of alcohol- system and was well placed to assume ism and substance abuse have skyrock- control over the reins of government in eted. For the vast majority of Russians, the new Russia. To many Russians, his the promise of a more prosperous life youthful image and aura of cool confi- under capitalism has so far proved to be dence are greatly reassuring and helped an empty one. him win a landslide re-election victory In addition to Russia’s economic in 2004. But Putin also has his critics, woes, there are also signs of a disturb- many of whom are journalists and ing return to the rigid state control over broadcasters. They complain that his people’s freedom of expression that autocratic, intolerant style of leadership marked the communist era. When a has stifled freedom of expression and group of Soviet hard-liners staged their criticism of the government in the abortive coup d’état in August 1991 to country’s media.

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 46 Recently, Putin’s regime has been could count on quality health care, Further Research linked to the mysterious deaths of two education, basic but cheap housing, and To follow the prominent Russians, journalist Anna subsidized food prices. In addition, they actions and pro- grams of the Politkovskaya and former-security- could feel proud of their country’s current Russian officer-turned-Putin-opponent significant achievements in sports, government of Alexander Litvinenko. Known for her culture, and the space program, and the Vladimir Putin visit courageous reporting on the Chechen fact that the Soviet Union was recog- www.kremlin.ru/ war and her sharp criticisms of Russia’s nized as a great power. eng. handling of it, Politkovskaya was shot Today, most of those assurances have dead in her Moscow apartment in vanished. The harsh realities of post- October 2006. One month later, communist Russia seem to mock the Litvinenko died of apparent radiation dreams and promises of freedom and poisoning in a London hospital where prosperity they so strongly hoped for in he had gone to receive treatment. Both the heady days that followed the col- of these deaths remain unsolved, and lapse of the communist system in 1991. there are strong suspicions that the Russia still has a very long road to Putin government was responsible for travel before it can be regarded as a them. truly democratic country, one that is Among many Russians today there is capable of providing its citizens with a great sense of nostalgia and longing the freedom to criticize their govern- for the stability and security that the ment but also a decent standard of life former Soviet system once offered and adequate systems of education, them. In return for a total lack of politi- health care, and social welfare. cal freedom, most ordinary Russians

To Consider 1. What major changes have occurred in Russia since 1991?

2. Despite these changes, what problems from the communist era is the new Russia still dealing with today?

3. Why is President Vladimir Putin so popular among many Russians? What are the main criticisms that his opponents make of his regime?

4. What are the main problems Russia faces as it enters the 21st century?

5. How should Canada deal with modern Russia?

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 47 REPRESSION AND FEAR IN RUSSIA Video Review

Watch the video Part I and answer the 1. a) In what year did the communist system end in Russia? ______questions. b) What was the country called before then?

Did you know . . . 2. What is the name of the current president of Russia? According to the Russian constitu- tion, Putin can serve for only eight 3. a) Who was the first leader of the Soviet Union? years and must resign as president of Russia in 2008. b) What medium of communication did he believe was most important in promoting the beliefs and ideals of the communist system among Russia’s people? Why did he think this?

4. What two novels critical of the former communist system have recently been adapted for television in Russia? ______and ______

5. What is the name of the host of a popular television political satire show that the Russian government ordered off the air?

6. a) How many Russian journalists have been murdered since President Putin took office? ______b) Who is the most recent of these? ______

7. a) What is the average life expectancy of a Russian male today? ______b) What was it 20 years ago? ______8. Approximately what percentage of Russians are still waiting to reach middle-class economic status? ______%

9. What is the name of the Russian filmmaker who is trying to restore a sense of faith and pride in Russia among the country’s people?

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 48 Part II Discussion Activity Form groups to read and respond to the following quotes from the video, stating whether or not you agree with them and how they help you to under- stand some of the problems Russia is currently facing in the post-communist era. For each of the quotes, be sure to identify the speaker from the video.

“I think Russia is falling back into totalitarianism. Everything that Russia had that would have made it a democracy has been systematically and very purpose- fully destroyed.”

Speaker ______Agree______Disagree ______

“I think it’s important to be able to laugh at your leadership, laugh at your government. I think it’s important to be not too overly respectful.”

Speaker ______Agree______Disagree ______

“Just within a few years after 1991, my country, Russia, lost everything. Plants stopped functioning. The army became helpless. All the ships from the northern fleet had been sold or turned into scrap. The harm done since 1991 cannot be compared to the losses inflicted by the Nazi occupiers. It is thousands of times greater.”

Speaker ______Agree______Disagree ______

“If people have to make a choice between bread and butter and freedom of speech, the majority are going to go for bread and butter anywhere in the world. This is certainly true in Russia, where freedom of speech has never really been part of the fabric of society, and people don’t really care all that much about it.”

Speaker ______Agree______Disagree ______

“There’s nothing new here. Putin is walking along the old beaten Soviet track, and we will get to the same place as we did with the Soviet Union. The gap between these movies and reality will get bigger and bigger, and everything will explode.”

Speaker ______Agree______Disagree ______

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 49 REPRESSION AND FEAR IN RUSSIA A Profile of the New Russia

also a major global exporter of oil. Definition Russia remains the largest country in Oligarch refers to a the world in land area, despite the member of a very small group of territorial losses incurred by the break- people (oligarchy) up of the old Soviet Union and the who have consider- independence of 14 of its former repub- able power, be it lics. It spans 10 time zones and covers political or eco- over 17 million square kilometres of nomic or both. territory stretching across the vast Eurasian landmass from St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea to Vladivostok on the Pacific. Its official name is the Russian Federation, and its population is 143.8 million people, according to a 2006 United Nations estimate. Moscow is the capital city, and the major language spoken is Russian. Most Russians Although much smaller than the former practise Orthodox Christianity now that USSR, Russia stills dwarfs its neighbours freedom of religion has been restored, in Europe. but there is also a significant Muslim minority, concentrated mainly in the Since the collapse of communism and southern part of the country. Life the dissolution of the Soviet Union in expectancy for men is 59 and for 1991, Russia has been trying to find a women 72, a marked declined in the new direction in both its domestic years following the end of communism. affairs and its role in the world. The The monetary unit is the ruble, which is initial hopes for prosperity as a capital- divided into 100 kopeks. In addition to ist, free-market economy rapidly re- oil and gas, Russia’s main exports are placed the old system of state control wood, metals, chemicals, weapons, and were dashed when the international military equipment. financial crisis of 1998 caused a major As Russia’s formerly state-run economic meltdown. Since then, economy was turned over to private Russia’s rate of economic growth has enterprises after the fall of communism, been impressive, mainly due to the a few highly placed individuals were development of the country’s vast able to amass great wealth, sometimes natural resources, especially oil and gas. by questionable if not completely illegal Gazprom (www.gazprom.com), the means. This new class of entrepreneur, state-owned monopoly of natural gas, is nicknamed the oligarchs, gained control the world’s largest producer and ex- of key sectors of the economy, espe- porter of this product, supplying almost cially energy and the mass media. In a quarter of Europe’s gas requirements. addition they acquired considerable It also has plans to expand its operations political influence in the government of into the growing Asian and American President Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first markets. In addition to gas, Russia is post-communist leader. As a result of

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 50 their shady business dealings, some has been mute on the Chechen question Quote prominent oligarchs eventually served since 2001, giving Putin’s regime at “If Putin wrinkles jail sentences. Others were forced to least tacit support in what has been a his brow, the majority begin to flee the country into exile to avoid legal brutal Russian occupation. shake in their action. The most famous of these Russia’s strong support for the U.S.- boots.” — Alexan- individuals, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, led anti-terrorist struggle helped to der Podrabinek, who once directed the powerful Yukos improve its relations with the European editor, Reader’s oil firm, is now serving an eight-year Union and NATO. As a member of the Digest, February 2007 prison term for fraud and tax evasion in group of eight of the world’s most a Siberian penal colony. important economic powers, Russia has During his time as director of Yukos, been able to raise its international Khodorkovsky used his economic profile in the post-communist era. But it influence to create his own political has not always supported U.S. foreign- party to challenge President Putin’s policy initiatives such as the invasion of hold on power. Many Russians believed Iraq in 2003 and economic sanctions his conviction on criminal charges was against Iran over its development of a politically motivated by his rivals to nuclear program. While Russia was remove him as a potential threat to their able to negotiate an agreement in 2002 control over the government. giving it an equal role with NATO Perhaps the most serious problem that countries in making decisions on inter- has faced Russia in the post-communist national terrorism and other security era is the ongoing violent conflict in threats, it views the expansion of the Chechnya. A separatist rebellion in this NATO military alliance to include some mainly Muslim enclave in southern of its former Soviet-bloc allies with Russia has raged since 1994, when the considerable suspicion and concern. Kremlin first dispatched troops to crush Throughout its history, Russia has long it. Despite a massive military presence been worried about the threat of being in Chechnya, to date Russia has been surrounded by potentially hostile states. unable to subdue the war, which the It has not forgotten the fact that the rebels and their supporters among the original purpose of NATO when it was local population continue to wage. founded in 1949 was to combat the Initially, Russia’s heavy-handed repres- Soviet Union and the spread of commu- sion in Chechnya aroused considerable nism to other countries. international criticism, especially from Under the rule of President Vladimir the United States. But since the terrorist Putin, the Kremlin has sought to gain attacks of September 11, 2001, Russia greater control over Russia’s mass has sought to link its military operations media, especially television. The gov- in Chechnya with the global struggle ernment initiated criminal prosecutions against international terrorism. Russia’s against two of Russia’s most prominent leaders allege that the Chechen rebels media tycoons, Boris Berezovsky and are Islamic extremists in league with Al Vladimir Businsky, eventually taking Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible over their respective media giants, NTV for the attacks on the World Trade and TV-6, in 2002. Although there are Center and the Pentagon. While there many state-owned and private radio have been some in the West who have stations, there are only a few television challenged that claim, the administra- channels, most of which reflect a pro- tion of U.S. President George W. Bush government bias in their news and

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 51 public-events coverage. There are over war in Chechnya. The media rights 400 daily newspapers, representing a organization Reporters without Borders wide range of political opinion. Internet (www.rsf.org) has criticized this trend. access is increasing dramatically, It has accused the Putin government of although Russia continues to lag behind instigating a violent crackdown on both the United States and Western journalists who question government Europe in its use of this technology. policy in Chechnya, with a view to In recent years there has been a restricting freedom of information in disturbing pattern of violent attacks on Russia. journalists, many of whom have pre- Source: BBC Country Profile: Russia sented critical reports on the ongoing

Activities 1. In what ways can Russia still be considered an important country today, despite the fact that it has lost power and influence in the world since the fall of the Soviet Union?

2. How has the new Russia been able to turn international developments to its advantage, especially after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001?

3. What evidence is there to support the view that Russia has not yet totally abandoned the totalitarianism and repression that prevailed during the Soviet period?

4. Should other nations such as Canada condemn Russia for its lack of free- dom? Explain.

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 52 REPRESSION AND FEAR IN RUSSIA A Timeline of Post-Communist Russia

1991 Russia becomes a separate state ship for Peace program. Yeltsin orders as the old Soviet Union, formed in troops into Chechnya to crush the 1922, collapses along with its one-party separatist rebellion there. communist system. Fourteen other former Soviet republics proclaim their 1995 The Communist Party stages a independence, including Ukraine, remarkable comeback, winning a third Belarus, the Baltic States, and the of the seats in the Duma. Central Asian states. Most of the former 1996 Yeltsin wins re-election as Soviet republics rejoin a loose federa- president. Russia is admitted to the G7 tion known as the Commonwealth of group of industrialized countries. Independent States (CIS). At the same Russia and the Chechen government time, the “union republic” of Chechnya, negotiate the terms of a peace agree- once part of Russia, declares its own ment to end the fighting there. unilateral independence from Moscow. Boris Yeltsin becomes Russia’s first 1997 Russia and the Baltic republic of president. Lithuania sign a border agreement.

1992 Russia assumes the seat formerly 1998 Yeltsin dismisses Prime Minister held by the Soviet Union at the United Viktor Chenomyrdin and appoints Nations Security Council. The old Sergei Kiriyenko as his replacement. A communist economic system is dis- major economic crisis strikes Russia, mantled, price controls are lifted, and causing the collapse of the ruble and many formerly state-run enterprises are raising the possibility that Russia may privatized and sold to the highest bid- have to default on its foreign debts. ders. Yeltsin fires Kiriyenko but fails to gain parliamentary approval to restore 1993 Yeltsin suspends the Russian Chenomyrdin. Instead, Yevgeny parliament and calls for new elections Primakov is chosen as a compromise after a group of dissident politicians prime minister, along with two mem- take over the building. Yeltsin finally bers of the Communist Party as cabinet orders troops to retake the building. A ministers. new constitution is approved, giving the president sweeping political powers. In 1999 Chechen rebels invade the elections for the new state Duma, or neighbouring republic of Dagestan. parliament, the once-powerful commu- Vladimir Putin is named prime minis- nists on the left and ultra-nationalist ter, replacing Sergei Stepashin, who had parties on the right both make strong in turn replaced Primakov. A wave of gains at Yeltsin’s party’s expense. bomb attacks in Moscow and elsewhere is blamed on Chechen extremists. 1994 The hard-line communist leaders Russian troops are sent back into who organized the failed coup against Chechnya. Yeltsin’s popularity soars as Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991are par- a result of his hard line on the Chechen doned. Russia joins NATO’s Partner- crisis. However, his poor health, largely

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 53 brought on by excessive drinking, once headed a liberal opposition politi- forces him to step down and name Putin cal party critical of Putin’s government. acting president. He is later convicted and sentenced to eight years in a Siberian prison. Putin’s 2000 Putin wins election as president United Russia party wins a sweeping of Russia. The Russian nuclear subma- victory in parliamentary elections. rine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, Russia and Ukraine resolve their dis- resulting in the loss of its entire crew of pute. 118. Putin restores the old Soviet national anthem, with new words. 2004 Putin wins a landslide re-election victory as president. The Chechen 2001 Russia and China sign a friend- situation deteriorates markedly with the ship treaty during a state visit of Chi- assassination of pro-Russian president nese President Jiang Zemin to Moscow. Akhmad Kadyrov and attacks in the Following the terrorist attacks on New neighbouring republic of Ingushetia. York and Washington on September 11, Further violent acts include the explo- Putin pledges support to U.S .President sion of two Russian aircraft and the George W. Bush’s war on terrorism. bombing of the Moscow subway. But the most dramatic act is the siege at an 2002 Russian and NATO foreign elementary school in Beslan, North ministers agree to establish the NATO- Ossetia, after Chechen rebels seize the Russia Council in order to deal with building and take students and teachers terrorism and other security threats. hostage. Over 300 are killed during the Chechen rebels stage a series of violent fighting between the rebels and Russian acts, including the downing of a mili- troops who storm the school. tary aircraft, a mass hostage taking at a Moscow theatre, and suicide bombings 2005 Russia steps up its military in Grozny, the Chechen capital. crackdown on Chechen rebels, expand- ing operations to include strikes against 2003 Chechen voters approve a new Chechen guerrilla bases in constitution stating that the area is part neighbouring republics. The Chechen of the Russian Federation, but interna- separatist leader, Aslan Maskhadov, is tional observers question the fairness of killed during one of these actions. the referendum. A wave of suicide Shamil Basayev replaces him as bombings follows, striking government Chechen military chief, and the conflict buildings, military headquarters, a rock continues, spreading into nearby festival near Moscow, and a hospital on Dagestan, Ossetia, and Kabardino- the Chechen border with Russia. The Balkaria. former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan grants Russia the right to establish a 2006 Russia temporarily cuts off military base on its territory as part of natural gas supplies to Ukraine in a the anti-terrorist struggle. Ukraine quarrel over prices. Basayev is killed in protests Russia’s plans to build a cause- a special Russian military operation. way between its coast and the Ukrai- The ruble becomes a convertible cur- nian island of Tuzla. Mikhail rency on international financial mar- Khodorkovsky, the billionaire owner of kets. Tensions flare between Russia and the Yukos oil firm, is charged with the former Soviet republic of Georgia fraud and tax evasion. Khodorovsky when the latter detains four Russian

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 54 army officers on espionage charges. Moscow apartment after writing a series Alexander Litvinenko, a critic of Putin of articles critical of Russian policy in living in exile in London, dies from Chechnya. Russia and Belarus resolve a radiation poisoning. Journalist Anna serious dispute over gas prices. Politkovskaya is gunned down in her Source: BBC country profile: Russia

Activities 1. Based on your study of the timeline above, what do you think have been the most serious problems Russia has faced since the fall of communism in 1991? Give reasons to support your answers.

2. What are the roots of the ongoing conflict between Russian forces and separatist guerrillas in Chechnya? Why has Russia’s hard-line military approach to dealing with this problem resulted in failure so far?

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 55 REPRESSION AND FEAR IN RUSSIA The New Czar? A Profile of Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is the youthful new face for promoting business and foreign Did you know . . . of post-communist Russia. Still in his investment. There are allegations, to The title Czar is mid-fifties, he has held the country’s date unproven, that he used this position actually related to the old Roman title highest office, that of president, since to enrich himself by questionable of Caesar. replacing the ailing Boris Yeltsin in late means, including the issuing of export 1999. He has won election twice, with licenses to foreign companies and his second term ending in 2008. Before dealings with a German real-estate firm becoming president, Putin served as accused of money laundering. prime minister in Yeltsin’s cabinet and After his mentor Sobchak lost the also held a number of other important election for governor of St. Petersburg political positions in the post-commu- in 1996, Putin went to Moscow to nist era. Putin was born in St. Petersburg, further his political career. In 1997, then known as Leningrad, in 1952. His Russian President Boris Yeltsin ap- family was not wealthy, and as a child pointed him deputy chief of staff. One Putin recalled sharing an apartment year later, he was named head of the with other families. His mother, Maria, FSB, the intelligence agency that had was a factory worker, while his father, replaced the KGB following the col- Vladimir, served in the Soviet navy lapse of communism. Scandal contin- during the Second World War. Putin’s ued to follow Putin, however. After grandfather on his father’s side was a defending his doctoral dissertation in renowned chef who prepared meals for economics at the St. Petersburg Mining Soviet leaders, including Lenin and Institute in 1997, he was accused of Stalin. An ambitious and eager student, having plagiarized much of it from a Putin graduated from Leningrad State management study authored by two University in 1975 with a law degree U.S. professors. and was quickly recruited into the KGB, Putin has never hesitated to employ the powerful and much-feared Soviet ruthless means in his quest for power intelligence agency. As a youth, Putin and political advancement. In 1999, he had been fascinated with books and staged a joint television press confer- films about KGB intelligence officers, ence with Interior minister Sergei whose careers he desired to follow. Stepashin. The two men discussed a After a few years of training in for- secretly taped video allegedly depicting eign intelligence, Putin was posted to the Russian Prosecutor General, Yuri the KGB based in Dresden, in East Skuratov, in a compromising position Germany, where he remained from with two women. The broadcasting of 1985 to the collapse of that communist this scandalous video not only de- regime in 1990. Returning to Russia, he stroyed Skuratov’s career, but it also took a position in the International paved the way for Putin’s own move up Affairs section of Leningrad State the political ladder. Yeltsin had dis- University, where he established a close trusted Shuratov, and shortly afterward relationship with Anatoly Sobchak, the appointed Putin prime minister, virtu- mayor of Leningrad and a powerful ally assuring him the presidency after local Communist Party official. As an Yeltsin suddenly stepped down at the aide to Sobchak, Putin was responsible end of 1999.

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 56 Yeltsin had praised Putin as “the man himself as a healthy, fit individual who who will unite around himself those does not drink and is active in sports. who will revive great Russia.” In presi- His passion is judo, and he holds a dential elections held in March 2000, black belt, sixth dan, in the sport, Putin won a solid victory. Previously a making him the most qualified practi- relatively unknown figure among the tioner of this Japanese martial art Russian nomenklatura, or political among the world’s leaders today. On a class, Putin rapidly attracted public state visit to Japan, he impressed local support for his strong campaign against judo aficionados with his skill and corruption in government and his hard knowledge of the sport. line against the Chechen rebels. As a While Putin’s critics inside and gesture to the wave of nostalgia for the outside Russia have accused him of Soviet past that was sweeping the becoming a “new czar,” with autocratic country, he ordered that the former tendencies and an intolerance of dis- communist national anthem “Hymn to sent, most Russians continue to regard the Soviet Union” be restored, albeit their president favourably. It is impor- with new words. tant to realize that Russia has practi- Four years later Putin won another cally no democratic tradition, and that landslide presidential election victory strong leaders have traditionally been and proceeded to consolidate his control looked to for stability and security. over all levels of government in Russia. Whether they were czars or Soviet In response to the bloody Beslan school dictators such as Vladimir Lenin or siege of September 2004, Putin re- Joseph Stalin, such rulers have been placed directly elected local governors able to command the loyalty of many with his own hand-picked appointees. Russians to whom democracy has This move met with some domestic and appeared synonymous with anarchy. foreign criticism. Figures such as Thus Putin’s opponents in the media former Soviet leader Mikhail who decry his stifling of freedom of Gorbachev, former Russian president expression and public criticism of his Boris Yeltsin, and U.S. Secretary of regime have not been able to win much State Colin Powell warned that it ap- public support for their position. For his peared to be a throwback to the rigid part, Putin shamelessly employs his central control of the Soviet era. But control over much of the mass media to Putin was unmoved, claiming that the present his regime in the most threat the Chechen terrorists posed to favourable light possible. During the national security justified harsh mea- 2004 presidential election campaign, for sures. In this he won the tacit support of example, foreign observers covering the U.S. President George W. Bush, who vote were sharply critical of the fact was also conducting his own war that the vast majority of television against terrorism at the time. coverage was supportive of Putin, with Putin’s second term has focused on very little attention paid to his opponents. some of the serious domestic problems Putin’s personal life is relatively Russia currently faces, including a conventional. In 1983 he married declining birth rate, the emigration of Lyudmilla Shkrebneva, a former flight highly trained professionals from the attendant who was studying Spanish at country, poverty, poor housing and Leningrad State University. They have health care, and alcoholism. He has two daughters—Maria, born in 1985 tried to lead by example in portraying and Yekatrina, born in 1986—who both

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 57 attend the German School in Moscow. domestic affairs. In this view he is Putin himself is fluent in German, a widely supported by most citizens of language he learned during his stint Russia. with the KGB in the former East Ger- The mysterious deaths of two promi- many. He owns a dacha, or summer- nent Russians, both of them known for house, near Leningrad and was also their public opposition to Putin, in late given a villa in Sardinia by his Ameri- 2006, cast a dark shadow of suspicion can friend, Bill Gates of Microsoft. He over his regime. In October, the crusad- enjoys close relationships with many of ing journalist Anna Politkovskaya, his fellow world leaders, including whose devastating criticisms of Russian President Bush and British Prime brutality in Chechnya in the liberal Minister Tony Blair. Putin is known for newspaper Novaya Gazeta had won her both his sense of humour and his sharp international attention, was shot dead in intellect. Unlike previous Soviet lead- her Moscow apartment. In addition to ers, Putin is a practising member of the her reporting on the Chechen confict, Russian Orthodox Church, experiencing Politkovskaya had also written a book a religious conversion following a serious entitled Putin’s Russia: Life in a Fail- fire that broke out at his dacha in 1996. ing Democracy, which condemned the He regularly meets with high-level Putin regime for its consistent pattern of clerics and enjoys the solid support of human rights violations. the Church, which is still a powerful One month later, Alexander opinion-shaping institution in Russia. Litvinenko, a former KGB spy who had After almost two terms as president been investigating allegations of cor- of Russia, Vladimir Putin has certainly ruption in the ranks of its successor put his stamp on the country he leads. A intelligence agency the FSB, died of pragmatist and reformer who realizes apparent radiation poisoning in a Lon- that much must change if Russia is to don hospital. Shortly before his death, advance, at the same time, he is aware Litvinenko publicly accused Putin of of the fact that to many Russians the being responsible for poisoning him, post-communist era has been a major alleging that the Russian leader wanted disappointment so far. He has his own to stop his efforts to expose links be- views of what Russian democracy tween high government officials and the should look like, stating at a G8 summit Russian mafia. To date, officials in meeting in 2006 that “we would not Putin’s administration have strongly want to have the same kind of democ- denied any complicity in either of these racy in Russia as you have in Iraq.” deaths, but both remain unexplained. Putin regards Western criticism of the Sources: Wikipedia free encyclopedia, trend away from democracy in Russia BBC Country Profile: Russia as a form of meddling in his country’s Activities 1. What qualities of leadership have helped Vladimir Putin rise to the heights of political power in Russia? Why does he continue to enjoy high levels of support among many ordinary Russians, despite the criticisms that have been directed against him and his regime?

2. Do you think it is accurate to characterize Vladimir Putin as a “new czar”? What aspects of the Russian political tradition and culture do his career and actions so far help to reveal to outside observers?

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 58 REPRESSION AND FEAR IN RUSSIA Activities

1. Can Democracy Survive in Russia? Further Research Students can debate this topic, preparing a pro and con chart illustrating: If you wish to write a) the advances toward democracy that have been made in Russia since the fall to Vladimir Putin of communism in 1991, and b) the ways in which Russia today still falls short of go to being considered a truly democratic country. After preparing their chart and www.kremlin.ru/ completing their research, students can debate the question, stating whether or eng and click on not they think Russia will be able to move in a democratic direction after the the “e-mail the completion of President Vladimir Putin’s term in office in 2008. president” link. Sources: CBC News In Depth: Russia www.cbc.ca

BBC News: Russia Country Profile www.bbc.co.uk

Russia Today: A news source for global professionals www.einnews.com/russia

Russia World Factbook www.cia.gov

U.S. Library of Congress Country Study: Russia http://lcweb2.loc.gov

Russia’s Potemkin Democracy: Newsweek International Edition www.msnbe.msn.com

2. Letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay Students can write an e-mail to Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, ([email protected] ) expressing their views on how Canada should respond to issues of human rights abuses and political repression in Russia. Canada’s trade with Russia has increased since the fall of communism. Should trade be linked to human rights, or should Canada refrain from commenting on how another country deals with its own domestic affairs?

Notes:

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 59