BBC MONITORING ZYUGANOV INTERVIEW: RUSSIAN COMMUNIST LEADER EXPANDS ON MOVE TO SUPPORT KREMLIN, DROP OLD ALLIES Source: Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian, 11 September 2000
Leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennadiy Zyuganov has said that he is prepared to back the Kremlin provided Putin gets rid of ministers who want to wipe out the natural monopolies and privatize the national wealth. Interviewed on Russia TV's "Podrobnosti" programme on 11th September, he said he did not intend to insist that the government resign but suggested that Putin should bring more representatives of the Unity movement into it at the expense of the privatizers. He said that the break announced today with governors Tuleyev, Rutskoy and Gorbenko had come about because the latter had chosen to go their own way and predicted that his party would score major successes in the governor elections without them. The following are excerpts from the interview. Subheadings have been inserted editorially.
[Pashkov] Gennadiy Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, said today that he is ready to support the executive authority in every way which corresponds with Russia's national interests, that the State Duma's progovernment Unity faction will very soon split and that this will be connected with the activities of former State Duma deputy Boris Berezovskiy and, finally, that the CPRF will refuse to support governors Rutskoy, Tuleyev and Gorbenko in the forthcoming elections for governor. Our guest on "Podrobnosti" today is CPRF leader Gennadiy Zyuganov...
Conditions for supporting Kremlin
Let's get down to the main issues straight away. Is the CPRF faction really ready this time to support the executive authority, the Kremlin?
[Zyuganov] We have always worked energetically with people who are interested in the rebirth of our country and in the creation of normal conditions for people to work and live in.
Russia today is at a crossroads. Either we following the new state line which takes the national interest as its guide or continue with the old policy of [acting prime minister in the early nineties Yegor] Gaydar or rather [Economic Development and Trade Minister German] Gref. If the choice is in favour of the latter, of liberal reforms when the land is sold off and they try to finish off the nuclear missile shield, when the railways are sold off and the last natural monopolies are eliminated and when even our forests are sold into private hands then there will be nothing left of Russia.
So we shall do everything we can to ensure that people who understand how far things have gone and recognize that very little time indeed is left in which to take decisions gain the upper hand in the executive structure.
Just lately Berezovskiy has been kicking up a big rumpus and putting on a public display with just one aim in mind: he wants to distract the public's attention from the main thing. The government is currently developing one policy to revive the homeland and another which is promoted by the same group which has tortured the country for ten years and which seeks to sell off all the natural monopolies, including our forests. We will work with those who support our national interests.
[Q] And so, there is a sort of duality, a two-sidedness in your relations with the Kremlin, the government, the presidential administration and the president himself. You say you will support those who support the national interests of Russia, Can you name some names for us please.
[Zyuganov] Indeed I can. There is a real fight going on right now. There are two groups: one is the continuation of the family [Yeltsin clan], Berezovskiy, [energy chief Anatoliy] Chubays and Gref. This group is now doing everything it can to divide the railways into 17 sectors and privatize them. That would spell the end of Russia as a single unit. Let's say [Deputy Prime Minister Viktor] Khristenko and his team have prepared a programme for selling off our forests into private hands. Sixty-nine per cent of the territory of Russia is forest. It is our national wealth... Putin instructs him to stop destroying the industry. But they have already sold the pulp and paper industry and stopped timber processing. So instead of doing what he's told, Khristenko summons and sacks all those who are investigating and tries to have the forests destroyed by some other mafia. So there's a few names for you from the group which is now ruthlessly and quickly trying to - [words lost as presenter interrupts]
[Q] But you are naming people with whom the CPRF and you personally have had poor relations for a pretty long time already. There is nothing new about that -
[Zyuganov] Hang on a minute Serezha. For now there is no Putin government. There is no [Prime Minister Mikhail] Kasyanov government either. There are these groups, one is the family [Yeltsin entourage], the second is controlled by Chubays and Berezovskiy and there are others as well. So we are suggesting - and we are to have a meeting with Putin on Wednesday [13th September] - let's establish a normal government which is capable of extricating the country from crisis.
[Q] That's interesting. So the CPRF is going to insist on the resignation of the current cabinet of ministers?
[Zyuganov] No that's not how we see it. We see things differently. The personnel must be assessed on merit and a strong team must be formed. Look. You say Unity is the ruling faction in the Duma, don't you?
[Q] You mean the main progovernment one?
[Zyuganov] Yes, that's right. What representatives does it have in government? There's only [Emergencies Minister Sergey] Shoygu whose job is to save the situation after explosions and the destruction of enterprises. There is no-one else. The whole of our finances and the budget is in the hands of Chubays's mob. The whole lot. They have brought forward the new budget in the Duma. There's a bit more. But what is the overall policy in this new budget? There is nothing for science and the training of scientists. There is virtually nothing for investment... Putin as a leader must have his own programme, his own team, his own mass media, his own policy. If that doesn't happen there can be as much talk as you like about a strong state and new policies but the whole lot will be codswallop. Either this problem is resolved or you will see things getting far worse in the months ahead.
Break with old allies, governor elections
[Q] Your position is clear on that. Let's turn to today's events. You said today that the CPRF won't be supporting some very well known, popular figures and ones who are very popular on their own patch in the regions. That is a new step. You are ready to go it alone and do without such powerful allies as Tuleyev, Rutskoy and Gorbenko.
[Zyuganov] Well, it's you who calls them allies, not I. They have chosen their own road. They were with us in the patriotic union. After they became governors they began to serve their own interests or those of another team. That was their choice...
[Q] But won't that weaken your party?
[Zyuganov] No it won't. No way, I assure you...
[Q] How many seats do you count on winning in the coming elections? If I'm not mistaken there are about 30 governorships to be filled by the end of the year. In the last elections you were clear leaders. How do things stand now?
[Zyuganov] Nine elections have already been held - Altay, Leningrad and so on. We came out top in five of them - either those whom we supported directly or those with who we had reached agreements and whom we helped get elected. We have an opportunity now not just to consolidate our position but to strengthen it...
[Q] You still haven't said how many governorships are you counting on winning.
Congress of People's Patriotic Union
[Zyuganov] The whole lot will be ours. On 23rd September we will hold a congress of the People's Patriotic Union of Russia [PPUR]. We have prepared a new blueprint. There are those who try to put us in bed with Berezovskiy but he has gone his own way. Let's not stop him [laughs]. We have already decided on nearly every candidate. We are holding talks and we will agree on the main problems: the economy, support for the elderly and children...
[Q] I'm glad you mentioned the PPUR. There was a report today - and the source isn't named - that allegedly the CPRF is preparing this congress on the quiet, keeping it a secret from its allies and that it is preparing to make the PPUR consist only of the CPRF, leaving it without Podberezkin, without Govorukhin and without Tuleyev.
[Zyuganov] But they have already left. They have gone. They are no longer with us. They haven't worked with us for the last year. They have gone. That is their business.
[Q] But does the PPUR now consist only of the CPRF?
[Zyuganov] No. Of course not. There's the agro-industrial union, the Academy of Sciences and lots of institutes, the agrarian and academic trade unions, the servicemen's trade union... We have got much stronger and have purged ourselves of all those who kept on wavering. The congress will take place soon, we will decide on our candidates and work more energetically.
[Q] Thank you. That was Gennadiy Zyuganov, the leader of the CPRF, who intends to support the executive authority - or at least that part of it which he sees as being in accordance with national interests - who does not intend to support Rutskoy, Tuleyev or Gorbenko at the elections for governor and who intends to win the elections for governor in most of Russia's regions by the end of the year. All the best.
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