Chris Doss The Russia Journal -------------------------- TITLE: INTERVIEW WITH CPRF LEADER GENNADY ZYUGANOV
[EKHO MOSKVY RADIO, 14:00, JULY 29, 2002] SOURCE: FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE (http://www.fednews.ru/)
Anchor: Hello and welcome to Ekho Moskvy. I am Alexei Venediktov and my guest is CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov. Good day, Gennady Andreyevich.
Zyuganov: Good day.
Q: Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is on the air of Ekho Moskvy. You have just come back from Northern Caucasus. We know that in Northern Caucasus there is fighting -- in Chechnya but I would wish to ask you about your impressions. You have not been in Northern Caucasus for a year, so are there problems which are not been solved in the current system and which cannot be solve, or is there some progress, in your opinion, in the border areas -- I apologize for the word -- of Northern Caucasus?
A: Northern Caucasus is a very interesting territory of our country. Almost 20 million people live between the Caspian and the Black Sea. The people are hospitable, very industrious and multinational. That region needs to be helped. For instance, some people go to Spain for vacations. I usually rest there for two weeks and I believe that those neglecting the resorts of the "Caucasian Minvody" group, and Kislovodsk, are making a strategic mistake.
Q: But a war is being fought there!
A: Alexei, please,don't confuse things. The war is being fought in Chechnya, on the border. In Stavropol Territory the all enterprises are working normally, there is a good harvest, and the consequences of the elements, the natural disaster, are being rapidly liquidated. As regards the resorts, the natural disaster almost did not affect them -- all the sanatoriums are open. Those who came are pleased that they are improving their health at home, at their resorts, rather than taking money far away from the country.
Q: Well, so the war is not affecting Stavropol Territory...
A: The war is in Moscow, in Moscow a criminal war is being fought which is worse than in Stavropol Territory, and not only in Moscow. The overall situation in the country is not favorable or good.
Regarding Chechnya we told you a hundred times, if the policy is continued, there will be no peace or calm. The bandits are now again trying to penetrate that territory. One must be more energetic in winter time and separate the restoration of economy, production, support of all and sundry, and at the same time military operations.
Q: But what is to be done now? The winter was missed, so be it...
A: Now it is necessary for the border troops to close all the possible zones of penetration and to pursue the policy more toughly and resolutely. For this, they must be provided with all the necessary things. When you have government officials here, ask them why not a single new helicopter has been supplied to Chechnya for the pursuit of modern warfare? Why didn't the boys get appropriate financial remuneration? Why are the special troops, trained for operations, unable to carry out the operations -- they are being rapped over the knuckles all the time. The trial of Raduyev was hastily closed. Why did they have to quickly shut down the trial of Raduyev? For this one reason, because all the trails lead to the "family" and all those who made fortunes on this horrible slaughterhouse.
Q: Gennady Andreyevich, you are the leader of the biggest faction in the State Duma. Where are your queries? Why don't you put the same questions to the government?
A: Let me tell you, Alexei, that we have put thousands of questions to the government.
Q: And?
A: In my time, I asked Chernomyrdin who started the war? It was started by four people: Yeltsin, Chernomyrdin, Grachyov and one more --
Q: But they are no longer here.
A: They themselves didn't go to Chechnya even once. They should have pursued all that work there vigorously. Poor coordination, poor interaction. And in general not enough has been done in the country to fight bandits and criminals.
Q: Gennady Andreyevich, one more question. You know that a new presidential envoy has been appointed to the area, Mr. Sultygov. He says that the Chechen Republic should pass a Constitution and hold elections as quickly as possible. Is that a realistic proposition in the current situation?
A: If it's the same kind of elections as were recently held in Rostov or in Penza or Chuvashia, or Irkutsk where the results were known in advance and everything was done to rig the results, nobody needs such elections there. I think elections should be held in a normal atmosphere. On the other hand, everything should be done to restore the full civil process and Sultygov should be helped in that. But so far there are no conditions for normal elections there.
Q: Another question on the North Caucasus. This whole story is dragging on and on. How long will it drag on from your point of view?
A: Everything depends on --
Q: The war is over, one phase is over, another phase is over. Today a group of up to 100 people -- and we have contacted the military commandant and he says that a group of 200 people crossed from Georgia into Chechnya. Two hundred people is a band, it's --
A: Is it news for you? Everybody knew about these camps and even the time when they would launch their operation. I think Putin and his team has failed to deal with this task and it is doing a dismal job.
Q: Let us then take the next step. They are known to be based in the Pankisi Gorge on the territory of Georgia. What are the chances of reaching an agreement with Georgian President Shevardnadze and solving this problem?
A: You should conduct negotiations with anyone to solve this problem, otherwise there will be constant flare-ups and that would continue to fester.
...
A: We tabled a no-confidence motion in February last year. This year before the session closed 125 deputies signed an official statement expressing no-confidence in the economic policy, in this government. It has been sent to all the governors and all the legislatures. I personally handed in to Putin nine questions and asked him to give answers. Nobody managed to refute a single charge. And still there is no sign that the issues are being addressed.
Q: What is the reason?
A: The reason is very simple. They are all in cahoots with each other. Putin doesn't have a viable government capable of tackling these problems. No one there knows the territorial aspects of Russia. No one there understands what winter is in this country and the utilities problems. There is no one to promote high technologies. No one to seriously deal with major construction projects and all the rest.
Q: Where are all these people?
A: I don't know. They don't take anyone on. Shoigu dashes here and there, clearing the rubble, burying people. The issue to tackle is production and we have no information policy. In the morning you get up and you switch on the TV and you realize that the national television has just one strategy: to demoralize the population and to corrupt the population.
Q: I think it's the other way round: they just try to mobilize the population by presenting them with good examples.
A: No, quite the contrary. As for Putin, they are showing him like in the good old Brezhnev times.
Q: But still, but still --
A: He comes, he reveals shortcomings and gives directions. For instance, he issued directions concerning waifs and strays. Will all the homeless children go to school on September 1 and get hot meals, free food, and sporting gear?
Q: They won't. I can tell you that. But why Putin --
A: Why not? By the way, this is the role of the government. You gave a directive and you should inquire how things are going every week. ...
Q: The approval rating is 75 percent, 72-75 percent.
A: That is the biggest fraud ever.
Q: All right.
A: Ask FSB people.
Q: What's the point of inventing numbers?
A: They will tell you that it never rises above 40 percent and no more than 20 percent of the people trust the President on any substantive issues. On crime, his approval rating is less than 20 percent. As for administrative efficiency, it's even less.
I meet with industrialists every day. And I can tell you why there is no trust. They promised veterans that their life would improve, but the prices have eaten up all the pay raises. They promised women, teachers, doctors and engineers that there will be no more pay delays. You see yourself. They promised to army officers ...
Q: And the military people got their increases.
A: I am sorry you should go and check, and some paratroopers did not get any increases. They withheld income tax from some of them but their pay remained the same. And when they do the counting by the end of the year to see what the benefits have actually meant, they will see that the increase will at best be 15 percent, at best -- 15-20 percent. The prices paid for utility services, housing and all the rest are growing, so they will eat the increase almost instantaneously.
Q: But you do not say what the reason is, do you?
A: But the most surprising thing is that the medium and small businesses are terribly displeased, for they have also been strangled.
Q: That is true.
A: There is only one reason.
Q: What is it?
A: He can speak and speak not badly, but nobody executes any of his instructions, just any. I can give you an example -- take aircraft construction, something could be corrected there, but they don't do it. Take forestry -- they dismissed the department and now, two years later, they are collecting it again. I visited him and I showed him all the documents about how the economies are developing in Finland, in Sweden and in Germany; all those memoranda. The Duma and the Federation Council have unanimously voted to keep the management of forests of the country. So they destroyed everything and now are recreating it anew. We have the same picture with regard to non-ferrous metals.
Q: But you will agree that there is no ill will, it is just that the man has come to destroy...
A: You see, a leader does not speak of ill will, the absence of management is also ill will. There is no management, there are no new cadres, the Yeltsin team today continues to manage the main financial and information resources. ...
Q: Gennady Andreyevich, despite the well known fact of Glazyev being a "marketeer", he is no alien to you. I mean to the Communist Party.
A: What has marketeering to do with this, he is simply a clever, intelligent and respectable person. The market is 7 thousand years old. In America they engaged in slave trade 150 years ago. There has never been slave trade in Russia. That is why a market is a market. So far we have no market, it is a lousy bazaar where money is not paid on time, where the wage is beggarly, where factories do not produce marketable products, where essentially a market is prevented from functioning normally.
Q: We will talk about this in the second part of the program, above all about the problems of the Aviaprom and about whether Belarus can contribute to the development of the market that you visualize. We will be back with Gennady Zyuganov immediately after the news.
A: Good.
Q: In our studio our guest is Gennady Zyuganov, the CPRF leader. I am your anchor Alexei Venediktov. The pager reminds us that Russia also had slave trade, meaning serfdom. In Russia you would remember, it was possible to sell the serfs without land.
Incidentally, concerning the referendum on land.
A: It is utterly different trade.
Q: And one more question: you know that recently there was the initiative to build a monument to Alexander II in Moscow as the liberator of the serfs. What is your attitude to restoring the monument to Alexander II, Gennady Andreyevich?
A: In general I hold the view that if a monument is erected, it should be touched. Every epoch has its history and its personalities. At that time they decided who to erect monument to or a building. And this must be treated with great respect. I firmly hold this position. I believe that before 1917 the Russian history was also very interesting, great and tragic, as also after 1917. This must be treated with... and we should know what the history was.
And once again about Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. At the meeting in the Krasnaya Square there I stood and next to me was the building in which Alexander Nevsky was born -- and we visited the stadium and the rest area, without exception. We could see how heroic was the history. Yuri Dolgoruki founded Moscow and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky by one decree. We were shown and told how Peter the Great built a huge flotilla on Lake Pleshcheyevo, almost a hundred ships, including two mighty frigates. For some reason the flotilla was called "Poteshnaya" ("intended for amusement" -- FNS). But he spent there several years, training, and then, already in Voronezh, laid the foundations for the future mighty fleet. We were also shown Soviet history. And this was very...
Q: Still, what is your attitude to Alexander II?
A: Alexander II was an interesting tsar who did many useful things for our power. But I believe that the strongest in that century was Alexander III, whose reign lasted 20 years, he did not fight a war but shifted the border of the Russian state 100 kilometers to the south.