Friday, July 14, 2006. Page 4.
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Opposition Is Split After 'Other Russia'
By Francesca Mereu Staff Writer A large opposition conference this week is unlikely to influence the G7 leaders' opinions about Russia, but it threatens to end Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces', or SPS, run as the country's real opposition force.
The two liberal parties boycotted the "The Other Russia" event, clearing the field for a colorful mixture of opposition figures who are likely to become the real opposition force in the country, political analysts said Thursday.
"By not taking part in the conference, Yabloko and SPS have decided to stay in the ranks of the system-friendly opposition," said Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst with the Mercator think tank.
"The Kremlin holds in its hands a pair of scissors to cut the border between those who are acceptable and those who are marginal," he said.
The "acceptable" will be allowed to take part in elections, while the Kremlin will do everything in its power to prevent the others from registering parties or running in elections, he said.
Yabloko and SPS refused to participate, saying they did not want their representatives sitting in the same room as National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov and Viktor Anpilov, head of Working Russia and an open admirer of Josef Stalin.
The packed two-day conference brought Limonov and Anpilov together with the likes of former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, former chess champion Garry Kasparov and former presidential candidate Irina Khakamada.
Several Western officials and observers also attended, despite warnings from the Kremlin that their presence would be considered an unfriendly act.
The conference's call for G7 leaders to take notice of President Vladimir Putin's authoritarian streak and the Kremlin's hold on democratic institutions did not offer the leaders anything new, said Roland G?tz, a Russia specialist with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
"I don't think that 'The Other Russia' forum will have a big impact on the G8 summit. Western leaders are well aware of the problems of civil society in Russia," G?tz said by telephone from Berlin. "They didn't learn anything new."
The G7 leaders probably intended to prod Putin over democracy anyway, but their comments will not be public, said Andrei Ryabov, a political analyst with the Gorbachev Foundation.
"The U.S. administration is more concerned about other problems. It wants to change Russia's attitude toward Iran and is not interested in annoying a partner like Russia too much," he said.
U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated on Thursday that he had concerns about freedoms in Russia and planned to express them to President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit. "I think our job is to continue to remind Russia if she wants to continue to have good relations she needs to share common values," Bush said at a news conference in Stralsund, Germany, after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But he added, "My own view of dealing with President Putin is that nobody really likes to be lectured a lot, and therefore if you want to be an effective person, what you don't do is scold the person publicly all the time."
Bush made light of a jibe by Putin at U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
Putin on Wednesday rebutted Cheney's accusations that Russia was backsliding on democracy by mentioning Cheney's accidental shooting of a friend during a hunting trip. Cheney's criticism was "an unfortunate hunting shot," Putin said.
Bush responded Thursday, "It was pretty clever, actually, quite humorous."
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