03 December 2003 19:46
Russian electioncast: Yabloko and Holy Rus
Radio Mayak on 3 December at 1510 gmt aired live an election broadcast which featured the leader of Yabloko, Grigoriy
Yavlinskiy, and Sergey Popov, on behalf of the For the Holy Rus party. The broadcast lasted 50 minutes.
Presenter Yuriy Semenov, in line with the established pattern, invited the participants in the debate to present
their parties.
Opening statements
Popov was the first to start. He first congratulated listeners on an Orthodox holiday and recalled that 3 December
was the day of invalids. He pointed out that little attention was being paid to disabled people in Russia. Moral laws
should be applied to resolve the problems of the disabled. Laws should be drafted to help people who cannot provide for
themselves. The needs of the disabled should be taken into consideration when constructing houses and department
stores.
Yavlinskiy started by saying that he would like to continue Popov's remarks. Yavlinskiy pointed to the problem
of health care as one the most pressing in the country. Yabloko proposed a draft law providing for both personnel and
financial support for the health care field. Elderly people should be entitled to all types of medical care, he
said.
Why One Russia opted for leaning on Putin?
The presenter invited questions from listeners.
The first question was on how long it would take to overcome the negative effect of the policies pursued by One
Russia party and its leader, Boris Gryzlov.
Yavlinskiy said that everything will be down to the new composition of the State Duma and whether the new MPs will
manage to overcome the negative factors which had affected the country since Soviet times and the negative phenomena
linked to bandit-style capitalism created in Russia in the mid-1990s. If the whole of the State Duma consists of One
Russia members the parliament will look like a congress of the Communist Party of the USSR.
Popov said that if most elected deputies relied on moral and divine laws in their actions, the country would overcome
the crisis.
The second question was about the attitude of the debate participants towards privileges granted to members of
parliament.
Popov, who said he was a member of parliament once, argued that the privileges were not very extensive. As regards
deputy's immunity, it is needed so that MPs could provide practical help to people.
Yavlinskiy said that his party proposed a law which would set pensions for MPs on a scale equal to that of ordinary
people. Yabloko voted in favour of the draft law. One Russia and the Communists voted against it. Similarly, Yabloko
proposed a law restricting deputy immunity and yet again Yabloko backed it and One Russia and the Communists opposed
it.
The next question came from a disabled person: Why welfare payments to the disabled are not based on minimum
salaries?
Yavlinskiy said he was ashamed of the state. The State Duma is indifferent to the needs of the disabled. The
government tries to lower all benefits to the disabled.
The next question was addressed to the For the Holy Rus party member: Why the Orthodox church was trying to regain
its influence in Russia?
Popov responded by saying that the question was posed by a Satanist who does not want to see the rule of God to
establish itself in Russia.
To the question on why posters appeared in Moscow showing together the leader of the Union of Right Forces (SPS),
Boris Nemtsov, Yabloko leader Yavlinskiy and a candidate for parliament from a district in Moscow, Yavlinskiy replied
that they only united to support one candidate. SPS and Yabloko are different parties and have different positions, he
added.
The next question was about the attitude of the candidates to an electoral advert of One Russia containing the slogan
"vote together with the president for One Russia".
Popov responded that voters need to decide for themselves whom Putin is together with.
Yavlinskiy said that a lack of ideology prompted One Russia to lean on the Russian president. "There is no
ideology so all that they can say is that they are with the president. This is a bit naive and ridiculous but, in fact,
alarming. Secondly, such a large party of the bureaucracy is led by the interior minister [Boris Gryzlov]. And far from
everything is OK in internal affairs in Russia, even taking into consideration the police, and everybody is well aware
of this. Such a large bureaucratic party consisting of the Fatherland of 1999 [set up by Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov] and
One Russia devised by [exiled tycoon Boris] Berezovskiy has proved viable because there have been no public policy over
the last four years in Russia. There have been no debates. Nobody has discussed why the prices were rising, why
corruption was thriving, what was happening with morality in the country and no-one has discussed what was going on in
Chechnya. No-one has discussed anything at all," he said. "The thing is that this advert reflects the current
real situation. The situation is as follows: Russia's bureaucracy is being dominant in Russia".
The presenter asked Yavlinskiy about his relations with President Putin. Yavlinskiy said there were issues which he
needed to discuss and tackle together with the president. "There is a whole range of issues which I need to discuss
with the president and resolve them. Specifically, these are the issues on bringing in and burying foreign radioactive
waste in the country. My party is categorically opposed to bringing foreign nuclear waste to Russia for burying,"
he said. "The only way to tackle the issue is through a constant active and insistent dialogue with the president
and appealing to him, as the supreme decision-maker. And quite recently, it is true, I met the president, specifically
in connection with this issue. And we made yet another step forward in this issue."
Replying to a question about the possibility of abolishing privileges granted to the former Russian president, Boris
Yeltsin, Yavlinskiy said Yeltsin was an old and sick person and Yabloko did not have any revanchist sentiments. What is
important is to make sure that the policies pursued in the Yeltsin era are avoided today.
Answering to a question about nationalizing core industries of the economy, Yavlinskiy said it was not expedient as
the state was corrupt. He doubted that the state would be an effective manager of these industries and that its
operations would be transparent.
The last question from a listener was about the reasons why the participants in the debate did not dare blame Putin
for the present state of affairs in Russia. Popov said his party would say the truth about everything once its members
were elected to parliament as they feared God only.
Yavlinskiy said that "of course, President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is responsible for everything that is
occurring in the country. This cannot be argued. But not much will change if one repeats it over and over every three
minutes. One should propose a positive programme to him, push it forward and struggle for it and rectify the situation
in the country," he said.
Closing remarks
Concluding the debate Popov said that the basis of any economy, society and state was an ideology. What ideology can
be more noble than the divine laws? Come and vote for God's commandments, he said.
Yavlinskiy said that during the 10 years of its involvement in the Russian politics Yabloko had never deceived its
voters and never stole anything from them. Yabloko favours protecting the interests of the family, dignity of women and
their health. The state must do its utmost to reduce the number of divorces and abortions. It is our duty to protect
children and help newly-married couples, he said.
[Radio Mayak] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
