It is not enough just to increase funding for Russia's security services, the way they work has to be reformed as well if they are to be effective in preventing terrorist attacks, Mikhail Zadornov, a member of the State Duma's Budget and Taxes Committee.

Zadornov said that the hostage crisis in Beslan had affected the draft budget for 2005 and that extra funding was being planned for the security services to help prevent terrorist attacks. He explained that national security and defence would see a rise of about 30 per cent in budget funding against an average budget increase of about 15 per cent.
However, Zadornov said that he did not expect to see much discussion of the budget's general parameters because the pro-Kremlin One Russia party has a majority and will vote as it is told to by the government.
Money must be matched by reform
Zadornov also said that increased funding on its own was not enough. "If we just give more money and don't systematically change the way the security services work, this will not produce any result, and Beslan demonstrated this very well," he said.
"I think that the money should follow a clear acknowledgement of how the security services should work. If we just provide more money without changing the way in which the security services work, they will just give themselves a tick, calm down and await the next such event," Zadornov added.
Zadornov said that the final priorities for funding increases should not be set until the parliamentary commission investigating the Beslan crisis and the security services themselves report and draw conclusions on how the security services' priorities need to be changed.
Political authoritarianism threatens economic liberalization
Zadornov was also asked about political changes and increased centralization of power in Russia. He said that in his view an authoritarian political system and economic liberalization could not exist side by side in Russia. "First, there is huge monopolization in Russia. Gazprom, Unified Energy System of Russia and Russian Railways, for example, are not the only monopolies in Russia. In many Russian economic sectors monopolies are the way business is done," he said.
"So far - perhaps this will change with the new government - the state has shown no signs of working to create competition. With such monopolization there can be no liberalization of the economy or competition," he added.
Zadornov also predicted that the Russian economy would become less liberal. "The state and business are very closely intertwined in Russia. De facto, the state directly influences the economy. It is impossible to build a liberal economy under this model," he said. "As the political regime becomes stricter, the economy will become more monopolized and less competitive," he said.
Zadornov warned that there were already signs of economic growth in Russia being under threat. "The Russian economy is developing quite well this year, but the first warning signals have already appeared. These are capital flight, people's distrust of the banking system - September's data shows that it has not been restored following the crisis - and, third, the fact that investment has started to slow down, and this has happened in the most capital-intensive sectors," he said. "Business is investing less than last year. This is the first alarm bell for the government and the presidential administration," Zadornov concluded.

Source: Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow
BBC Mon