Paul Goble
Vienna, February 15 – Reports Russian firms are using “legally defenseless and poorly paid [Central Asian] Gastarbeiters” to build atomic energy plants in the Russian Federation are raising concerns that this will mean a lowering in the quality of such construction projects and “an increase in the threat of terrorist acts,” according to a environmental watchdog organization.
Writing for the Russian office of the Bellona organization, Andrey Ozharovsky notes that there have been such reports on various occasions over the last six months, despite the denials of officials and efforts by construction bodies to prevent outside investigators from finding the truth of the matter. (www.bellona.ru/articles_ru/articles_2011/Rafshan).
Russian prosecutors have established, Ozharovsky reports, that sanitary conditions at the Second Leningrad atomic power plant near St. Petersburg “do not correspond to sanitary norms,” making it clear” that this is not a highly qualified worker aristocracy but legally defenseless Gasarbeiters” whose low wages are helping Rosatom to earn “billions.”
Some independent Russian television shows last weekend picked up on this issue, reporting that at least of the workers being used in such construction projects are not only Gastarbeiters but “illegals,” a pattern that raises even more questions about “anti-terrorist security” at these key sites (sensation.ntv.ru/archive.jsp?iid=82060).
NTV reported that “sometimes illegal Gastarbeiters are building super-secret objects. Here there is the construction of a new block of an atomic power plant. In order to save money, the prosecutor asserts, the leadership of the plant could think of nothing better than to employ migrants who are illegals.”
“The [television] pictures accompanying this information allow one to establish that the problem is talking about the construction of the Leningrad Atomic Power Station—2 near St. Petersburg. In the field of the video camera are cars with Petersburg license plates and a bus with the sign ‘LAPS-2.’”
Moreover, the prosecutor told NTV that the workers are being poorly fed, a statement that raises the disturbing possibility that they may be angry enough either to do bad work or to be susceptible to recruitment by terrorist groups. And their lack of skills means mistakes of one kind of another are likely, something managers cannot provide any guarantee against.
The NTV journalists asked whether “among the illegal workers there might be concealed a terrorist” – either someone who would sabotage the plant by intentionally doing bad work or by stealing some of the plant’s nuclear fuel in order to make a dirty bomb that could be used against the population.
One would like to believe, Ozharovsky says, that atomic power plants are better protected and workers better selected than appears to be the case. Officials have said that reports about the employment of illegals at the atomic power plant construction site are not true, but as the Bellona journalist points out, their statements are non-denial denials.
Vasily Kalyuzhny, the first deputy director of the construction project organization, told the Regnum news agency that “the specific information” about illegals “does not correspond to reality,” a phrase “elegantly constructed” so that he “does not assert that there are no illegals” there but rather that the number 1300 is not true (www.regnum.ru/news/1366373.html).
But in fact, “no one has asserted this,” Ozharovsky points out, something that makes Kalyuzhny’s comment less meaningful than one would like.
The Bellona journalist concludes by recalling that “the first atomic construction projects in our country were carried out by the forces of prisoners of the GULAG. [These] times have returned; but, as the dialect teaches at a different stage of development. Today, the atomic agency uses the work of legally defenseless and frightened [illegal] workers.”
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Window on Eurasia: Draft Evaders in Russia Now So Numerous MVD Wants Army to Track Them Down
Paul Goble
Vienna, February 15 – The number of draft evaders is now so large in Russia, officials say, that “the militia is powerless to struggle with them,” and MVD leaders argue that “if the army needs soldiers, let the military itself search for them,” testimony to just how serious the problem is and a step that threatens to make the issue even more explosive.
In “Svobodnaya pressa” yesterday, Sergey Ishchenko reports that the Russian militia, which as of March 1 will be the police “in the course of a year intends to remove from its responsibilities one of the most difficult tasks it now faces – the search for young people who are evading military service” (svpressa.ru/society/article/38982/).
Sergey Bulavin, a deputy minister of internal affairs, says that the task of tracking down evaders and forcing them to show up at draft boards should be undertaken by “the Ministry of Defense itself” and that in order to fulfill that mission, the Russian armed forces “should as quickly as possible create a military police.”
From Ishchenko’s perspective, “it is possible in principle to understand the position of the MVD.” Such searches are difficult, lead to controversies between the MVD and the defense ministry, and are increasingly necessary given the rapid growth in the number of young Russians who are seeking to avoid service.
Eight years ago, there were only about 30,000 evaders, but this year, Ishchenko reports, their number had risen to be “in practice comparable to the number of those” who were inducted. Sergey Fridinsky, the chief military prosecutor, said that some 200,000 men who had been called did not show up during the fall draft alone and that the MVD had failed to find most of them.
But if the MVD wants to hand over this responsibility to the defense ministry, the latter is hardly “burning with a desire” to take up that task. Military commanders believe that if punishments were increased and extended from fines to imprisonment of up to two years, the problem would be solved.
There seems to be little stomach among officials for imprisoning large number of young people or even for bringing many of them to trial. “Of the total number of citizens resisting the draft, only 3.8 percent” – about one in 30 – were even convicted and required to pay a fine. As a result, many young men are prepared to take the risk of not showing up.
One way young men avoid the draft is to change their residence at the time of the call up and then claim they have not received notice. “According to the calculations of the eneral Staff, about 100,000 young citizens of draft age temporarily change their place of residence with the goal of avoiding service in the army.”
Col.Gen. Vasily Smirnov, the chief of the Main Organizational-Mobilizational Administration of the General Staff, says that “we do not know where they hide themselves, in the Sorbonne or at grandmother’s in the village, but we give all the lists of such citizens to the organs of internal affairs, who are charged with finding and bringing them to induction centers.”
What the general staff wants is the introduction of a system where “every young person upon reaching 18 must appear before a draft commission” or face criminal penalties and where he will be able to get a ticket for an airplane, train or automobile journey only after showing he has permission from the military committee.
Such an extension of military power would face many opponents, including members of the senior elite who “also have sons.” And even the less intrusive idea of having a newly-formed military police round up evaders would be opposed by many, including members of the establishment.
“Up to now, the very idea of forming a military police in the Russian Armed Forces was connected chiefly with the need to maintain order in the barracks, to struggle with ‘dedovshchina’ and theft of military property, including arms and bullets, and the patrolling and protection of particular sites,” Ishchenko says.
Moreover, the military has not made plans for a large number of military police. In 2006, the defense ministry proposed 5,000, and last year, officials suggested 20,000. But there would need to be far more in that service if the military were given the broader responsibilities that the MVD hopes to levy on them.
Konstantin Sivkov, the vice president of the Moscow Academy of Geopolitical Problems, pointed to other problems as well if Russia establishes a military police or seeks to use it outside military facilities. Given the lack of an ideological basis for service, he said, the country needs a military police but with very specific functions.
While evasion is a problem for the military, the MVD’s proposal that the army enter into civilian life and find evaders creates problems. In that event, the army “would be taking on itself part of the obligations for the support of order in civil society. It is one thing to support order in the garrisons and quite another to exercise control beyond their boundaries.”
“The role of military personnel in Russia is sharply growing. No everyone wants this. [Indeed,] many are concerned about this turn of events,” and they are certain to oppose the MVD proposal. And the military will oppose it as well because they would need up to 50,000 officers and men for the new service alone, something that would exacerbate the army’s problems too.
Vienna, February 15 – The number of draft evaders is now so large in Russia, officials say, that “the militia is powerless to struggle with them,” and MVD leaders argue that “if the army needs soldiers, let the military itself search for them,” testimony to just how serious the problem is and a step that threatens to make the issue even more explosive.
In “Svobodnaya pressa” yesterday, Sergey Ishchenko reports that the Russian militia, which as of March 1 will be the police “in the course of a year intends to remove from its responsibilities one of the most difficult tasks it now faces – the search for young people who are evading military service” (svpressa.ru/society/article/38982/).
Sergey Bulavin, a deputy minister of internal affairs, says that the task of tracking down evaders and forcing them to show up at draft boards should be undertaken by “the Ministry of Defense itself” and that in order to fulfill that mission, the Russian armed forces “should as quickly as possible create a military police.”
From Ishchenko’s perspective, “it is possible in principle to understand the position of the MVD.” Such searches are difficult, lead to controversies between the MVD and the defense ministry, and are increasingly necessary given the rapid growth in the number of young Russians who are seeking to avoid service.
Eight years ago, there were only about 30,000 evaders, but this year, Ishchenko reports, their number had risen to be “in practice comparable to the number of those” who were inducted. Sergey Fridinsky, the chief military prosecutor, said that some 200,000 men who had been called did not show up during the fall draft alone and that the MVD had failed to find most of them.
But if the MVD wants to hand over this responsibility to the defense ministry, the latter is hardly “burning with a desire” to take up that task. Military commanders believe that if punishments were increased and extended from fines to imprisonment of up to two years, the problem would be solved.
There seems to be little stomach among officials for imprisoning large number of young people or even for bringing many of them to trial. “Of the total number of citizens resisting the draft, only 3.8 percent” – about one in 30 – were even convicted and required to pay a fine. As a result, many young men are prepared to take the risk of not showing up.
One way young men avoid the draft is to change their residence at the time of the call up and then claim they have not received notice. “According to the calculations of the eneral Staff, about 100,000 young citizens of draft age temporarily change their place of residence with the goal of avoiding service in the army.”
Col.Gen. Vasily Smirnov, the chief of the Main Organizational-Mobilizational Administration of the General Staff, says that “we do not know where they hide themselves, in the Sorbonne or at grandmother’s in the village, but we give all the lists of such citizens to the organs of internal affairs, who are charged with finding and bringing them to induction centers.”
What the general staff wants is the introduction of a system where “every young person upon reaching 18 must appear before a draft commission” or face criminal penalties and where he will be able to get a ticket for an airplane, train or automobile journey only after showing he has permission from the military committee.
Such an extension of military power would face many opponents, including members of the senior elite who “also have sons.” And even the less intrusive idea of having a newly-formed military police round up evaders would be opposed by many, including members of the establishment.
“Up to now, the very idea of forming a military police in the Russian Armed Forces was connected chiefly with the need to maintain order in the barracks, to struggle with ‘dedovshchina’ and theft of military property, including arms and bullets, and the patrolling and protection of particular sites,” Ishchenko says.
Moreover, the military has not made plans for a large number of military police. In 2006, the defense ministry proposed 5,000, and last year, officials suggested 20,000. But there would need to be far more in that service if the military were given the broader responsibilities that the MVD hopes to levy on them.
Konstantin Sivkov, the vice president of the Moscow Academy of Geopolitical Problems, pointed to other problems as well if Russia establishes a military police or seeks to use it outside military facilities. Given the lack of an ideological basis for service, he said, the country needs a military police but with very specific functions.
While evasion is a problem for the military, the MVD’s proposal that the army enter into civilian life and find evaders creates problems. In that event, the army “would be taking on itself part of the obligations for the support of order in civil society. It is one thing to support order in the garrisons and quite another to exercise control beyond their boundaries.”
“The role of military personnel in Russia is sharply growing. No everyone wants this. [Indeed,] many are concerned about this turn of events,” and they are certain to oppose the MVD proposal. And the military will oppose it as well because they would need up to 50,000 officers and men for the new service alone, something that would exacerbate the army’s problems too.
Window on Eurasia: Daghestanis in One Region Resign En Masse from Ruling United Russia Party
Paul Goble
Vienna, February 15 – More than 250 Daghestanis have resigned from the United Russia Party and an equal number of the residents of that North Caucasus republic say they are preparing to do so, a possible indication that the ruling party in the Russian Federation may face more serious challenges in non-Russian portions of the country during the upcoming elections.
The Kavkaz-Uzel.ru news portal yesterday reported that Magomed magomedov, a resident of Shodrod had told its journalists that 254 people had quit United Russia and that an equal number were ready to do so in the near future, remarkably large numbers given the size of that district (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/181036/).
Magomedov said that he was among those who had already left the ranks of the party, a step that he said he had taken because the United Russia-backed leadership of Daghestan “does not take into account the opinion of ordinary members of the party” as evidenced by Makhachkala’s refusal to meet the requests of local people about candidates for office.
“We asked the head of Daghestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov and other leaders of the republic and the party. that they include in the list of candidates for deputies to the parliament of Daghestan current legislator Ali Shakhbanov, but,” he said, “no one listened to our opinion.” Instead, Makhachkala selected an “unpopular” figure who has often faced criminal charges.
Ullubiy Erbolatov, the press secretary of the Daghestani branch of United Russia told Kavkaz-Uzel that he was aware of what had occurred. “What has taken place in Botlikh district, the leadership of the party knows. I also know Ali Shakhbanov. He is a very good man, but who will run for the future parliament is a decision of the leadership of the party and the republic.”
“A more detailed response,” he suggested, “could be obtained in the main office of the party.” But when the Kavkaz-Uzel journalists inquired there, they were told that the Daghestani section of United Russia had no comment. The parliamentary elections in that North Caucasus republic will take place on March 13.
The action of the up to 500 United Russia members in the Botlikkh district of Daghestan is intriguing for three reasons. First, it comes in a place which more than most in the Russian Federation not only has been deferential to whatever those above it want but has delivered super majorities for United Russia in the past.
That suggests that this action in Daghestan may be followed by similar moves elsewhere, an indication of growing popular anger at the isolation and high-handedness of United Russia and of the possibility that one or another party may in fact be able to challenge the ruling party successfully in one or more districts.
Second, it suggests that the new leadership of Daghestan may be just as out of touch with public opinion there as was its predecessor, a gap that could provoke new challenges by the population like those which rocked the southern Daghestani city of Derbent a year ago and that forced Makhachkala and Moscow to look for new leaders there.
And third, if Daghestanis feel that they are being shut out of the public political process, it is entirely likely that they will look with more sympathy on those who choose to go into the forests to fight the regime, thereby making a republic which is currently marred by violence near every day even more unsettled.
At the very least, resignations of this kind, more than the high profile departure of prominent actresses in Moscow, are an indication that the governing party and thus the government of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev likely face a more difficult future than many in Russia or elsewhere now assume.
Vienna, February 15 – More than 250 Daghestanis have resigned from the United Russia Party and an equal number of the residents of that North Caucasus republic say they are preparing to do so, a possible indication that the ruling party in the Russian Federation may face more serious challenges in non-Russian portions of the country during the upcoming elections.
The Kavkaz-Uzel.ru news portal yesterday reported that Magomed magomedov, a resident of Shodrod had told its journalists that 254 people had quit United Russia and that an equal number were ready to do so in the near future, remarkably large numbers given the size of that district (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/181036/).
Magomedov said that he was among those who had already left the ranks of the party, a step that he said he had taken because the United Russia-backed leadership of Daghestan “does not take into account the opinion of ordinary members of the party” as evidenced by Makhachkala’s refusal to meet the requests of local people about candidates for office.
“We asked the head of Daghestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov and other leaders of the republic and the party. that they include in the list of candidates for deputies to the parliament of Daghestan current legislator Ali Shakhbanov, but,” he said, “no one listened to our opinion.” Instead, Makhachkala selected an “unpopular” figure who has often faced criminal charges.
Ullubiy Erbolatov, the press secretary of the Daghestani branch of United Russia told Kavkaz-Uzel that he was aware of what had occurred. “What has taken place in Botlikh district, the leadership of the party knows. I also know Ali Shakhbanov. He is a very good man, but who will run for the future parliament is a decision of the leadership of the party and the republic.”
“A more detailed response,” he suggested, “could be obtained in the main office of the party.” But when the Kavkaz-Uzel journalists inquired there, they were told that the Daghestani section of United Russia had no comment. The parliamentary elections in that North Caucasus republic will take place on March 13.
The action of the up to 500 United Russia members in the Botlikkh district of Daghestan is intriguing for three reasons. First, it comes in a place which more than most in the Russian Federation not only has been deferential to whatever those above it want but has delivered super majorities for United Russia in the past.
That suggests that this action in Daghestan may be followed by similar moves elsewhere, an indication of growing popular anger at the isolation and high-handedness of United Russia and of the possibility that one or another party may in fact be able to challenge the ruling party successfully in one or more districts.
Second, it suggests that the new leadership of Daghestan may be just as out of touch with public opinion there as was its predecessor, a gap that could provoke new challenges by the population like those which rocked the southern Daghestani city of Derbent a year ago and that forced Makhachkala and Moscow to look for new leaders there.
And third, if Daghestanis feel that they are being shut out of the public political process, it is entirely likely that they will look with more sympathy on those who choose to go into the forests to fight the regime, thereby making a republic which is currently marred by violence near every day even more unsettled.
At the very least, resignations of this kind, more than the high profile departure of prominent actresses in Moscow, are an indication that the governing party and thus the government of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev likely face a more difficult future than many in Russia or elsewhere now assume.
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