A Russian Diary by Anna Politkovskaya Read Free Book Online

United Russia and took part in their preelection get-togethers. He really did bow his head to Putin and his United Russia Party. He told the people what a good guy Vladimir Vladimirovich was and, lo and behold, we now see him in receipt of official favors; a former dissident who wasn't embarrassed to join the Kremlin party.
    Putin gave a reception for the leaders of the Duma parties, as this is the last day of the Third Duma. He spoke of positive developments in relations between the branches of state power. Yavlinsky smiled wryly.
    Soon, across the road from the Kremlin, the final session of the departing Parliament was held in the Duma building. Almost everybodywas there. United Russia was in a holiday mood and made no attempt to disguise the fact. Why would they? Every day newly elected deputies from other parties are defecting to them, moving closer to Putin. United Russia is inflating like a hot air balloon.
    Yavlinsky stood apart from everyone else, as always alone. He was morose and taciturn. What was there to applaud? The destruction of Russian parliamentary democracy has been accomplished on the tenth anniversary of the First Duma under Yeltsin's presidency. Tomorrow, December 12, is also the tenth anniversary of Russia's new, “Yeltsin,” Constitution.
    Nemtsov is trying to give as many interviews as possible while people are still interested in him. He explains. “The Union of Right Forces and Yabloko are doing the impossible, something that before December 7 seemed a fantasy: we are trying to unite.” People do not entirely believe him. All the pro-democracy voters were praying they would merge before December 7 in order to have an impact in the elections, but they just were not interested.
    Gennadii Seleznyov, the speaker of the Duma, makes a farewell speech to which nobody listens. He knows his days as speaker are over, because in future the speaker will not be elected by Parliament, but appointed by the Kremlin. Everybody also knows who it is going to be: Boris Gryzlov, Putin's friend and one of his most loyal henchmen, the leader of United Russia and minister of the interior. It is unquestionably a historic moment. As we bid farewell to the Third Duma, we are bidding farewell to a political epoch. Putin has crushed our argumentative Parliament.
    The exigencies of politics have not caused the Kremlin to neglect money matters. The attack on Yukos continues, with our business world trying to get its teeth into parts of it while everything is still up for grabs. The arbitration court of Yakutia has found in favor of Surgutneftegaz, a company that had lost out to Sakhaneftegaz, subsequently part of Yukos, in an auction of oil and gas rights held in March 2002. The verdict strips Yukos of the Talakan field with its oil reserves of 120 million tons and 60 billion cubic meters of gas, and awards its rival a license to exploit the central concession of the field in perpetuity.
    Tsentrobank reports another record in replenishing the gold and foreign currency reserves. To December 5 these are $70.6 billion. But is this a triumph? One of the main reasons that companies are dumping their foreign currency profits on the market is the predicament of Yukos, with claims by the state that it concealed its earnings for tax evasion purposes. The others are not tempting providence and are converting their profits into rubles. The hullabaloo over Yukos is doing the state no harm at all, which is why it can pay off its foreign debt. The Russian people rejoice, without having a clue as to what is going on.
    Today is also the ninth anniversary of the start of Russia's latest wars against the Chechens. On December 11, 1994, the first tanks entered Grozny, and we saw the first soldiers and officers burned alive in them. There was no mention of this today on any of the television channels. The anniversary has been removed from Russia's calendar.
    The unanimity of the television stations cannot be coincidental and must reflect