A Russian Diary by Anna Politkovskaya Read Free Book Online Page A

instructions from the presidential administration, which means we can be sure that Putin's presidential campaign will exclude all mention of Chechnya. That's the way he operates: since he doesn't know what to do about Chechnya, Chechnya will not be on the agenda.
    In the evening there was a televised debate between Valeriya Novo-dvorskaya, a democrat to the marrow of her bones, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky. She talked about the monstrous irresponsibility of the war in Chechnya, the blood and the genocide. Zhirinovsky's response was to shriek hysterically, “Get out of this country! We will never give in to them!” In the vote at the end of the program, viewers cast 40,000 votes in favor of Zhirinovsky to 16,000 for Novodvorskaya.
    December 12
    Constitution Day. A holiday. Moscow is flooded with militiamen and agents in plain clothes. There are dogs everywhere, searching for explosives. The president held a grand reception in the Kremlin for the political and oligarchic elite and made a speech about human rights, predicated on the notion that they had triumphed in Russia. Yeltsin was there, lookingfitter and younger, but with mental problems written all over his face. He was there because the Constitution was adopted during his presidency. He is not usually invited to Putin's Kremlin.
    A survey revealed that only 2 percent of Russians have much idea of what the Constitution actually says. Forty-five percent thought its main guarantee was of the “right to work,” and only 6 percent mentioned free speech as something fundamental to their way of life.
    December 18
    A television phone-in. A big occasion as Putin meets the people. It was announced that more than a million questions had been submitted. The president's virtual dialogue with the country was hosted by his favorite television presenters, Sergey Brilev from the Rossiya channel and Yekat-erina Andreyeva from Channel One.
    ANDREYEVA to Putin: “This is the third time you have appeared on this direct line. Me too. Are you nervous?”
    PUTIN: “No. Don't offer what you can't deliver and don't lie, then you have nothing to fear.”
    BRILEV, choking with joy: “Very much like our work…”
    PUTIN: “ Everything that Russia has achieved has been achieved by hard work. There have been many difficulties and setbacks, but Russia has shown herself to be a country that stands firmly on her own feet and is developing rapidly. I have brought some statistics along. In 2002 our rate of growth was 4.3 percent. Five percent was projected for this year, but we shall achieve 6.6, or even 6.9. Payments on our foreign debt have been reduced. We have paid off $17 billion and the country didn't even notice it. The gold and foreign currency reserves in 2000 were $11 billion. In 2003 they rose to $20 billion, and today they are $70 billion. These are not empty statistics. A number of factors are involved here. If we continue with our present economic policy, there will be no more currency defaults. On the other hand, in early 2003 there were 37 million people whose income was beneath the subsistence level. In the third quarter of 2003 that number had fallen to 31 million, but this is still humiliating.The average subsistence level is 2,121 rubles [$72] a month, which is very low, and 31 million people live below that level.”
    A question from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Khabarov Region: “Ours is the third largest city in the Far East of Russia, an enormous industrial center, a city of young people, but a very long way from Moscow. My name is Kirill Borodulin. I work in the Amur shipyard. At present we are working only on export orders. When are we going to see orders from the Russian defense industry? We want to be needed by Russia.”
    (The questions do not give the impression of being spontaneous, and the answers appear to have been prepared. Putin reads out statistics from his notes even though the question was asked “live on air.” He will evidently be answering only questions he wants to