Posted on 09/14/2004 9:47:41 AM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
President Vladimir Putin has announced radical changes to Russia's democratic institutions that will give the Kremlin greater power than at any time since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Mr Putin effectively negated the right of citizens to elect a regional representative. Instead, he will propose the country's 89 regional governors.
He also announced on Monday that seats in the Duma allocated to single-member constituencies will be replaced with a fully proportional system.
Mr Putin said the changes were vital to boost state authority after the Beslan tragedy, in which hostages were killed when Chechen rebels raided a school.
The move will accord even greater control to his United Russia party, which already has the backing of about two-thirds of the deputies in the Duma.
The announcement, made in an address to regional governors, follows the school siege in southern Russia, which ended with the deaths of more than 300 people, half of them children.
Unfinished security checks have delayed the reopening of the Beslan school. Children had been due to resume classes yesterday, but police had not completed checking security using sniffer dogs and bomb experts. Radio and TV said all Beslan schools should reopen today.
Mr Putin said his initiatives would make Russia safer and easier to govern. Critics said the proposals were further proof that Mr Putin, who has muzzled independent media and turned parliament and government into Kremlin rubber stamps, was rolling back post-Soviet democracy.
"The last link in the system of checks and balances, which has prevented an excessive concentration of power in one pair of hands, is being abolished," the opposition party Yabloko said.
Since coming to power five years ago, Mr Putin has made no secret of his admiration for many aspects of the Soviet system. While he has pursued a pro-Western foreign policy, he has curbed media freedoms and brought down big businessmen who challenged the Kremlin.
He has also set out to curb regional autonomy, a reversal of Boris Yeltsin's policy of giving the regions as much sovereignty "as they could swallow".
If, as seems certain, Mr Putin's measures are passed, the Kremlin will propose regional governors whose appointments will be voted on by regional legislatures. It is unclear what will happen if a Kremlin candidate is rejected.
Few dispute that many regional governors in Russia are corrupt and allied to crooked businessmen and gangsters who helped them win their positions.
Most Russians are unlikely to complain about the changes. But past moves to curb regional power have done little to raise standards. United Russia has a record of ignoring corrupt, even criminal, activity providing the representative is loyal to the Kremlin.
Dmitry Oreshkin, head of the Mercator analytical group, said: "In reality the governors are not very well controlled by the electorate. But it is counter-productive to take the initiative away from the people. The first shoots of democracy are being trampled on. This is a move towards Soviet times."
Vladimir Rimsky, an analyst with the Indem think tank, said it was all part of Mr Putin's policy of strengthening central bureaucracy at the expense of local control. But he doubted whether the moves would make events such as the school attack less likely.
"The administration in Moscow is unable to see all that is happening in the regions. The Beslan events prove that," he said. "Such a vertical power structure cannot be effective in fighting terrorism because it removes all local initiative and requires a long chain of approvals for any decision."
Other initiatives include creating a unified anti-terrorism agency and appointing associate Dmitry Kozak to oversee the northern Caucasus, which covers Chechnya, Ingushetia and Northern Ossetia.
- Telegraph, Reuters
..........except with China, Cuba, and Canada?
(The 3 'c's)
/sarcasm
"Putin is doing what now has to be done......to protect any kind of future for Russian citizens."
Please, save the melodramatics. He is doing what has to be done in order to assure his continued grip on power.
Welcome, 'State'.....
:-)
"There wasn't anything he or anyone else could have done to "handle Beslan" any better than it was."
Well, you're entititled to your opinion. But considering it looks like some of the townspeople may have accidently shot some of the hostages or even some of the soldiers, I think it's open to debate.
WW-II never happened....
/sarcasm
I think it's up to someone in charge to get the townspeople out of the immediate vicinity.
You can try to argue that this was handled just dandy. It wasn't.
And BTW - I heard President Bush speaking this afternoon. He said his job as President was to protect the American citizens. I kinda thought that was one of his jobs.
" He said his job as President was to protect the American citizens. "
Politicians aways say stuff like that. Doesn't mean they can. It's just another lie to get votes, and in the case of Bush and Putin, to claim more power for themselves. All in the name of imaginary security of course.
Your thinking is warped.
The first thing law enforcement does in a similar situation is to secure the area. That means get the citizens off the street and far enough away that they won't be in danger or a danger to themselves or anyone else. DUH. No one did that in Beslan. Is that a mistake? I'd say so.
Now, am I blaming the inept law enforcement for the hostage situation? NO. But am I saying it wasn't handled properly? YES.
I've read the accounts from different papers from different countries. My only proof is the accounts in the papers. I wasn't there.
And if you'd like to know if I believe in the right of a citizen to bear arms...YES. But I don't think armed townspeople ought to be allowed to stand behind the soldiers or law enforcement officers during a stand-off.
You may disagree with that, but there's a reason that's normal practice and procedure for law enforcement.
"Politicians aways say stuff like that. Doesn't mean they can. It's just another lie to get votes, and in the case of Bush and Putin, to claim more power for themselves. All in the name of imaginary security of course."
Well I don't know how I missed that gem of a post.
So, President Bush is a liar, Huh?
He only wants to claim more power for himself, Huh?
I'm beginning to think that maybe you don't belong here.
Take a Hike, TROLL.
You thread had been infected with a TROLL.
From the beginning my observations and comments have remained the same.
" Beware yon Cassiuis, he has that lean and hungry look"
Hiya Bert!
The Soviet Union rising from the ashes.
Yeltsin gave Chechnya their independence, Putin took it away. Chechnya has been simmering under Soviet style domination for ten years.
Can you say Reichstag fire?
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