Russia: Putin on the Inside,Pt.I Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina-Direct from Cuba April 15, 2000 PUTIN ON THE INSIDE: Part I Analysis of the Russian Elections BY ANTONIO RONDON Moscow.- The pluralist position of the Russian interim president, Vladimir Putin, made him the politician of the whole country, while his victory in the presidential elections has only two possibilities: first or second round. Recently, Putin answered criticisms expressed by some politicians who accused him of lacking ambition to become president, which demanded the demonstration in practice. "It does not matter if we are successful in the first or second round, what is important is to win," Putin stated, who stopped being a mystery, even when his activity in the state is well known. And really, in answer to who is Putin, very little was left in the dark, at least according to a recent publication of a series of interviews of the former chief of the Federal Security Service. In summary, the biography of Putin reflects the rise of a young politician without great "peaks" in his journey to power, as could have been the case, for example, with the leader of the Yabloko Party, Gregori Yavlinski, another presidential candidate. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in October of 1952 in the city of Leningrad. His father had participated in the defense of the city and his mother survived the nazi siege of Leningrad. In 1975 he graduated law in the Leningrad State University, although, as he confessed in the interview, he decided to graduate there and later enroll in the organs of state security (KGB). As an agent he worked in the Democratic Republic of Germany from 1985 to 1990. After an attempted coup in August of 1991 he requested his voluntary retirement from the ranks of the KGB, although at that time he presided over the committee of foreign connections, under the command of the then mayor of Saint Petersburg, Anatoli Sabchak. With Sabchak he headed several committees of the Saint Petersburg government, including the security service, although he concentrated mainly on the economic spheres of government. He promoted the opening of one of the first foreign bank representations in Russia. After the failure of Sabchak to be re-elected as mayor, Pavel Borodin, called Putin to the Kremlin at the time bureau chief of the Russian president, Boris Eltsin. In this manner, he occupied several intermediate posts until his designation as director of the Russian Federal Security Service in July of 1998. Last August 9 he substituted Serguei Stepashin as Prime Minister and on December 31 Eltsin resigned and delegated the functions of head of state to Putin. However, his biography reflects very little of the personality of Putin, of his perspectives as a politician and his rapid rise in the surveys carried out since September of 1999. THE ADVANTAGES OF PUTIN The arrival of Putin to the Kremlin is also related to a change in priorities of the population, although it would not be a mistake to say that the demand can be created or managed as is the case of Chechenia or the role of the state. The Russian Prime minister is the antithesis of Eltsin: spokesmen are no longer needed nor the presence of the President in the Kremlin, nor the lack of audacity to tackle responsibilities. Precisely this latter characteristic was important in the case of Chechenia. No one would consider logical that a technique of Public Relations would be to assume the consequences of an operation that has just begun, Putin explained on one occasion. On the other hand, his calls to strengthen the role of the state and, thereby, the grandeur of the Russian nation, is related to the recovery of the dignity of the country. "To live with dignity in Russia", is the maxim that the interim leader promotes. A survey of the independent institute, ROMIR, revealed that 90 percent of those interviewed considered "dignity" as the standard of life. In other words, the Prime minister also promises to solve the main considerations of the voters. In contrast to Eltsin, Putin wants consolidation (the meetings with the leaders of the different parliamentary factions) and acknowledged the importance of the Communist Party in the Russian Federation (PCFR). His purpose is to conquer the voters of the left rather than ignore them. With the commercial sector he treads lightly through a mine field, with modest criticisms of the Russian oligarchy who are still divided and at no time decided to close ranks around Putin, perhaps to reach a compromise if the interim head of state has to face a second round. Analysts estimate that the oligarchy is not interested in a very independent President, capable of defying it after the elections this coming 26 of the month. Experts consider that with Putin, the country will enter a "moderate liberalism" with a greater control and strengthening of the economy of the country by the state. This is in accordance with the demand for social order by a large part of the voters after the financial collapse this past August. ELECTORAL RESOURCES The first of the electoral resources would depend on the contrast between the almost disappeared sensation of leadership in the country that were caused by the last four years of Eltsin and the energetic adoption of responsibilities demonstrated by Putin. A second reason would be the gratefulness of the voters after the increase of pensions and the payment of the salaries in arrears by the state directed sectors. A third would be related to those who voted for Eltsin in the past and now must do so for his heir. Another is the effect of the surveys. If Putin occupies between 48 and 56 percent of popular support, the voters would be inclined to support a sure winner. AVP (c) 2000 Prensa Latina, Havana, Cuba ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nyteeu-04.17.00-03:08:57-24075