Russia 100325 Basic Political Developments
Moscow Times: Insults Fly as Mironov and Gryzlov End Truce
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Moscow Times: Insults Fly as Mironov and Gryzlov End Trucehttp://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/insults-fly-as-mironov-and-gryzlov-end-truce/402497.html 25 March 2010 By Nikolaus von Twickel A bizarre fight between the main pro-Kremlin parties returned to the political stage Wednesday when United Russia officials accused A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov of conducting a "frenzied campaign" against the ruling party. Analysts said that despite a Feb. 8 truce, the burgeoning rivalry was there to stay because of the very nature of both parties, created by the Kremlin to keep control of the political system. The attacks centered on Mironov's remarks in an online interview with readers of the liberal Gazeta.ru news portal, in which he lambasted Clean Water, a tap water purification project sponsored by United Russia leader Boris Gryzlov. Mironov called the project's engineer, self-styled inventor Viktor Petrik, a charlatan and questioned Gryzlov's trust in him. Gryzlov and Petrik filed a patent for a water filter in 2007 that they say turns radioactive water into pure drinking water.
"United Russia won the March 14 elections. But now some of the losers — an aggressive minority — are trying to impose their will on the majority," Isayev told a Duma plenary session, according to a transcript posted on his party's web site. "Producing, bottling and selling water undoubtedly is a very profitable business. … This business will be undermined when each family can drink clean tap water," he said. United Russia Deputy Ruslan Kondratyev accused Mironov of being a greedy fat cat. "You get the impression that he does not understand his own words lately," he said in comments released on the party's web site. "You can compare such frenzied criticism with those fat cats interested only in lining their pockets and never thinking about people's welfare." Isayev also repeated an earlier comparison of Mironov to an evil character in Slavic folklore. "Like Koshchei the Immortal, he sits on water bottles," he said. Mironov hit back on Wednesday by calling United Russia leaders fairy-tale dimwits — echoing his remarks during a previous dispute. "Those Ivan the Fools are not calming down — and I stress fools," he told reporters in St. Petersburg, Interfax reported. United Russia's "stubborn support for charlatans" is shameful, he said. "This is nothing holy but a desecration and a scam that stinks. Instead of being clean there is just muddy water," Mironov said. The renewed war of words comes almost two months after Mironov prompted a stream of vitriol from United Russia by saying he disagreed with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is United Russia's chairman, over the 2010 budget and anti-crisis measures. On Feb. 8, Mironov and Gryzlov signed a joint declaration in which both promised to "act in a coalition to solve the country's most pressing problems." Each heads a house of parliament: Gryzlov is Duma speaker, while Mironov heads the Federation Council. United Russia commands a two-thirds majority in the Duma and boasts similar dominance throughout the country. A Just Russia has the smallest Duma faction with 8 percent of the seats. Tatyana Stanovaya, an analyst with the Center of Political Technologies, said bipartisan rivalry was unavoidable because United Russia and A Just Russia compete for administrative resources. "Ever since A Just Russia was formed in 2006, United Russia has seen it as a serious enemy. There can only be one party of power," she told The Moscow Times. Stanislav Belkovsky, an independent political analyst who was a Kremlin insider when A Just Russia was formed, said the current bickering was also a consequence of Putin's withdrawal from the Kremlin. "When Putin was president, attacking United Russia was an offense. Now you can do it because he is no longer the king," he said. The disputes between Mironov and Gryzlov have attracted much mockery because both have a reputation for being among Putin's strongest loyalists from his native St. Petersburg. Asked in the Gazeta.ru interview if it would be a good idea to gain real popularity by appearing as a clown in a circus, Mironov replied dryly: "Why do you dislike the circus so much?" Pravda: Russia Unable To Abolish Death Penalty because of Terrorist Threathttp://newsfromrussia.com/russia/politics/25-03-2010/112717-death_penalty-0 25.03.2010 State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov announced that Russia has no plans to ratify the sixth protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, which would ban the death penalty, due to terrorist threats. He did not explain which threats in particular. “Well-known circumstances do not allow us to do this. The issue has to do with terrorist activity in Russia,” told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Monitoring Commission’s co-reporters for Russia Andreas Gross and Gyorgy Frunda in Moscow on Tuesday. At the same time, he said Russia had fulfilled the majority of its PACE accession commitments assumed in 1996, Interfax reports. Gryzlov said Russia was ready to continue working on the appropriate report "although some other countries, which in our view are in a worse situation, have stopped monitoring and it is also an issue to be addressed in our meeting," Gryzlov told the PACE officials. He stressed that since joining the Council of Europe, Russia has joined 56 international conventions and later eight more. As for ratification of the sixth protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the ban on death penalty, Gryzlov confessed that this is the most frequent question addressed to Russia by Europe. “Indeed, we have not ratified the sixth protocol, but the issue is being solved in a different way,” the speaker told to the PACE representatives. He explained that Russia has a moratorium on death penalty. In 1996 Russia joined the Council of Europe, membership in which requires banning death penalty. The last death sentence was implemented in Russia in August of 1996. In April of 1997 Russia signed, but have not ratified the sixth protocol. The State Duma had to ratify it before May 1999, but still has not done so. Instead, in February of 1999 Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation introduced a moratorium on death penalty valid until 2010, when jury courts will begin work in the entire country. By November of 2010 Constitutional Court explained that the moratorium will be extended beyond January 1st of 2010 when a jury court begins work in Chechnya. Russia’s normative documents still list death penalty as a punitive measure. Abandonment of the moratorium will cause Russia to be excluded from the Council of Europe. In 2005-2006 an attempt was made to divest Russia of PACE authority because of its unwillingness to ratify the sixth protocol. In Russia, men age 18 through 65 may be sentenced to death penalty. The Criminal Code of RF contains 5 articles prescribing death penalty: Article 105 - "Murder"; Article 277 - "Infringement on life of a state or public figure"; Article 295 - "Infringement on life of a person administering justice or carrying out a preliminary investigation"; Article 317 - "Infringement on life of a law enforcement officer"; Article 357 - " Genocide". As of the end of 2009, there were 660 people in Russia with a life sentence and another 697 whose death penalty was replaced with a life sentence. For 211 convicts death penalty was replaced with 25 years sentence, and 51 convicts were sentenced to 15 to 20 years instead of death sentence.
Museum authorities suggest that the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Kirill divides all the churches into three categories: those where services can be led ad lib, those where certain safety precautions should be observed and where it is better not to hold services at all. The last category covers all the buildings that are in a risky condition or have absolutely unique mural paintings. This was reported by the director of Andrei Rublev Old Russian Culture Museum Gennady Popov, who had personally met the Patriarch and discussed the issue of conveyance of property from the state to the church. According to him, Metropolitan Kirill agreed to the idea of establishing a committee that would be comprised of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and the museum community. Directory: gifiles -> attach attach -> British Forces – Akrioti, Greece Griffin Fighter Squadron (84 Squadron raf) MoD announced possible Typhoon and Tornado arrivals to the base France attach -> Russia 110204 Basic Political Developments attach -> Unclassified//for official use only attach -> Adaptability Sustainment attach -> Pop-up 1 ("C" Chechnya) Header Text: Emir of the Caucasus Emirate Doku Umarov Image attach -> Russia and Islam are not Separate attach -> Chapter 13: The Northern Caucasus attach -> Russia 100209 Basic Political Developments attach -> The evolution attach -> The devolution Download 338.47 Kb. Share with your friends:
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