Robert Coalson worked as a correspondent for RFE/RL from 2002 to 2024.
One of the big decisions facing the Russian government this year is what, if anything, to do with the money that has accumulated in the so-called stabilization fund. The creation of the fund, which is now worth more than 500 billion rubles ($16.7 billion) because of unprecedented global oil prices, was widely hailed domestically and abroad as one of the government's signal economic achievements of 2004.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service announced on 11 December that it has received three bids so far in the 19 December tender for Yuganskneftegaz, the main production subsidiary of Yukos, Interfax reported on 13 December. At first glance, it would seem that the tender will be competitive and legitimate.
Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant On 4-5 November, a wave of panic, fueled apparently by false rumors, swept over the region around the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant in Saratov Oblast, Russian media reported. The panic reached the cities of Saratov, Samara, Mari-El, Ulyanovsk, Tolyatti, and Penza, as well as many towns and villages in the region, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 10 November. At least 10 cases of iodine poisoning were registered, as panicked locals tried to protect themselves from the effects of radiation.
Russia's State Duma (file photo) Five and 1/2 years after Russia signed the Kyoto Protocol in March 1999 -- and after two years of fairly intense discussion and, most notably, silence on the part of President Vladimir Putin -- the controversial agreement suddenly sailed through the government and the legislature last month in the space of just a few weeks. The easy passage of the accord demonstrates how effectively the Putin-based political machine can function.
President Vladimir Putin on 4 November telephoned U.S. President George W. Bush to congratulate him on his 2 November reelection, ITAR-TASS reported, citing the Kremlin press service. The presidents discussed future bilateral contacts, including possible summits.
Prague, 4 November 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Russian Central Election Commission Chairman Aleksandr Veshnyakov, who observed the 2 November U.S. presidential election in California, said on 3 November that electronic voting in the United States "does not provide a 100 percent guarantee against possible manipulations of the elections," ITAR-TASS reported.
Prague, 4 November 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Leading figures in Russia's State Duma on 3 November commented on the reelection of U.S. President Bush, RIA-Novosti and other Russian media reported.
Prague, 3 november 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on 3 November welcomed the apparent victory of U.S. President George W. Bush in the previous day's U.S. presidential election, Interfax reported.
Prague, 3 November 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Russian Central Election Commission Chairman Aleksandr Veshnyakov, who is in the United States to monitor the U.S. presidential election, told Interfax on 3 November that there were no serious procedural violations during the 2 November voting.
The State Duma, by a vote of 365-64 with four abstentions, voted on 29 October to adopt in its first reading President Vladimir Putin's controversial proposal to eliminate the direct election of regional executive-branch heads, Russian media reported. Putin put forward the proposal in a 13 September speech outlining the government's response to the tragic school hostage taking in Beslan, North Ossetia, earlier that month.
On 5 October 2003, Valentina Matvienko, with the heavy support of President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin machine, won a second-round victory with 63 percent of the vote to become governor of St. Petersburg. This week, she marked her first anniversary in power fittingly -- by meeting in the Kremlin with Putin and reporting on her achievements. According to ITAR-TASS on 21 October, Matvienko reported that despite her efforts, progress on the construction of the city's ring road is stalled. "If you continue to work as energetically," Putin reportedly told her, "you will certainly complete the road."
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and Transportation Minister Igor Levitan told a cabinet session that a new economic entity, the state-private partnership (GChP), could provide a breakthrough for the Russian economy and, especially, for the transportation sector. To take just one example, according to RBK on 20 October, Russia currently has 890,000 kilometers of roads, but only 36 percent of them meet Transportation Ministry standards. Experts cited by the agency said the country needs at least 1.5 million kilometers of high-quality roads to meet its economic-development goals.
Putin says his reforms are to "ensure the unity of the country" (file photo) In the wake of the Beslan school hostage taking, President Vladimir Putin proposed a number of measures intended to combat terrorism by strengthening the unity and integrity of the country. The main goals of Putin's proposals, according to the 13 September speech in which he presented them, are "to ensure the unity of the country, the strengthening of state structures and confidence in the authorities, and the creation of an effective system of internal security."
Russian President Vladimir Putin's 13 September proposal to replace the direct election of regional-administration heads with a system under which local legislatures confirm candidates nominated by the president provoked very little reaction among the Russian public. In Moscow, liberals and leftists were able to summon no more than 100 people to their modest demonstration against the measure. Public-opinion polls generally show that society -- tired of years of badly discredited local and national elections -- is not particularly worried about this possible curtailment of its democratic rights.
Boris Nemtsov (file photo) Ever since President Vladimir Putin, as a purported response to the horrific terrorist attack on a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, proposed eliminating the direct election of most regional executive-branch heads and replacing them with a system under which local legislatures would approve candidates nominated by the president, opponents have been denouncing the plan as unconstitutional. On 30 September, a group of 19 leading liberals, including six State Duma deputies and former Union of Rightist Forces co-leaders Boris Nemtsov and Irina Khakamada, published an open letter to Constitutional Court Chairman Valerii Zorkin asking him to weigh in on the constitutionality of the proposal. The letter was the initiative of independent Duma Deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov, who has been the most vocal and articulate opponent of the measure.
Kwasniewski and Putin speaking on 28 September Prague, 29 September 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The exchange of diplomatic pleasantries during today's summit in Moscow between the Russian and Polish presidents was interrupted by a discussion on the Polish media's coverage of the Beslan hostage crisis.
Wolfensohn's comments contrasted strongly with most others (file photo) The comments of World Bank President James Wolfensohn in "The Wall Street Journal" on 21 September stood out among the chorus of voices in Russia and abroad that have criticized President Vladimir Putin for allegedly using the pretext of the latest wave of terrorist attacks to strengthen an authoritarian regime.
Shortly after the 4 September conclusion of the tragic school hostage taking in Beslan, North Ossetia, President Vladimir Putin said that there would be no public investigation into the incident. Speaking to Western journalists and academics on 6 September, Putin said that he would conduct an internal probe into the matter. He added that if the Duma looked into it, the investigation would become "a political show" and "would not be very effective," "The Guardian" reported the next day.
Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller (left) speaks with journalists after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin President Vladimir Putin appeared in a carefully staged, televised meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller at his residence outside of Moscow on 14 September. The president listened intently as Fradkov presented "his" idea for solving several problems at once, the most important of which he said was the problem of the dual stock system at the gas giant caused by the formal ban on foreign ownership of Gazprom stock. For years, foreign investors have complained that the ban is unfair and is hindering investment in Gazprom and in Russia generally, while the government has been unwilling to drop the ban because it does not have a majority stake in the strategically important company.
Putin has ruled out any change in policy in the North Caucasus Nearly a week after the horrifying denouement of the hostage crisis at a school in North Ossetia, the Russian government seems to have formulated its response, a reaction that is characterized by bolstering the mechanisms the administration of President Vladimir Putin has installed over the last five years, rather than by any perceptible change of course. Putin and other officials have, predictably, ruled out any softening of the government's policies in Chechnya, going so far as to deny that there is any connection between the situation in the breakaway republic and the Beslan hostage crisis. "Just imagine that people who shoot children in the back came to power anywhere on our planet," Putin told Western journalists and experts during a Kremlin meeting on 7 September, Russian media reported. "Just ask yourself that and you will have no more questions about our policy in Chechnya."
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