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10/1/1993 - Political Chaos In Russia: Will Equal Representation Mean Equal Rights For Federal Subjects in the Russian Far East? by Peter H. Christiansen

notforpublicationwithoutauthor permission TIINSTITUTEOFCURREWORLDAFFAIRS POLITICAL CHAOSINRUSSIA WILLEQUALREPRESENTATIONMEANEQUAL RIGHTSFORFEDERAL SUBJECTSINTHERUSSIANFAREAST October Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky Russia Mr Peter Bird Martin Executive Director The InstituteofCurrentWorld Affairs West Wheelock Street Hanover NewHampshire 03755 Dear Peter Petropalvovsk Kamchatsky Kamchatka Region stayed during October strife Moscow The reached Kamchatka residents turned their televisions instead usual morning bland reports about Russian cultural monuments andnationalparks Iknewsomethingwaswrongwhen sawthatmuseumat8am oneofmyfriends It August during invasion Czechoslovakia No Local reaction large seemed again There small demonstration meeting Russians downtown front Regional Administration Building October though weather gorgeous about people turned their political colors Local political activists People Deputies lectured crowd speakers ranged articulate incoherent there consensus plenty emotion One spoken People Deputy calmly called national reconciliation examination causes bloodshed He replaced moment waving fists fulminated first against Rutskoi Khasbulatov against Yeltsin He eventually reached crescendo concluding Those started violence Moscow anybody starts violence should hunted killed This seemed signal crowd political passions reached their little ladies began swinging their other yelling shame until finally pulled apart amused militiamen The randomness comparative quiet Russia provinces deceptive however While there little consensus anywhere reconstruct nation Russia distant provinces especially those Siberia Russian Far East emerging their slumber political force reckoned Yeltsin Administration struggles reconstruct nation ruins Soviet Union President Yeltsin first called formation representative provinces federal subjects August Petrozavodsk Karelia north St Petersburg The known Federal Council Soviet Federatsii Russian officially created September Moscow Peter H Christiansen researching Pacific Fishing Nations Since1925theInstituteofCurrantWorldAffairs theCrane RogersFoundaffonJhasprovidedlong termfellowships toenableoutstandingyoung adultstoliveoutsidetheUnitedStatesandwrit eaboutinternab andissues EndowedbythelateCharlesR Crane theInstituteisalso supportedby contn7ub mindedindividuals andfoundab The breathtaking speed recent events Russian politics given newly formed Federation Council great potential influence Russia rebuilt When President Yeltsin dismissed Russian Federation Congress People Deputies Russian Federation Supreme Court September simultaneously issued Presidential Decree No On The Federal Institutions Authority During Transitional Period The decree creates strong presidential government parliamentary houses The Federation Council parliament Governmental Duma Gosydarstvennaya Duma created other house Together comprise Federal Assembly Federalnoye Sobraniye While Duma feature strong representation political parties Federation Council direct represen tation federal subject elected administrative officials The Federation Council representatives Russian Federation federal subjects total representatives The representatives federal subjects exercise broad range powers during transition period including confirming borders between federal subjects affirming Presidential declaration state emergency declaration military force beyond Russia borders Other political powers granted Federation Council appointing presidential elections confirming impeaching president initiative Russian Republic Attorney General One commentator Moscow News writes about Federation Council Founded present conditions Federation Council ceased purely representative It realistically aspires status third column standing between legislative executive ranches government The reaction republics krais oblasts dismissal parliament declaration early elections testifies victory another political force definitely depends This understanding dictates federal subjects policy behavior Perhaps important effect subsuming Federation Council transitional government stroke federal subjects republics oblasts krais territories autonomous okrugs equal representation before federal government opportunity equal rights within Russian Federation The Gordian Knot legal confusion binding federal subjects single stroke However there criticism giving federal subjects power through Federation Council Writes Moscow commentator The Federation Council exclusively regional And Duma elected territorial regions centralist forces which began defending interests Russia whole significantly weakened parliament This dangerous prospect This opinion written before bloody events Moscow entirely misses increasingly restive among federal subjects They demanding representation their interests Moscow deciding their Russia federal government greater economic autonomy enjoy The events before October illustrate federal subjects willing assert their fights Note although Kamchatka Region voted support Yeltsin decision dismiss Congress People Deputies Supreme Court oblast Congresses throughout Russia East Urals Tuva Yakutiya Sakha Buryatiya already republics while Primorsky Krai seriously aspiring republic status Five Siberian regions Kra snoyarsk Tomsk Novosibirsk Barnaul verge declaring themselves republics worked create confederation Moscow Novosibirsk further declared would block railway traffic Russian Far East protest Yeltsin actions Khabarovsky Krai refused taxes Federal government until funds delayed endless bureaucratic snarls The confusion seemingly endless debates Moscow fires separatism Urals during months characteristically early September meeting Russian Far East Economic Cooperation Council demanded political crisis concrete action solve Russia economic Some locals demands actually heated political crisis boiling point The drastic actions undertaken these breakaway krais oblasts weeks earned friends Kamchatka peninsula Kamchatka Re Governor V A Biryukov Pyotr G Premyak Chairman Kamchatka Region Congress People Deputies Moscow October Mr Premyak these parting words journalists I certain extent situation exacerbated those chairmen local Congresses People Deputies gathered St Petersburg Novosibirsk those resolutions adopted particular declaring railroad blockade transportation goods That couldn reflect occupiers White House imaginary support Imaginary because Russian Far East region As smoke clears rubble cleared Russia federal subjects finds itself heady position being negotiate standing within Federation The Russian Far East geopolitical situation particularly region maritime federal subjects makes unique relations Moscow Here questions resource foreign trade regional development The Kamchatka Region illustrates Kamchatka despite great strain regional budget taxes faithfully Moscow gotten little return The Russian Federation government bankrupt position There little grumbling Regional Administration Council People Deputies about keeping taxes Moscow Kamchatka using local needs Because extreme transportation chaos winter Kamchatka Region likely import Alaska Canada fishing fleet running citizens during winter Moscow promises assistance sound increasingly hollow Clearly Kamchatka Region survive liberty certain extent economic policy I visited Regional Adm inistration October spoke Viktor V Yershov Chairman Kamchatka Region Standing Legal Commission Acting Chairman Council People Deputies absence Mr Premyak Mr Yershov awake night keeping latest developments capitol picture concern exhaustion Still found share views situation This result concentration Moscow dominance During decades government usurped power country people And might power concentrated bloodshed The situation Moscow concentrated slaughter slaughter while country quiet This because Moscow government authorities something And something But authority place Central Committee Communist Part divided between camps So warring among themselves inciting Muscovites calling defence house another And authority Russia regions anything spill blood because rights Mr Yershov there democratic Russia decentralization Moscow dominance giving authority territories including righttodisposeofRussia swealthandher resources Mr Yershov saidhewas theprocessof drafting constitution Kamchatka Region The recent opening million dollar processing plant Ozernovsky coast Sea Okhotsk represents Kamchatka strong interest going The plant which produce export quality pollock fillets built months using Dutch capital The venture rcent owned joint venture Poseidon kolkhoz Krasny Truzhenik Dutch investor Kauffman Bis percent ownership going joint venture Holkam Profits venture region Television broadcasts opening stressed Ozernovsky plant gives Kamchatka control resource which build stronger regional economy This model Kamchatka future Kamchatka Governor Biryukov opening We opening international markets processed Kamchatka revivifying local economy Yurs frmre bldshed footnotes The Provinces Attack Kremlin Moskovskiye Novosti October No TheFederalAssembly StillNotAReality ButNotAMirage Opcit Saving Kamchatka From Moscow Passion Vesti October Kamchatka Television Report October Received Hanover October