…WHILE COMMUNISTS DEMAND HIGH PRICE FOR THEIR SUPPORT.

The most intriguing–and, for many, alarming–aspect of Tuesday’s Duma session was the reaction of Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov. He reportedly laid down conditions for both his party’s support of an austerity budget and its ceasing opposition to the passage of the START II arms control treaty. First, he demanded that “strict control” over Russia’s media be imposed through the creation of “observers councils” with “wide authority” to police the press. Members of the leftist opposition have openly declared vocal war on a number of Russia’s top television journalists, accusing them of bias and a host of other sins. Zyuganov then reportedly demanded that the government toughen its personnel policy–the aim, according to a Russian agency Duma source, being the ouster of holdovers from previous governments, particularly allies of the “young reformers.” By this he meant, presumably, officials appointed by Chubais, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Kirienko, among others (Russian agencies, November 10). In its November 11 edition “Vremya-MN” quoted an “informed” government source as saying that “observer councils” are possible only for state television and radio. The source refused to comment on whether the government would agree to a purge, the paper reported. The “Vremya-MN” headline today was: “Contract–a tough budget in exchange for freedom of speech.” Dmitri Volkov, one of the paper’s reporters and columnists, wrote that the communists’ plans actually suit Russia’s oligarchs, particularly the oil barons, many of whom have found common ground with Maslyukov. Maslyukov has reportedly taken their side against Zadornov, who has called for increasing tariffs on oil exports. According to Volkov, a genuine change in Russia’s political regime is in the interests of neither the communists nor the oligarchs (Vremya-MN, November 11).

POLITICAL ELITE CONTINUES DEBATE PROPOSED BAN ON COMMUNISTS.