NG-RELIGII
Interfaith unity day
(Spiritual leaders on the consolidating role of the Baptism of Rus Day)
A new memorable date - the Baptism of Rus Day - has appeared among Russia's holidays. On May 21, the State Duma adopted amendments to the Law on Days of Military Glory and Commemorative Dates in Russia. The new holiday will be marked on July 28, which is also St. Vladimir's day. Thus, this new holiday has received official approval, along with a previous eight commemorative dates.
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the Synodal Division for Church and Public Relations, believes the establishment of a new holiday is a positive development: "Whether anybody likes it or not, the role of Orthodoxy in the establishment of Russia is unique. Any unprejudiced person, in the West as well, can clearly see that Orthodoxy is responsible for Russian mentality, and so the Baptism of Rus Day marks the very beginnings of our culture and self-consciousness."
Zinovy Kogan, the head of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Communities of Russia, supports Chaplin's assessment of Orthodoxy's significance: "I agree with establishing a day to mark the christening of Russia, because Russian Orthodoxy is a force uniting Russia from the Kurils to Kaliningrad. Nothing else unites this country as much, therefore it will be a holiday for all Russians."
Nafigulla Ashirov, chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Asian Russia, is more restrained. "Any decision is dictated by need," he said. "I would not like to comment on it because it is absolutely not our issue, it is a matter for the people who proposed it and those in parliament who back it. I do no think this holiday will concern me in the future in any way, much like Border Guard's Day or Railroad man's day."
The press-service for the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Dagestan also declined to comment. Its secretary, Magomedrasul Omarov, refused to put a call from a national radio correspondent through to the mufti of Dagestan, saying that the decision had been made in Moscow without consulting the Muslims of the Caucasus. "But," he added, "if this resolution was adopted to develop unifying and wholesome relations and not exclusively for political motives, then the new initiative can be supported."
Alexei Smirnov, president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, is most categorical. He believes the decision is above all politically motivated: "We will mark this date since our state is de facto pro-Orthodox. But this is above all a religious holiday, because only a believer understands the significance and meaning of christening." Alexei Smirnov warns against overstating the holiday's importance, without educating people about what it means: "It is important that the Orthodox Church take responsibility for conveying the Evangelical sense of baptism to ensure that people understand what it is and why it happened."
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Fighting terrorism
Russian security agencies eliminate and neutralize 240 insurgents this year Since early 2010, 240 insurgents and their active accomplices, as well as 11 ringleaders of illegal groups, have been neutralized in the North Caucasus, Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov told the National Anti-Terrorism Committee.
Russia's secret services scored particularly impressive results last week.
First, insurgent leader Ali "Magas" Taziyev was captured alive during a brilliantly executed special operation in Ingushetia.
Taziyev had managed to avoid arrest for 12 years, during which time he committed murders and perpetrated terrorist outrages with impunity.
Second, ten insurgents led by Saudi national Yasser, who had coordinated the activity of international terrorist-cells in the North Caucasus, were killed in Chechnya's Vedeno District.
Taziyev's arrest is a major success for the Russian secret services because never before have such notorious terrorists been seized alive, preferring to fight until the last bullet or to blow themselves up.
Attempts to capture other separatist leaders alive, including Said Buryatsky, Ruslan Gelayev or Shamil Basayev, had failed.
Security agencies have reported Taziyev's elimination twice in the past five years. First, he was reportedly identified among other dead terrorists in Beslan, North Ossetia, in 2004. His body was also reportedly identified after the elimination of Basayev's armed group in July 2006.
Bortnikov said the security agencies had eliminated most of those who had masterminded terrorist acts in the Moscow Metro and in Derbent, Daghestan.
In the past two months, the secret services and security agencies have thwarted several major terrorist acts, including those timed to coincide with the 65th Victory Day anniversary (May 9) and the Day of Russia (June 12).
The terrorist underground in the North Caucasus can only be eliminated if the insurgents are deprived of popular support, Bortnikov said.
He noted the need for ongoing active and uncompromising counter-terrorist operations, as well as targeted efforts to disrupt terrorist infrastructure and to eliminate the various causes and factors behind the radicalization of parts of the population, who facilitate terrorist activity.
Profil
Visas by the evening
The first time Russia raised the issue of a visa-free regime was in 2002 when, ahead of EU expansion, transit to Kaliningrad became an issue. First the discussion was limited to travel for Kaliningrad Region residents, but it soon broadened out to include Russia as a whole. However, a nifty change of concepts followed: instead of a visa-free regime, in 2007 the sides signed a document simplifying visa procedures for certain categories of citizens who had not experienced any particular problems getting visas prior to this change. With that, government agencies deemed their duty fulfilled.
Technical reasons preventing the rapid adoption of a visa-free regime exist, but they are easily overcome if the will is there. Modern border facilities, something Russia desperately needs, can be quickly installed. Biometric passports are increasingly being adopted, in effect replacing visas. Visa-free travel does not mean any loosening of control. Once an individual enters the Schengen zone on a biometric passport, that information will be registered in the computer in perpetuity. If necessary, that individual may be refused repeat entry without any reasons being given. People from third countries, if they go through legal channels, can be stopped at the border. And in any case, anyone intent on entering illegally would not seek a visa in the first place.
Perhaps this could be discussed were there the political will to lift visa restrictions. Russia has declared its intentions in this regard, at any rate Dmitry Medvedev officially handed a draft treaty to his discussion partners.
Europe thinks in stereotyped cliches, according to which a visa-free regime with a neighboring country is to reward progress in adopting the European model. This is justified where countries claiming EU membership are concerned - they themselves seek to move in that direction. But this logic does not apply to Russia, because its system is not changing in accordance with European templates, as Europe expected 15 years ago. Russia is now only demanding equal integration, and the European Union lacks sufficient influence to impose its outlook on the country.
Visa-free travel between Russia and the EU will be possible when the logic behind how these decisions are made comes to be based on considerations of profit. It is no accident that countries engaged in cross-border trade with Russia or seeking to attract Russian tourists support the idea.
(Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs)
Vedomosti
Prices will fall 25% if the government lifts trade barriers
What would change in Russia if the government stopped supporting producers and started catering to consumers instead? First, trade barriers would fall; the government would lift customs duties and other limits on imports.
Trade barriers are a way to take wealth from consumers and give it to the owners and personnel of the companies that produce the goods. Since customs payments make imported goods more expensive than locally produced ones, domestic producers have always tried to raise their prices to meet those of imported goods, leaving the unsuspecting consumer to pay for their unearned profits.
But if trade barriers were lifted, prices of nearly all imported goods would fall 5%-25% overnight.
Another thing the government could do to protect consumers is cancel cross-subsidies. It is not true that Russian consumers save on gas and electricity because of higher industry prices; gas and electricity rates could be much lower for both groups.
First the government limits competition in some sectors so that several favored companies are in a position to make massive super-profits, then it forces them to spend part of these super-profits on solving the government's problems.
The best example of this scheme is that of Gazprom, the only company in Russia allowed to export gas. Its super-profits are so huge that it can sell gas to the people at relatively low prices, just as the government wants. But if the government stopped distorting market stimuli in the gas sector, the national economy as a whole would benefit because competition would force domestic fuel prices down.
By eradicating unnatural monopolies, the government could stop supporting domestic producers and let ineffective companies die. This would allow it to promote honest competition that would in turn encourage production and innovation. When a businessman knows that he has to produce new goods and make his company more efficient or he will be forced out of the market, he will invest in innovation, rather than lobbying.
Open competition with foreign producers for domestic consumers could produce miracles of modernization, and falling prices would be the first such miracle.
Many people know that prices are inflated in Russia. Corruption acts as an additional tax, adding 15% to prices. It is strange that no political party has yet taken up the fight for lower prices as its strategic goal.
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Pros and cons of sending Russian peacekeepers to Kyrgyzstan
At first glance, both Osh and Bishkek are some distance from Russia. However, the repercussions of what looks like an internal conflict in Kyrgyzstan could spill over into other countries.
First, an escalation of ethnic violence in the Central Asian republic could provoke a massive migration of Uzbeks and Kyrgyz into Russia. Many of them have relatives in Russia who came for work, and eventually settled in Russian cities. This could be one result of the Osh massacre.
Second, the conflict could destabilize the entire region, which has always been seen as Russia's zone of influence. Whoever keeps control of Kyrgyzstan throughout the conflict, will also remain in control there in the future.
So the big question is whether or not Russia should send troops to the conflict area as part of a CSTO force. There is no decision at this point; however, the question is being broadly discussed at government meetings as well as in every kitchen.
Currently, Russia's military presence in Kyrgyzstan is limited to a paratrooper unit at the Kant air base, which the Russian Defense Ministry believes to be sufficient.
In June 1990, Russia had to send more troops to the republic to help quell a similar inter-ethnic conflict in Osh and Uzgen, and Fergana in Uzbekistan. Several units of Russia's airborne force suffered small casualties in attacks by both conflicting parties but remained in the conflict area until July 1990.
So on the one hand, Russian forces could certainly help prevent a greater massacre. Judging by the 1990 experience, ensuring stability and security in the south of the republic would require a 10,000 strong force. This would also help maintain Russia's influence in the region, as Kyrgyzstan may also ask the United States or China for military assistance. In that scenario, their forces could enter the country and probably stay for a long time.
Sending Russian forces to Kyrgyzstan would also bring an economic benefit. As of now, Russia's energy company, Inter RAO, is involved in a large project in Kyrgyzstan to supply electric power to China. Industrial exports include gold, mercury and uranium. Russian investment accounts for only 3.3% of the total foreign investment in Kyrgyzstan, which is not much.
On the other hand, Russia's decision to send troops may trigger a political reaction. Opposition parties and movements may protest, accusing the Kyrgyz interim government of "selling the country out." Moreover, Chechen conflicts have shown that Russian forces in a conflict zone are likely to encounter resistance from both parties. Local civilians are likely to offer them bread by day and a knife in the back by night.
Even if casualties are not high, these are still Russian soldiers.
Finally, the decision could provoke massive illegal migration: the number of Kyrgyz residents seeking refuge in Russia could swell to 100,000 according to some estimates.
(Viktor Sokirko, KP reporter)
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MOSCOW, June 16 (RIA Novosti)
