A Russian Diary

by Anna Politkovskaya

  The most high-profile groups are the National Bolsheviks, although their core has been depleted by the arrests; the Avant-Garde of Red Youth; and the Union of Communist Youth. They handcuffed themselves to the railings of the procurator general's office, demanding a meeting. They did not get it.

  The ideology of Nashi was worked out by official spin doctors like Sergey Markov. He declared, “Youth organizations with the ideology of Russian sovereignty, like Nashi, are a panacea against the Orange Plague.” It is interesting that no anti-Orange movement appeared spontaneously. Many are afraid of Nashi, but I think they will just fall apart after a while.

  August 18

  It is still a moot point what will bring about the demise of this regime. How will it collapse? The present opposition is too weak and lacking in purpose to bring it down. Spontaneous protest from the Russian people appears even less likely.

  One possibility is that, if Putin does construct a neo-Soviet system, it may collapse, as before, through economic inefficiency. The trademark of Putin's administration is building state capitalism, creating a loyal bureaucratic oligarchy by taking control of all the main national revenues (which are mostly delegated to deputy heads or others in the presidential administration). For this, they need to renationalize successfully functioning enterprises, turning them into financial industrial conglomerates or holding companies.

  That is proceeding apace. Conglomerates such as Vneshekonom-bank, Vneshtorgbank, and Mezhprombank (so-called Russian major financial holdings to counterbalance the more Western-looking Alfa Group and others) swallow ever greater chunks of collateral, successful enterprises raised from their knees after the Soviet collapse.

  This is facilitated by the administration, naturally. Swallow it they may, but they can't really digest it, as they don't have sufficient highly qualified managers. The conglomerates can't cope effectively with what they already have their hands on and the enterprises begin to fail after being taken over. As a result, economic growth in the last half-year has slowed to 5.3 percent, the export of capital was more than 900 billion rubles [$31.4 billion], and the rate of growth of incomes halved. These statistics were provided by the People's Government, formed as an alternative to the one we've got, by an independent Duma deputy, Gennadii Semigin.

  Oleg Shulyakovsky is resigning. He has managed the Baltic Factory, the most important surface shipyard in the northwest of Russia, since 1991. Shulyakovsky was such a major figure that he was retained by all its various owners after it was privatized in the early 1990s. He is finally leaving now because of the de-privatization model imposed on the factory in 2005, after it was bought by United Industrial Corporation, which belongs to Mezhprombank. It is being merged with three design bureaus and some other enterprises, with an obvious loss of efficiency. What the presidential administration does now without Shulyakovsky at the helm (and Mezhprombank was able to swallow the 150-year-old company only because of its contacts with the administration) remains to be seen.

  Shulyakovsky was a pillar of the shipbuilding establishment, but even he has given up because Mezhprombank is creating a state capitalist holding of naval shipbuilding. The defense companies Almaz-Antei and Milya Helicopters were both de-privatized in a similar way recently. Mezhprombank is controlled by Sergey Pugachev who, although a senator and hence disqualified from running a bank, continues de facto to do so. He is one of the so-called Orthodox oligarchs, a comrade-in-arms of Putin in creating a state oligarchy.

  The only problem with Putin's system is that it will take decades to collapse through creeping stagnation. Nobody doubts that this fate awaits the Baltic Factory, even if Putin manages to prevent foreigners and those of other tribes from advancing another inch onto Russian territory. In order to preserve their system, they will start passing down the presidency from one useless successor to the next. Their principal characteristic will be their facelessness, and they will get in after elections rigged in the Soviet fashion.

  The main problem is that while collapse is inevitable, we will not see it in our lifetime. That's a pity, because we would like to.

  August 19

  Today's court hearing of the National Bolsheviks’ trial descends into farce.

  “On December 14 I look and see a commotion. I was standing beside Room 14. I saw everything that happened. I was there the whole time. So then I see the frame of the metal detector lying in a horizontal, prone position …” With the single-mindedness of a provincial sleuth, Yevgeny Posadnev delivers this damning evidence from the witness stand. He used to be the director of some Soviet corrective labor institution, and now works for the presidential administration as a “Reception Adviser,” which means that he mediates between Putin and his suffering people. Posadnev's countenance is extremely grave. He is denouncing enemies.

  “What condition was the metal detector in after these young people knocked it over?” the state prosecutor asks.

  “It was lying down like a letter L,” Posadnev explains, “but it should have been standing up like a letter Haitch.”

  Even Judge Shikhanov is laughing.

  “The lads from our security unit,” the witness continues, as if telling teacher that Vasya has been stealing apples again, “blocked their route with this metal detector, so that this group of persons should be prevented from dispersing throughout the entire administration building. The lads from the unit blocked the corridor with this L and thereby diverted the mob into Room 14!”

  The prosecution roll their eyes in horror. What on earth is their witness saying?

  “That is, the crowd were directed into Room 14?” the defense immediately interjects. “They didn't burst in there themselves?”

  The indictment, in support of which Posadnev is supposed to be testifying, says in black and white that the gravity of the offense committed by the thirty-nine defendants was that they had seized Room 14. This impertinence is the official reason they have been held in jail for almost nine months.

  “No, they didn't go in there by themselves,” the witness insists, trying to show how bravely the Federal Security Service had acted and supposing that he is bringing out the full gravity of the invaders’ offense. “They wanted to run all through the administration, but were forced into the room with the L-shaped metal detector.”

  “And were the doors of the room locked?” the defense asks.

  “No, they were open.”

  “But then they locked the doors?”

  “No, the first of the doors, the outer one, stayed open.”

  “Then why was it broken?” Total destruction of that door is the second most serious item of material damage of which they stand accused.

  “I saw it, I saw everything, I saw them barricading the second door with a safe. Barricading themselves in.”

  “But the outer door was not locked? So why did they break it? And where is it now?”

  “It was repaired. It was scratched.”

  One might well ask who scratched it. The state prosecutors realize this only too well. They are scowling at “their” witness, their lips moving. Can they be cursing? The level of all their witnesses has been so abysmal as to be laughable.

  “But nevertheless, did you personally witness any of these people creating a riot?” the defense team asks sternly. This is the crux of the accusation.

  “No,” the crestfallen witness murmurs. “There was no riot.”

  He hangs his head. After all, how much can they expect you to make up?

  This trial is without legal foundation, but there is an ideological imperative to demarcate those who are from those who are not “on our side.” This is part of a wider national process of demarcation. The National Bolsheviks are to have the shit kicked out of them—pardon my use of the president's French—whether there is a legal basis or not.

  Of course, the methods on display in the Nikulin court are ridiculous, but who can see or hear them? Only the handful of people present. The rest of the country gets the message that the authorities are not joking, an
d that you go to jail for not being on our side. Beat the hell out of people like these. Show them no mercy, and your career will flourish.

  Platon Lebedev, Khodorkovsky's friend and codefendant, has meanwhile been transferred to a punishment cell for refusing to go out for exercise. One week ago, Lebedev, who suffers from cirrhosis of the liver, was transferred from the prison hospital to an ordinary communal cell, and his health deteriorated sharply. He refused to go out to exercise because he was not fit enough. They have latched on to this: a punishment cell is an extremely hard place; there is no bed linen, no heating, and the diet is bread and water. The second reason is that the Michurin court has given him until August 25 to read the records of the Yukos court hearings. Lebedev will be in the punishment cell until August 26 and, as you are not allowed to take any papers or books in there, he will be unable to prepare an appeal against the verdict.

  Lebedev, of course, still has Khodorkovsky, and Khodorkovsky is evidently writing up his comments at present. The verdict is effectively shared between the two of them and they have excellent lawyers. Nevertheless, such vindictiveness toward someone whose only crime is to have failed to plead guilty is quite monstrous.

  There is good reason to worry about this country. Today's world leaders put their tails between their legs and exchange kisses with Putin rather than pull him up short.

  August 21

  Another anniversary of the 1991 putsch against Gorbachev and our liberation from it. About 800 people went to a celebration organized by the Free Russia Party. I felt no inclination to stop as I drove past the meeting. There is no freedom, so what is there to celebrate? The years since then have been spent bringing back what we had before, only now in an even more twisted form.

  Officially, 58 percent of those surveyed approve of the slogan “Russia for the Russians.” Another 58 percent, when asked what they would do if they earned a decent salary, said they would immediately buy property abroad and emigrate. That is a death sentence for “Free Russia,” and it also explains why we have not had any revolutions of late. We're waiting for someone else to do it for us.

  August 23

  Some of the mothers of children who died at Beslan have locked themselves in the court building in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, where Nur-pasha Kulaev is being tried. Officially, he is the only surviving terrorist of all those who seized the school.

  After the tragedy, the mothers said they trusted only Putin and had every confidence he would ensure an objective inquiry. Putin promised that he would. A year has passed. The inquiry, however, exonerated all the bureaucrats and security agents who planned and carried out the assault that led to the deaths of so many children and adults. The women are now demanding that they themselves be arrested. They consider themselves responsible for the deaths of their own children, because they voted for Putin. Their sit-in is an act of desperation.

  Khodorkovsky has gone on a total hunger strike in Matrosskaya Tishina prison, refusing even water, as a mark of solidarity with his severely ill friend Platon Lebedev. Through his lawyer Khodorkovsky stated that moving Lebedev into a punishment cell was evidently in retaliation for the articles that he, Khodorkovsky, published in the newspapers after the verdict.

  Bravo, Khodorkovsky! I didn't think he had it in him. I am glad I was wrong. Now he is one of us. Oligarchs do not go on hunger strike; it is people like us who do that.

  In the past six months hunger striking has become the sole means of asserting the right to free speech, a right supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution. There is much you can no longer say, but you can still go on hunger strike to show that you have been silenced. Sounding off at protest meetings has become virtually useless, mere preaching to the converted; those who share your views already know the situation, so why keep telling them about it? Standing in picket lines is pointless, unless it is to salve your conscience. At least you'll be able to tell your granddaughter that you did more than vent your spleen in your own kitchen. Even writing books that don't get published in Russia because they are off-message doesn't have much impact. They are read only by people living abroad.

  So, in 2005, the hunger strike is one of the few ways of getting your protest noticed. Moreover, it is something any of us can do. We all eat. We can all not eat. What is more, you don't need to apply for a permit from the state before you can do it.

  Another important plus: in Russia everybody suspects everybody else of hypocritical PR spin, but what kind of PR is a hunger strike? It is clearly evident that it is being done by someone who is in despair.

  So, as we enjoy this Indian summer, what has the new tactic achieved? For three weeks in July the Heroes of Russia, of the Soviet Union, and of Socialist Labor were on hunger strike. Putin in the meantime gave PR support to neofascist thugs by eating shashlik with them in a clearing in Tver, ostentatiously insulting the Heroes. Nevertheless, their hunger strike was very effective.

  The prisoners in the Lgov penal colony also went on hunger strike, to draw attention to the torture they were enduring. Although the consequences were grim, they are being tortured less. In any case, there was a big enough rumpus to disturb the smooth working of the European Court of Human Rights. The government was obliged to react, and who knows, perhaps the brutes who run other prisons in Russia will be just a bit more circumspect in future.

  Victims of beatings by the militia in Rasskazovo in Tambov Province went on hunger strike, warning that “We will no longer endure humiliation, insults, and physical violence from the law enforcement agencies.” The aggressors laid off. One more hunger strike, and the butchers may even be put behind bars.

  Finally, the National Bolsheviks in the December 14 case went on hunger strike in their Moscow detention cells, demanding the release of all political prisoners. Who now can fail to see that the National Bolsheviks are themselves political prisoners?

  The authorities have quietly taken note of this summer of hunger strikes, even if they refer to it only obliquely, as they did today in Sochi when they remarked that officials should remain at arm's length from the people. The state is, however, plainly wising up to the fact that people are not joking. These are people who will not under any circumstances come to terms with them. A hunger strike is not a dialogue with the authorities, but with your fellow citizens.

  I catch myself reflecting that you could never imagine Prime Minister Fradkov, Surkov or Putin himself going on hunger strike. It's not their style. To take a ride in a bomber or a beat-up Volga, supposedly without bodyguards, is fine. Protest, however, of the kind Khodorkovsky has now shared with the people, is out of the question.

  August 24

  The mothers have gone back to Beslan.

  “We, the mothers of Beslan,” Marina Park says, “are guilty of having given life to children doomed to live in a country that decided it did not need them. We are guilty of having voted for a president who decided children were expendable. We are guilty of having kept silent for ten years about the war being waged in Chechnya, which has brought forth rebels like Kulaev.”

  Ella Kesaeva, another bereaved mother, breaks in: “The main culprit is Putin. He hides behind his presidency. He has chosen not to meet us and apologize. It is a tragedy that we live under such a president, who refuses to take responsibility for anything.”

  Shortly after this it became known that Putin was inviting representatives of the Committee of Mothers of Beslan to meet him in Moscow on September 2. At first the women were indignant: September 2 was a day of commemoration of the dead. They could not possibly go. The presidential administration then bluntly informed them that a meeting between Putin and the people of Beslan would go ahead with or without them; someone would be found to tell Putin in front of the television cameras how much everyone in Beslan loves him. You can always find some of those in Russia.

  What should they decide? Immediately after the atrocity Putin promised that the whole truth would be made public. Many believed him, including the “black mothers” who had lost their children. At th
e president's personal behest, a parliamentary commission was set up to investigate the causes and circumstances of the events in Beslan, chaired by Alexander Torshin, who promised that the commission's detailed and honest report would appear no later than March 2004.

  Nothing happened. To this day there is no report, and the investigation has become a mockery. Large numbers of those held hostage in the school were so incensed that they refused to give evidence in the absurd, face-saving trial of Kulaev.

  “Obviously nobody was guilty, or they would not all have been given medals,” as Marina Park puts it caustically. The citizens of Beslan are still alone with their grief. People come to photograph them, like animals in the zoo, and depart. They are asked if they need money, and reply that the only thing they want is the truth.

  August 27

  The chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Beslan, Alexander Torshin, deputy speaker of the Soviet of the Federation, admits that the report for which Beslan has been waiting so long simply does not exist. “There are only a few odd pages.” Russia shrugs its shoulders.

  August 29

  In the Nikulin court, in the entire course of the summer, only thirteen of the twenty-six witnesses for the prosecution have been questioned. None of those for the defense have yet been called.

  The authorities are deliberately dragging out the National Bolsheviks’ trial while keeping them in prison, because they imagine it will make others think twice. In fact, it only strengthens their convictions. The parents of the thirty-nine have, while their children have been in prison on plainly trumped-up charges, started following their lead. They are organizing protest meetings, shouting in picket lines, joining opposition movements.