Zyuganov Interview 11 September 2000
BBC MONITORING
ZYUGANOV INTERVIEW: RUSSIAN COMMUNIST LEADER EXPANDS ON MOVE TO
SUPPORT KREMLIN, DROP OLD ALLIES
Source: Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian, 11 September 2000
Leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennadiy
Zyuganov has said that he is prepared to back the Kremlin provided
Putin gets rid of ministers who want to wipe out the natural
monopolies and privatize the national wealth. Interviewed on Russia
TV's "Podrobnosti" programme on 11th September, he said he did not
intend to insist that the government resign but suggested that Putin
should bring more representatives of the Unity movement into it at
the expense of the privatizers. He said that the break announced
today with governors Tuleyev, Rutskoy and Gorbenko had come about
because the latter had chosen to go their own way and predicted that
his party would score major successes in the governor elections
without them. The following are excerpts from the interview.
Subheadings have been inserted editorially.
[Pashkov] Gennadiy Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the
Russian Federation, said today that he is ready to support the
executive authority in every way which corresponds with Russia's
national interests, that the State Duma's progovernment Unity faction
will very soon split and that this will be connected with the
activities of former State Duma deputy Boris Berezovskiy and,
finally, that the CPRF will refuse to support governors Rutskoy,
Tuleyev and Gorbenko in the forthcoming elections for governor. Our
guest on "Podrobnosti" today is CPRF leader Gennadiy Zyuganov...
Conditions for supporting Kremlin
Let's get down to the main issues straight away. Is the CPRF faction
really ready this time to support the executive authority, the
Kremlin?
[Zyuganov] We have always worked energetically with people who are
interested in the rebirth of our country and in the creation of
normal conditions for people to work and live in.
Russia today is at a crossroads. Either we following the new state
line which takes the national interest as its guide or continue with
the old policy of [acting prime minister in the early nineties Yegor]
Gaydar or rather [Economic Development and Trade Minister German]
Gref. If the choice is in favour of the latter, of liberal reforms
when the land is sold off and they try to finish off the nuclear
missile shield, when the railways are sold off and the last natural
monopolies are eliminated and when even our forests are sold into
private hands then there will be nothing left of Russia.
So we shall do everything we can to ensure that people who understand
how far things have gone and recognize that very little time indeed
is left in which to take decisions gain the upper hand in the
executive structure.
Just lately Berezovskiy has been kicking up a big rumpus and putting
on a public display with just one aim in mind: he wants to distract
the public's attention from the main thing. The government is
currently developing one policy to revive the homeland and another
which is promoted by the same group which has tortured the country
for ten years and which seeks to sell off all the natural monopolies,
including our forests. We will work with those who support our
national interests.
[Q] And so, there is a sort of duality, a two-sidedness in your
relations with the Kremlin, the government, the presidential
administration and the president himself. You say you will support
those who support the national interests of Russia, Can you name some
names for us please.
[Zyuganov] Indeed I can. There is a real fight going on right now.
There are two groups: one is the continuation of the family [Yeltsin
clan], Berezovskiy, [energy chief Anatoliy] Chubays and Gref. This
group is now doing everything it can to divide the railways into 17
sectors and privatize them. That would spell the end of Russia as a
single unit. Let's say [Deputy Prime Minister Viktor] Khristenko and
his team have prepared a programme for selling off our forests into
private hands. Sixty-nine per cent of the territory of Russia is
forest. It is our national wealth... Putin instructs him to stop
destroying the industry. But they have already sold the pulp and
paper industry and stopped timber processing. So instead of doing
what he's told, Khristenko summons and sacks all those who are
investigating and tries to have the forests destroyed by some other
mafia. So there's a few names for you from the group which is now
ruthlessly and quickly trying to - [words lost as presenter
interrupts]
[Q] But you are naming people with whom the CPRF and you personally
have had poor relations for a pretty long time already. There is
nothing new about that -
[Zyuganov] Hang on a minute Serezha. For now there is no Putin
government. There is no [Prime Minister Mikhail] Kasyanov government
either. There are these groups, one is the family [Yeltsin
entourage], the second is controlled by Chubays and Berezovskiy and
there are others as well. So we are suggesting - and we are to have a
meeting with Putin on Wednesday [13th September] - let's establish a
normal government which is capable of extricating the country from
crisis.
[Q] That's interesting. So the CPRF is going to insist on the
resignation of the current cabinet of ministers?
[Zyuganov] No that's not how we see it. We see things differently.
The personnel must be assessed on merit and a strong team must be
formed. Look. You say Unity is the ruling faction in the Duma, don't
you?
[Q] You mean the main progovernment one?
[Zyuganov] Yes, that's right. What representatives does it have in
government? There's only [Emergencies Minister Sergey] Shoygu whose
job is to save the situation after explosions and the destruction of
enterprises. There is no-one else. The whole of our finances and the
budget is in the hands of Chubays's mob. The whole lot. They have
brought forward the new budget in the Duma. There's a bit more. But
what is the overall policy in this new budget? There is nothing for
science and the training of scientists. There is virtually nothing
for investment... Putin as a leader must have his own programme, his
own team, his own mass media, his own policy. If that doesn't happen
there can be as much talk as you like about a strong state and new
policies but the whole lot will be codswallop. Either this problem is
resolved or you will see things getting far worse in the months ahead.
Break with old allies, governor elections
[Q] Your position is clear on that. Let's turn to today's events. You
said today that the CPRF won't be supporting some very well known,
popular figures and ones who are very popular on their own patch in
the regions. That is a new step. You are ready to go it alone and do
without such powerful allies as Tuleyev, Rutskoy and Gorbenko.
[Zyuganov] Well, it's you who calls them allies, not I. They have
chosen their own road. They were with us in the patriotic union.
After they became governors they began to serve their own interests
or those of another team. That was their choice...
[Q] But won't that weaken your party?
[Zyuganov] No it won't. No way, I assure you...
[Q] How many seats do you count on winning in the coming elections?
If I'm not mistaken there are about 30 governorships to be filled by
the end of the year. In the last elections you were clear leaders.
How do things stand now?
[Zyuganov] Nine elections have already been held - Altay, Leningrad
and so on. We came out top in five of them - either those whom we
supported directly or those with who we had reached agreements and
whom we helped get elected. We have an opportunity now not just to
consolidate our position but to strengthen it...
[Q] You still haven't said how many governorships are you counting on winning.
Congress of People's Patriotic Union
[Zyuganov] The whole lot will be ours. On 23rd September we will hold
a congress of the People's Patriotic Union of Russia [PPUR]. We have
prepared a new blueprint. There are those who try to put us in bed
with Berezovskiy but he has gone his own way. Let's not stop him
[laughs]. We have already decided on nearly every candidate. We are
holding talks and we will agree on the main problems: the economy,
support for the elderly and children...
[Q] I'm glad you mentioned the PPUR. There was a report today - and
the source isn't named - that allegedly the CPRF is preparing this
congress on the quiet, keeping it a secret from its allies and that
it is preparing to make the PPUR consist only of the CPRF, leaving it
without Podberezkin, without Govorukhin and without Tuleyev.
[Zyuganov] But they have already left. They have gone. They are no
longer with us. They haven't worked with us for the last year. They
have gone. That is their business.
[Q] But does the PPUR now consist only of the CPRF?
[Zyuganov] No. Of course not. There's the agro-industrial union, the
Academy of Sciences and lots of institutes, the agrarian and academic
trade unions, the servicemen's trade union... We have got much
stronger and have purged ourselves of all those who kept on wavering.
The congress will take place soon, we will decide on our candidates
and work more energetically.
[Q] Thank you. That was Gennadiy Zyuganov, the leader of the CPRF,
who intends to support the executive authority - or at least that
part of it which he sees as being in accordance with national
interests - who does not intend to support Rutskoy, Tuleyev or
Gorbenko at the elections for governor and who intends to win the
elections for governor in most of Russia's regions by the end of the
year. All the best.
<http://www.huntington.edu/history/hs355/zyuganovinterview11ix2000.htm>
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