Good that people like Boris Kagarlitsky is checking in with PEN-L but only if the rest of us have an interest in the detail of developments in Russia will this be helpful. The dramatic news this week of Gusinky's arrest is important. I see from the International Herald Tribune that he has used the modern method of a talk show on his tv network to counter attack by suggesting, no doubt correcyly, that Putin must have been in the know. He also tried to make a split by suggesting that the head of the Kremlin chief of staff did not. This is a very modern way of a media baron fighting back. Are there any signs of Berezhovsky, formerly a major backer of Putin, expressing concern, or is he enjoying the perils of his rival? The other issues to watch in Russia seem to me whether there is effective resistance to Putin's plan to bring the federation under strict central control by weakening the power of the governors. Also he appears to have made no speedy gesture after his imperial corononation as president, towards peace talks over Chechnya. Rather he has backed its total incorporation in Russia. The subtext to all this is how the Communist party is skirmishing for position within the de facto alliance Putin has offered it, and how much of the burden of Russia's new found nationalism, falls on the working people. The west meanwhile appears to have been charmed by Putin pushing through armaments agreements. Chris Burford London
