Kommersant
Communists send prosecutor general complaint over Medvedev, Putin
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov has appealed to the prosecutor general to ensure the law is upheld in December’s parliamentary elections. He claims that United Russia is using its position to exert pressure, bribing voters and discrediting and discriminating against the opposition parties. The ruling party rejected the complaint as “hysterical.” Experts say the Communist Party is reacting to changes in the public mood.
Zyuganov writes that he was heartened by President Medvedev’s August promise to create additional guarantees for fair political competition, but that “administrative resources are being increasingly used to infringe on the opposition parties’ election rights” instead. The United Russia party leaders are conducting a covert campaign through federal TV broadcasts of statements by Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin. Zyuganov states that independent organizations monitoring the election campaign have already registered over 1,000 violations, which law enforcement agencies and election commissions pretend not to notice.
The ruling party is “openly and unceremoniously bribing voters by giving them free food packages, bed linen and medicines,” Zyuganov writes. Students are offered free tickets to the movies if they can produce a photo of their voting bulletins proving that they voted for United Russia, he maintains. Law enforcement agencies are backing United Russia by confiscating campaign materials and detaining campaigners of other party affiliations, Zyuganov claims. The Communist leader has asked the prosecutor to take “comprehensive emergency measures to stop the illegal administrative pressure being put on voters in the interests of the ruling party” and the “distribution of fake campaign materials discrediting the Communist Party.”
Vadim Solovyov, head of the Communist Party’s legal team, said this is the first of such complaints in the party’s history. In the past, the party raised issues such as individual violations, but this time it is talking about an “illegal system.” The party claims that most violations have been registered in the Ulyanovsk, Tver, Novosibirsk and Rostov regions and the republic of Mordovia.
“Zyuganov is hysterical. If the Communists have nothing else to offer to their electorate, the only thing they can do is shout about injustices allegedly done to them,” said Alexei Chesnakov, head of the Public Council at the Presidium of United Russia’s General Council.
Experts are divided over the issue. “Violations were also registered during previous elections,” said political analyst Sergei Chernyakhovsky, adding: “The key difference is that United Russia’s rating is falling and the public mood is becoming increasingly nervous. The party’s opponents want to use this situation to their advantage.” Alexander Kynev from the independent elections monitor Golos said: “People are tired of United Russia and the tandem, which the other parties feel and are trying to exploit by acting more aggressively.” Mikhail Vinogradov, head of the St. Petersburg Policy Foundation, admits that the opposition does face problems, but thinks the letter is partly a PR initiative. “The Communists are talking about the opposition’s problems, but are not ready to form a union with other parties.”
Moskovskiye Novosti
Tire recycling in Moscow more trouble than it’s worth
The disposal of used tires is an environmental problem everywhere. In Moscow there is only one tire reprocessing facility, the Tushino Engineering Plant. However, Tushino only accepts tires in large volumes. There is also one commercial tire recycling office in Moscow, or a car owner can leave old tires at some tire shops for a fee. There is no free used tire disposal in Moscow.
Moscow resident Vladimir Kuznetsov described his attempt to dispose of his old tires to MN. According to Kuznetsov, it is impossible to do this for free in Moscow.
“I was determined to recycle my old tires, but it’s impossible,” said Kuznetsov who owns a Nissan. His local tire shop was the obvious choice; however, they would not take the old tires. The same happened at another garage. The third shop agreed to take the tires for 280 rubles ($9) apiece.
Theoretically, old tires can be taken to reprocessing plants. However, Moscow’s Tushino Plant told MN that they will only accept a minimum of several dozen metric tons.
Moscow’s only tire recycling office takes old tires for 130 rubles ($4.20). Deputy Director Mikhail Vinogradov said the service is compelled to charge a fee to cover transportation costs because only in the best scenario will a processing plant agree to take the tires free of charge. Some require a fee for recycling.
“The rubber market is underdeveloped, so no one wants it. Used tires are byproducts, not even recyclable material,” he complained.
Curiously, the Tushino Plant’s website shows a long list of products manufactured with powdered rubber made from recycled tires. It includes sidewalk paving material, floor and staircase tiles, frames for sewage manhole covers and rail crossing materials. Powdered rubber is also added to asphalt and used in surface coatings for outdoor sports grounds and also for road speed bumps.
Vinogradov’s industrial waste disposal company mostly serves transportation companies which bring in large batches of tires. Individuals would rather just throw their tires in the garbage. Apart from tire recycling, the company also services large waste containers. “Tires cannot be taken to regular landfills. We have to separate them and pay to recycle them,” Vinogradov explained.
Kuznetsov’s story confirmed this report. “I drove around for a week with these big worn-out smelly rubber things in my car. I even considered attaching them to my car roof in protest for a while, but then just dropped it and threw them out at a garbage dump,” he said.
Disposing of tires in regular garbage dumpsters is an administrative offense for which individuals can be fined 5,000 rubles ($160) and companies 20,000 rubles ($650).
Alexei Kiselyov, director of Greenpeace Russia's anti-toxins campaign, said rubber recycling is expensive and usually profitless. In Europe, car owners can dispose of their old tires free of charge, while the tire producers pay for recycling.
The Russian parliament considered the first reading of a similar bill in October.
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