Izvestia
Russian Officials Reluctant to Sell Foreign Assets
Russian members of parliament and law enforcement officers will not sell off their foreign property even if the new requirement becomes law. They argue it is against the Constitution.
The plan to ban Russian officials from owning foreign assets has been sharply criticized by State Duma deputies and security officials. Under the new bill, all civil servants, as well as their spouses and children, must get rid of any foreign property, securities or banks accounts. Some claim this initiative is unconstitutional, while others complain they will sustain huge losses due to the recent downturn in the property market. According to official declarations, 18 Duma members own foreign property.
“Any restriction of rights is wrong,” said Andrei Makarov, head of the State Duma Budget and Tax Committee. His family owns land and a house in Spain. However, he did not rule out that the initiative would go through. When asked if he would agree to sell his property if it did, Makarov said: “Do I look like I’m out of my mind?”
Vladimir Potsyapun from United Russia is another fan of Spain. “I love the south, but the Krasnodar Territory’s resorts are too expensive. If the property is bought with honest and transparent income, why should this possibility be restricted?” he complained.
State Duma deputy Lyudmila Ogorodova said she could not imagine how her small apartment in Montenegro could be an “object of pressure by foreign states:” “I can understand restrictions on business activities, but this is an ordinary investment.” She has already found a way around the ban: “I do not see any problem in handing it over to my relatives. The law only applies to minor children, and my children are grown-up.”
The richest athlete-deputy Nikolai Valuyev may have to sell his assets, or rather it will be Valuyev’s wife who will have to part with her apartments in Germany and house in Spain.
“This bill includes some good points, but they should not be taken to the extreme,” said Igor Rudensky, head of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy. “If it's honest money, people should be able to use it as they like.”
Former hockey star and Federation Council member Vyacheslav Fetisov owns a house with a large plot of land in the United States, which he reportedly bought while he was living there and working as a hockey coach.
Law enforcement officers do not seem to be in the habit of buying foreign property, judging by their declarations. In fact only Valery Novozhilov, a department head at the Interior Ministry, owns property in Bulgaria.
Analysts do not believe the bill will be very strictly enforced.
“Although approved by the Kremlin, it is more likely that some milder version of the law will be adopted. Officials will be given a way of keeping their precious properties,” said political analyst Grigory Golosov. “People who own such property are hardly likely to vote for this bill.”
Moskovskiye Novosti
Tatarstan to Ban Foreigners from Organizing Religion
Tatarstan has introduced a ban on foreigners establishing religious organizations. In the view of Mufti Ildus Faizov, certain political forces want to use religion to create a situation similar to the one in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.
Following attacks on local Islamic leaders, Tatarstan, Russia’s largest Muslim region, has put a virtual ban on any “foreign agent” being involved in the organization of religious bodies. According to a quickly passed bill, foreign aliens will be deprived of the right to establish any religious organization in the region. Analysts believe that Tatarstan’s experience could be a precursor for all of Russia.
Tatarstan’s parliament gathered to consider the bill on August 4: deputies adopted amendments to the law On Freedom of Religion “both in the first reading and overall.” Tatarstan’s President Rustam Minnikhanov is expected to sign the bill soon.
Kafil Amirov, Tatarstan’s Prosecutor-General, in explaining the amendment, focused on its “educational” aspects. Under the law, he said, only a Russian national with theological training in Russia or at a foreign religious institution whose diplomas are recognized in Russia, can legally qualify for clerical office in the region.
The regional authorities and traditional Islamic leaders (including the republic’s Mufti, Ildus Faizov) have maintained that radical imams trained and educated abroad are behind the Wahhabi underground. In fact, it was the attempted assassinations of top Islamic leaders that prompted the unscheduled meeting of parliament and Mufti Faizov’s visit to the State Council (parliament) chamber in a wheelchair.
“Some political forces will use religion to create a situation similar to the one in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, here in Russia,” Mufti Ildus Faizov told the deputies. The sentiments of Tatarstan’s Muslim Board are echoed by Damir Muhetdinov, deputy head of the Muslim Board of European Russia.
In his view, the threat to traditional Islam in the Volga region emerged after massive study trips by Muslims to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. “There are those who dislike having peace and stability in this part of Russia, a large oil-producing province, and the largest Muslim region. With the Universiade games coming up, and Kazan turning into a large Islamic center, their goal is to undermine the republic’s positive image,” Mukhetdinov told Moskovskiye Novosti.
Geidar Dzhemal, chairman of Russia’s Islamic Committee, on the other hand, believes the law reflects “a bureaucratic campaign against Islam.” Dzhemal is sure that the shock generated by the attacks on Ildus Faizov and Valiulla Yakupov, an official from Tatarstan’s Muslim Board who was killed, makes it possible to launch a campaign against undesirable members of the clergy and the public.
As regards the educational limits, they will have no effect, in the opinion of the Islamic Committee head.
Roman Lunkin, president of the Guild of Experts on Religion and Law, however, fears that the application of the law in practice may be fraught with risk for all religious organizations across Russia, especially non-traditional ones.
Moskovsky Komsomolets
Tomsk Goes One on One with Smoke
While the Emergency Situations Ministry is busy fighting wildfires in the Tomsk Region, it seems to be only the volunteers who are concerned about the impact of smoke on people’s health. They are pressing for government support in the high fire risk areas.
Despite recent rains, wildfires in the region continue to spread. There have been no recorded deaths. But volunteers – who rushed from Krymsk to help in Tomsk – claim rescuers and officials do not see the locals as victims at all.
“We have seen heavy smoke across the entire region, but the public has not been warned about the smoke hazard. Nobody told them they should wear masks and avoid breathing smoke for long periods. One volunteer saw kids playing football in a haze of smoke. There may have been a news ticker on some federal channels with general guidelines like “close your windows” and “avoid forests.” However, nobody is being evacuated, and nobody is being advised on fire or smoke safety,” Alyona Popova of the volunteer coordinating center said.
She adds that the rural areas have been affected by smoke even more than Tomsk where the amount of carbon monoxide in air is at least twice as high as normal.
Alyona said the Emergency Situations Ministry has not been very helpful. The volunteers must find transport operators who are willing to evacuate children and pregnant women from the villages without cost. Oxygen tanks will be provided to pregnant women who are not well enough to be evacuated to help them avoid a fetal pathology.
The volunteers also arranged an agreement with a company to provide advanced air filters to medical centers for preterm babies in Tomsk. Interestingly, the agreement was reached in the winter when the volunteers felt that the region would be subject to fire risk and suggested that the officials prepare in advance.
“They responded that nothing was burning yet and suggested we wait until summer,” Alyona recalls.
“We are continuing to seek financial assistance and volunteers but it’s an uphill battle. The media report that there are no victims and that the fires are under control. Whoever I call says I shouldn’t overdramatize. But the heavy smoke in the region is very much like the smoke that was hanging over Moscow in 2010 which caused an increase in the mortality rate. It was not publicized then that the smoke was dangerous for babies; that we should wear gas masks instead of simple face masks. I’ve had an allergy since then that won’t go away. And I don’t understand why nobody cares about the high-risk people.”
The volunteer coordinating center plans to propose government measures in an effort to prevent smoke related disease in the affected areas and to promote emergency guidelines on how to reduce the harmful effects of smoke and what to do in case of flooding.
“We must break through this wall. Wildfires occur every year. The officials must start thinking ahead.”
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