new pragmatism No longer seen as a threat, more a partner P.06


Making the move from red to green


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T his eight-page pull-out is produced and published by Rossiy sk a y a Gaze ta (Russia), which takes sole responsibilit y f or the contents Tuesday, November 30, 2010


Distributed with Civil society New presidential adviser recognises the challenges he faces Human rights on trial


Mikhail Fedotov has his work cut out. In his first weeks as the presidential adviser on human rights, he has already experienced the extent of Russia’s human rights chal- lenges. His initial victories – the first legal rally in central Moscow on Hallowe’en and President Dmitry Medvedev’s veto of a law restricting free as- sembly – have already been eclipsed by the horrific beat- ing of Kommersant jour- nalist Oleg Kashin, who was bludgeoned about the head and body and had his fin- gers mangled, probably to prevent him from writing for the foreseeable future. The incident triggered a public outcry and drew presidential assurances that the perpe- trators would be found. How the attack is now han- dled and investigated will be one of the many forth- coming tests of Mr Fedotov’s mettle, and will show wheth- er his position can be mean- ingful in the eyes of the Russian people. In a candid interview with Russia Now, Mikhail Fedotov talks about his strategy for his first 100 days on the job.


SEE INTERVIEW ON PAGE 2 ‘Find those who ordered and carried out the beating of journalist Oleg Kashin,’ demand colleagues rallying in support of the Kommersant reporter, attacked on November 6 Russo-British diplomacy Joint modernisation programmes will drive improvements in relationship Britain, the new Seoul mate


At the G20 summit in Seoul, David Cameron and Dmitry Medvedev discussed a new partnership intended to promote modernisation.


ALEXANDER GABUYEV KOMMERSANT


The satisfaction was palpa- ble after British prime min- ister David Cameron met Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the Seoul G20 summit. Breaking out of the rut that deepened beneath their pred- ecessors Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin, the leaders agreed to hold the first bi- lateral summit in more than five years after talks that carefully avoided sticking points of the past decade. The


The meeting between Mr Cameron and Mr Medvedev was cordial


summit will take place next year in Moscow. “The new [British] Cabinet is full of true pragmatics who are not going to dwell on things that tend to lead us into an impasse,” a Russian diplomat noted. Mr Cameron described the meeting as “very positive” and said he expected to have “many more like this as we see a strengthening of the British-Russian relationship, which I am keen to see”. Groundwork for the occasion was done in Moscow last month by Foreign Secretary William Hague and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. While the two leaders in Seoul discussed Iran, North Korea and the Russia-Nato


summit, they steered clear of topics such as the unsolved murder of political émigré Alexander Litvinenko and the delays in extraditing Chechen separatist Akhmed Zakayev. There is also the question of Boris Berezovsky. Instead, plans to pool efforts in the technical sphere emerged. A Russian government source said that, taking a cue from Mr Medvedev’s modernisa- tion idea, London recently proposed to Moscow the es- tablishment of a separate Russian-British co-operation programme in this field. “The British call their project the Knowledge Partnership; it covers five areas: the econo-


my and modernisation, in- novation, high technology, in- vestments, and education,” said the source. Mr Cameron told Mr Medvedev that British com- panies are eager to partici- pate in the Skolkovo project to create a Silicon Valley-type hi-tech research and devel- opment hub near Moscow. President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso last year offered Russia a similar programme called Partnership for Mod- ernisation. But while this programme is heavy with ref- erences to rule of law and democracy, these are absent from the British draft.


READ MORE AT RBTH.RU RG


The widow of Alexander Solzhenitsyn has produced an abridged edition of The Gulag Archipelago that publishers hope will be read by Russian students. “It is necessary that people know what has happened in our country by the time they finish school,” said Natalya Solzhenitsyna, 71. The Gulag Archipelago, banned in the Soviet Union until 1989, is now compulsory reading in high schools. Human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin described the Solzhenit- syns as a “factory producing truth, erasing meanness and cowardice from our souls”.


IN THIS ISSUE COMMENT & ANALYSIS


Net closing on tiger poachers Year of the cat As Siberian ranger wins WWF award, Putin puts his weight behind fight to save endangered species


Russia’s prime minister and rangers on the ground step up the struggle to save the Amur tiger, which national and WWF conservationists have managed to claw back from the brink of extinction.


DMITRY LEVNER RUSSIA NOW


While Vladimir Putin rallied world leaders at a “tiger sum- mit” in St Petersburg, con- servationists had further cause for modest celebration in the fight to save the far eastern Amur tiger. In England, Russian park


ranger Anatoly Belov re- ceived the World Wildlife Fund’s highest award for his 22-year battle against those who would drive the species to extinction. And back on his home turf in the Primor- sky Region, the first success- ful prosecution in six years amid moves towards impos- ing jail sentences finally took the fight to the illegal hunt- ers. It’s been a close call for the Amur tiger, but thanks to conservationists its numbers have grown from 50 in 1960 to around 500 today.


“The results of our work speak for themselves,” Mr Belov, 48, said after receiv- ing the 2010 WWF’s Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal at a ceremony hosted by Prince Philip in Windsor Castle. “But if we manage to save this territory’s creatures for our children it will be a priceless heritage.” In St Petersburg, Prime Min- ister Putin hosted a summit of senior leaders of states where tigers exist, including Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao. The highest-level event ever staged to save a


single species was part of a broad effort to increase the overall number of wild tigers in the world from an esti- mated 3,200 to 6,400 within 12 years. The World Bank is trying to raise $350m to achieve this goal, but without accompa- nying legal measures the campaign could falter. “We plan to toughen up punish- ments for killing the tigers as well as criminal business from [derivatives of] these creatures,” Mr Putin said.


CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 The far eastern Amur tiger is among the world’s most endangered species RIA NOVOSTI


LEO TOLSTOY A new book sheds light on


why the writer abandoned his family and wealth and made a fateful last journey on a wintry night in 1910


SEE PAGE 7 NEWS IN BRIEF


Medvedev expects security for media


President Dmitry Medvedev has called for greater security for journalists following the horrific beating this month of reporter Oleg Kashin. Asked by Rossiyskaya Gazeta when Rus- sian journalists will be able to work with- out fear for their lives, he said: “Journalists must have the opportunity to show events in our lives honestly and professionally… They must be guaranteed this right.” Mr Medvedev has taken personal charge of the investigation into the attack. For more on the RG meeting, go to krem- lin.ru. See Opinion, page 6


Critics warming to revised police bill


Critics reacted with cautious optimism re- garding a revised version of Russia’s new Law on Police, which President Medvedev has submitted to the State Duma. The re- visions followed an online discussion, which generated tens of thousands of suggestions. “More passages have been clarified in the new bill, but many things regarding public control are still unclear,” Alexander Brod, a human rights activist, told the Moscow Times. However, the new bill marks the first time a Russian leader has appealed direct- ly to his constituents to develop law via the internet. The bill introduces a Russian equiv- alent of British suspects’ rights to be read upon arrest, and limits police officers’ au- thority to their precincts.


Abridged Gulag aimed at students


How to clean up an oil and gas-based economy


Winding up for the World Cup


Moscow gets into gear for 2018… and the winner is?


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Nato and the


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MIKHAIL METZEL_AP


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