Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1532

February 4:

Gazprom’s board of directors has confirmed Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov as a candidate in the election for the state-controlled energy giant’s new board of directors, which will take place on June 27th. According to NEWSru.com, Zubkov is likely to replace Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as Gazprom’s board chairman if, as is virtually certain, Medvedev is elected Russia’s president on March 2nd. President Vladimir Putin, for his part, has agreed to serve as Medvedev’s prime minister.


February 5:

President Putin has returned from a visit to Botlikh, a village in Dagestan near the Russian republic’s administrative border with Chechnya. Putin last visited Botlikh in August 1999, when he was prime minister and the Russian military was battling militants in the area who had crossed over from Chechnya. On this latest visit, Putin inspected the 33rd Motor Rifle Brigade, which is based in Botlikh, and spoke with local residents. Gzt.ru quotes Putin as saying that the security situation in the North Caucasus has “changed for the better.”

[Editor’s Note: Despite Putin’s assurances, fighting continues between security forces and Islamic militants in the North Caucasus, including in Dagestan. Security forces killed three gunmen in Makhachkala, Dagestan’s capital, on January 14th, RIA Novosti reported. Another three militants died battling Interior Ministry troops near the village of Almak on January 24th, Gazeta.ru reported. Dagestani militants routinely target police and security force personnel. Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said in August 2006 that more than 200 police and Interior Ministry troops had been killed in Dagestan over the previous four years, with 60 killed and more than 120 wounded in 2005 alone.]

Consumer prices in Russia rose 2.3 percent in January of this year, with inflation most visible in the price of vegetables and bills for housing and communal services, the Novyi Region information agency reports. The inflationary jump occurred despite the introduction last October of a freeze on prices for basic food products. That freeze, which was set to expire on January 31st, was extended last month to May 1st.


February 6:

Roman Nikolaichik, a parliamentary candidate for The Other Russia opposition coalition, has been sent to a psychiatric hospital after authorities questioned him about his political activities, the Times of London reports. Nikolaichik, a lawyer who is also a member of Ares, a monarchist movement, was detained in the city of Tver, where he is head of The Other Russia’s local branch. Yevgeny Svetovidov, a spokesman for Ares, said Nikolaichik was a victim of “punitive psychiatry” after being summoned for questioning by local prosecutors on February 1st. Svetovidov said that they initially tried to fabricate a charge of attempted murder against Nikolaichik and then called a doctor who certified him as mentally unstable.


February 7:

Yevgeny Chivilikhin, president of the Moscow Markets and Fairs Guild, has been shot dead in what police are certain was a contract killing, Gazeta.ru reports. Chivilikhin, a co-founder of the Timiryazevsky market complex in Moscow, was killed near his home on Leningradsky Prospekt in the Russian capital. In 2006, he narrowly escaped assassination when a bomb exploded at his apartment building’s entranceway seconds after he walked through it.


February 8:

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has announced that it will not send observers to monitor Russia’s presidential campaign and March 2nd election, the New York Times reports. “We made every effort in good faith to deploy our mission, even under the conditions imposed by the Russian authorities,” ODIHR Director Christian Strohal said. “The Russian Federation has created limitations that are not conducive to undertaking election observation.”