The Scotsman, January 29, 2001, Monday
FAMILY ROW SETTLED BY FAVOURITE SON PUTIN
Chris Stephen In Moscow
RUSSIA'S president has underlined his transition from servant into master
by dumping the two men who put him in the Kremlin.
Last week his parliamentary allies voted to lift the absolute immunity from
prosecution that had been enjoyed by the former president, Boris Yeltsin.
And now Mr Putin's former mentor, the former Kremlin property manager,
Pavel Borodin, has been told nothing will be done to save him from
answering charges of multi-million pound theft in Swiss courts. The two
cases are separate, but together they seal a year in which Mr Putin,
installed to protect Mr Yeltsin and his followers, has in fact routed most
of them, one by one, from positions of power.
Mr Yeltsin picked Mr Putin as his prime minister in 1999, and his
replacement as president in January of last year, in return for a decree by
the new president giving him immunity from the growing number of corruption
investigations closing in on him. Now Mr Yeltsin will be looking over his
shoulder after the Duma, led by Mr Putin's Unity Party, last week voted
itself the power to strip him of this immunity if prosecutors decided to
bring "serious charges" against him.
Mr Borodin - the man who brought Mr Putin into the Kremlin as his deputy in
the mid-1990s - has been told the government will do nothing to save him
from answering theft charges in Switzerland. Indicted on a Swiss Interpol
warrant, he was arrested at a New York airport en route to President George
Bush's inauguration.
Mr Borodin is accused of taking GBP 18 million in bribes in return for
awarding two Swiss firms contracts to restore the Kremlin. Officially,
Russia's government objects to the Swiss extradition case now winding
through the US courts. Unofficially, the Kremlin seems almost relieved that
a man who was also investigated by Russian prosecutors is out of the way.
Mr Putin has maintained a studied silence on the issue.
Mr Borodin's fate appears to be sealed now that his job, as secretary of
the largely ceremonial Union of Russia and Belarus, has been given to
someone else. In its haste, Russia has not only decided not to wait for his
trial, but did not even inform Belarus, which is supposed to make the
appointment jointly with Moscow. The move completes a remarkable transition
for Mr Putin who, as a low-ranking KGB officer, arrived on the government
stage with almost no political experience. One year ago, Mr Putin, who
eventually rose to be head of the secret police, was installed as president
by an ailing Mr Yeltsin in an attempt to find someone to beat the rising
opposition parties.
Mr Putin's war in Chechnya and tough-anti corruption moves have seen him do
just that - but now he has turned his guns on the so-called "Family" - Mr
Yeltsin's entourage of politicians and tycoons. First to go were two media
tycoons, Boris Berezovsky, a key "Family" member, and Vladimir Gusinsky, a
former Yeltsin supporter. Both are now exiles being chased by the courts.
Next were the country's 98 regional governors, installed as corrupt barons
in return for their loyalty to Mr Yeltsin. Mr Putin kicked the governors
out of the upper house of parliament and installed seven "super governors"
to watch over them.
Then he turned on the mighty companies - whose bosses were part of the
"Family" and included the largest gas, oil, energy and car companies -
placing them under investigation for tax offences.
Finally, key jobs have been given to Mr Putin's former KGB colleagues, most
notably the leadership of the security council, the second most important
job in the country, held by Sergei Ivanov. Last week, the FSB (formerlyKGB)
was given control of the Chechen war - a humiliation for the army.
There are many who believe Mr Borodin was pressurised into flying to New
York, under threat of a more far-reaching prosecution by the Russian courts
if he stayed.
"I take my hat off to Putin, he is brilliant," said Natalia Babasyan, a
Moscow political analyst. "Borodin was very much part of the 'Family', but
Putin decided to get rid of him. Putin couldn't be seen to do it himself.
So he is making it happen with the hands of the Americans."
Neither Mr Borodin nor Mr Yeltsin are yet convicted of anything. But Mr
Borodin will be lucky to escape jail once extradited to Switzerland, while
Mr Yeltsin will be at the mercy of the state prosecutor. The two may also
be linked to the possible prosecution of Mr Yeltsin's daughters, Tatyana
Dyachenko and Yelena Okulova, accused by the Swiss of taking bribes from
the same Swiss companies involved with Mr Borodin.
Louis Proyect
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