Russia after the fall of Soviet Union was facing tremendous challenges to survive. Apart from the social chaos, governance was difficult. Vladimir Putin gave solid administration. It is important to continue the reforms initiated and grip over the nation. Without adequate reforms and single focus the country will be difficult to move in the path of progress.
Vladimir Rudayahi write in The Hindu, 11.3.2009,
On a crisp and frosty day in January, a group of holidaymakers climbed into a helicopter in the remote Siberian town of Biisk for a hunting trip in the snow-clad mountains of Russia’s pristine Altai region.
What was to become an exciting adventure turned into a catastrophe when the helicopter crashed on a hillside, killing seven out of the 11 people on board. The news made headlines because senior government officials and members of the Dmitry Medvedev administration were among the passengers, including the presidential envoy to the Duma, Lower House of Parliament.
The accident proved more than a tragic loss of life. It transpired that the officials had been poaching from the helicopter — a double criminal offence under Russian law punishable with up to two years in prison. Those on the fatal expedition had licence for hunting Siberian goats and red deer but photos from the crash site showed carcass of the rare species of argali among the wreckage. The argali are the largest wild sheep in the world, and their curly horns, weighing around 50 kg, are prized as hunting trophies. They are also one of the most endangered species, whose population does not exceed 20,000-30,000. Hunting of these animals has been banned in Russia since 1934, but that did not stop the high-placed poachers from killing several of them before their helicopter went down.
What made the case even more scandalous was the presence on board of the Altai Republic’s top official charged with protecting the wildlife of the region. The poaching scandal came as a major embarrassment to Mr. Medvedev. Assuming the office of President a year ago, he vowed to address on priority the problem of massive disregard for the law in Russia, primarily among the bureaucracy. He even labelled Russia as a country of legal nihilism, stating it was one of “our most serious problems.” Two months after he blasted the legal nihilism of the bloated and corrupt bureaucracy in his first state-of-the-nation address, his personal representative in the top legislative body flagrantly breached the law, shooting rare animals despite an explicit ban.
Disturbingly popular Poaching from helicopters has recently become disturbingly popular among Russia’s elites, who are pretty much sure that their power and money will give them immunity from prosecution. Even in those rare instances when such stories spill out in the media, poachers get away with murder, pulling strings to suppress investigation.
Russians are famous for breaking the law. Nowhere is this more evident than on roads. They drive under the influence of alcohol, jump traffic lights and when caught by police would rather offer a bribe than pay a fine. But that is peanuts compared to the abuses committed by government officials on a daily basis.
Corruption in government, which Mr. Medvedev regards as a manifestation of legal nihilism, assumed endemic proportions under his predecessor, Vladimir Putin. Last year, Mr. Medvedev publicly bemoaned the outrageous fact that ministerial positions were up for sale. According to independent estimates, a third of Russia’s annual budget ends up in the pockets of bureaucrats and other officials.
In its annual survey of 180 countries released last September, Transparency International, a watchdog group, ranked Russia 147th with Bangladesh, Kenya and Syria in transparency and rule of law. Mr. Medvedev began his fight against legal nihilism, getting Parliament to adopt a package of anti-corruption laws and promoting a judicial reform to make courts more transparent and independent of outside pressure. “I’m going to pay special attention to the fundamental role of the law,” he said in his inauguration speech. “We must achieve a true respect in law, and overcome the legal nihilism, which is hampering modern development.”
Loopholes
Mr. Putin also began his presidency with a vow to assert the diktat of the law but eventually gave up on efforts to control corruption. Mr. Medvedev’s initiatives likewise have met with fierce opposition from the bureaucratic corporation. The anti-corruption legislation was adopted with major loopholes. For example, it requires government officials and their spouses, but not adult children, to disclose the sources of their income. Worse, the battle against corruption has been entrusted to the same law-enforcement agencies that are steeped in corruption.
Mr. Medvedev did score a victory last month when the head of the Moscow Arbitration Court was sacked and stripped of her professional qualifications on charges of corruption. Never before was a senior judge axed in Russia. It took Mr. Medvedev’s appointee, Chairman of the Federal High Arbitration Court Anton Ivanov, nearly a year to get the Supreme Qualification Board of Judges to remove just one disgraced judge.
Mr. Medvedev appears to be aware of the enormity of the problem of legal nihilism in a country where graft is a way of life and a grave disease that eats away at the economy and corrodes the whole society. It will take a more radical medicine than new legislation to cure this disease. The global economic crisis has spurred demands for fundamental changes in the government, with Mr. Medvedev’s top Kremlin adviser calling for a sweeping overhaul of the ruling elites.
“The present elite, who are, above all bureaucratic, must be replaced by a new elite who will be more open to society,” the chief of the President’s Experts Directorate, Arkady Dvorkovich, said on an economic forum in Krasnoyarsk last month.
Mr. Medvedev has taken a first step in the direction of major personnel changes, approving last month a presidential reserve list of 100 potential recruits for top official posts. The list was put together by independent experts on the basis of merit and includes many young people who have made a successful career in the world of business. It will eventually expand to include 20,000 names in the age bracket 25-50.
The brightest of the bright are being drawn from the same professional classes that favour major political reforms. A survey of 1,003 respondents conducted by Nikkolo M, a leading political consulting group, showed that a strong majority of professionals employed in public administration, defence and law-enforcement, business, health care, science, education and the mass media advocate reform of the system of government to ensure genuine political competition, separation of powers, government openness and accountability to society and, ultimately, the supremacy of law in society including over the governing authorities.
Many analysts believe that for the reforms to succeed, the political will at the top should be backed by public pressure from below.
The illegal sheep hunt in the Altai Mountains has generated pressure for change. Angered over the attempts of authorities to hush up the case, hundreds of protesters staged demonstrations in Altai and Moscow. Russia’s World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Greenpeace demanded that the survivors of the helicopter crash be brought to trial for poaching. Residents of the Kosh-Agach region of Altai, where the rare sheep were killed, have decided to give up hunting animals for 10 years, and a campaign is building up to extend the hunting moratorium to the whole of the Altai Republic.
Public outcry
As the scandal gathered momentum, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic, who was on the helicopter, tendered his resignation. But despite the public outcry, the prosecutor’s office refused to bring charges of illegal hunting against him and other survivors, and opened the case only on the violation of air safety rules. A senior prosecutor accused the media of distorting facts. Ecologists and others fear that the investigators will try to whitewash the poachers as it happened in a similar case.
For many Russians, the outcome of the Altai poaching case will be a litmus test of Mr. Medvedev’s grip on power and commitment to democratic reforms. Two months, ago he allowed viewers on his video blog to post comments. He became the first Russian leader to launch a personal blog, and opening it for comments served to emphasise his democratic credentials. However, such openness proved a difficult test for the President and his team. Posts related to the Altai helicopter crash were initially blocked from appearing on Mr. Medvedev’s blog, and when they were eventually allowed, the President got an earful.
One blogger asked: “How come the people who write laws break them so blatantly? Are we to understand that laws are written for everybody but the powers-that-be?”
“Do your bureaucrats have a licence to do anything? What about fighting legal nihilism,” queried another viewer. Mr. Medvedev is yet to respond.
Medvedev has several tasks cutout. He needs to immediately act on those urgent challenges to push his nation in the direction of progress. Although he lacks the charisma and iron strength of Putin, his vast experience can help the nation to move forward.
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