In this issue:

Russian Meeting on Morality and Economics Is Addressed by Patriarch

Glazyev To Write Legislation for Patriotic-Orthodox Alliance

Chinese and Russian General Staff Officers Hold Consultations

Foreign Minister Ivanov Stops in the Philippines

From Volume 1, Issue Number 42 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Dec. 23, 2002
Russia and Central Asia News Digest

Russian Meeting on Morality and Economics Is Addressed by Patriarch

The Seventh World Russian Sobor (the old word for a Council, a gathering of leading Russian figures) was held in Moscow Dec. 16-17 at the Church of Christ the Savior. The official theme was morality and economic policy, "Faith and Labor: Spiritual and Cultural Traditions and the Economic Future of Russia." Orthodox Patriarch Aleksi II of Moscow and All Russia addressed the opening session, which Izvestia announced under the headline, "World Russian Sobor To Discuss Threats from Globalization." Member of Parliament Sergei Glazyev took part in the Sobor, according to an announcement on his website. An array of official figures, businessmen, economists and other scientists, and Church and cultural leaders spoke.

On the first day, the conference heard from Academician Dmitri S. Lvov, head of the Economics Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. As he has often done, Academician Lvov warned of demographic disaster in Russia, saying that the young and middle-aged populations, including the "New Russians" who had seemingly benefitted from the 1990s looting of the country, are dying at faster rates than previous generations.

According to a report from RIA Novosti, Academician Lvov focussed on unjust wage levels and the stratification of Russian society. Between 1991 and 2001, he said, a small, well-off stratum saw its income increase by 150%, while all other layers of the population experienced declines of between 2% and 12%. As a result, "we have two Russias"—the first comprising 85% of the population of the Russian Federation, but having only 7% of the national wealth, and the second consisting of 15% of Russians, in whose hands 85% of the national wealth is concentrated.

As he had said at June 2001 State Duma hearings (where Lvov's intervention occasioned Lyndon LaRouche's major article, "On the Subject of Primitive Accumulation," published later that summer), Lvov again argued at this conference that "two-thirds of Russia's revenues were earned from the country's natural resources given to man by God and which had to belong to everybody." Therefore, the assets obtained by Russian oligarchs, essentially free of charge, should be assessed in order to close the gap.

Lvov also proposed to at least triple wage levels in Russia, presenting figures that showed that for one dollar of wages an American produces $1.74 of the U.S. GDP, while a Russian for one dollar of wages produces $4.75 of the Russian GDP.

Glazyev To Write Legislation for Patriotic-Orthodox Alliance

As reported in EIW of Dec. 2 (INDEPTH article: "Will Glazyev Lead Russia Out of Crisis?"), steps are being taken to broaden the Popular Patriotic Union of Russia (NPSR) beyond its Communist Party core, into other layers of the population. It was announced Dec. 13 that agreement was reached between the NPSR and the Russian Union of Orthodox Citizens, after a meeting between their respective leaders, Gennadi Zyuganov and Valentin Lebedev, to launch certain joint political actions. The first action, Interfax reported, was a prayer rally in support of teaching the fundamentals of Orthodox culture in Russian schools.

Next, the two organizations will introduce a bill in the State Duma, on social partnership between Church and State. The bill has been drafted by the economist Sergei Glazyev, who was elected to the Duma on the NPSR slate and is also co-chairman of the Union of Orthodox Citizens.

They plan actions in favor of reunification of Belarus with Russia, and in early 2003 will jointly convene an international conference on the fight against terrorism, inviting "politicians of various views, and leading experts."

Chinese and Russian General Staff Officers Hold Consultations

Officers of the Chinese and Russian Armed Forces' general staffs held their sixth round of regular consultations in Beijing Dec. 16. Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and Yury Baluyevsky, first deputy chief of general staff of Russia, led the consultations, after which Baluyevsky also met Defense Minister Chi Haotian and the new Chief of General Staff, Liang Guanglie.

Liang stated that the Presidential summit between Jiang and Putin had "injected new vitality into bilateral ties." Baluyevsky noted that the Presidents' joint statement "expressed the principle that the two peoples should be friends forever and never become enemies." The sides discussed regional and international security, terrorism, and other issues, including cooperation between the two countries' Armed Forces. Chi Haotian gave a high-level assessment of the consultations, and spoke of the deepening bilateral military relations of the two countries.

Foreign Minister Ivanov Stops in the Philippines

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov held talks with Philippines Foreign Secretary Blas Ople on Dec. 16, then met with President Gloria Arroyo-Macapagal in the afternoon. Discussion of the cooperation against terrorism was to be a central topic. Ivanov was en route to Washington and Tokyo. Ivanov's deputy Aleksandr Losyukov told Interfax, before Ivanov's departure from Moscow, that cooperation between Russia and the Philippines could take the form of an agreement on fighting international terrorism. "In this area we have a fairly wide field of interests, and we expect an active exchange of information," he said.

Ivanov flew to Japan Dec. 17, to prepare a state visit for President Vladimir Putin for Jan. 9-10, and then continued on to Washington to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell, and take part in a "Quartet" diplomatic consultation on the Middle East (the Quartet involves the U.S., Russia, the European Union, and the UN).

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