Vladimir Putin, Another in the Long Line of Russian Enigmas

Vladimir Putin, Another in the Long Line of Russian Enigmas

Dave Francis

TV6 is gone. Shut down by the courts in Russia, it is being decried as a loss of freedom of the press in a country that has no tradition of a free press, and where, frankly speaking, the people don’t seem particularly happy with a wide variety of news sources.

The story begins… actually, I don’t think anyone knows where the story begins. It is more convoluted than Bill Clinton answering an indictment, and the more I try to understand it, the better I am able to understand the Russian fixation with vodka.

In a nutshell, what happened is this. A very good man, named Boris Berezovsky owned a TV station in Russia. That TV station was the most critical of the government. That station has been closed, and the staff cast to the wind. That is one version

Another version is this. A very bad man named Boris Berezovsky owned a TV station and used it to attack the Kremlin. He also cheated the minority stockholders, one of which is Russia’s largest oil company, Lukoil. Lukoil is controlled by, you guessed it, The Kremlin, so Lukoil sued, and TV 6 has been shut down. Bankrupt.

The international community has been very critical, claiming the Kremlin has influenced the court to rule in Lukoil’s favor, and Vladimir Putin has countered by asking ‘What would you have me do? Interfere with the court’s decision? Where is there an independent justice system in that?”

There is no doubt that TV6 was much watched, and there is no doubt that it was critical of the government. As such, most freedom-types like me consider it an asset. But an asset at what cost? Should Lukoil’s pension system be financing Boris Berezovsky’s battle with The Kremlin? At the same time, why doesn’t Lukoil divest itself of its TV6 holdings, and put it into something else? (It could have gotten into Enron stock a few months ago and really made this whole thing interesting.)

I usually have a knack for cutting through the crap and getting to the bottom of an issue, so here goes.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I can do that here. These people have built a conundrum that is indecipherable.

All my instincts tell me that Vladimir Putin, who rumor has it may be the long lost brother of the evil and capable James Carville, is smoothly orchestrating the demise of an independent voice. This is, after all, the same man who recently praised a journalist for ‘continuing in the journalistic tradition established under the Soviet Union….’ This was a tradition once described as writing advertisements for a death camp. Putin has built his entire professional life as a member of the government, and a particularly odious government. He was, as most of you know, a member of the KGB for most of his working years. From there, he went on to work for Boris Yeltsin, in Yeltsin’s later years. Mix in a stint working with the city government in St. Petersburg, long hailed the crime capital of Russia, (Venice of the North in more ways than one…) and you could build a very scary scenario.

Up against that, you have Vladimir Putin saying that if the dissident voices inside TV 6 want to apply for the license that is going to become vacant, they will ‘almost certainly’ have it granted to them. Couple that with the fact that at almost every conceivable turn Putin’s actions have been moving toward a more friendly environment with the west. Putin was one of the first world leader to call George Bush after the WTC attacks. He offered unqualified support, and delivered when called upon. His support has left us in a position of not needing our bases in Saudi Arabia near as much in order to conduct operations. Russia sent troops into Afghanistan, helping to guide US Special Forces. This was a particularly bold move on The Kremlins part, since Afghanistan is considered here to be very similar to the US experience in Vietnam. Add that to his token resistance to the US abandonment of the ABM treaty, his capable management of the Russian economy toward a freer and less corrupt system, and his reaching out in real ways to the west, and you have what may be a really new kind of leader in Russia.

If the now unemployed staff from TV 6 apply for the license, and it is granted to them, financing to start operations is waiting. (Even Lukoil may invest again, who knows?) In that event, we would end up with the same staff, same editorial policies, and a Russian President who has demonstrated that it isn’t the freedom of the press he is against, but the corrupt rule of oligarchs such as Berezovsky who have robbed the Russian government of billions of dollars.

If it shakes out like that, Berezovsky would be the only person really getting screwed. That may be too bad, but if that is the extent of it, I can live with that. Berezovsky achieved billionaire status in a few short years by plundering a system in the confusion of its collapse. If his ability to dodge the law by living abroad and lobbing charges at the legally elected Russian government, using a TV station subsidized by the same government, is derailed by an independent judiciary ruling for an aggrieved party in a lawsuit, (That is so funny sounding that, bad as I want to, I don’t even believe it.) that is just too bad I guess. Then again, if Putin’s government found a quasi-legal way to screw this guy as a way of getting even for the damage he has done to Russia through his corrupt dealings, to quote comedian Chris Rock, “I ain’t sayin’ its right, but I understand.”