Our man in Moscow, Rob Parsons, answered your
questions LIVE.
Rob Parsons has been Moscow
correspondent twice. First, in March
1993 for three and a half years during
a time of immense flux in Russia.
He covered 3 Russian elections and
the 50th anniversary of Second World
War.
He then become a senior trainer at the BBC, teaching
TV skills to young journalists in Georgia and Moscow.
He returned to Moscow as a
correspondent in June 1997.
Rob has a political science degree
with a postgraduate diploma in
Russian and a PhD on nationalism
in Soviet Georgia. He speaks
Russian and Georgian fluently.
Read Rob Parsons' answers to questions sent in by
our users from all around the globe, which we put
to him live.
Jeff-Seth Chanowitz, USA: At this point, do you think
anyone in Russia has faith in the Democratic system
following the recent events and the recent political killing
in St. Petersburg? Do you see a similarity with the
situation of 1917 before the collapse of another
Democratic government?
Rob Parsons: Well, I think it's probably fair to say that
faith in the Democratic system here is now falling off very
fast. People are very cynical now about the way things
are going, nobody has much faith in Russia's politicians.
There doesn't seem to be a new generation coming in.
The Communist Party is still more or less there, there
are no new political parties. These are still early days of
course. Russia's democracy has only been in place for a
few years. Enormous political and economic problems
need to be overcome.
I'm not really sure that there is an analogy to be drawn
with 1917. The biggest difference I suppose between now
and then is that in 1917 Russia was involved in the
biggest wars of this century. It had taken a real
pummelling on its various fronts. The army was in
disarray, desertion was rife and the main driving force in
many respects for the revolution in 1917 was the army.
That simply is not the case at the present time.
Vitaly Tyurin, USA: What do you think will happen to
the Russian economy, and what measures should the
Russian Government take to improve it?
Rob Parsons: Clearly an awful lot needs to be done,
and it has to be said that the outlook sitting here in
Moscow for the Russian economy does not look
particularly bright. But there are some obvious things
which I'd have thought would strike anybody. The ground
rules for instance for anybody wanting to invest in the
economy should be the same. There should be rule of
law, something should be done to end the corruption that
pollutes the system, something should be done to haul
in Russia's own elite who have been plundering the
system to their own advantage for a long time now. More
needs to be done to formalise the revenue system to
make sure taxes are brought in an equable sort of way.
Agricultural reform needs to be addressed as well. A
very large part of the population of Russia lives in the
countryside and live off the land. Very little has been
done to reform agriculture in the years since the break
up of the Soviet Union. There is no sale of land at the
moment which makes it extremely difficult for farmers
who are wanting to go out and buy up their own farms to
get collateral so they can invest in their own equipment
and seed and that sort of thing. There are a whole series
of things that need to be done.
Uros Zivkovic, Yugoslavia: Do you think that the
Yeltsin impeachment process and replacement of Mr.
Primakov has any thing to do with the Kosovo crisis?
Rob Parsons: In short no, I don't think so. Yeltsin's
impeachment process began long ago. In fact, if you
look at the charges against Mr Yeltsin, they all relate
before 1996, well before the start of the Kosovo crisis.
For instance, that he was responsible for the break-up of
the Soviet Union, that he was responsible for the
storming of the White House (the Russian Parliament
building) in 1993.
As for Mr Primakov, I suppose one could argue that
there was some sort of relationship. I think Mr Yeltsin
was a little irritated by Mr Primakov's policies on Kosovo.
He felt I think that he became too anti-Western at one
point and was very quick to change him with Mr
Chernomyrdin who's Russia's special envoy to
Yugoslavia. So one could argue that there's a slight link
there, but by and large I would say that there isn't much
of a link.
Dave Bood, England: What is the general feeling in
Russia at the Nato bombing of Serbia, and do Russians
feel that there armed forces should get involved
especially if we send in the ground troops?
Rob Parsons: I think the general feeling is very opposed
to Nato's involvement in Yugoslavia. I haven't seen
Russian public opinion so agitated over anything since I
came here. Having said that, I don't really believe that
the Russians want to become involved in the fighting in
Yugoslavia. There are much more important things for
them. They are much more concerned about their
standard of living. They don't want Russia to become
involved in any sort of fighting. People say that the last
thing we want is war, we want peace. So although they
are critical of what Nato is doing in Yugoslavia, it's not
so important to them that they would want to become
involved.
Marshall Yager, USA: What is your assessment of Yuri
Luzhkov's role in this current crisis, and what support
has he offered Yeltsin?
Rob Parsons: For those who do not know who Mr
Luzhkov is, he is the mayor of Moscow and very much a
front runner to be the president of Russia. He's played it
very cautiously indeed, one might say cunningly. He has
kept on the sidelines, he hasn't been particularly critical
of one side or another. The reason for that is I think that
Mr Primakov, the former prime minister, was pretty much
Russia's most popular politician. He was thought of as
the frontrunner for the presidential race if he was going to
run. With Mr Primakov now out of the way, the man who
very much looks like the favourite is Mr Luzhkov. So he
certainly benefited greatly from Mr Primakov's political
demise.
Rupert Goodwins, UK: How stable are the Russian
armed forces, in particular those in charge of nuclear
missiles? If an ultra-nationalistic group gained political
power, would the armed forces support them if they tried
to use the threat of nuclear attack as an international
bargaining tool?
Rob Parsons: I don't think we should be too alarmist
about this. I really don't think there's very much chance
that there's going to be a political take-over by an
ultra-nationalistic group in Russia. There are a few
ultra-nationalistic groups around at the moment, but
they're pretty much on the fringes, very small indeed,
they're not part of the political mainstream here.
Nationalism however is becoming part of the political
mainstream here, and Mr Luzhkov who we've been
talking about, is a case in point. He certainly could be
described as a Russian nationalist, but a pragmatic
Russian nationalist, not an ultra-nationalist. What he
believes in is putting Russia's interests first and
foremost. Clearly threatening nuclear attack as an
international bargaining tool would not be part of that.
As for the stability of the Russian armed forces I think it
is fair to say that although they've got enormous
problems at the moment they remain fairly stable.
Russia has been through a number of crises and the
armed forces haven't become involved despite the
temptation to do so and despite the efforts of some of
Russia's more radical politicians to tempt them into the
political arena. So for the moment at least it looks like
things are looking pretty stable there that they won't
become involved in politics. As for those in charge of the
nuclear missiles they are certainly the most stable
element within the Russian armed forces.
Dino Surendran, South Africa: Can the army step in?
A coup might not be a bad alternative at this point to the
Russian people.
Rob Parsons: I think it extremely unlikely that the army
will step in, of course the possibility exists that it could
and there are Russian politicians who have in the past
encouraged the army to step in, indeed Mr Yeltsin used
the army in 1993 against the parliament of that time.
However I think it extremely unlikely that it's going to
happen. Most people don't want the army to be involved
in politics. They have bad memories in the past of the
Russian army's involvement in politics, 1917 for
instance, and they don't want it to happen again. I think
most Russian people would be horrified at the thought of
another coup, what they want is political stability.
Maryanne Kehoe, USA: What is the current mood
amongst the Moscow media "elite" in regards to the
current government crisis. It is a matter of "business as
usual" or is there some genuine concern down the road,
that with the instability of the health of Boris Yeltsin, that
some factions of the government could take control of
the media and as such return to Soviet-style media
censorship?
Rob Parsons: That's a very big question. We can't really
talk about Moscow media elite in general terms. I
suppose, by and large, it is pretty much business as
usual. I don't think most people are particularly alarmed
at the moment. There are certainly occassional frissons
of alarm, for example during last week's crisis.
Generally, I would say that they feel that the media are
pretty stable at the moment, that it has become well
established.
In fact, whatever criticisms one might level at President
Yeltsin and his governments over the last few years,
media freedom is not one of them. Media freedom is
much more an established part of Russia that anyone
could have expected, I think. There are other reasons for
being fairly confident about the future. Private radio for
instance has mushroomed here in Russia, private
television also and of course the internet.
Oyvind Larsen, Norway: The Western media portrays
Boris Yeltsin as a raving, sick man, somewhat incapable
of governing a former superpower. How does the Russian
media portray him and how do ordinary Russians react?
Rob Parsons: I suppose it depends which part of the
media. Television and radio is much more cautious than
the print media. Certainly one senses that the tv and
radio aren't happy with President Yeltsin, that they feel
that he has gone on in power far longer than he should
have done. But the newspapers are particularly harsh on
him, some of the more radical ones, the ones that are
known in Russia as the 'yellow press', they do in many
cases portray him as a raving old man who shouldn't be
in power, who's simple, who by being in office humiliates
the country internationally. Yet there are others of
course who do support Mr Yeltsin, who believe he is the
only man who can run Russia at this moment. But
certainly the longer that Mr Yeltsin has stayed on in
power the more critical the media have become of him.
Steve Mills, UK: Do they sell a good curry in Moscow?
Rob Parsons: It's a good question Steve, the answer is
yes they do. There aren't that many Indian restaurants,
but there are quite a few now. When I first came here I
think there was just one, but now there are a number.
There's one in particular called the Dahr Bar which is as
good as I've been to in any country in the world.
Alec Cater, Canada: What percentage of votes is
needed for the Duma to vote down Primakov's
replacement?
Rob Parsons: Well, it's not complicated, it's a straight
majority. So, they will be voting on Wednesday probably
on Mr Primakov's replacement, Sergei Stepashin,
Russia's top policeman. They simply have to get a
straight majority. It's not like, for instance, the vote that
we have just seen on impeachment where parliament
needed to get a two-thirds majority. If they reject Mr
Stepashin, Mr Yeltsin can submit him again, parliament
could reject him again. This could happen three times. If
that happens, then Mr Yeltsin will have the option of
dissolving parliament.
Marika S. Karayianni, Greece: What will it take to
throw away the major source of Russia's problems - the
Mafia? Is an operation ''clean hands'' like the one that
took place years ago in Italy suitable in the case of
Russia?
Rob Parsons: There are of course some similarities but
I wouldn't want to push this too far. The origins of the
Mafia in Italy and in Russia are quite different. In Russia I
think it is really a question of chicken and egg, which
comes first here. Is the Mafia an offshoot of Russia's
wider problems or is it the cause of the problems? I think
the answer is that it is really a result of Russia's wider
problems. Getting rid of the Mafia doesn't solve the
problem because you've no sooner got rid of one bit of
Mafia than you get another one. You've got to solve the
underlying problems before you do anything else.
Stephen Roots, UK: For the sake of balance, at the
very least why do we not hear from the ordinary people of
Russia as to their views on the Balkans and how they
regard the priorities of their democratic government?
Rob Parsons: Well I think we do, to be quite fair about
this, certainly here in Moscow we go out of our way to
get the views of ordinary Russians. By and large, I think
we've made it clear that most Russian people are
extremely opposed to the conflict in Yugoslavia. But as
I've just been saying, they don't feel so strongly about it
that they want to become involved in the conflict in any
way, they don't want the Russian Government to
become closer involved in it. What they want is for their
economic problems to be solved, for there to be stability
inside the country so that they can get on with their own
lives.
Joy Browne, USA: Has the current problem in Kosovo
changed public sentiment toward foreigners? I lived in
Vladivostok for the past four years with my family, do
you see a potential for civil disorder?
Rob Parsons: At the start of the Yugoslav conflict there
was a little bit of concern, particularly among American
citizens living here in Moscow that that would happen.
There was a little bit of paranoia, I have to say, among
many Americans living here. My own feeling is that
public sentiment toward foreigners hasn't really changed
at all. I haven't experience any hostility outside of
political circles where the atmosphere can sometimes
be a little more charged. By and large I wouldn't say that
Russians have been any more hostile to me or to
anyone else that I know since the start of the conflict.
Jaspreet Oberai, UK: Do you think that the present
crisis in Yugoslavia marks the end of the honeymoon
period in Russian-Western relations? Do you think the
West squandered the opportunities offered by such a
window of opportunity?
Rob Parsons: I think it probably does mark the end of
the honeymoon period in Russian-Western relations,
whether or not the West squandered an opportunity or
not I don't know. The problems between Russia and the
West were too big to overcome really. But yes I think it
does mark the end of the honeymoon. Perhaps there
have been other smaller points as well, for instance the
conflict in Iraq and in Bosnia too, but I think this hit
home harder with ordinary Russian people. I think at this
point ordinary Russian people felt 'we've been pushed
around by the West long enough. They don't want to pay
any attention to us any more. Let's stop pretending the
West is ready to welcome us into its own camp. We're
on the outside we've got to look after ourselves'.
Mike Westman, England: What advice would you give
to British firms thinking of exporting to Russia?
Rob Parsons: Well, I would advise that they should
think very carefully about it indeed. There are enormous
opportunities in Russia and many companies have come
here and made a lot of money. Others of course, have
come here and have been burnt. I think the obvious thing
to do is do your research before you come here, don't
come here without knowing what you are going to get
involved in. Talk to institutions, or for instance the British
Chamber of Commerce or the commercial section of the
British Embassy for advice before you come here. If you
have any colleagues or know of any firms that have been
here, talk to them as well. Don't come here without
testing the water first.
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