Seems like Putin is longing for the good ole' days of the Cold War
Saturday, 9 October, 2004, 11:16 GMT 12:16 UK
Back in the USSR?
"Welcome back to the Soviet Union!"
That was the response of one Russian journalist in Moscow recently when I asked what he thought of President Vladimir Putin's plan to abolish popular elections so he could appoint Russia's governors.
It was a typically gloomy reaction. And one that seemed to fit the mood in Russia after the Beslan tragedy.
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"This is a key moment. It is like 1991 all over again. This is creeping authoritarianism.
"The Kremlin is being run by 'siloviki', mostly former KGB contacts of Putin's. Putin is obsessed with the idea of Russia disintegrating.
Free Speech in Putin's Russia
Russia's Media: Back to the USSR?
By BORIS PUSTINTSEV
Director, Citizens` Watch
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The absence of a law on freedom of information essentially renders meaningless the right to access information enshrined in Article 29 of the Russian Federation Constitution. With its traditional authoritarian habits, the executive branch generally has demonstrated an unwillingness to follow the spirit and the letter of the constitution. Officials who retain their old obkom arrogance have sought to obscure realities of government and in effect invalidate the citizens` rights to obtain information concerning the activities of the bureaucracy.
But the government did not limit itself to sabotaging the constitution; it strove to find a legal means of affirming its sole authority over all the information it obtains. The 1995 "Law Concerning Information, Information Provision, and Protection of Information" solidified the government monopoly. In law-based states an official has to ground his refusal to make certain information public in a legal argument, the burden is on the official. In Russia, the journalist has to prove his legal claim to obtain the information he is seeking from the official.
The head of Russia's last national independent television station has angrily blamed President Vladimir Putin for its forced closure.
The authorities pulled the plug on TV6 at midnight on Monday, abruptly ending its transmissions.