Russia 110505 Basic Political Developments

Russia awaits 'Kremlin poodle' trial as rocker takes on critic Troitsky

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2011/may/04/russia-awaits-kremlin-poodle-trial

Guitarist takes music reviewer to court over slur but opposition claims case is latest spat between Kremlin and free-speaking cultural elite

Tom Parfitt in Moscow

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 4 May 2011 21.31 BST

Heard the one about the poodle, the goth and the Kremlin ideologue?

It sounds like a bad joke, but that is the riddle in Moscow as Russia's most famous music critic, Artemy Troitsky, 55, prepares to go on trial for allegedly insulting an equally celebrated rock star.

Criminal proceedings are being brought by Vadim Samoylov, the lank-haired former singer and guitarist of Agata Kristi (Agatha Christie), Russia's answer to the Sisters of Mercy.

The 46-year-old claims he was slandered when Troitsky, who became a legend during the Soviet era, called him a "trained poodle for Surkov" in a TV documentary broadcast in January about musicians who collaborate with people in power.

Vladislav Surkov is the first deputy chief of staff to president, and Deep Purple fan, Dmitry Medvedev, and is often called the grey cardinal of Russian politics. He wrote songs for a gloomy 2004 album called Peninsulas performed by Samoylov.

A first hearing in the case was due to start on Wednesday but was postponed because Troitsky was ill. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted of publicly insulting Samoylov. In a separate civil suit the musician has demanded 1m roubles (£22,000) in compensation.

The prosecution is being seen as much more than just a case of studded leather handbags. Over the last year there have been a series of clashes pitting Russia's ruling elite against opposition-leaning musicians and other cultural figures. The sharpest was when Yury Shevchuk of veteran rock band DDT upbraided Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, during a televised meeting, questioning whether Putin wanted "real liberalisation and democratisation for a real country, where public organisations are not suffocated and where people don't feel scared of a policeman on the street".

Earlier this year the vivacious former ballerina with the Bolshoi theatre, Anastasiya Volochkova, resigned from Putin's United Russia party with an expletive ridden tirade, saying she had been "used" and tricked into criticising the jailed oil tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovksy.

Troitsky is already being prosecuted in a separate criminal slander case after calling a policeman "one of the foulest cops in Russia".

The officer was involved in investigating a controversial car crash when two women were killed by an oil executive's car. Troitsky lost a civil case connected to the incident last month.Speaking in a phone interview, Troitsky said he believed the "poodle prosecution" was "not Samoylov's initiative", adding: "These court cases are a staged and programmed campaign against me. It's an attempt to teach me a lesson, to tame me, to get me to shut my mouth and to show how public figures in modern Russia should behave."

Troitsky said the fact he had arranged for Yuri Shevchuk, frontman of the rock band DDT and a critic of Vladimir Putin, to appear on stage with Bono when U2 came to Russia last year was one reason he had upset the authorities.

A spokesman for Samoylov refused to comment on the case.

Russia's government has made several attempts to co-opt popular musicians for political gain in recent years. One of the first was Surkov's meeting with prominent bands in 2005. That rendezvous came shortly after the orange revolution in Ukraine, when Ukrainian rockers such as Okean Elzy whipped up the crowds.

"The Kremin became very nervous that our musicians might start trying on orange clothes themselves," said Troitsky.

He added: "Now, in the last year, our society has started showing signs of life and protest. The authorities want to get the loyalty of well-known artists in case of political turbulence ahead."

In another sign of tension between politicians and Russia's cultural intelligentsia last week, a popular poet did not attend a meeting to which Putin invited artists and performers.

Dmitry Bykov, who is known for caustic pastiches of classical Russian poetry, instead published a series of verses in which he mockingly compared the prime minister to a "tsar" with a "tough style and a voice of metal".

Bykov refused to comment when contacted by the Guardian, but gave a hint of his contempt for Putin's gathering. "I write so many books and all you want to ask me about whether or not I went to meet some third-rate politician," he said.

The national non-payment system

http://rt.com/politics/press/izvestiya/russia-payment-information-bill/en/
Published: 5 May, 2011, 04:25
Edited: 5 May, 2011, 04:25
Aleksandra Ponomaryova

The scandalous bill on the National Payment System (NPS) will be reviewed by deputies in May. Member of the State Duma Financial Markets Committee, Anatoly Aksakov, told Izvestia that the section, which practically prohibits the international payment systems Visa and MasterCard from operating in Russia, remains unchanged.

The bill successfully passed its first reading last year. And during the preparations for the second reading, a scandal emerged. An amendment was introduced to the document, which suggested prohibiting the transfer abroad of information on plastic-card operations conducted on the territory of Russia. It also added a requirement to the international payment systems: they were instructed to establish processing centers within the country. This initiative would have primarily affected Visa and MasterCard holders, because all of the payment information is passed through offices in London and other cities of the world, as well as the clients of Russian branches of international banks. Meanwhile, the rule that required the Central Bank to regulate all payments made through terminals was removed from the document. These changes have raised a number of heated discussions in the financial sector, and the bill on the NPS was removed from the State Duma’s plans for April.

“Behind-the-scenes discussions continue. Most likely, the bill will be considered in the second reading in May,” Anatoly Aksakov said on Wednesday. However, the sections of the document which have agitated bankers and card users will remain in place. “Today, they are leaning in favor of processing,” said Aksakov.

This means that the international payment systems will either be forced to spend money on the construction of data-processing centers in Russia or leave the Russian market.

“In Russia, 150 million cards have been issued and the payment systems have billions in turnover, which they clearly don’t want to lose. But all of the costs will be passed on to the consumer,” said Aksakov.

However, not all experts are convinced that the scandalous amendment will pass.

“I think that the amendment won’t pass for a number of reasons. First, it is impossible to restrict the trans-border transfer of information. When banks in Russia’s Far East report to the Central Bank, they send information via satellite. If they so desire, spies can read off this information. Moreover, all bank employees have computers, which are connected to the Internet and which can also be compromised if desired. And secondly, if the amendment is adopted, then we can say farewell to the inflow of investments into Russia and the creation of a financial center in Moscow,” says Chairman of the State Duma Sub-Committee on Banking Legislation, Pavel Medvedev.

For now, other controversial regulations also remain in the draft law. For example, as was noted by the Central Bank’s former deputy chairman, Sergey Aleksashenko, the bill puts in place “an order to accompany transfers of funds with information on the payer.” In other words, after the law comes into effect, all payment terminals will need to be replaced with some other equipment which will transfer passport data, including the registered place of residence.

“Adoption of the draft law in its current form will not reduce the cost of financial services for Russians. Instead, they can only get more expensive,” concludes Dilyara Ibragimova, associate professor of economic sociology at the Higher School of Economics.