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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Duma Votes to Recall Berezovsky From CIS Post

8 December, 1998 - 00:00

The Russian State Duma has turned to the CIS Council of Heads of State,
asking that Boris Berezovsky be fired as CIS Executive Secretary because
of his statement about the need to ban the Communist Party of the Russian
Federation.

The resolution received 226 votes and, among other things, it requests
that Russia's Procurator General's office to provide a "legal assessment"
of Mr. Berezovsky's statements aimed at "destabilizing the domestic political
situation in the Russian Federation, provoking anticommunist hysteria,
along with infringing the rights and freedoms of RF citizens."

In an interview in Oslo with Moscow's ORT, Mr. Berezovsky said this
was further convincing evidence that the Communist Party should be outlawed,
and that the Duma should know better than portray his political convictions
as an obstacle to his carrying out his duty.

It is possible that by passing this resolution the Communist-dominated
Duma was just letting off steam, and it is just as unlikely that the Procurator
General or CIS Council will be in any hurry to implement it. It is something
else that makes the situation so interesting. Mr. Berezovsky's candidacy
as CIS Executive Secretary (he is a frequent guest to Kyiv and is said
to claim an interest in Ukrtelekom and several enterprises in the Crimea)
was proposed by Leonid Kuchma, who could not have been oblivious to the
fact that nobody in Russia would swear under oath to his nominee's sterling
reputation as a legitimate businessman; the media he does not control portrays
him as an extremely odious political figure. In today's Russia Mr. Berezovsky
is increasingly often accused of having been involved in or with the assassination
of Vlad Listiev, a famous television personality. No one has as yet denied
the allegation by Aleksandr Korzhakov, President Yeltsin's former chief
bodyguard that he is blackmailing the Russian President's family.

Kyiv has so far made no official response to the Duma resolution and
possible changes in Mr. Berezovsky's political career. The Day was
told by both the Foreign Ministry and Presidential Administration that
this is purely a Russian internal affair.

 

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