Putin Could Be Spymaster or Reformer

By firing Prime Minster Sergei V. Stepashin and his government, President Boris Yeltsin has, for the fourth time in 17 months, thrown Russia and Russia observers into chaos.

This move comes at a time when reform has stalled and ethnic conflict is brewing in the Russian north Caucasus. With his decision to designate Vladimir V. Putin as his choice for prime minister, as well as his successor for the July 2000 presidential election, Yeltsin has given Russians a new figure on whom to pin their hopes and fears.

At first glance, Putin’s elevation is a choice that is not likely to sit well with advocates of democratic reform. He is the current chief of the Federal Security Service (FSB), and a 15-year veteran of the FSB’s predecessor organization, the KGB.

Under Putin’s watch, the FSB has persecuted former navy Capt. Alexander Nikitin, an environmental researcher whose writing, based on openly available sources, documented nuclear contamination by the Russian northern fleet. Nikitin was charged with treason in 1996 for his actions, and his trial in 1998 ended without a verdict. Last month, a new trial was ordered, which he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Also last month, the FSB opened a new investigation of Prof. Vladimir Soyfer for his work studying the extent and effects of radiation leakage from the accidental sinking of a nuclear submarine off Russia’s Pacific coast. These attacks on environmental researchers and scientists directly threaten the health of Russia and its neighbors, and violate Russian constitutional provisions guaranteeing the public’s right to information on environmental dangers.

Also, reminiscent of Soviet campaigns to control expression and information technology, the FSB has recently taken steps to coerce Russian Internet service providers into submitting all Internet traffic to FSB censorship. Here again, Putin’s agency is a leading threat to freedom and democracy in Russia.

As in previous changes in Russia’s government, however, Russians, Western governments and advocates for human rights, democracy and pluralism search this new leader’s biography for any reasons for optimism. In Putin’s case, his service in the early to mid-1990s with St. Petersburg’s reform-minded mayor, Anatoly A. Sobchak, provides a glimmer of hope. With Putin’s assistance, Sobchak ensured that St. Petersburg--Russia’s second city--would stay committed to reform and out of the control of the Communists.

Also positive, in the eyes of anyone concerned about anti-Semitism, fascism and extremism, were Putin’s remarks in a December 1998 Izvestia interview, in which he declared, “If society does not react sharply and unambiguously to manifestations of extremism, the danger of a repeat of the situation in Germany in 1933-45 will arise.” At a time when anti-Semitic terrorist incidents are becoming all too common in downtown Moscow, a prime minister who understands the dangers that extremism holds for Russia’s minorities, and even the nation’s democracy, is a positive sign.

While the world will have to wait and see what kind of prime minister Putin turns out to be, the preeminence of principle over personality has never been more important. Governments, international financial institutions and nongovernmental organizations should, instead of focusing exclusively on Putin’s biography, present a set of principled actions as a litmus test for his commitment to lead Russia toward a democratic future. These actions should include the following:

* The Russian government must commit itself to an aggressive battle against anti-Semitic terrorists and other extremist forces throughout the country, making it clear that hate will not be part of a new Russian politics.

* The discriminatory Russian law on religion must be reformed, consistent with the Russian Constitution and international human rights agreements.

* The false espionage cases against Nikitin and Soyfer, signs of dangerous repressive tendencies in Russia, must be ended.

* The criminal justice system--including pretrial detention and prison conditions--remains essentially as it was during the Soviet period and is in need of significant reform to promote respect for the rule of law and protect public health.

The world is faced with two very different visions of the man chosen to lead Russia into the 21st century--a spymaster out to squelch free expression or a valiant combatant for democracy and reform. When faced with the principled challenge outlined above, the key question is, “Will the real Vladimir V. Putin please stand up.”