Old suspicions return to Russia

By Bridget Kendall Diplomatic correspondent in Tomsk, Siberia

Oil baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky is still in custody

Parliamentary elections are being held in Russia next weekend but the recent arrest of an oil tycoon has re-awakened the fears and suspicions of a previous era.

We were ducking into one of Tomsk's coffee shops to defrost our toes and fingers when we saw them - a phalanx of energetic young Russians, striding down the snowy street, flags aloft, with distinctive bright yellow jackets over their winter coats.

They were distributing leaflets for the election, urging support for President Putin's favoured party, United Russia.

These, it seems were the new "agitprop" foot soldiers of the Kremlin, artificially enthusiastic and slightly creepy.

They reminded me of the paid crowds who used to be bussed in to wave banners and shout "Ura!" during parades on Red Square during the Soviet era.

It was about the only sign of electioneering I saw in Tomsk, nearly 2,000 miles east of Moscow, deep in the taiga forests where elk and even bears roam.

Alarm and deep gloom

Who but the Kremlin could afford to campaign here?

But Tomsk isn't exactly what you'd expect from Siberia. Far from being out of touch with the world outside, its inhabitants are proud of their global links and sophistication.

Yes, the cold snow squeaks underfoot, and heavy icicles hang sharp like spears from the carved porches of the few remaining 19th Century log houses.

It turns out we haven't lost the habit of looking over our shoulder. We've precious little confidence in our Russian democracy

But this is a thriving university town where 40% of the population are either students, teachers or educational support staff.

No wonder then, that here more than anywhere else in my three week trip through the Russian provinces, I found alarm and even deep gloom at the turn politics has taken since the arrest of Russia's richest oil magnate, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Moscow squeeze

"It all looks so arbitrary and vindictive. It could well be a turning point, the start of an attempt to clamp down on all of us," mused one journalist at a local TV station.

He had reason to be worried. Yukos, Mr Khodorkovsky's oil company, is a big player in Tomsk: an important benefactor for the local universities, a weighty contributor to the regional budget and a shareholder in the local flagship TV station.

Putin is mistrusted by many people in Tomsk

But already, said the journalist, he and his colleagues had begun to watch what they said.

And not just on air, but on the phone - just in case the security services had started bugging phones again.

"It turns out we haven't lost the habit of looking over our shoulder," he admitted ruefully. "We've precious little confidence in our Russian democracy."

Not only the journalists are nervous. Local politicians are even more wary. Tomsk's governor refused point blank to discuss the issue.

The moment I raised the question of Yukos and Mr Khodorkovsky's arrest, he changed the subject.

Election gimmick

It was the nervousness of a man who has felt the squeeze from Moscow before.

Earlier he'd told me how, during the attempted coup by communist hardliners in 1991, he had received two telegrams from Moscow - one from the chief coup leader and one from the defiant Russian president.

Both warned him he would be shot if he didn't despatch forthwith a message of support in the name of the local regional council.

"Surely they didn't really say they'd shoot you?" I asked incredulously.

Whatever is going on I'd bet it's the very opposite of what it seems on the surface

"The way they worded it, I was left in no doubt," he replied in all seriousness.

Memories from only 12 years ago, buried not so deep below the surface, emerge whenever Russians suspect a tightening of Moscow's grip in the name of reasserting government authority.

In Tomsk Mr Khodorkovsky is popular - Mr Putin much less so. In some other places respect for the President is greater, and it is the oligarchs who are the villains.

Try asking unemployed miners in the arctic north if they think Russia's richest oil baron has been unfairly treated.

After all abundant oil is one reason Russia's coal mines are being run down and abandoned.

Fantastical explanation

"All those oligarchs should be in prison. They all robbed us," was the wary assessment of one communist supporter I found placing a red carnation in the snow in front of the single abandoned statue of Lenin you still find gracing every central town square in Russia.

"But that doesn't mean arresting Khodorkovsky is the right thing to do. It's an election gimmick."

Miners have many conspiracy theories about recent events

Another miner had a more fantastical explanation. "Whatever is going on," he said slowly, "I'd bet it's the very opposite of what it seems on the surface."

A group of us were sitting in a kitchen, drinking vodka of course. What else do you do in the company of Russian miners?

"We're all assuming it's to stop Russian oil getting into foreign hands," he continued.

"But what if it's really a secret deal between Putin and George Bush for some favour we don't yet know about?" he said, and reached for the vodka bottle.

After 15 years of turmoil and broken promises, the instinctive reaction of Russians like these is total distrust. And the further away from Moscow you get, the greater the cynicism.

Not surprising really. If there's one thing they feel certain of, it's that whoever profits from this latest crisis, it won't be them.

---

From Our Own Correspondent is broadcast on Saturday, 29 November, 2003, at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

---