It must be because respectable people do not buy the rabid opposition newspaper Zavtra that the world has blithely ignored what should have been the big Russian-American scandal of the last month.
Zavtra had the kind of scoop which, if it had appeared in The New York Times, would have triggered press conferences at the White House, CNN special broadcasts and Reuters "urgents."
In what is purported to be the transcript of a Jan. 26 telephone conversation between Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton -- in which, amid other revelations, they give their support to each other in their respective election campaigns -- Yeltsin criticizes the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow, Thomas Pickering, and Clinton promises a "demilitarization" of NATO in response to Yeltsin's worries about the expansion of the alliance.
This is not, I believe, a forgery. There is a lot of circumstantial detail about the movements of top Russian and American officials and there is highly informed discussion of issues such as the IMF, START-2 and NATO.
Clinton says he looks forward to seeing Yeltsin in April, having in mind the nuclear summit. He would not have known the two would meet sooner than that, at the impromptu anti-terrorism summit in Egypt. A Zavtra-friendly forger would have provided something much more lurid.
There is even one curious slip of the tongue. Yeltsin calls his Interior Minister Yerin rather than Kulikov, forgetting for a moment that he sacked Yerin last year. This is either a highly bizarre trick by someone very senior in one of the two administrations or it is genuine.
Zavtra's version of events is that someone speaking Russian with an American accent called them up and then sent them by fax a transcript in English of the conversation.
This sounds suspicious. Few Americans have heard of Zavtra. And why would anyone leak this story to an anti-semitic Russian newspaper when they could call up The Washington Post or The New York Times?
Far more likely, the leaker was Russian, although his or her choice of paper is a surprising one. It is hard to imagine the cultivated Foreign Ministry interpreters who translate the presidential conversations calling up Zavtra.
A slightly more likely suspect is someone in FAPSI, the former 16th section of the KGB that encodes the conversations. The ex-KGB and the rabid right wing keep up informal contacts to this day.
To read the conversation is to gain insight into the relationship between two presidents who need each other's moral support. Both sound vulnerable, as though the conversation is useful as a mutual therapy session.
Like a needy relative, Yeltsin says they need to "talk more often, ring up, support each other on the eve of the presidential elections." He tells Clinton that he "simply envied" the U.S. president's State of the Union address and asks him to read the text of his own address to parliament and give him his comments.
But the Russian president can also be as gruff as a grizzly bear and throws the dialogue into an undiplomatic spin. "I am unhappy with the statements of your ambassador Pickering," he growls, implying that if he were his ambassador, he would have signed a decree and gotten rid of him in five minutes.
He uses the same key on Chechnya. The policy is to hold elections in April or May, but, "before that we have to finish with the armed formations." If he didn't think this plan would work, it would have been "useless to run in the elections."
Clinton, for his part, is more stiff and good-mannered, the Anglo-Saxon relative trying to steer the conversation along the right course and not be diverted by emotion. He ticks off the issues with Ivy League precision -- the Russian parliamentary elections, Chechnya, START-2, Bosnia.
Clinton raises the topic of Chechnya with great awkwardness and, astonishingly, expresses his support for the "operation carried out to free the hostages in Dagestan." Maybe he had not read his newspapers. The closest he comes to chiding Yeltsin is saying, "Really, you must do everything necessary to overcome this painful situation, especially before the elections."
Then, in more brotherly fashion, Clinton says, "I'm worried about you. I am impressed by your heroism."
Before the two men hang up, they give their best regards to Naina and Hillary.
It is hard to imagine Bob Dole and Gennady Zyuganov getting so cozy with each other.
Zavtra had the kind of scoop which, if it had appeared in The New York Times, would have triggered press conferences at the White House, CNN special broadcasts and Reuters "urgents."
In what is purported to be the transcript of a Jan. 26 telephone conversation between Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton -- in which, amid other revelations, they give their support to each other in their respective election campaigns -- Yeltsin criticizes the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow, Thomas Pickering, and Clinton promises a "demilitarization" of NATO in response to Yeltsin's worries about the expansion of the alliance.
This is not, I believe, a forgery. There is a lot of circumstantial detail about the movements of top Russian and American officials and there is highly informed discussion of issues such as the IMF, START-2 and NATO.
Clinton says he looks forward to seeing Yeltsin in April, having in mind the nuclear summit. He would not have known the two would meet sooner than that, at the impromptu anti-terrorism summit in Egypt. A Zavtra-friendly forger would have provided something much more lurid.
There is even one curious slip of the tongue. Yeltsin calls his Interior Minister Yerin rather than Kulikov, forgetting for a moment that he sacked Yerin last year. This is either a highly bizarre trick by someone very senior in one of the two administrations or it is genuine.
Zavtra's version of events is that someone speaking Russian with an American accent called them up and then sent them by fax a transcript in English of the conversation.
This sounds suspicious. Few Americans have heard of Zavtra. And why would anyone leak this story to an anti-semitic Russian newspaper when they could call up The Washington Post or The New York Times?
Far more likely, the leaker was Russian, although his or her choice of paper is a surprising one. It is hard to imagine the cultivated Foreign Ministry interpreters who translate the presidential conversations calling up Zavtra.
A slightly more likely suspect is someone in FAPSI, the former 16th section of the KGB that encodes the conversations. The ex-KGB and the rabid right wing keep up informal contacts to this day.
To read the conversation is to gain insight into the relationship between two presidents who need each other's moral support. Both sound vulnerable, as though the conversation is useful as a mutual therapy session.
Like a needy relative, Yeltsin says they need to "talk more often, ring up, support each other on the eve of the presidential elections." He tells Clinton that he "simply envied" the U.S. president's State of the Union address and asks him to read the text of his own address to parliament and give him his comments.
But the Russian president can also be as gruff as a grizzly bear and throws the dialogue into an undiplomatic spin. "I am unhappy with the statements of your ambassador Pickering," he growls, implying that if he were his ambassador, he would have signed a decree and gotten rid of him in five minutes.
He uses the same key on Chechnya. The policy is to hold elections in April or May, but, "before that we have to finish with the armed formations." If he didn't think this plan would work, it would have been "useless to run in the elections."
Clinton, for his part, is more stiff and good-mannered, the Anglo-Saxon relative trying to steer the conversation along the right course and not be diverted by emotion. He ticks off the issues with Ivy League precision -- the Russian parliamentary elections, Chechnya, START-2, Bosnia.
Clinton raises the topic of Chechnya with great awkwardness and, astonishingly, expresses his support for the "operation carried out to free the hostages in Dagestan." Maybe he had not read his newspapers. The closest he comes to chiding Yeltsin is saying, "Really, you must do everything necessary to overcome this painful situation, especially before the elections."
Then, in more brotherly fashion, Clinton says, "I'm worried about you. I am impressed by your heroism."
Before the two men hang up, they give their best regards to Naina and Hillary.
It is hard to imagine Bob Dole and Gennady Zyuganov getting so cozy with each other.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.
Remind me later.
×
Remind me next month
Thank you! Your reminder is set.
We will send you one reminder email a month from now. For details on the personal data we collect and how it is used, please see our Privacy Policy.