By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — Following on its suppression of the parliament-sponsored newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the regime of President Boris Yeltsin on October 4 suspended publication of a long series of opposition journals. At the same time, the order was given to seize the premises and property, and to freeze the bank accounts, of numerous opposition parties and political organisations.
Nine weeks before the elections that have been set for mid-December, all four of Russia's national daily opposition newspapers have been shut down. The country's largest opposition group, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, has been put out of operation.
In addition, the October 6 edition of the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta contained three large blank spaces where articles appeared to have been censored. As the leading journal of Russia's liberal intelligentsia, Nezavisimaya Gazeta has traditionally given cautious support to Yeltsin, but in recent weeks its commentaries on the regime's actions have been markedly more critical.
Apart from the Communist Party, other organisations that have been declared suspended include Working Moscow, the Union of Officers, the National Salvation Front, the Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists and the Russian Communist Workers Party.
The enforced halt to the functioning of large parts of the opposition was imposed under the state of emergency that has been in force in Moscow since October 3. Emergency rule was invoked following the attack by armed defenders of the parliament on the Ostankino television centre.
The state of emergency was to apply until October 10. But the October 4 order did not specify for how long the newspapers and parties will remain suspended.
The October 4 order justifies the suspensions on the basis that the newspapers and organisations concerned were guilty of "inciting to mass disorders and terroristic acts" and "supporting criminal armed formations".
Without making a detailed study of the suspended publications and groups — many of them small and ultra-nationalist — one cannot say with assurance that the government's claim was untrue in every case. But it was certainly untrue of Pravda and Rabochaya Tribuna, two of the mass-circulation dailies that were shut down.
Pravda, which though organisationally independent is politically close to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, carried a series of bitter condemnations of Yeltsin's September 21 decree abolishing the parliament, and gave favourable publicity to protest actions. It also reported statements by Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi and other leaders of the parliamentary camp. But the charge that it urged demonstrators to resort to violence has not been substantiated.
Rabochaya Tribuna is the main newspaper of the Russian labour movement, broadly reflecting the views of leaders of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR). Like the FNPR, Rabochaya Tribuna denounced Yeltsin's decree in strong terms, and reprinted many statements from other critics of the president's actions. But the paper strenuously urged against violence and in favour of a negotiated solution.
Neither Pravda nor Rabochaya Tribuna, in short, did anything which would be considered improper, or even particularly unusual, for an opposition paper in a democratic society.
The Russian government has clearly tried to take advantage of the unpopularity of fringe groups and publications to deal a major blow to the entire opposition. Critics of Yeltsin's policies have been robbed of their main mouthpieces — and in various cases, of their offices and funds — at a time when supporters of the regime have already thrown themselves into election campaigning.
In the circumstances, there is little reason to think that the coming elections will be free and fair.