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In December of last year a group of residents of one of the buildings on Victory Prospect of the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk filed suit in city court for finding an order of the city administration granting to the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation a plot of land for construction of a house of worship to be illegal. The court issued a decision satisfying the plaintiffs' complaint. It required the administration to take the following subsequent actions: the city will buy the nearly completed building from the congregation and locate within it a facility that all citizens need. The adherents of Jehovah should be granted land in some other place further away from schools and living quarters. However the story has not stopped with this.
It was reasonable to expect that members of the congregation would not agree with such a form of the development of events. And they did not agree. They filed an appeal in court and the decision of the court was also challenged by private appeals. Before the decision took effect the plaintiffs filed a request not to put the building to another use. Construction halted. The initiators of the suit collected signatures for a protest against construction of the Jehovists' house of worship. In addition, the regional center for social and economic research of the Sakhalin administration conducted an expert survey of residents of buildings adjoining the offending construction.
The results of the survey showed that of 864 persons questioned, 54 persons were in favor of the construction of the Jehovah's Witnesses' religious facilities and 662 were against, while 148 persons remained indifferent to the problem. Thus even if tardily, the opinion of the residents was clarified. Although it should have been done much earlier, and that would have prevented the uproar surrounding the house of worship. In accordance with articles 40 and 41 of the City Construction Code of RF, location of religious facilities in residential zones is permitted. However such objects are among things that are permitted conditionally, that is, they require special permission for locating them on a plot of land. At the least, they require recommendations based on the zoning plan of the territories of cities and approval from the scientific-technical council of state construction of Russia. Whether the court will pay attention during review of the appeal to the signatures of residents who oppose such a neighbor and the results of the survey, we shall soon see.
For now, a deputy of the provincial duma, S. Ponomarev, is preparing to present a claim against another participant in this story. Back in November of last year a judge who was participating in a review of the residents' complaint was sent a letter by FAX from State Duma Deputy V. Igrunov. What does Deputy Igrunov, who is little-known in Sakhalin, have to do with this conflict? Nothing. If one speaks directly about the suit of the residents, they did not dispute in court the legality of the very existence of the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Their disagreement with the existence of a house of worship next door was based on their personal convictions, which might be either correct or mistaken. Nevertheless, the deputy devoted all of his letter to show the mistake, from his point of view, of the opinion of the plaintiffs. He explained in detail that the Jehovah's Witnesses were the only confession that refused to cooperate with Hitler's regime (it should be said that the Russian Orthodox church is not on this honor roll). They also, according to the statement of their volunteer advocate, were one of the first to be thrown into fascist concentration camps, since they would not compromise their convictions and would not take part in the German war against other countries. In addition the deputy informed the judge that all assessments of the activity of Jehovah's Witnesses as a totalitarian sect and the letters from the Ministry of Health and resolution of the State Duma of 1996 based on them were unconstitutional. The same applied to the letter of 12 July 2002 from the Ministry of Education. It is possible that once the state permits official registration of the Jehovah's Witnesses society, that means that it does not see in their activity anything that threatens the rights of other people and society. But does this apply to the construction of a house of worship next to residences, about which the authorities were supposed to ask the citizens? And does it apply to Deputy Igrunov himself, who is not a part in the trial, but who asks for his letter to be included in the materials of the case and for the information contained in it to be taken into account? Rather strange. At one time we had "telephone justice;" now, it seems, a new kind of law has been born--FAX justice. (tr. by PDS, posted 06 March 2003)
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Yesterday the Russian Supreme Court rejected the appeal of residents of Tatarstan who were seeking the possibility of being photographed for their passports in headscarves. We recall that the issue provoked a loud outcry after the department of passport and visa services of MVD of Tatarstan refused to accept photographs for their passports from Muslim women in the national headscarf (hijab). The woman considered the refusal unlawful and filed suit in court. The plaintiffs argued that the Quran requires women to cover every part of the body except the face and hands. The plantiffs appealed also to the Russian constitution that proclaims freedom of religious confession. In the opinion of Muslims, this very freedom annuls the demand of the passport office since a devout Muslim woman cannot appear before male strangers without a scarf on her head.
According to the chairman of the Union of Muslim Women of Tatarstan, Elmira Adiatuplina, similar appeals have been filed in the courts of the republic by no fewer than twenty women, but they have been denied reviews of their cases for a variety of reasons. Only three Nizhnekamsk residents, Minnisa Muksinova, Gelfaniia Akhmetshina, and Gelnur Nureeva, have been the first to be able to get their appeal accepted by the servants of Femida [Justice]. To be sure, the Muslim women weren't helped much by this. Courts in Tatarstan twice denied the plaintiffs satisfaction of their demands. And fifteen women already had reached the Supreme Court.
According to criminal experts of MVD, for precise identification of a person by a photograph it is necessary that the face be fully uncovered: the forehead, cheeks, and lower chin. These requirements prevailed in the final analysis. There is no doubt that it is necessary to treat religious convictions and traditions with respect. However Russia is a secular state as well as a multinational and federative one. And if one makes exceptions for one group of the population, then how could representatives of other religious confessions be denied in future if they also proclaim their special traditions? Mountain men, for example, love to be photographed in papakhas [Azerbaijani tall hats], and representatives of other religions prefer to be photographed in clothing corresponding to the canons of their faith.
The court based its decision on the premise that in urgent circumstances the identification of a person is determined by basic documents such as a passport. Such a prohibition is effective not only in the case of obtaining foreign passports for women to leave the country for the hadj. But the regular civil passport is technically equivalent to the foreign passport and in fact it is "more important" (since it contains more information such as registration, familial status, etc.). (tr. by PDS, posted 06 March 2003)
MUSLIMS REQUIRED TO REMOVE SCARVES
by Valery Tsygankov
Nezavisimaia gazeta, 06 March 2003
Yesterday the Russian Supreme Court denied the appeal of Muslim women from Tatarstan who had tried to gain the right to be photographed for their regular civil passports in headscarves (hijibs) on the basis of religious convictions. The plaintiffs' attorney, Farid Zagidulla, declared that he sees in this a political subtext: "Anti-Islamic attitudes could be the reason." In the near future another complaint will be sent to the appellate college of the Supreme Court of RF, and if this does not achieve the desired result the plaintiffs will turn to the European Court for Human Rights.
Originally ten Muslim women, who arrived in Moscow from Nizhnekamsk to seek justice, tried to defend their rights at the Tatarstan MVD, when they did not succeed in getting passports with photographs in headscarves. Their predecessors had been more lucky. From August 1998 to June 2002 an advisory had been in effect in the passport and visa department of the Russian MVD according to which citizens were not prohibited from being photographed in head coverings in exceptional circumstances--for ministers of religion and those who abided strictly by religious canons. But when a telegraph arrived from Moscow rescinding this advisory, the lawsuits began. Orthodox-minded Muslim women appealed to the court of Vakhitovsk district of Kazan but their appeal was denied satisfaction. The Supreme Court of Tatarstan left the decision of the district court unchanged. "The Quran prohibits us from appearing before strangers with our heads uncovered," the Muslim women stated to the Supreme Court of the federation. "Existing procedures, requiring photographing without scarves, infringes our rights to freedom of religious confession." In addition, plaintiffs appealed to the opinion of experts who participated in the Nizhnekamsk trial: representatives of the Tatar police acknowledged that it is possible to identify a person with a face covered by a scarf in a photograph, although it was somewhat difficult. In the Moscow trial a representative of RF MVD, Irina Bochinkova, was more categorical: "The photograph of a citizen in a passport should contain the maximum quantity of identification marks." The representative of MVD also considered the Muslim women's appeal to the standards of Islam to be insubstantial: "The Quran is not the source of law on the territory of the Russian federation," Irina Bochinkova declared. "We have a secular state and none of the religions is able to be dominant."
Supreme Court Judge Nikolai Romanenkov agreed with these points and left the Muslim women's appeal without satisfaction.
Leaders of the Russian Islamic community reacted to the outcome of the trial in a variety of ways. "The question of the head scarf is for Muslim women not a matter of fashion but of religious prescription, according to which the level and sincerity of their faith is measured. It is established by the Holy Quran, and they cannot get around this," the chairman of the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of the Asiatic part of Russia and vice-president of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Nafigula Ashirov, stated on air to "Echo of Moscow" radio. In contrast, the vice-chairman of the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of the Central European part of Russia, Damir Khazrat, told an NG reporter: "I do not see any political subtext in this judicial decision. This question is simply insufficiently developed and there is a great deal of emotion surrounding it. The shariat contains a provision that provides for such circumstances when they arise; if believers are forced to violate some religious standards at the insistence of a secular government, then there will be no sin upon them." (tr. by PDS, posted 06 March 2003)
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A new conflict between the provincial administration and the Vologda Muslim community has flared up in Vologda. ("Izvestiia" reported the previous conflict, when local Muslims composed a black list of opponents of Islam and included provincial government workers on it.) This time the Muslims are protesting against the dedication of the building of a Vologda school where, among others, fifteen Muslim pupils study.
The consecration of the Vologda secondary school No. 7 was held last Wednesday. "We invited the priest at the request of parents," the director of school No. 7, Natalia Frolova, said. "The thing is that at the beginning of 2003 all possible tragedies hit the pupils. In two school weeks, four of our pupils suffered in traffic incidents. Parents of the victims came to me with a request for the consecration of the academic institution in accordance with Orthodox canons in order to protect the other children from tragedy."
"There was no religious compulsion; the dedication was performed at the request of parents," the press secretary of the Vologda diocese, Andrei Semenov, said. "The ritual was conducted by the oldest priest in Vologda, seventy-five-year-old Father Konstantin Vasiliev, rector of the cathedral church, since the school is located in the area served by the cathedral. The ceremony was held after classes and children and parents were not present. There were twenty teachers at the prayer service with Fr Konstantin."
The consecration evoked dissatisfaction among Muslims whose children study at school No. 7. They turned to the imam of the Vologda mosque, Nail Khazrat Mustafa, and he wrote a protest to the city administration. He asked the city authorities to take action against the director of the school, who, in his opinion, had violated the laws of the Russian federation that prohibit religious propaganda in state institutions. "Vologda is one of the most troubled regions of the country, where nationalistic and chiefly chauvinistic moods are very strong. Leaving such a matter at the disposal of the school director cannot be seen as wise leadership," the Vologda mosque press service reported. It also said that the Orthodox church was not at fault for what happened "because the government was not fulfilling its function in this matter. Adults must shield children from political conflict and interreligious hatred."
However, according to the vice-governor of Vologda province, Vladimir Kasianov, the protest of the Muslim community is nothing but a publicity stunt by which the community is trying to turn an old conflict with the local authorities from the juridical to the political arena. The vice-governor says that the Muslim community appeared five years ago. Its founding members included eleven persons, eight of whom were representatives of a single Mustafa family to which the mosque's imam himself belongs. "They bought a private home in a historic district of the city and began conducting their religious procedures there," Vice-governor Kasianov says. "We did not prevent that. Besides, at the request of the founders of the community city authorities restored a road to the mosque, for which they still have not settled accounts, and they allotted a part of the Orthodox cemetery for Muslims. Then the founders of the community decided to turn the building into a mosque. But they did not clear this with the Ministry of Culture and received approval only from the city authorities. Thus the question of the existence of a mosque had to be settled through the court, including the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court permitted the construction of a mosque."
According to Kasianov, subsequent events took the following form. The Mustafas owned the "Khanusen" computer company, which committed great financial violations. As a result, officers of the court arrived to inventory the existing property, some of which was in the company and the other part was in the mosque. At the request of Imam Nail Khazrat, who incidentally was a former officer of the tax police, the officers were not permitted to enter the place that is sacred for the Muslims. While the court officers were settling this matter, property was removed from the mosque to an unknown location. Today the "Khanusen" company has been reorganized and the owners have completely changed the form of ownership. "This conflict is a permanent process," the vice-governor thinks, "In Vologda we have twelve religious confessions and they all have equal rights. Such conflicts have arisen only with the Muslims."
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Consecration of a school is not prohibited by law. Consecration of objects of education is not regulated in any way by Russian legislation.
"According to the law 'On education,' it has a secular character in Russia," Izvestiia was told by the vice-chairman of the Committee on Education and Science of the State Duma, Oleg Smolin. "The law does not spell out details, but as one of its authors I can speak about the interpretation of this document. The boundary between secular and nonsecular education lies at the point where religious rituals begin; they are not permitted in the schools. And consecration must be considered a ritual. Of course, there is no direct prohibition of consecration in the law. Nevertheless it seems to me that conducting such a ritual in a state school is against the law. In this case the director of the school should have consulted with the local administration of education and taken into account the diversity of the confessional composition of the student body. I see a danger that religious conflicts could be brought over into the schools. (tr. by PDS, posted 05 March 2003)
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It seems that deputies have decided to enlist the support of the Russian Orthodox church in the run-up to the elections. This week two draft laws will reach their desks with approximately similar contents and identical titles, concerning the social partnership of the state and religious organizations. The first "shot" was fired by Sergei Glaziev of the communist party, who introduced his draft back at the end of December of last year, but his initiative was held up by a duma majority until a similar document appeared over the signature of "independent" deputy Alexander Chuev, head of the parliamentary profile committee. It is interesting that the "left" variant of strengthening the role of religion in the life of society is more radical than the "right." The former gives a stricter definition as to which religious organizations are traditional for Russia, spelling out the procedure for proving this status and proposing that those who pass it will be able to receive various financial and property privileges, even up to restitution of property confiscated after 1917.
The Russian Orthodox church, Islam, and Buddhism would be practically the only religious organizations on an all-Russian scale to be recognized as traditional and they would receive this status only "in places of traditionally concentrated settlement," and there is nothing said about other Christian confessions and Judaism.
The alternative variant of the law is less explicit, although the conditions laid down in it for gaining the status of "traditional organization on a federal scale" obtain primarily for RPTs and some Russian Muslims since it requires that there be affiliates in no fewer than ten component elements of the Russian federation and a central organization that has been continuously active during the past 85 years. Only traditional confessions will be permitted into the armed forces and other power structures for the religious nurture of personnel and only they will receive tax privileges for charitable activities and access to the state-owned mass media for advertising and instructional activity, and only they will be permitted to provide services to prisoners and other outsiders as well as to perform many other beneficial actions that the government is not always capable of performing.
But the main thing is that only confessions recognized as "native" will be able to file claims for their former property. According to Glazev's more radical draft, a religious organization that proves its right to property should have continuity with its prerevolutionary predecessors not only in theological principles but also in administrative structures. Thus Catholics, judging by all indicators, will not even be able to make a peep while not all Muslim associations would be able to lay claim to material valuables.
There is only one paragraph in Chuev's draft that speaks of possible gradual returns. Glazev's draft specifically establishes that if the traditional status of a religious organization and its legal continuity have been demonstrated, then it may file suit in court and demand return of property. The main issue is that it either was confiscated as the result of nationalization or was alienated without compensation under "duress." Apparently that means that this refers to the first decades of the soviet regime. (tr. by PDS, posted 05 March 2003)
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"To shed light on the political process and to recall impartially the actions of some political figures when they offend the feelings of believers and the unshakeable moral rules of our life." Herein the participants of the "Russia 2003: Elections and religious confessions" conference saw the basic task of traditional Russian religions. The statement adopted by the conference spoke of the "impermissibility of using religious questions for purposes of the political struggle." However, many speakers thought that even though legislation prohibits the creation of parties on confessional bases, the role of religion in the electoral struggle is growing apace.
According to the social doctrine of the Russian Orthodox church, it formally does not participate in the political struggle. It does not give its blessing to parties and it does not support candidates in elections. "Any attempt to turn the church onto the path of one or another political party threatens it with schism, since RPTs has in it monarchists and communists and liberals," according to the vice chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin. At the same time, the church is prepared for cooperation with any party "in matters that are generally beneficial in the interests of the country and the world," the priest maintained. He said that the activity of Orthodox laity within political parties will only grow and the church "will clarify its evaluation of this activity" on the basis of its correspondence with the principles of Christian morality and teaching.
Alexander Dugin, the first person of the "Eurasia" party, translated these ideas into the stuff of specific policy. He said that although active support on the part of the Orthodox church will not be given to a single party in the elections, passive support will be shown to "United Russia," if it "does not depart from its centrist power position."
The communist party faces very serious problems in the elections in connection with the communists' position on the religious question. "In the past four years the level of religious consciousness of people has grown. Those slogans which earlier Ziuganov had used in his political demagoguery have already become empty," Dugin diagnosed. The conference participants expressed special distaste at the mention of the communist leader's speech at the last World Russian People's Council, where he stated that "Gagarin was sent into space in order to find God." "Whereas such idiocy took place ten years ago, now it is impossible to base an election appeal on such nonsense," the chief Eurasianist pronounced sentence on the communist party. "It is necessary to determine whether you are the heirs of marxism and atheism or to change the party's name."
In his turn, the omnipresent political advisor Gleb Pavlovsky called the clergy "to carefully ward off confusion, indecision, and doubt of citizens and to be a religious sieve for the political process." "The improper conduct of some politicians who behave rowdily must be named as such and loudly condemned," the president of the Fund for Effective Politics declared. Among the "rowdy ones" the audience identified in first place the head of the liberal democrats [Zhirinovsky] whose conduct was seen to be beyond the boundaries "even of secular morality." (tr. by PDS, posted 04 March 2003)
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Well, Maslenitsa! Bliny! The president's chief of staff, who is responsible among other things for the food of higher governmental workers, has again, just like last year, demonstrated respect for the religious feelings of politicians. The menus at the Kremlin cafeterias, Government House, State Duma, and the Federation Council have gotten a new section, "bliny." This word that is popular in the corridors of power all week will be used not only as jargon that expresses all emotions in Russia but also as an obligatory dish which is eaten during the celebration of Maslenitsa. During the week the cooks of the food industry will cook thousands of bliny of several dozen varieties every day. The duma cafeteria will regale diners with bliny with lox. For 13 rubles, 39 kopecks, one gets 150 grams of bliny, which are more like thick pancakes, plus 15 grams of salmon. In the duma snack bar, which sells prepared foods, the bliny assortment is more varied. Small bliny made with apples and black currants are 4 r., 68 k, with cottage cheese, 4.97, and with meat, 5.06 for 75 grams.
On Bolshoi Dmitrovka there were bliny with sour cream, jam, and fish. The servings seemed bigger than at the duma cafeteria and cost a bit more, around 10 rubles, and with sturgeon, 20 rubles. At the White House the plainest bliny with butter cost 7 rubles.
The bliny were quickly grabbed up and the bakers barely managed to produce new servings. However those waiting in the lines for bliny said that there are no bliny better than those made by their mothers-in-law or according to the special recipe of the deputies' wives.
Let us thank God that politicians apparently must take somewhat of a break this week since Maslenitsa is the spring holiday that nobody is particularly for or against. It is a very ancient tradition that has come down to us from many centuries back when people prayed to trees and the wind, the rain and sun. It is a celebration of happiness that winter has gone and soon it will be warm.
But both Kremlin bureaucrats and government workers and deputies have to become familiar with the celebration; according to tradition, those who refuse to celebrate Maslenitsa will live "with bad luck and end worse." So the Kremlin bureaucrats, ministers, and deputies have decided to participate. After all, nobody wants to have bad luck. To be sure, it is hard to find any who want to sled down ice hills and light bonfires. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 March 2003)
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According to the tradition of eastern Christians, soon after the feast of Epiphany the period for the preparation for Great Lent begins. It includes four Sundays, "The Publican and the Pharisee," "The Prodigal Son," "The Last Judgment," and "Meatfare (the last day when meat products may be eaten) and "Cheesefare" (the last day when milk products may be eaten). In this period the church prepares believers for the fast by a gradual introduction of restrictions. After the Sunday of the "Publican and Pharisee" the fasts on Wednesday and Friday begin, and later follows abstention from meat only, and later from milk products and eggs. In the preparatory services the church reminds believers of the condition of humanity before and after the fall into sin and about the advent on earth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of humanity, and it calls them to fast and repentance. The Saturday before "Meatfare Sunday" is called Universal Ancestors' Saturday and is devoted to remembrance of the departed.
The last week before Great Lent corresponds with the pagan holiday of the passing of winter and greeting spring, which all peoples of Europe celebrated in the prechristian period. Among eastern Slavs this holiday received the name Maslenitsa. The rituals of Maslenitsa that have been preserved in national tradition to the present are directly associated with the pagan cults of the ancestors, clan relations, and fertility. Several of the names of the days of the holiday point to the clan nature of Maslenitsa: "mother-in-law eve" (Friday), "sister-in-law gathering" (Saturday), and the bliny that are obligatory for Maslenitsa, a pagan symbol for the sun, which are the traditional memorial dish of eastern Slavs. Peoples of western Europe celebrate this holiday by holding carnivals (from Latin "carne vale," "good-bye, meat"), costumed parades, and theatrical productions.
The church incorporated Maslenitsa into the festival calendar and celebrates it as Cheese Week. The Sunday of Cheese Week ("memorial of the expulsion of Adam") that concludes the preparatory period received the name of Forgiveness Sunday. On this day people ask one another for forgiveness and they repent of their sins, while in the churches during the vespers service the ritual of forgiveness is performed.
Each day of the upcoming week is connected, as already noted, in the national consciousness with many traditions. On the first day, which is called Meeting, the puppet of Maslenitsa is dressed, bonfires are lit, and songs are sung around them. On this day young women are supposed to go to their parents' homes and help with the chores. Then a woman visits her future in-laws.
On Tuesday, which is called Games, invitations are supposed to be sent to friends and relatives, and people coast on ice hills, hide in ice forts, and ride on swings. In addition, in olden times it was permitted to kiss young women on the streets. On Wednesday, sons-in-law go to their mothers-in-laws' for bliny.
Then Broad Thursday arrives, which is considered the central day of Maslenitsa week. The Maslenitsa puppet is ridden around and songs are sung.
On mother-in-law eve (Friday) one is supposed to expect a visit from the mother-in-law who gave him bliny on Wednesday.
Sister-in-law gathering (Saturday) is again a family day. A bride is supposed to give gifts to her sisters-in-law, that is, her husband's sisters. And during the stroll on Saturday the Maslenitsa puppet is burned and a final farewell to winter is made.
Maslinitsa culminates with the "passings" of Forgiveness Sunday. On this days the puppets not disposed of on Saturday are burned. In addition to the puppets, the fires melt the snow on the ice hills.
In the past in Rus it was considered that Maslenitsa "should be greeted worthily," that is, one should celebrate so as not to be sad all year.
On the next day, on Pure Monday, the men must "rinse the teeth." It is thought that early on the first day of Lent vodka is drunk in abundance in order to rinse the remnants of the restricted foods out of the mouth and begin fasting.
Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox church considers celebration of Maslenitsa to be more of a pagan tradition which, more likely, hinders people from properly preparing for Great Lent since the last week before it begins should be spent by believers in special moderation. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 March 2003)
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On Saturday a conference on "Elections and Religious Confessions" was held in the President Hotel. At it representatives of the clergy and political advisors decided that confessions should not exert influence on the course of elections for the State Duma. But the "United Russia" party nevertheless may count on the support of RPTs.
The "Eurasia" political party arranged the conference. Around 200 persons were invited to the President Hotel, mainly members of the political council of the "Eurasia" party. Among the religious activists who were invited to the conference were the vice chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Vsevolod Chaplin, a representative of the Central Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims (TsDUM) of Russia, Mufti Samatov Tapir Khazrat, a representative of the Evangelical Lutheran church in Russia, Alexander Prilutsky, and the leader of the Buddhists of Kalmykiia, Dordji-Lama. It had been expected that the supreme mufti, president of TsDUM Talgat Tajudin, would take part, but he became ill with the flu and did not come. There were no representatives of Judaism at the conference. Russian Chief Rabbi Adolf Shaevich reminded the conference organizers that it is forbidden for Jews to work on the Sabbath.
Archprist Vsevolod Chaplin spoke first on the topic of elections and of religious confessions' participation in them. He began with the statement that "any attempt to entangle the church politically signifies an attempt to split it," but he added that the "church is open to cooperation with any of the political parties of whatever portion of the political spectrum and religious orientation, provided this cooperation is in the interests of the country, people, and the church itself."
The president of the "Eurasia" party, Alexander Dugin, spoke to the effect that in any event the choice falls upon the conscience of each particular person regardless of whether he believes in God or not. But then he also acknowledged that RPTs could still have an effect upon the elections, although "not openly." He said that "United Russia" as the party of power can count on passive support on the part of RPTs, passive in the sense that the church will not instruct people to vote for the party of power, but will display its benevolent attitude toward "United Russia" and negative attitude toward "some other parties."
The director of the Fund for Effective Politics, Gleb Pavlovsky, sees the church's basic task in helping citizens choose honest politicians for the State Duma in 2003. "We expect that religious confessions will support the idea of the formation of a 'party of the majority' in the election results, and this party then will form a government whose actions will be based on the interests, needs, and aspirations of the people," the political advisor declared. President Vladimir Putin should be the formal or informal leader of the "party of the majority," in Mr. Pavlovsky's opinion, because "no single religious confession has a claim on him." (tr. by PDS, posted 3 March 2003)
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