Subject: [CivilSoc] Russian feelings about Kursk
From: Center for Civil Society International (ccsi@u.washington.edu)
Date: Wed Aug 30 2000 - 15:21:12 EDT
This message Xposted from BARENTS-L: The Barents Euro-Arctic region
discussion list, <BARENTS-L@LISTSERV.UMU.SE>
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends,
I have recently sent the following text to Vasterbotten Kuriren, a
regional newspaper in northern Sweden, in answer to its question
about sentiments in Russia and Murmansk concerning the Kursk
disaster. Mats-Olov Olsson recommended me to send this article to
Barents list.
yours,
Dr. Oleg Andreev
Barents Centre for Social Research
Murmansk, Russia
Russian feelings about Kursk
The 23rd of August 2000 meant the start of deep mourning in the
Murmansk region. Almost 10 percent of the citizens of Murmansk are
working for, or have close relations to, the Northern Fleet. People's
reaction on the Kursk disaster differ.
There is a feeling of anger towards the President, towards the
central power, towards everyone who has power and money. The
President's reaction, or rather his lack of reaction, was a
disappointment to ordinary people. The leader of a democratic state
should have a better personality than an officer of the state
security. Putin has now for the first time shown that he cannot
listen to ordinary people and that he does not care about people's
opinions.
Many ordinary citizens are angry with the shocking incompetence of
the chief commanders. Russian generals and admirals gave the wrong
dates for the catastrophe, they made public assurances that the crew
of the submarine was still alive. The Russian Minister of Defence
Sergeev was initially very optimistic. This disaster shows that our
chief commanders were totally disorganized, they simply did not know
how to deal with such a situation.
Ordinary citizens are disappointed and angry with the "new democratic
order", with the "creator" of this order, Boris Yeltsin. Thanks to
the "democrats" Russia has really become a backward, retarded and
poor country. Russia does not have a spanner that would allow
rescuers to open a hatchway in the submarine. Russia has sold all
modern rescue ships to pay salaries to its sailors. Norwegian divers
had to help the Russian Marine. The Albanians are repairing the
Kremlin. Russians no longer have modern equipment and instruments.
Why is this so, who is guilty?. The answer is - the new democratic
authorities. They remember that under communist rule, during Soviet
times, Russia was a great power. Nowadays Russia is nothing.
The attitude of State and Regional Authorities towards the relatives
of the dead submariners was very bad. For a long time the names of
the crew members were not disclosed. Relatives did not know what to
do, where to go to get exact information. Another proof of the
inhumanity and brutality of the authorities was the way relatives
were treated during their journey from Kursk to Murmansk. It took 50
hours in bad train carriages to get from Kursk to Murmansk for six
families of members of the crew. They simply had no money to pay for
better seats.
Some people are angry with the rich West. One of the hypothesis of
the cause of the catastrophe is that a British or American submarine
collided with the Russian vessel. Foreigners broke the best crew of
the best submarine. Foreign divers had submarine cameras, they had
rescue ships for emergency situations, they are rich and we are poor.
We are poor due to imperialist politics. Russia is robbed by
imperialists.
Some people do not think at all about the Kursk crash. They have
already had too many psychological shocks, they do not want to think
about bad things. It is rather difficult to live under fear.
Dr. Oleg Andreev
Director,
The Barents Centre for Social Research,
Murmansk, Russia
23 August 2000
Tel./fax: +7 8152 455981
+7 8152 288866
Fax/tel.: +7 8152 450514
Mobile: +7 815 9681955
E-mail: Oleg_Andreev@dionis.mels.ru
Address: P.O. Box 707, 183038, Murmansk, Russia
http://www.andreev.al.ru
*-------------------------------------------------------------------*
CivilSoc is a service provided to more than 1,700 subscribers
worldwide by Center for Civil Society International in association
with Friends & Partners. For more information about civic initiatives
in Eurasia, please go to: http://www.friends-partners.org/ccsi/
CivilSoc archives: http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/archives.htm
There are no restrictions on copying messages. However, if you do so,
please credit Center for Civil Society International, or CCSI, as the
source.
_______________________________________________
CivilSoc mailing list
CivilSoc@friends-partners.org
http://fpmail.friends-partners.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/civilsoc
This archive was generated by hypermail 2a22 : Wed Aug 30 2000 - 14:50:50 EDT