Paper Implicates Putin In Saint Petersburg Scandal

MOSCOW, Mar 24, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) An investigative Russian newspaper on Thursday implicated Acting President Vladimir Putin in an embezzlement scandal dating back to his time as a deputy mayor of Saint Petersburg.

The bi-weekly Novaya Gazeta said Putin benefited personally from some of the 22 billion rubles (worth then roughly $4 million) siphoned from the "Trust 20" construction firm in the mid-1990s.

Contacted by AFP, the Kremlin press service refused to comment on the allegations, which resurfaced three days before presidential elections which Putin is widely expected to win.

According to the newspaper report, Trust 20 was set up to "build, rebuild and repair industrial buildings, buildings and cultural sites in Russia and abroad."

The firm, which was registered by the "Committee for External Relations" which Putin chaired, received 23 billion rubles in credits and cheap loans from the city budget.

However, only one billion rubles were spent on the intended projects in the city between 1993 and 1996, Novaya Gazeta said, citing an investigation by a finance ministry department responsible for Saint Petersburg.

Investigators said that $60,000 was spent building a dacha in the Saint Petersburg area for Putin. The country home was destroyed by a fire in 1997.

In November 1995, the paper alleged, Putin authorized the disbursement of 415 million rubles (then worth $90,000) to Trust 20 to cover the reconstruction of a Russian Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem.

The actual work cost around $20,000, the paper said.

Putin has previously denied any wrongdoing during his term as deputy mayor of Russia's second city. His committee was subject to city council inquiries but he was never formally accused of any misdeeds.

YOUR IDEAL LEADER IS NOTHING BUT A LIAR AND A THIEF!

B.O'R. (tee hee :o)))))

Comin' out ta play?
>wink<
Kim

Russian Ultranationalist Offers Troops To Belgrade

BELGRADE, Mar 24, 2000 -- (Reuters) Flamboyant Russian ultra-nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said on Thursday Russia could send troops to Serbia's administrative border with Kosovo to scare NATO.

"We can, if Yugoslavia wants, send more soldiers closer to the border with Kosovo, not only to Kosovo. NATO would be scared if there would be both Russian and Yugoslav armies," Zhirinovsky told reporters in Belgrade.

Zhirinovsky, known for his outlandish remarks, was leading a delegation of his Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) on a visit to Yugoslavia on the eve of the first anniversary of the NATO air strikes conducted over Belgrade's policy in Kosovo.

Once a considerable force on the Russian political scene, he is competing in Sunday's Russian presidential election but trailing in fourth position in opinion polls, far behind Acting President Vladimir Putin.

He was one of a stream of visitors to Yugoslavia for the anniversary who the state news agency Tanjug said included parliamentarians from Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Ukraine, Macedonia and the Czech Republic.

They were due to tour the sites of NATO's March-to-June last year bombing that paved way for alliance-led peacekeepers, including Russian soldiers, to enter the province.

"I think we have to send more troops, to strengthen our forces in Kosovo... If that is good for Yugoslavia that is good for Russia too," Zhirinovsky told reporters at the federal parliament building after meeting Yugoslav parliamentarians.

He was speaking only hours after Moscow refused to send police officers to a special U.N.-led police force in Kosovo, saying an agreed number of Yugoslav security forces should be allowed back into the province.

Zhirinovsky, who also met Vojislav Seselj, the Serb ultra-nationalist leader and a coalition partner of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, condemned the NATO bombing, adding that Yugoslavia was only a test and that Russia would be next.

"Yugoslavia is closer to the West so it is the first victim. But then that scenario will be repeated in Russia," he said.

On Thursday, Russia, which faces Western criticism of its campaign to crush separatism in Chechnya, said NATO's air war against Yugoslavia had only aggravated the Kosovo crisis and accused the U.N. of supporting ethnic Albanian separatists.

Yugoslavia, isolated by the West, is keen to join a loose union between Russia and former Soviet republic Belarus. But the friendship between Serbs and Russians, who share Slav Orthodox Christian roots, has not translated into any military alliance.

Communist Zyuganov Says He May Challenge Election Results

MOSCOW, Mar 24, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, running a distant second in the race for weekend presidential elections, said Friday he may challenge the results of the vote.

Zyuganov promised he would squeeze into a second-round runoff against runaway favorite and acting president, Vladimir Putin.

But he questioned the results of most current opinion polls and cast doubt on whether police would keep a close eye on how the voting goes in most precincts on Sunday.

"We will enter the second round, but we must secure strict control over how the election is conducted," Zyuganov told a press briefing.

"We respect the police, but unfortunately they have done little to stop the savage anarchy which now runs the country," he said.

"We will recognize the results of the elections only in those polling stations which provide us with a copy of the voting lists."

He also vowed to have his own team of observers at every station.

Asked why his presidential rating lagged at around 20 percent, less than half that of Putin, Zyuganov answered: "The ratings do not correspond to reality."

Zyuganov lost to former president Boris Yeltsin in a 1996 run-off, but instantly recognized the results as valid.

Basayevs broken down plane

ya see, that's what I was talking about when I mention the US funds going to Russia, First the politicians take what they want of the top, then the military (not for defense) and then the russian mafia gets their share. Then there is $10.00 left for the people!

Antonio

You catholic goy dog. How dare you dirty the name of the Jews. You will be severely punished for showing disrespect to the chosen people.

Sanhedrin 59a: "A goy (Gentile) who pries into The Law (Talmud) is guilty of death."

Catholic dog, you have been warned.


L'menexe

you are a pathetic sub human Russian. Ungrateful goy dog, if it were not for the state of Israel, you and your fellow Russians would be starving today. You come to Israel. We are a great people so we tolerate the crime and filth that Russians bring with them - and this is how you show your gratitude?

Also from now on, refrain from addressing any Jewish sisters on this board. Lets hope you have the brains to understand this.

If you will it. It will be

Theodor Hertzl


The development of Zionism were almost exclusively the work of European Jews. In 1897 Theodor Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress at Basel, Switzerland, where the Zionist Organization was founded with the stated aim of creating "for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law." These are the foundations for the existence of the mighty state of Israel.

hey Jake did you have your pork chops for breakfast again you idiot. you are not part of the chosen people nor are your people. you come from the lower end of the gene pool.

URN, give up already, only two days left and we (people on this board) are not voting in Russian election. Why try to "change" our opinions?

Just right.

The Real News ---

6. Beriev, who was financing Basaev, was caught yesterday trying to cross Dagestani border. Today Beriev already tell Russians everything he knows (ah, the will to live always kicks in at the most inappropriate time).

konichiwa, kisako!

did you know i was a 'pathetic subhuman russian'?
and that i was an 'ungrateful goy dog'?
and i've been ordered to 'refrain' from 'addressing' you, and kim, and.....
==
well, listen carefully, o FASCIST ISSUER of RIDICULOUS WARNINGS:
i LAUGH in your FACE.
i SPIT in your EYE.
i PISS on your SHOES.
i DEFY you, FOREVER and a DAY.
==
as if you could give orders to ANYONE ELSE on THIS BOARD, WANKER!!
==
...so, what will you do now, WANKER?
you've already sentenced me to death.
how can you top THAT?
guess you'd better go to russia to hunt me down, huh. WANKER?
==
have fun wandering around in russia, trying to find me.
WANKER.
==
and just for that, i'll eat your pizza and make love to your girlfriend. yeah, they belonged to tony-boy at first, but you could have taken 'em for yourself....but now, i'm so darned _traumatized_ by your scary threats, i had to take them for myself.
==
k-san, while realizing that ignoring the FASCIST DIRTBAG would be my most prudent option, any other suggestions?
==
and kim, can you _believe_ this character?
==
and, upon 'addressing' the =koff= 'jewish sisters', in the hope that BERSTEIN THE FASCIST DIRTBAG is as annoyed as he can possibly be, i'll take my leave now.
==
and if i _do_ become 'moderator' of the russ page, you're _toast_, berstein. be afraid.

Here ya go JakeB...

"Seeing Israeli and Palestinian flags side by side is a sign peace will one day prevail in the region," said Maher Quh, a Christian from the West Bank town of Nablus who wore a checkered Palestinian scarf around his neck.