Information summary of the week, 7

**They were the first to start...**

The tension between Georgia and the unrecognized republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which consider themselves independent and are recognized by the world community as part of the territory of Georgia, is developing into a real war before our eyes. If for about two weeks Georgian and Ossetian fighters fired the so-called “harassing” fire, then in recent days the fire from machine guns and mortars has become quite targeted: killed and wounded appeared on both sides, dozens of houses in Tskhinvali and in Ossetian and Georgian villages were damaged.
Last week, many media outlets, analyzing events in Transcaucasia, expressed gloomy assumptions that war between Georgia and the rebel autonomies is inevitable. Newspapers have repeatedly quoted Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as saying that first Tbilisi would restore control over the Ossetian enclave, and then it would be Abkhazia’s turn. In pursuance of this plan, the Georgian military is concentrating forces around Tskhinvali and conducting shelling at night. It’s clear why at night. In this regard, military experts explain that night shooting very much gets on the nerves of both the Ossetian military and the civilian population of the republic. In an atmosphere of general anticipation of battles, the Ossetians' self-control may leave them at any moment, and they will decide that a terrible end is better than endless horror and attack the Georgian positions. Tbilisi itself does not want to start the “hot” phase of the war, since the American patrons openly made it clear to Mr. Saakashvili that Washington prefers a peaceful settlement of the conflict. And by provoking the Ossetian side, Georgia acts according to the well-known childish principle: “they started it first,” we, they say, are for peace...
It should be noted that the same policy - night shooting and statements about the desire to live in peace - is being pursued by the Ossetian side. There are no angels in the Transcaucasian conflict, just as there are no devils with horns. Everyone is good. The stubborn reluctance of Sukhumi and Tskhinvali to admit that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are parts of Georgia and to bargain for the broadest possible autonomy - say, like the Basque Country in Spain, where Madrid has no right to maintain either army units or police - looks as stupid as and Tbilisi’s reluctance to acknowledge Georgia’s responsibility for ethnic cleansing and military operations against unarmed “foreigners and people of other faiths” in 1990-1993.
One respected newspaper rightly noted that the attitude of official Tbilisi towards national minorities cannot but cause concern among the world community, as evidenced by the fact that the Meskhetian Turks expelled by Stalin were not given the opportunity to return to the land of their ancestors either under Gamsakhurdia or under Shevardnadze , and current President Saakashvili has done nothing to solve this problem. It is unlikely that the United States, which was recently forced to begin granting American citizenship to the Meskhetian Turks, forgot that Georgia must do this after all.
When two (in this case, three) nations begin to slide into war, as a rule, there are those to blame and no right. It is absurd and wrong to idealize the South Ossetian and Abkhaz regimes, as some ultra-patriotic newspapers do. But the last round of confrontation was started by Tbilisi (as well as the wars of the early 90s), so even if we follow the logic “they started it first,” justice is clearly not on Georgia’s side. And under these conditions, the world community will not give the go-ahead for the Georgians to storm Tskhinvali and Sukhumi - the West does not want to repeat the tragic mistakes of Bosnia and Kosovo.

**Thank you everyone, goodbye**

When does spring end in Russia? But no. This time, spring, at least for the Federation Council, ended only on August 8th - on this day the spring session of the upper house of the Federal Assembly ended. Last week, the Russian President publicly thanked members of the Federation Council for their fruitful work. Although the general public and the media have serious doubts about the efficiency of the upper house of the Federal Assembly, consisting of generally random people, Vladimir Putin had reason to express his gratitude to the Federation Council. After all, the senators were not too lazy to spend their day off - and even in August, when all decent people are on vacation - to pass one very important law (on the monetization of benefits) and one not very important, PR one - on the formation of an affordable housing market.
If during the passage of the law on the monetization of benefits through the State Duma, protesting crowds raged in the streets, then no one noticed the adoption of the same law by the Federation Council. But in vain: it is after the adoption of the law by the Senate that it, in fact, turns from a bill into a law. Newspapers drew attention to the fact that the attitude of senators to the replacement of benefits with monetary compensation underwent dramatic changes in just a few weeks. Back in July, the upper house was dominated by vehement critics of the bill, and now the same people who were thundering and thundering about monetization were openly supporting it. The press did not ignore the fact that the changes proposed by the senators to the bill were never made. And yet...
According to some publications, the position of the senators was influenced by concessions from the Ministry of Finance, which agreed to transfer to the regions not 21 billion rubles in aid, as originally planned, but 30. In addition, a number of experts believe that the senators became obedient also because the government promised regions in the coming months to transfer to them part of the powers to manage subsoil, forests and water management.
There is, however, one more assumption regarding the loyalty of the senators. Over the summer, speculation about the impending reform of the Federation Council repeatedly appeared in the press. In particular, this idea was voiced by Senator Lyudmila Narusova - a person who can hardly be suspected of amateur activities not agreed with the Kremlin "St. Petersburg people." The bottom line is that the current system of forming the Federation Council has not justified itself and it is time to return to the normal one that existed in the period 1993-1995, that is, to direct elections of senators by the population of the regions. In this case, not many of the current members of the upper house (including Ms. Narusova herself, who represents Tyva in the Federation Council) can count on being elected. It is clear that if the Federation Council had shown intransigence regarding the law on the monetization of benefits, which is important for the Kremlin and the government, the process of reforming the Senate could have been sharply accelerated.
In general, by pushing the law on monetization first through the State Duma and then through the Federation Council, breaking the resistance of the small opposition and winning over those who waver, the presidential administration and the government once again demonstrated that the executive branch is strong enough and is capable of forcing the legislative branch of government to do what , what is considered correct in the Kremlin.

**Take everything and divide it**

The past week was marked by the news that the state had already decided where to send the funds paid by YUKOS. The press commented on the intention of the Russian Ministry of Finance to create a Regional Assistance Fund at the expense of YUKOS taxes received by the budget of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, on the territory of which the majority of the oil-producing enterprises of the disgraced company are located. According to the agreement signed by the Minister of Finance A. Kudrin and the Governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug A. Filipenko, 35 billion rubles. ($1.2 billion) will go to the federal budget and will be distributed among Russian regions in need.
Naturally, the government’s intentions are good: the Ministry of Finance emphasizes that the money will be used “for the full and timely payment of salaries to public sector employees in these regions, preparation for winter, operation and reconstruction of housing and communal services located in them.” According to a number of analysts, it was YUKOS money that allowed the authorities to promise 30 billion rubles to the constituent entities of the federation for the monetization of benefits instead of the original 21, which, in turn, made the senators obedient in the matter of monetization.
Some publications expressed the opinion that the government's broad gesture is not so useful for the development of the country. Observers of these newspapers believe that now “the regional authorities of 40 constituent entities of the Federation with unbalanced budgets can for a long time not remember about effective work and receive money from YUKOS to solve social problems without any reason.” Even without this, the authorities of many depressed regions are doing nothing to bring the economy of the territories under their jurisdiction out of the crisis, relying on transfers and subsidies from the federal center. The policy of the Kremlin and the government of the Russian Federation in recent years has been aimed at the fact that regional authorities, who have proven their inability to carry out normal management policies, are threatened with removal from power, after which external management can be introduced in bankrupt regions, cities and districts. This, in fact, is the basis for the beginning administrative reform: governors, mayors and other heads of administrations become a kind of managers responsible to the federal government for the specific results of their rule. The decision to distribute YUKOS money among depressed regions (donor regions will have enough of their own funds) violates the principle of responsibility of local authorities.
In addition, the precedent itself is quite dangerous, when the ruin of a large company turns out to be a kind of “lifeline” for regional leaders who have brought their federal subjects to ruin. If after some time a large sum is again needed to help the regions, won’t, say, the Prosecutor General’s Office or the tax department remember that a certain company has underpaid the state a lot over the past ... twelve years? And regional, city and rural authorities - wouldn’t they want to find their own, small YUKOS - at least the size of a couple of retail kiosks - the “dekulakization” of which will help plug holes in the budget? If this practice of solving financial problems by the state becomes part of the system, business in Russia will have to be curtailed.