Turkmenistan has violated the right of movement of Russian citizens by introducing exit and entry visas for those of its citizens who also retain Russian passports, the head of the consular service department of the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed upon completion of fruitless talks in Ashgabat.
Turkmenistan's one-sided withdrawal from the Dual Citizenship Agreement ''runs counter to mutual agreements and will not be recognised by the Russian side under any circumstances,'' Vladimir Kotenev, director of the consular service department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference on Monday. According to him, Moscow regards the 1993 Dual Citizenship Agreement as valid and insists on a return to its conditions.
Kotenev’s Monday statement was the first harsh criticism of Turkmenistan’s actions by the Russian authorities. Up until now Russian officials have held a less confrontational line with Turkmenistan. This straight talking assessment was probably prompted by a vague promise by Dmitry Rogozin, the chief of the parliament’s international relations committee, to start work on a secretive ''Turkmen dossier''.
In the second half of April Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov (also known under his self-proclaimed title of Turkmenbashi – the Father of All Turkmens) signed a protocol on the termination of the dual citizenship agreement. At that time the only Kremlin reaction was one of sarcasm: ''If only it was a European country… With countries like Turkmenistan we need no dual citizenship.''
Niyazov considered the protocol as a direct instruction and started to act. On April 22 he issued a decree ''On settling the questions of termination of the dual citizenship agreement between Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation.''
The document orders people with double citizenship of Turkmenistan and Russia to choose a citizenship within two months of the decree being published. That decision has to be officially registered and all those who fail to do so will be automatically considered Turkmen if they are in Turkmenistan when the deadline is reached or lose their Turkmen citizenship if they are in Russia.
The decree caused panic in Turkmenistan because only Turkmen citizens have the right to own real estate in the country and those who choose a Russian passport will immediately lose all their property. A flood of people has poured into the country’s capital Ashgabat and apartment prices have plunged, but the owners are ready to sell at any price.
The decree also forbade those with double citizenship to freely enter and exit from Turkmenistan. The price of exit visas grew to 2 million manats ($100), processing of applications is now taking much longer and permanent queues have appeared in front of Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry. This was when Rogozin started making his statements, accusing the Turkmen authorities of preparing the “mass deportation of the Russian population”.
However, the remarks from the Russian side that the protocol has no retroactive force and that those who have received double citizenship will have it in future, had absolutely no effect on Ashgabat.
The protocol signed by the two presidents has never actually come into force, as it has not been ratified. Putin personally drew Niyazov’s attention to this fact after the recent informal summit of CIS leaders. As a result, both presidents ordered their foreign ministries to discuss the issue. The talks took place in Ashgabat on July 6-7, but, as it transpires, the sides failed to reach an understanding.
''The kind of withdrawal that Turkmenistan is effecting results in the disruption of a whole set of bilateral documents dealing with the humanitarian sphere,'' said Kotenkov, referring to the 1991 mutual travel agreements. According to him, ''Turkmenistan’s unilateral, actions aimed at withdrawal from the dual citizenship agreement, violates Russian citizen’s rights to the freedom of movement.''
And regardless of Kotenev’s diplomatic remark that ''Moscow’s worries were attentively listened to by the Turkmen side,'' it is obvious that the Russian Foreign Ministry can claim no real success for now.
10 ÈÞÍß 13:19
Òåêñò: Aleksandra Petrachkova Ôîòî èç àðõèâà Ãàçåòû.Ru
Concluding his visit to Russia, the famous US financier George Soros wished the country greater success in corporate management, to rid itself of the “resource curse” and to press for the full convertibility of the rouble. It also looks like Soros has settled the question of Svyazinvest’s privatization so that his interests don’t suffer.
The five-day visit of the US philanthropist and financier George Soros came to an end on Monday. The official reason of the visit was the 15th anniversary of Soros’ Open Society foundation and also an announcement about a reduction in the amount of financial aid allocated to the science and educational programmes in Russia. The reasons he gave should flatter Russia – in 15 years the country was said to have made serious progress on the path towards a civil society and now, so Soros maintains, it is inappropriate to continue granting subsidies to the Russian state.
In general, Soros praised Russia at the press conference bringing his visit to an end. He noted an improvement in the corporate management of the country. At the same time, he warned against the creation of a “corporate state”, which he calls the simultaneous presence of the state and oligarchs, when it is hard to tell who controls who, and the state and oligarchs control all the markets in the economy. But in general, the famous financier was in an optimistic mood and said he hoped that Russia would develop in the right direction.
Possibly, this was the thesis Soros wanted to tell President Putin during a personal meeting. But, unlike Paul McCartney, the financier was not granted an audience.
The famous currency speculator believes that the Russian rouble can become fully convertible by 2008. Vladimir Putin set the task of making the national currency fully convertible within five years in his annual address to the Federal Assembly in May. Soros said he thought it was possible to make the rouble fully convertible by 2008 if the government wanted to do so. At the same time, the financier refused to forecast the rates of world currencies at the end of this year. ''I know the precise US dollar rate against the euro and thus, I cannot disclose this information,'' Soros said.
Soros named the ''resource curse'' as the major drawback of the Russian economy. He explained that because Russia is a country that possesses rich natural resources, a struggle for those resources is taking place. He noted that the phenomenon is dying out in other resource rich countries, but not so quickly in Russia.
The final extinguishing of the curse, Soros said, needs three steps: the publishing of reliable information about oil and mineral companies’ incomes, disclosure of the information about incomes in countries that suffer from the resource curse and disclosure of information on how the incomes from extracting the mineral resources are spent. It is interesting that Great Britain put forward a similar idea before the last G8 summit, but the ''cursed'' nations (which include not only Russia, but also the USA) pressed for the resolution not to be adopted.
And, of course, Soros did not forget about his own business interests during his visit. In Moscow, the US speculator had numerous meetings, including with the head of the Communications Ministry Leonid Reiman. The talks touched upon the further privatization of the Russian communications network Svyazinvest, the company in which Soros already owns a blocking stock. In one of his first public addresses Soros suggested that Svyazinvest should be divided into two regional companies, but did not say how exactly he planned to do it.
Nevertheless, it looks like Soros has reached certain agreements with the Russian authorities. At the closing press conference Soros announced that there was an idea to divide Svyazinvest into seven companies – an idea he supported. Also, it was suggested that 75 percent minus one share of the company (which is all the state owns) be sold and Soros said he supported this idea as well. The financier made it clear that the sooner the government starts making concrete steps, the better. The time has come to make a decision, Soros’s surmised.
09 ÈÞÍß 18:27
