by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright August 23, 2003
All Rights Reserved.

isplaying his iron grip, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin put the squeeze on All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion, Russia's most reliable polling organization. After publishing data critical of Putin, the Labor Ministry fired Russia's most respected sociologist Yuri A. Levada, the head of the prestigious polling agency. Before getting the ax, Levada reported that only 11% of Russians thought that Putin represented interests of "all the Russian people" and less that 30% of Russians supported Putin's war in Chechnya—the cornerstone of Putin's rise to power. By taking over the governance board, the once independent research firm becomes another obedient mouthpiece, rubber-stamping Putin's reelection strategy. Levada, a 72-year-old academic and one of Russia's most independent anti-communists, conceded that he and his staff would no longer take part in public opinion research.

      Cracking down on Levada's All-Russia Center represents a blow to Russia's fledgling democracy, trying to crawl out of its totalitarian past. Since the 1905 Bolshevik Revolution, communists destroyed the free press, controlling, manipulating and manufacturing news to secure party objectives. Independent polling agencies like Levada's All-Russia Center helped limit the Kremlin's stranglehold on information. "It is quite natural. The situation in this country is not very good," said Levada, lamenting Putin's move to tighten the noose on real news and public information. In June, the Kremlin took over Russia's last remaining independent TV station. Last year, Putin closed TV6, a station critical of the government's policies activities. In 2001, the Kremlin appropriated NTV, Russia's last truly independent TV station, driving its founder Vladimir A. Guzinky into exile.

      If seizing NTV and Guzinky's assets weren't enough, Russian agents recently arrested him in Greece, charging the once-powerful oligarch with fraud and money laundering. "The real question is why now?" said Liliya Shevetsova, a Russian expert with the Moscow Carnegie Center, speculating that the Kremlin was completing its crackdown against Russia's renegade oligarchs, responsible for the country's runaway black market and white-collar crime. Though plausible, it's more likely that outspoken critics like Guzinky and now Levada face persecution by Putin's government, in advance of parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2004. Guzinky and Levada were guilty of naively taking Putin at his word, encouraging freedom of speech. Standing only five feet, six inches tall, the ex-KGB agent and martial arts expert, shows little tolerance for criticism or anything standing in his way to reelection.

      When Russian officials informed Levada that he would no longer be part of All-Russia's polling firm, the savvy academic knew he was in trouble. "No problem," the officials told Levada out loud. And later, in a whisper, they would say, 'We have been ordered to cut off your head,'" letting him know that Russian authorities meant business. Levada's dissident activities harked back to the late '60s, when he criticized the government's takeover of Czechoslovakia. Back then sociologists weren't permitted to survey peoples' attitudes toward private property, religion or the Communist Party. Under former President Mikhail Gorbachov's "perestroika," or improved openness, Levada started his independent polling organization. Like the persecution of Guzinksy and closure of NTV, getting rid of Levada seems like a calculated move to assert control over independent opinion research.

      Firing a shot across the bow, Putin put similar opinion groups on notice that criticism will not be tolerated. "There is not a trace of politics about this conflict . . . and there is every sign to believe that the restructuring is just a routine thing," said Yelina I. Bashkinova, president of the Russian Public Opinion and Market Research, showing the kind of intimidation found in repressive regimes. While the Kremlin doesn't come in with tommy-guns, the message to independent research groups is clear: Criticize the government and off will go your heads. Wrapped in democratic buzzwords, the new Russia bears striking similarity to its old Soviet predecessor. "For me and for many of my colleagues in Moscow, there simply no doubt that this is an indication of anti-democratic developments in Russia," said Vladimir Shlapentokh, a Michigan State University sociology professor.

      Talking about free markets and free speech, Putin knows how to placate colleagues in the European Union and U.N. Security Council. But beneath his Italian suits and Western façade, Putin remains a hard core KGB-man, committed to controlling all aspects of Russian society, including the free speech of individuals, groups and the press. There's nothing wrong with rooting out corrupt oligarchs, but there is something distasteful about persecuting individuals for telling the truth about power-hungry politicians. "There have been rumors that I'm not, so to speak, 'in line,'" said Levada, getting some déjà vu, when he was ousted from Moscow State University for publishing honest research back in the '60s. Getting rid of independent TV stations and now polling groups doesn't bode well for Russia's shaky democracy. For Putin to have any credibility, he must back off his old Soviet ways.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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