There is much news to be reported after the events of Oct.4,1993. After broadcasting of CNN resumed in Moscow, I was able to see much of what the world was viewing and would like to comment on that information. But first Yeltsin's dictatorship must be addressed.
As is known, martial law has been declared. Nobody out after 11PM. Those that are out will be arrested. Also political repression has begun, but not yet in full swing.
Yesterday Yeltsin outlawed many political organizations. He labeled them all as pro-communist or nationalist, even though that was not the case. We have heard for example that the Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists has been outlawed, even though they issued a statement which made it clear that they supported neither side of the conflict. Most left political parties seem to be banned, although they didn't necessarily have anything to do with the events. What kind of elections then does Yeltsin propose to hold? Elections without any opposition? How is that different than when the CPSU had no opposition?
We expect that soon offices will be searched, property and funds seized, etc.
On the night of the 3rd, at about 3AM, members of the Moscow City Soviet who were serving on a commission were arrested. They were not taking part in the defence of the White House, but were rather gathering information and discussing human rights, democracy, etc. Also, we have heard that many deputies and local officials who were not part of the events at the White House, but who were not supporting Yeltsin, were arrested in the night. Boris Kagarlitsky, known to many people abroad, was arrested and beaten, as were Alexander Segal and Vladimir Kondratov. (The police claim that they beat their heads against the paddy wagon and against the bars of the prison cells.) At this point it is extremely hard to gather information because of conditions of extreme censorship, etc..
As far as censorship goes, many papers did not come out today. Of those that did, there are clear examples of censorship in them. Whole articles and columns appear whited out. Yeltsin and his henchman do not want the people to know anything except what they would have them believe. Even in the pro-Yeltsin papers there is information whited out.
CNN reports that everybody in Russia supports Yeltsin. That is simply not the case. I would agree that the majority do support Yeltsin, but a very large minority supported the White House and many people support neither side. The people who do not support Yeltsin may number as high as 40%. It's not clear. What is clear is that while rich Russians, foreign journalists and businessmen watched on like ghouls from the roof tops of luxury apartment buildings, cheering while people were being shot, many people below were experiencing a deep tradegy. A small portion of them wanted blood and revenge. But most felt powerless and confused.
If there is to be any democracy in this country, the rights of this minority must be respected. If they are going to carry out this election farce, those who oppose Yeltsin should have somebody who they feel represents their interests to vote for. But at this point it is unlikely that this will be. After all, look at what happened when there were people who opposed Yeltsin. They were turned into criminals.
In the future you may hear little of any opposition in Russia, but that does not mean it doesn't resist. It means it was repressed, just like it was repressed before glasnost. After a while it even begins to appear to people like there is no opposition, especially when there is strong censorship. This is what is beginning to happen now.
P.S. Yeltsin's media is trying desperately to downplay the extent of this tragedy so they are telling people that only 30 people died during the events. Even CNN is not so outrageous to make up such impossibly low figures as far as casualties are concerned. AKAI, OCT.5, NOON
Two days after the succesful storm of the parliament in Moscow gunshots are still to be heard around Moscow and this "obvious fact" of the existence of Communist fighters and "snipers" pushes people to embrace the martial law, the curfew and police and military troops loyal to president Yeltsin as the saviors of peace and calmness of Muscovites. This situation, of course, is exactly what Yeltsin was looking for when he started his coup d'etat on September 21st and there are clear signs that he or at least somebody from his team were the people who worked hard to reach this result.
Communist fighters and "snipers" somehow leaked through the lines of police and troops surrounding the White House on the day that the troops started the storm of the parliament and caused many deaths among the government troops and civilians, the media reports. Gunfire is heard in various districts of Moscow, but it is quite likely that, like in Moscow's northern suburb of Otradnoye (in the evening of October 5), policemen are just firing machine guns into the air. What is it if not an outright provocation designed to make people believe they need more law and order.
Even the Moscow-based English-language periodical Moscow Tribune which seems to undoubtedly believe in the stories about Communist snipers published several materials revealing how the forces of law and order were too reluctant when dealing with the rioters on Sunday, October 3 during the clashes on Oktyabrskaya and Smolenskaya Square. "we've got other goals. We have other orders", - a police officer is reported to say when asked why the police, at least 120 strong, had acted slowly and done so little to stop 40 rioters, when the clashes were just beginning. (John Helmer, Moscow Crisis: The First Spark, Moscow Tribune, Oct.5.)
Sometime after when the riot was gathering its strength Muscovites witnessed demonstrators forcing police to retreat, attacking them with their own equipment and fighting their way over the Moscow river and across the Ring Road to parliament. (Reuters, Oct.3, 14:54.) The police troops that were blocking the bridge across the Moscow River were rather poorly equiped (helmets, shields and rubber batons only) and stood in the line one-man thick only. It's worth mentioning that during less dramatic oppositional demonstrations in Moscow police forces were much broader represented and were acting much more fearlessly, managing to stop the demonstrators where and when needed. An hour and a half after the beginning of the demonstration (time that is usually more than enough for the police to predict the movement of the demonstrators and block the streets where needed) police troops once again were defeated on Smolenskaya Square not far from the White House.
These victories inspired the opposition to storm the TV centre later in the evening, which somehow appeared to be unprotected. Soon after the beginning of the storm Yeltsin declared a state of emergency in Moscow, the government declared that it has been forced to use force "to end the actions of political adventurists an IS DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO AVERT MASS BLOODSHED". (Reuters, Oct.3, 17:51 and 19:04). At 19:56 Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov blamed "bandits" for the deaths of two policemen and two interior ministry soldiers and the media reported that troops loyal to president were brought to Moscow.
WHO WERE THE SNIPERS?
One of the keystones of the media campaign on October 4 were "the snipers", that is armed putchists who spread all over the city and whose numbers it was impossible to guess. One of the doctors who was evacuating the injured from the parliament was interviewed by Russian TV and said that there was a considerable number of people shot near the White House in the morning and during the day right in their hearts, necks and heads. This was presented by the media as the evidence of the crimes of the putschists. In fact it is, but it appears more grounded to say that these were the people killed by the KGB and special police troops loyal to the government. Though there were quite a lot of arms in the White House there were hardly any "snipers", that is people specially trained in shooting, among its defenders. It is more probable that those who were shot were shot by the snipers of KGB. (During the August 1991 coup there were much worries about whether these special KGB troops will take the side of Yeltsin or not.) Since none of these special troops declared their loyalty to the parliament, it's hardly so that the Communist "snipers" killed people in dozens around the parliament.
Witnesses that were among the spectators of the storm of the White House on Oct.4 report that there were government snipers who were shooting "in all directions" (Moscow Tribune, Oct.5) and particularly civilians. October 6 issue of Izvestiya, Russia's biggest newspaper, features a story "Troops Near The White House Shot Everything That Moves" describing how the soldiers started shooting at the windows and roofs of buildings around the parliament if they saw anybody moving there. This went on for about two days and none of the specially trained anti-terrorist detachments of KGB were involved in the fight against the mythical snipers.
During the "sniper incident" on Novy Arbat (the only one described in the media as far as I know) soldiers from APCs shot in various directions, including the house on the embankment of the Moscow River near the parliament where dozens of people and TV crews gathered to see the fight. After the people on Novy Arbat tried to escape into one of the courtyards they were met by gunshots from the neighboring streets and the windows of the houses that composed the courtyard - the area was totally in control of the police troops and there were no "Communist fighters" there.
It is also interesting to learn how it happened that considerable numbers of armed people leaked from the White House and spread around the city. The parliament was blocked from all sides and since its defenders didn't have tanks it was almost impossible for them to get out... until they were let out by the government. The story about "unprofessional actions of the police and the military" is an old one and it is usually used by the authorities to justify more repression and the use of more troops. This is what happened during the clash between communists and the police on the 1st of May this year. This is what happened on October 3 when the authorities let the opposition "defeat" special police troops on the streets of Moscow. This is probably how they provoked more violence during the storm of the White House.
Currently the media reports dozens of cases when journalists were arrested by the forces of law and order, severely beaten up, held in Lefortovo KGB prison (together with the leaders of parliament and dozens of civilians, including children), their films exposed. (Izvestiya, October 6.) I doubt that any of the policemen or military will be punished for these actions - they feel that this is their time and that they can do whatever they want without being punished or anything like that. This is what they were doing for years, but what's going on now is just outrageous.
And it's not just the police and the military since every other high- rank "democrat" is trying to make revenge on his opponents. Yeltsin had his fun destroying the paliament, Moscow's mayor Luzhkov gladly witnessed (and sanctioned, I'm sure) arrests and beatings of Moscow City Soviet deputees that bothered him a lot about the legal grounds of his multiple political and business activities. Heads of local administrations are disbanding troublesome Soviets in their regions. In the situation where there are virtually no political organizations that really represent the interests of different social groups, Soviets were almost the only opposition to the governmental course (though the one that can be called the real opposition), but with them being disbanded, oppositional organizations and papers closed, and martial law and censorship introduced, the road for Yeltsin's triumphant elections is clean. Long live the real freedom of choice, the choice between the Big Brother and yourself!
POSTSCRIPT
Vecherniya Moskva, Moscow evening paper on October 6, reported that none of president's decrees implemented censorship and that the censorship that existed was dictated by the needs of the moment and that they won't work anymore. Nezavisimaya gazeta, one of the pro- democratic, pro-Yeltsin papers appeared on that day with about half a page of blank space plus some published informations lacking the starting sentences. The editor-in-chief of histerically pro- governmental Moskovsky Komsomolets said on TV that blank spaces in some of the papers is he fault of the editors. He also went as far as to declare that there will be no blank spaces in his paper because they publish the truth and nothing else but the truth and the rtuth can't be censored. Do you love me, Moskovsky Komsomolets? Yes, I love you, Big Brother!
Many people, including the mainstream English press here wonder why the OMON didn't take more precautions at the Ostankino television center, and why they did such a bad job at simple crowd control. It was known for four days that the opposition were planning to take Ostankino and when they finally arrived, they rallied for over an hour before the storm began. Troops arrived at the scene much later. Others, including many pro-Yeltsinites, asked how Yegor Gaidar could go on TV and urge people to fight back.
The answers are not clear. Of course people were somewhat afraid of the well-armed White House defendants. But there is more and more speculation going on here that part of the events were provoked by pro-Yeltsin troops to rally public resentment against the opposition. Myself and several reliable people that I know were witnesses to some rather odd events that we think was part of a provocation.
For example, some time around 6 or 7PM, before the tanks all started to converge on the White House, I and two friends were standing outside the Mayor's building across the street from the White House. We were completely surrounded on all sides by Yeltsin's troops. (Only after some while, as the tanks began to roll did they try to disperse us.) Every once and a while fire was breaking out, sometimes in the direction of the White House, sometimes in our direction. We witnessed a woman near us take out a pistol from her pocket and begin shooting in the air. It seemed entirely strange to us and we weren't sure who she was or what she was shooting at. There was so much going on that surely few people noticed this. Then she slowly walked to the blown out 1st floor windows of the Mayor's building. We watched very intently because we thought she might be a communist or a nationalist or sorts (although she was too well dressed) and we thought she might try to shoot one of the soldiers. She instead started to talk to one of them and entered the building from the side.
At this time the tanks started rolling so we went up Novy Arbat St. to the Garden Ring Road to try to find a telephone. Before we got to the Garden Ring Rd., soldiers were trying to get us to run and create some hysteria amongst the few people who were there. On the Garden Ring Rd. there were a few hundred spectators. While one of us went to find a phone, I and a friend watched on. Suddenly guns started firing down the Garden Ring Rd. We ran through an archway into a courtyard.
We couldn't go further because there was fire into the courtyard where the corner house ended and where there was an alley between that corner house and the next building on Novy Arbat St. This fire from the alley way could have only come from the troops that we had passed and who were trying to creating a panic less than 5 minutes earlier. They were the only people there. Dozens of people tried to run into the courtyard, only to find that there was lots of gunfire there and so they were trapped in a small space where the corner building curved around from Garden Ring onto Novy Arbat St. The fire was apparently approaching. We noticed that there were people shooting from out of windows into the courtyard. I was wondering where the hell they were shooting at. We finally made a run for it through the courtyard, dodging bullets. I looked behind and saw something fall from the sky into the courtyard behind me.
We ran further and turned back onto the Garden Ring Rd. There we witnessed general panic. There was lots of guns being fired at the top floors of buildings and also into the crowd. I was fairly upset and wondering why Yeltsin's troops were firing into the crowd. One person said that they are trying to disperse people. I thought this is a stupid way to do it, but I accepted that explaination for a while. Then it occured to me that the only people who could be firing into the courtyard at ground level were Yeltsin's troops.
The local English language paper reported the incident. The TV reported sniper fire in several areas of the city and claimed that this was done by opposition rebels on the loose. They are using this fear to justify things like martial law. But after hearing more and more people report unusual incidents, and incidents similiar to mine, I'm beginning to wonder.
Sure there are armed rebels on the loose. Many White House supporters went home on the night of the 3rd and were not able to return. When the White House was beseiged by Yeltsin's troops, there were apparently several attempts made by groups of people to get on the territory of the White House. (In the morning this was virtually impossible, unless you were a journalist.) I had assumed that the people firing from the windows into the courtyards were the opposition. I was aggravated by the fact that they were firing into the courtyard. I wondered how they got into the buildings, if any of them actually resided in that swank neighbourhood or if they broke into apartments. At this point however I think that it was not the opposition who was doing the firing into that courtyard. They were not running around the streets firing at innocent people, and as far as I know, there were many instances of them trying to get people out of the line of fire. They generally operated by selecting their targets and going directly for them. Why would they fire into the courtyard and not in the other direction, into Yeltsin's troops? And what happened to these people up there in the building? They weren't killed or arrested; the media would have shown them and labeled them murderers. That particular house was not even fired upon or stormed. Yeltsin's troops, which were stationed right outside this house on Novy Arbat St. decided not to fire up at the windows from which gunfire was coming, but rather into the courtyard into which people, including bystanders, were fleeing.
Another wierd incident. Two different journalists reported seeing 10 militia men shooting into the air in the Otradnoye section, just north of Moscow. Why were they there and why were they firing into the air? They suggested that perhaps they were trying to create a panic.
There are already dozens of reports of such irregularities. Of course little has made it into the mainstream media, except in the English language press, which isn't sold on the streets, which almost no Russians read, and which hasn't been subjected to censorship. In the Moscow Tribune on Oct.5 there was a very vivid description of the beginning of the action on Sunday Oct.3. (Neither English language paper appears on Monday.) Apparently the violence was started by about 10 people who ran into the street from out of a crowd of 40 demonstrators. 120 Omonovtsy (special police) stood without reacting. They weren't even wearing helmets. When a reporter from the Tribune asked why they were doing nothing, he was told "We've got other goals. We have other orders." Only after 45 minutes, when the crowd had grown substantially in size, did they act, and only then half-heartedly.
It is obvious to anybody who has seen these troops in action that they deliberately let the crowd gather and storm the Mayor's building and the White House. Just a few days earlier, when they arrived at the White House, they had an almost airtight seal on the place, and did a much better job of kicking ass and preventing a much larger and better armed crowd from going anywhere near the White House. As a matter of fact, they ran away from the demonstrators. At Ostankino, tanks that were headed to the area turned back just before the strom. Why? It has even conservatives and moderates like the Moscow Tribune asking "Could this have been a trap to encourage the violent elements on parliament's side to provide the justification the government needed to respond with the force it had sworn not to initiate?" [John Helmer, "Moscow Crisis:The First Spark", Moscow Tribune, Oct.5, 1993].
You bet this was a trap. What better way to justify the violence and the censorship, political repression and so on that followed? Also, by allowing these people to storm buildings, they had a concrete target to bombard. Of course lots of innocent bystanders also got hurt in the events. This too was part of the provocation. How did I and my friends get right to the seen of the action during crossfire? The soldiers pointed out the route for us. How come pedestrians were allowed to come so near to fighting? Was it that the soldiers couldn't control the crowd? They usually do a pretty good job completely blocking traffic when they want to. How come on Oct.5, troops were shooting at "snipers" on Novy Arbat street, but put up absolutely no obstacle to pedestrian traffic?
As far as the last question is concerned, the answer is simple: for all the bullets that Yeltsin's troops were firing up at rooftops, no bullets were being fired back down.
One man who witnessed this yesterday asked, "How can it be that they've been firing two days already and haven't caught the snipers? It doesn't seem like anyone's there. And how could they let people walk the streets like that?"
Izvestia reports that it is the city police and the regular army who are the only ones being used to shoot at the snipers. They are not specially trained at this. There are however many, many special troops that are. Where are they? Izvestia got past the censors with an article entitled "Troops Near the White House Shot At Everything That Moved". This is in fact what they did, but that they shouldn't have done. Now people are trying to justify this, saying that unmdoubtedly there were armed insurgents in the crowd, and that the people there were looking for trouble. But this was not the case. Now they keep making up stories about "snipers on the loose" and how communists were firing indiscriminantly into crowds of innocent people. They cannot hide the fact that they shot into the crowd so they have to make up all kinds of justifications for their actions and they blame the whole situation on the inhuman insurgents who put the civilian population in jeopardy. In fact it was Yeltsin and Grachev who put the crowd in danger, who shot onlookers.
More and more witnesses are coming foward to say that many of these "snipers" were in fact KGB or some similiar Yeltsinite force. For example, the snipers at the Mezdunarodnaya Hotel were let in past security. Would the security guards at this swank hotel which houses many shops and is adjacent to the Trade Center, housing many multi- national offices, have let opposition "snipers" through? If the hotel was stormed, how come there isn't a single report of it in the media? How come the media then describes the "snipers" at the hotels as part of the insurgents? More than likely, the snipers which were on the heavily guarded Hotel Mir across from the White House were also from the government.
Also, residents of the buildings from which snipers were shooting have also come foward to say that these were government snipers, but none of this has been reported in the media.
Yeltsin has a lot of blood on his hands, especially the blood of the people killed in anyone of the "sniper incidents" that were manufactured to create public outrage and fear and to provide him with reasons to justify his actions and political repressions.