By Anatoly Medetsky Media allied with the Primorye administration have launched a preemptive strike on Russia's leading liberal politician after rumors began circulating that he would run for governor in December. Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky has denied any intention to run for governor here. But two newspapers allied with Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko have portrayed him as a white-gloved closet theoretician who would be unable to cope with the problems facing Primorye. For quite a while, rumors have been mounting in Primorye that Yavlinsky is going to run for the position of top regional executive. Many commentators say the local opposition to the incumbent governor, Yevgeny Nazdratenko, will not be able to win the elections because their leaders have low ratings. That's why the liberal foes of the governor will try to lure a national politician to face off against Nazdratenko. "It's not ruled out that Grigory Yavlinsky will be such a newcomer," Novosti wrote June 9. In an article largely devoted to Yavlinsky, the paper described outsider politicians as "varyags," a word used for medieval foreign rulers of Russia that is now comparable to "carpetbagger" in English. But Yavlinsky party's official newspaper Yabloko Rossii, denied in its May 29 issue that Yavlinsky would run for governor. Yavlinsky aims only at the presidential post in 2000 race, the paper said. Rumors began when Yabloko registered a local party newspaper in Nakhodka this past spring and were fueled by the attempts of the pro-Nazdratenko media to downplay the image of the politician. "Hardly anyone can name a single concrete result of Yavlinsky's political activity," the daily Vladivostok wrote June 1. "Deplorably enough for him, everything has sunk in phrase-mongering." (The Vladivostok is the parent paper of the Vladivostok News, but the two are editorially separate.) According to independent public opinion polls, Yavlinsky has a steady 20 percent voter base in Vladivostok and 10 percent nationwide. His faction in the 450-seat State Duma numbers 40. More than 7 percent of the electorate voted for him in the presidential election in 1996. His party supported former mayor Viktor Cherepkov in his battles with governor Nazdratenko and president Boris Yeltsin. The Yabloko faction in the State Duma said President Yeltsin's dismissal of Cherepkov last year was illegal. The party also resented the cancellation of Vladivostok's January mayoral election, in which Cherepkov was favored. Yabloko blamed the governor and the president for disruption of the election and breaking laws in the process. If Yavlinsky did run for governor, it would be the continuation of the Moscow liberals' attempts to unseat Nazdratenko, Novosti said. The liberals are at odds with Nazdratenko for resisting Russian economic reforms. Just months after he was appointed governor in 1993, Nazdratenko suspended privatization of 172 companies in the region. Later, he fought against raising transport and electricity rates and protested the policy of bankrupting unprofitable enterprises. © copyright 1998 the Vladivostok News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in any form. [Back to News page]  [Back to Front page]  [Write to us]