STOP THE LETHAL REFORMS!

THE AUTHORS OF THIS APPEAL TO PUTIN AND THE PEOPLE ARE SOUNDING THE ALARM ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN RUSSIA. THEY BELIEVE THAT THE GOVERNMENT'S REFORMS ARE DESTRUCTIVE AND WILL NOT BRING RUSSIA ANY GOOD - ON THE CONTRARY, THESE REFORMS WILL SPLIT SOCIETY AND LEAD THE
COUNTRY TO DISASTER.

Aren't there enough signs of the great disaster which has befallen Russia? Aren't there planes crashing, submarines sinking, factories and TV towers burning? Aren't towns and cities freezing because of electricity blackouts? Aren't entire regions being flooded, like in the time of Noah? Don't they know in the Kremlin that our country is suffering from AIDS, syphilis and TB; that whole regions are inhabited by drug addicts; or that prisons are overcrowded with young people, and orphanages are full? Doesn't the president receive reports on the terrifying arithmetic of national extinction, when Russia is losing a million people a year, as if in an invisible war?

Having ruined Communism and the Soviet Union Yeltsin created a bizarre hybrid instead of a thriving democratic society; and mercenary politicians combined their interests with the business mafia and divided the vast riches of Russia among themselves. They deprived Russia of its life-force, and now it is fading, disappearing into darkness, dying in each location and across the continent. As a result, we are seeing irreversible economic and social collapse, down to territorial disintegration.

The second phase of the "liberal reforms", which the Kremlin is now frantically implementing, is explained by Herman Gref as being the bare essentials, a vital point of support for a dash forward. In reality, under those masks of the Kremlin image-makers, we can clearly see the cruel faces of criminal moneymakers and politicians, for whom Russia is a bottomless trough, while its people are dangerous witnesses to robbery; and the history of our motherland is a blind alley, from which it can be led out only by NATO divisions.

These "reforms" are being carried out in such a way that the state loses control over Russia's last resources and money, which then are seized by "black market" businessmen and uncontrolled tycoons; the latter then evade taxation and direct the money to off-shore zones, uncontrolled banks, invest it in foreign business, which has nothing to do with the interests of our fading country.

The "land reform" will drive away millions of impoverished farm-workers, delivering the best land into the hands of wealthy foreigners.

The "housing reforms" threaten most people with eviction from their homes, and will turn Russia into a country of luxurious palaces and dreadful slums.

The "labor laws" will enslave people, who only recently were socially protected.

The "pension reforms" guarantee a pension only after death.

The "education reforms" stress paid tuition and the principle that "slave do not need knowledge".

They are reforming health care in such a way that only the rich can be alive and healthy, while the rest of the population become victims of epidemics and early death.

The reforms to Russian Joint Energy Systems will switch off the lights in Russian homes, stop the engines at industrial plants and factories, cut off power to space centers and missile silos.

The reforms to our railroads will destroy rail travel for citizens, while providing profitable freight transit for foreigners. The concentration of state property in one person's hands, which are usually not very "clean", is turning Russian metallurgy, energy systems and oil production into a source of vast revenues, which are illegally taken out of Russia.

Cultural policy, including language reforms, is turning the people into an illiterate beast-like mass, unable to create anything worthy.

These ten directions of "liberal reforms" have been called "Putin's ten strikes at Russia". However, the country is unlikely to withstand even half of them.

We have already passed the breaking point, after which social chaos, disasters, and popular alienation from the government will increase at the speed of light. The nation is now being split into small regions, bleeding fragments of our society, which fall prey easily to foreign forces.

Let the Kremlin officials not be deceived by attractive images of this summer - festivals, foreign stars' concerts, compliments of foreign leaders visiting Moscow. It was the same in the summer of 1991. The disaster came all of a sudden, amidst the green growth of August, ripening apples and holidays at the seaside. As for the top-ranking foreign guests, their secret services all speak about the rapid degradation of Russia, and they predict that this process will end in a territorial split.

It was this point that "the appeal to the people" warned against in the summer of 1991.

This present appeal, dictated by our anxiety about the motherland's destiny, has several aims.

We want to explain to people the tragedy of this era, into which Russia is entering now.

We do not have any illusions about President Putin's abilities and moral principles, but we appeal to him to shed the terrible burden of Yeltsinism. It is necessary for Putin to get rid of Yeltsin's retinue, who are so hated by the people: all these Voloshins, Fridmans, Abramoviches...

We appeal to the president to take the helm of the state away from such amateurs as Kudrin and Gref, who are sending the economy into a spin. Let the president strike a decisive blow at the shadow business and mafia, like he did in the case of Berezovsky and Gusinsky. The overwhelming majority of the population will support him in this matter: workers, peasants, academics, the military and patriotic businesspeople among them.

The secret service officials who came to power with Putin, bringing with them strong wills and selflessness, are stifled by the corruption of Yeltsin appointees. They are sure to become Putin's supporters in "curing" the state.

Against a backdrop of inevitable social unrest, on the eve of disasters and violent conflicts - in the Caucasus or Central Asia - we suggest that a nationwide foundation should be established, which would coordinate the Russian people - political parties, public organizations, each individual citizen, in order to make the government turn aside from a course which is fatal for Russia.

Весь зверинец расписался на его последнем удостоверении:
(цитата из романа "Щит и меч")

M. Alexeev, writer, hero of Socialist Labor;
Zh. Alferov, academician, Nobel laureate;
V. Belov, writer, Hero of Socialist Labor;
Y. Belov, publicist;
Y. Bondarev, writer, Hero of Socialist Labor;
V. Bondarenko, critic, chief editor of Dyen Literatury;
N. Burlyaev, film director, national artist of Russia;
S. Glazyev, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), chairman of the State Duma committee;
N. Gubenko, national artist of Russia, chairman of the State Duma committee;
Y. Drapeko, national actress of Russia, Duma deputy;
S. Yesin, writer, director of the Institute for Literature;
V. Zorkaltsev, chairman of the State Duma committee;
G. Zyuganov, leader of the Communist party of Russia;
L. Ivanchenko, head of the State Duma committee;
E. Isaev, poet, hero of socialist labor;
B. Kashin, corresponding member of the RAS;
V. Kasin, academician of the Russian Agricultural Academy;
Y. Kuznetsov, poet;
S. Kunyaev, poet, chief editor of Our Compatriot;
V. Lichutin, writer;
A. Lukyaniv, head of a State Duma committee;
N. Lyakishev, academician;
I. Melnikov, head of State Duma committee;
S. Nikolsky, academician;
M. Nozhkin, national artist of Russia.
O. Pashchenko, editor of Krasnoyarsky Rabochy;
T. Petrova, singer;
P. Proskurin, writer, hero of socialist labor;
A. Prokhanov, writer, chief editor of Zavtra;
V. Rasputin, writer, hero of socialist labor;
I. Rodionov, General, deputy;
P. Romanov, deputy head of the State Duma;
Y. Savelyev, professor, director of the Baltic state technical university;
S. Savitskaya, pilot-cosmonaut, hero of the Soviet Union, deputy of the State Duma;
V. Saikin, head of State Duma Committee;
V. Sevastyanov, pilot-cosmonaut, hero of the Soviet Union, deputy of the State Duma;
A. Segen, writer;
V. Srkhov, academician;
I. Froyanov, professor;
N. Kharitonov, head of the Agrarian Group pf the State Duma;
V. Chernoivanov, academician;
V. Chikin, chief editor of Sovetskaya Rossia, deputy of the State Duma;
A. Shutkov, academician.