Toganian Liana – Page 163 – Armenian Directory & News

RA First Ombudsman: In 2005 The Right Of The RA Citizens Of Effectiv

March 16, 2006March 16, 2006 Toganian Liana

RA FIRST OMBUDSMAN: IN 2005 THE RIGHT OF THE RA CITIZENS OF EFFECTIVE DEFENSE WERE VIOLATED MOST

YEREVAN, MARCH 16. ARMINFO. During the year 2005 the right of the RA
citizens of effective defense was violated most. The violations refer
not only the legal protection in the court. The RA First Ombudsman
announced during today’s seminar “Gains and losses of the RA citizens
in 2005” organized by the non-governmental organization “National
Civic Initiative”.

Larissa Alaverdyan has read out her “Extraordinary Report on Human
Rights in Armenia in 2005” for about 40 minutes during the seminar. She
was not allowed to make it public in the Parliament at the beginning of
the year. According to her, the very domestic political governmental
system with its by-laws is directed towards the violation of human
rights.

Alaverdyan thinks quite surprising that the authorities confess the
imperfection of the court system but do nothing to improve it. We
should speak not about the low level of independence of the courts,
but about the unfairness of the decisions they make. The fact that
the judges are appointed by the President is not that important, the
Ombudsman mentioned. She brought the example of such a democratic
country as Sweden where the judges are considered royal, and until
recently they were appointed by the King. Alaverdyan added that the
function of the Ombudsman is to point at the unfairness of a court
decision, which is successfully practiced in Sweden.

Nevertheless, all her attempts to change the situation, including
a private meeting with the RA Prime Minister and the letter to the
RA President, were fruitless. On the contrary, she was warned that
her actions are a violation of the 5th article of the newly adopted
Constitution, Alaverdyan informed.

The RA First Ombudsman devoted a significant part of her extraordinary
report to the problems of the residents of the Buzand street. According
to her, there are many cases in different countries of the world when
the authorities have to resettle the citizens, but they have to give
grounded reasons for their actions and provide the citizens with
financial compensation. In the case of the residents of the Buzand
street, they were forced into an unprofitable deal on the sale of
their own houses. The court decisions about these cases are a violation
of not only property rights, but also of all the rights mentioned in
the European Convention on the Protection of Fundamental Human Rights
and Freedoms, the RA First Ombudsman Larissa Alaverdyan announced.

An Outward Show of Political Influence

March 15, 2006March 15, 2006 Toganian Liana

An Outward Show of Political Influence

Gary Nalbandian’s band of Southland donors has gotten badges and titles from
law enforcement officials. Critics say it smacks of impropriety.

Los Angeles Times
March 13, 2006

By Stuart Pfeifer and Lance Pugmire, Times Staff Writers

On paper, Gary Nalbandian would appear to be an influential figure in
Southern California law enforcement.

He has served as director of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homeland
Security Support Unit, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Executive Council and
the Bureau of Justice for the San Bernardino County district attorney’s
office.

But Nalbandian is not a professional cop. The only paid law enforcement
position he has held is as a volunteer reserve deputy with the Los Angeles
County sheriff – salary, $1 a year. His real job is running a tire store in
Glendora.

He is, however, a major political fundraiser for Southern California law
enforcement officials. Over the last nine years, Nalbandian has tapped a
network of businessmen and acquaintances, most of them from the Armenian
community, to raise tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions
for Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, Riverside Sheriff Bob Doyle and San
Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Mike Ramos.

The three officials subsequently authorized the issuance of badges,
identification cards or other official-looking credentials for many of the
donors, designating them members of groups including Baca’s “Homeland
Security Support Unit,” Doyle’s “Sheriff’s Executive Council” and Ramos’
“Bureau of Justice.”

The law enforcement officials insist the credentials were appropriate, since
the men did important volunteer work aiding crime victims, translating
Arabic-language documents for investigators and facilitating anti-terrorism
activities.

But critics say the granting of badges and titles to political supporters
creates the appearance that they are rewards for donations.

“We were getting a lot of new members and, believe me, they were not coming
to see new faces or to eat the food,” said Vahe Maranian, the owner of a La
Crescenta auto electric shop and a former member of Doyle’s Executive
Council.

“They were there for the badges.”

Although the badges issued by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and
the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office are not identical to
those used by sworn officers, they bear similar stars or other symbols and
official department names. It is a misdemeanor in California to distribute
badges to the public that are likely to be confused with real law
enforcement badges.

Doyle and Ramos said they believed their badges were so different from those
used by sworn deputies that they did not violate state law, but both men
have subsequently asked Nalbandian to disband the law enforcement support
groups and return the badges and identification cards.

Baca gave badges only to the dozen or so members of Nalbandian’s group who
went through training to become level-three reserve deputies, volunteers who
help sworn officers with routine tasks. But he authorized department photo
identification cards and official name tags for many of the others.

The donors and insiders who received the badges or identification have given
more than $150,000 since 1997 to political campaigns for Baca, Doyle and
Ramos.

The biggest contributions went to Doyle, who received at least $93,000 from
Nalbandian’s group between January 2002 and June 2005 – more than 20% of
his fundraising total during that period.

Steve Remige, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, said
issuing badges and law enforcement credentials to politically connected
insiders is an insult to sworn deputies and officers.

“You work, you sweat, at times you bleed for that badge,” Remige said. To
give badges to people who didn’t go through academy training “is a slap in
the face to the general law enforcement community,” he said.

Doyle said he told Nalbandian to collect the badges in July because he
wasn’t utilizing the groups’ services and because he was warned at a
conference about the ethical problems of issuing badges to civilians.

Doyle said the badges were in no way a reward for campaign contributions. “I
can’t tell you who has specifically given me the money among that group, and
I can tell you I have never made any promise to anyone in regard to campaign
money,” he said.

In a series of interviews for this article, Ramos offered conflicting
accounts of his role in issuing the badges.

In December, Ramos said Nalbandian was wholly responsible for making and
distributing the badges for his Bureau of Justice, which was set up to
support and assist Ramos’ office.

“Nothing came from me. I think Gary went out and got badges for the Bureau
of Justice and I put a stop to it. It was giving the wrong impression they
were employees of the district attorney’s office,” Ramos said.

But in an interview last month, Ramos said he had refreshed his memory by
reviewing his files and now recalled authorizing the badges. He also said he
and Nalbandian went badge shopping together shortly after his 2002 election
victory.

Ramos said he asked Nalbandian to return the badges in October 2003 because
he came to realize “it looks horrible” to award badges to campaign donors
and that the name “Bureau of Justice” sounded too much like a real police
organization.

Baca, on the other hand, said he has no intention of shutting down the group
Nalbandian heads for him, the Homeland Security Support Unit, or asking its
roughly 50 members to return their identification cards, which resemble
those that sworn deputies carry in their wallets.

“We could be the next [city] that’s attacked. I know one thing, Los Angeles
is on the list. We’re a priority target. I’m not going to wait for the
federal government’s bureaucracy,” Baca said. “I’m going to build a network
that’s so strong that any terrorist that thinks they can fly under the radar
screen in Los Angeles County, it ain’t going to happen. Gary Nalbandian
understands how to do that.”

Baca also defended his issuing of official identification to Nalbandian’s
volunteers. “What are you going to do with a name badge? What are you going
to do with an ID card that’s going to cause someone to help you?” Baca said.

At least three men who received the credentials, including Nalbandian,
displayed them or mentioned their positions in encounters with police or
security officials, in some cases raising concerns of misuse, according to
documents and interviews.

Nalbandian presented a police lieutenant with a business card identifying
him as a Los Angeles County sheriff’s commander when he went to the Arcadia
police station in September after receiving news that an acquaintance had
been arrested for shoplifting.

Believing, because of the card, that Nalbandian was a top sheriff’s
executive, the lieutenant allowed Nalbandian into a secure area of the
station to await the woman’s release.

Although the woman received no special treatment, Arcadia Police Chief Bob
Sanderson said that the card made him believe that Nalbandian was seeking an
“unspoken favor.” Sanderson said he was concerned enough to report the
incident to Baca’s staff.

Nalbandian defended his involvement in the Arcadia arrest. He said he
presented his business card simply as a courtesy, as he does to “every
person I meet.” He said his first words to the Arcadia lieutenant were: “I’m
not here for no favors. I want to help the family bail her out.”

Homeland Security Support Unit member Raffi Mesrobian displayed both his Los
Angeles sheriff’s ID card and his Riverside sheriff’s Executive Council
badge to state agents serving a search warrant at his Glendale naturopathy
office during a Medi-Cal fraud investigation last year.

A state Department of Justice investigator wrote in his report that the
identification card “did not distinguish whether Mesrobian was a sworn peace
officer, a civilian employee or volunteer.” Mesrobian is not a reserve
deputy and has had no law enforcement training.

“In fact … the official photo identification card would suggest that
Mesrobian was a deputy or official of the Sheriff’s Department instead of an
unpaid volunteer or member of a support council,” Special Agent J. Timothy
Fives wrote in his report.

Mesrobian, who has not been prosecuted, said he made a bad decision.

“I’m really sorry for showing them the badges,” Mesrobian said. “The only
thing I thought was, ‘Is there anything I can do to help? I’m a member of
the sheriff’s advisory council.’ ”

Nalbandian said he suspended Mesrobian from the Homeland Security Support
Unit and revoked his credentials after learning of the incident.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Executive Council member Vahe Maranian said his
badge gained him entry to a secure area at Burbank Airport in 2003.

After first being told that he would have to wait at baggage claim for his
elderly parents, Maranian said, “I let them know I was with the Executive
Council of the Riverside County sheriff. I showed my badge, and they let me
in – right inside, I passed right through security.”

Maranian said an airport security supervisor then allowed him to wait at the
gate for his parents.

“The simple reason they let me through was that I was with the Executive
Council of the Sheriff’s Department,” Maranian said. “I wasn’t some
stranger. Those [airport security] supervisors aren’t stupid. They know who
they’re dealing with. That supervisor felt comfortable with my spirit, and
that badge I had was not a phony. It was real and numbered. To get that from
the sheriff means you get respect.”

Not all members of Nalbandian’s group felt comfortable displaying their
credentials. Artour Khachatrian, a Glendale dentist who contributed $10,000
to Doyle’s 2002 campaign, said he kept his badge in a drawer at his home and
never used it. He said he was concerned that the badges would eventually
become an issue.

“I knew, sooner or later, this conversation would happen,” Khachatrian said.
“Too many people were having badges…. Too many regular people like me, a
simple dentist, can use those badges in many different ways.”

Nalbandian’s rise in the law enforcement world would have seemed unlikely in
1984, when he sat in a San Bernardino County jail cell, accused of trying to
buy stolen cigarettes to sell in the Colton gas station he and his brother,
Tanos, operated at the time.

The brothers were charged with attempted possession of stolen property – a
misdemeanor – for allegedly paying an undercover police decoy for the
stolen smokes, according to court records and interviews. Nalbandian’s
brother pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation. The charges
against Nalbandian were dismissed.

Nalbandian, a Lebanese immigrant and not a native English speaker, said the
case was the result of a misunderstanding.

“They came in and told my brother they’re going to sell him some hot
cigarettes…. In Lebanon, hot is the coffee that we drink and the Pepsi is
cold. That’s what we know, hot and cold,” Nalbandian said. “I wasn’t
involved in anything, except he [Tanos] asked for the money and I gave him
the money.”

A squarely built, energetic man of 42, Nalbandian said his childhood dream
was to work in law enforcement. His store is covered with photos showing him
and elected officials ranging from Baca to President Bush.

Nalbandian moved to the United States from Lebanon in 1982 and worked a
series of jobs in the automotive industry before opening his Glendora tire
store in 1993.

During Baca’s first campaign for sheriff in 1997, Nalbandian introduced
friends and acquaintances to the candidate and organized grass-roots
fundraisers. Members of Nalbandian’s groups have donated more than $30,000
to Baca’s campaigns, according to records.

After his election, Baca invited Nalbandian to apply to become a volunteer
deputy. After undergoing 64 hours of training, the tire salesman was named a
reserve and given a badge and a uniform.

Reserve deputies are asked to serve 20 hours per month for $1 a year.
Level-three deputies like Nalbandian do not go on patrol or make arrests but
handle such tasks as crowd control or transportation, said Capt. Joe Garza,
who supervises the department’s reserve program. He said that Nalbandian,
whom Baca made an honorary “commander,” will soon begin also doing
translation for the sheriff.

Baca’s staff has approved concealed-weapons permits for Nalbandian and for
Gary Jerjerian, owner of a wheel company and assistant director of the
Homeland Security Support Unit.

In 2001, Nalbandian became active in campaigns for Ramos and Doyle. After
their elections, the two law enforcers handed out badges to members,
including many donors, of groups they authorized Nalbandian to start.

Ramos said he also provided Nalbandian with an electronic copy of his
signature to use on official correspondence and named him “chief” of the
Bureau of Justice. The tire salesman registered his Crown Victoria, the same
model driven by many police and sheriff’s executives, in both his own name
and that of the Bureau of Justice, according to DMV records. Nalbandian said
“the guys,” members of his volunteer group, paid for the $25,500 vehicle.

Several members of Nalbandian’s volunteer groups said they were asked to pay
$1,000 initiation fees and were charged $100 monthly dues, often in cash, at
dinner meetings in a Pasadena meeting hall.

Nalbandian said the fees were for membership in a social club called the
Executive Council of Southern California, and were not a requisite to
getting a badge. He declined to say what happened to the money that was
collected by the club.

“What we do is personal with the club. It’s nobody’s business,” he said.

Several members said they were not aware of the Executive Council of
Southern California. They said they paid to attend dinner meetings in
Pasadena and discussed the affairs of the Riverside Sheriff’s Executive
Council and the Homeland Security Support Unit.

Former members of the Riverside group gave The Times copies of Sheriff’s
Executive Council meeting agendas reporting that $6,850 had been raised in
January 2004 and $6,600 in March 2004.

Asked why agendas would say that thousands of dollars had been raised by the
council, Nalbandian shrugged and did not respond. At another point, he said
they could be computer-generated forgeries.

Rick Hamilton, owner of Sun Badge Co., now based in Ontario, said Nalbandian
paid for Riverside and San Bernardino county badges in cash, which he
carried in a small purse.

“Every time we made badges for him, it was a rush,” Hamilton said.

Baca said he was concerned about some of Nalbandian’s actions, including the
fact his business cards didn’t make clear that he was a reserve and not a
regular deputy. But the sheriff said he’s willing to face criticism to do
what he thinks is best for public safety.

“I’m taking a risk in having volunteer support groups,” he said. “I know
that. I’m not afraid of the risks. The benefit of saving lives from
terrorism requires a certain amount of risk.”

(INFOBOX BELOW)

Nalbandian’s influence

In 2002, San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Mike Ramos authorized tire
salesman Gary Nalbandian to set up the Bureau of Justice, a group of
businessmen, most of whom had donated to his campaign. The following men
were then issued badges and identification cards:

Name Rank Occupation Donation to Ramos
____________________________________________ ________________________________
___________
Gary A. Nalbandian Chief Tire store owner 0
Gary H. Jerjerian Assistant Chief Wheel company owner $7,800
Ramzi Bader Deputy Chief Electronics company owner $1,200
Joe Samuelian Deputy Chief Street-sweeping company owner $6,000
Avo Papazian Deputy Chief Auto body shop owner $1,000
Joe Mehanna Commander Former vice president, Ford dealership $200
Fadi Chakbazof Commander Controller, bus company 0
Andre Skaf Commander Investment advisor $1,000
Hovig Yeghiayan Commander Watch repairman $1,000
Jan Qualkenbush Lieutenant Tow company owner $1,250
Salim Missi Lieutenant Former official with a natural food company $2,500
Nick Muradyan Lieutenant Tire company president $2,000
Vatche Kasumyan Lieutenant Real estate broker $1,800
Mike Heusser Lieutenant Former Ford dealership owner $300
Sarkis Harmandayan Lieutenant Jeweler $2,000

Sources: Campaign finance disclosure statements, Sun Badge Co., interviews
with Bureau of Justice members

PHOTO CAPTION – FUNDRAISER: Gary Nalbandian, left, L.A. County Sheriff Lee
Baca and Dimitri Yazbek at the Homeland Security Support Unit’s scholarship
dinner last November. Baca said he has no intention of asking the group’s
roughly 50 members to return their ID cards.
(Francine Orr / LAT)

me-nalbandian13mar13,0,7532369.s
tory

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-

They Are Afraid Of Abraham

March 15, 2006March 15, 2006 Toganian Liana

THEY ARE AFRAID OF ABRAHAM

A1+
02:45 pm 15 March, 2006

Armenian professional boxer Arthur Abraham winning the title of the
World Champion by the IBF version arrived in Armenia for several days
on the invitation on Unibank. During today’s press conference he told
about the latest game and future plans.

26-year-old Abraham mentioned that during the match against Shannon
Taylor he wanted to win with a knockout as he had great advantage
over him. “Be he was physically firm and this time I didn’t manage
to win with a knockout”.

Arthur also mentioned that although he represents Germany, after
winning he always raises the Armenian flag, “The organizers do not
allow me to take our flag to the ring before the match, but after
the match I do it by all means. It’s a pity that I do not represent
Armenia but I have more chances to succeed there”.

On May 13 Arthur Abraham will have another fight in Germany, and at the
end of the year he intends to organize fights against American boxers,
“It is not an easy thing to organize fights. My manager offered Bernard
Hopkins and Jermaine Taylor to fight with me, but they refused. No
one wants to lose the Champion’s belt”.

Opinion Of Armenians Ngo Proposes Recognizing Nkr Independence InLib

March 15, 2006March 15, 2006 Toganian Liana

OPINION OF ARMENIANS NGO PROPOSES RECOGNIZING NKR INDEPENDENCE IN LIBERATED TERRITORIES

Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The Opinion of Armenians NGO
of support to democracy proposes and asks to recognize the NKR
independence in the liberated territories. In its statement the NGO
also proposes quartering permanent observers or peacekeepers on the
NKR-Azerbaijan contact-line until signing of a reconciliation agreement
by Azerbaijan. The organization presents his estimation and proposal
to CE, OSCE Minsk Group and leaders of regional countries for the
purpose of assisting NKR international recognition and establishment
of stable peace in the region. According to the statement authors,
the anti-Armenian propaganda in Azerbaijan, composing of a history
of their own, declaring a national hero and a man of the year the
Azerbaijani officer who have killed the Armenian officer in Budapest
with an axe and the appeals to kill Armenians confirm that the
Azerbaijani party isn’t preparing for a peaceful settlement of the
problem. The organization expresses an opinion that no Armenian refugee
will express willingness to return to Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani
refugees mustn’t be returned to Armenia “as Turkey and Azerbaijan
reserve for themselves the right to render military assistance to
foreign Turks as it was done in Cyprus”.

CSTO Chief Meets With Armenia FM

March 15, 2006March 15, 2006 Toganian Liana

CSTO CHIEF MEETS WITH ARMENIA FM
by Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
March 14, 2006 Tuesday 05:52 AM EST

General Secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha, who arrived in the Armenian capital for
a working visit on Tuesday, discussed with Armenian Foreign Minster
Vartan Oskanyan the situation in the CSTO zone of responsibility and
ways of improving its activity.

“Issues of CSTO cooperation with other international organizations
were considered,” Itar-Tass learnt at the Press and Information
Department of the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

In this context, Nikolai Bordyuzha informed the interlocutor on the
results of his visits to Central Asian countries and the U.N.

headquarters. The sides exchanged opinions on preparations for a
session of the Collective Security Council and for meetings of other
CSTO bodies.

The CSTO includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia
and Tajikistan.

Turkey Follows Karabakh Settlement With Attention

March 15, 2006March 15, 2006 Toganian Liana

TURKEY FOLLOWS KARABAKH SETTLEMENT WITH ATTENTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.03.2006 22:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “After the Cold War and up to now the South
Caucasus is an arena of dramatic events. Ethnic collision and those
over territorial matters resulted in the death of thousands of people,
while tens of thousands left their homes,” stated Turkish FM Abdullah
Gul. In his words, unsolved “frozen conflicts” are the biggest barrier
on the way of lasting stability and regional development. Today the
South Caucasus is in focus of the international community. During
solution of regional conflicts this attention should be used,
Gul remarked. “Any manifestation of instability in the region is
a potential, which has a negative impact on Turkey’s interests,”
he added.

Key principles our position rests on over the Nagorno Karabakh
issue are well-known. The conflict in question, provoked by Armenia
violating such international legal principles as inadmissibility of
changing available borders by force, as well as respect of territorial
integrity refer not only to states of the region, but also all parties,
who value peace, stability and serenity in the South Caucasus. Turkey,
being a member of the OSCE Minsk Group from the very beginning,
follows the conflict settlement process with attention. We still have
a hope that progress is possible in the peace process within the
Prague format. Continuing dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia
at the level of presidents and FMs is important,” the Turkish FM
emphasized. “Of course, resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
will promote regional cooperation and normalization of relations
between Armenia and Turkey. As an OSCE MG member we hope for the
need of active contribution to the search for ways of settlement. We
continue viewing the OSCE Minsk process as a platform, which will
allow finding a solution to the conflict. At that we are sure that
a far-sighted and more comprehensive approach, as well as creative
innovation will be useful in overcoming differences,” Abdullah Gul
added. In his words, “during the meeting of the Armenian and Azeri
presidents in Paris February 10-11 no progress towards settlement of
the conflict was registered.” “It seems that it would be favorable to
everyone if the talks efforts to promote a settlement of the conflict
continue in 2006,” the Turkish FM summed up, reports Trend agency.

Levon Aronian In Second Place After 12 Tours In Linares Tournament

March 15, 2006March 15, 2006 Toganian Liana

LEVON ARONIAN IN SECOND PLACE AFTER 12 TOURS IN LINARES TOURNAMENT

Noyan Tapan
Mar 09 2006

LINARES, MARCH 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The games of 11th and 12th tours
were held in the chess super-tournament in the city of Linares,
Spain. Representative of Armenia Levon Aronian gained 1.5 points
in the last 2 tours. First he defeated Spanish Francisco Valekha,
then drew the game with Russian Pyotr Svidler.

He is currenty in second place. After 12 tours the chess-players take
the following places on the table: 1. Peter Leko (Hungary) 7.5 points,
2. Levon Aronian (Armenia) 7 points, 3-4. Veselin Topalov (Bulgary),
Temur Rajabov (Azerbaijan) 6.5 points each, 5. Pyotr Svidler (Russia)
6 points, 6-7. Vasili Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Etien Bakro (France) 5 points
each, 8. Franciso Valekho (Spain) 4.5 points. The last two tours of
the Linares tournament will be held on March 10 and 11. Levon Aronian
first will compete with Bakro, then Leko.

RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly – 03/10/2006

March 15, 2006March 15, 2006 Toganian Liana

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
_________________________________________ ____________________
RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly
Vol. 6, No. 6, 10 March 2006

A Weekly Review of News and Analysis of Russian Politics.

*************************************** *********************
HEADLINES:
* NEW BILL ON NATIONAL IDENTITY GENERATING PROTESTS
* RUSSIA’S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS HEATING UP
* A YEAR AFTER MASKHADOV’S DEATH, CONFLICT’S END
STILL DISTANT
****************************************** ******************

CIVIL SOCIETY

NEW BILL ON NATIONAL IDENTITY GENERATING PROTESTS. An attempt by
Russia’s State Duma to define Russian national identity has run
into trouble with the country’s Muslims and national minorities.
The driving force behind a new bill on national identity was
President Vladimir Putin himself, who has argued that Russians and
Russia need to have a better sense of who they are. But when the bill
was sent out for discussion last month by Russia’s republican and
regional parliamentary assemblies, it ran into a storm of protest.
Deputies in Tatarstan, which has a large Muslim population, say
it’s an attempt to strengthen and formalize the dominant role of
Russians in the state and therefore runs counter to the constitution.
The idea of defining a concept of Russian national identity
is almost as old as Russia itself — and just as elusive. Yet Russian
leaders cannot, it seems, resist the temptation to try. In
post-Soviet times, Boris Yeltsin made his contribution through the
new constitution of the Russian Federation and the start of a debate
on the Russian national idea.
Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the opposition Yabloko
party, has appealed for a break from the imperial past. The Russian
national idea, he says, should be based on respect. But such modest
ambitions are not in keeping with President Putin’s vision of a
muscular new Russia pumped up by petrol and gas.
The problem is easily enough defined: how to create a sense
of shared identity in a country divided by race, language, religion
and, increasingly, class and wealth? How to give a sense of purpose
to a new state that is still only just emerging from the ashes of the
Soviet Union?
Putin’s answer is taking the shape of a bill on the
fundamentals of state national policy, which sees its main aim as
strengthening the formation of a united multicultural society. Few,
it seems, have any problem with that.
Where some do have a problem, though, is with the
“consolidating role” assigned by the bill to the Russian people
(“Russkii narod”) in “providing the unity of the country and
strengthening the vertical of power.” Perhaps they sense an echo of
the guiding role assigned the Russian people in the Soviet Union?
The proposed legislation has stirred up a hornets’ nest
of protest in the predominantly-Muslim republic of Tatarstan, which
has grown used to a considerable measure of autonomy in the years
since the Soviet collapse. On March 3, its State Council Committee on
Culture, Science, Education, and National Affairs flatly rejected the
bill. Foat Galimullin, a deputy in the republican parliament,
discussed this issue with RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service.
“We have already survived that unrealistic experiment to
create a Soviet nation during the era of the USSR,” Galimullin said.
“And now, once more, we have plans to create the Russian nation. I
consider this law provocative in principle and I think that it should
be for sure rejected.”
Indus Tahirov, another deputy in Tatarstan’s parliament,
said the bill was at odds with the federal constitution, which
emphasizes the multiethnic nature of the Russian people (Rossiskii
narod).
“The bill cannot be accepted in its present form, first of
all because it is not in accordance with the norms of international
law, secondly because it contradicts the Constitution of the Russian
Federation, and thirdly because it does not strengthen mutual
understanding among the peoples of the country because of the
articles, which especially stand out concerning the Russian language
and the Russian people.”
Tahirov and other deputies have taken particular issue with
the provisions of the bill on the Russian language. Tufan Minnullin
points out that a demand contained in the bill that every citizen
should know the Russian language is at odds with the federal
constitution. What does “know” mean, he asks, and what is the
punishment to be for not knowing?
“This is a very insidious law. It gives the impression of
defending the Russian people, but in essence it is directed against
the Russian people. It appears to compliment the Russian people but
actually it sets the Russian people up against all the other peoples.
Then there is that terrible article where it states that citizens of
the Russian Federation are obliged to know the Russian language. What
does it mean: “obliged”? If they have to imprison me, what will they
do?”
It is not just Russia’s religious and ethnic minorities
who are alarmed. Russia’s Public Chamber — set up last year as a
sort of collective ombudsman to monitor the work of parliament, as
well as federal and regional bodies — was dismissive, with one
member suggesting the bill looked liked scraps torn at random from
someone’s dissertation.
The chamber has set up its own committee to examine the bill,
which will report back in three months. Valery Tishkov is the head of
its Commission on Tolerance and Freedom of Conscience and a leading
expert on ethnicity and nationalism. He told RFE/RL’s Russian
Service that he sees no place for a “consolidating role” for the
Russian people in the modern Russian state.
“We should be talking not just about the multicultural,
complex composition of the Russian people, but also about its unity.
It is impossible to create one people out of 100 peoples. We should
not be talking about how to make one nation out of 100, but about the
recognition — recognition not formation — of our genuinely existing
unity, while at the same time preserving all our traditions.”
The fact that this legislation is already running into
trouble suggests how much Russia may be changing. At the heart of the
debate over the new legislation lies the Kremlin’s fear over
Russia’s demographic future. Russia is a multiethnic country,
whose large Muslim population is growing as fast as the ethnic
Russian population is shrinking. The country’s national and
religious minorities are becoming increasingly aware of their growing
weight and importance in society. The Russian national idea may never
be quite the same again. (Robert Parsons)

FOREIGN POLICY

RUSSIA’S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS HEATING UP. While European policymakers
cautiously watched the recent Ukrainian-Russian gas conflict,
debating among themselves if Russia was a reliable supplier of
energy, policymakers in the Kremlin were busy preparing for an even
greater role in the world energy market. Their attention, however,
was concentrated not on gas or oil, but on preparing the
country’s nuclear power industry for its future role.
Russian federal authorities are considering creating a
state-controlled company, one that would embrace all enterprises
operating in the nuclear sector.
In an article on March 7, “The Moscow Times” reported that
Viktor Opekunov, chairman of the State Duma subcommittee for nuclear
energy, said the industry restructuring “would involve
‘privatizing’ all of Russia’s nuclear enterprises — in
other words, incorporating them into joint-stock companies — with
the state becoming their only shareholder.”
“The Moscow Times” identified the main components of
Russia’s nuclear industry as Rosatomenergo, which runs all power
stations; Tvel, which owns a controlling interest in Russia’s key
nuclear fuel-manufacturing enterprises; Atomstroieksport, which
builds nuclear power stations abroad; and Tekhnabeksport, the export
arm trading in nuclear machinery and fuel.
All four groups are currently supervised by Rosatom,
Russia’s federal atomic energy agency, led by former Prime
Minister Sergei Kiriyenko. And all would continue to operate under
the new umbrella organization proposed by Russian federal
authorities.
The nuclear power industry in Russia continues to play an
ever-increasing role in Russia’s energy balance and is destined
to play an even more significant one in the future. Russia’s
energy strategy for 2020, adopted in 2003, forecasts that by 2020
nuclear power is expected to increase its share to 25 percent of
Russian electricity generation, up from 16 percent in 2004, as the
share from hydrocarbon-fired generators drops.
Russian policy is to gradually phase out the use of coal, oil
and gas to fire electricity generators. According to a December 2005
study by the Uranium Information Center in Australia, “Rosatom’s
long-term strategy up to 2050 involves moving to inherently safe
nuclear plants using fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle and MOX
fuel.”
MOX, mixed oxide fuel, is a process of using plutonium left
in spent reactor fuel and from nuclear warheads to generate energy.
It is essentially a recycling process and is used in some 30 nuclear
reactors in Europe.
MOX is not the only answer to reactor fuel. The Executive
Intelligence Review reported on 10 February that “on January 25,
Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of the Energia Russian Space Company,
outlined an ambitious plan to obtain fuel for the next type of
nuclear power: thermonuclear fusion. He said Russia should mine
helium-3 (which is rare on Earth) on the moon.”
Presently, Russia has 31 operating reactors, which generate
about 147 billion kilowatt-hours per year. Six new reactors are under
construction and 16 more are planned. According to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration, Russia’s nuclear power facilities are
aging. “Fifty percent of the country’s 31 nuclear reactors use
the RBMK design employed in Ukraine’s ill-fated Chernobyl plant.
The working life of a reactor is considered to be 30 years: nine of
Russia’s plants are between 26 and 30 years old, and six are
between 21 and 25 years old” the EIA reports.
Thermal power (oil, natural gas, and coal-fired) currently
accounts for roughly 63 percent of Russia’s electricity
generation, followed by hydropower (21 percent) and nuclear (16
percent).
Russia’s future role as an international nuclear power
leader, a concept which the current leadership is promoting, is
ambitious and far-ranging.
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that
Russia would like to reestablish the former Soviet nuclear energy
bloc in Eurasia. Speaking at the St. Petersburg summit of the
Eurasian Economic Community (EES), in early February, Putin said
Russia was “firmly determined” to widen its cooperation with the EES,
and that a priority would be collaboration in the “peaceful uses of
nuclear energy.”
Rosatom announced plans to rejuvenate the Russian nuclear
industry, mainly through cooperation with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and
other countries which once were part of the Soviet nuclear power
space.
On January 20, Putin met with Kiriyenko, who stressed that
nuclear power will need to receive an increase in government funding.
“We need to build two nuclear reactors per year, beginning in 2011 or
2012,” Kiriyenko was quoted by Interfax that day. In order to raise
the needed funds for such a project, Rosatom will become a joint
stock company, but will remain under government control. Kiriyenko
also stated that he intends to build 60 atomic reactors abroad.
How feasible Kiriyenko’s plans are is difficult to judge
in light of the fact that there have been substantial delays in the
construction of the six reactors presently being built. Only two or
three are expected to meet startup target dates due to funding
problems.
The other problem facing the nuclear program is the rapid
depletion of uranium in Russia. At present, Russia produces some
2,900 tons of uranium, but deposits are rapidly dwindling.
Uzbekistan, which has an extensive reserve of uranium ore,
was brought into the emerging nuclear partnership during the EEC
summit and Putin announced that the Uzbeks would provide Russia with
“additional long-term possibilities for the building of a stable
nuclear fuel energy base,” “The Moscow Times” reported on 8 February.
Russia has also expressed interest in becoming a hub for
supplying nuclear fuel and services for existing reactors in former
Soviet bloc countries in Central Europe. During his recent trip to
Hungary and the Czech Republic, Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia
will take part in bids to upgrade existing nuclear reactors such as
the Czech plant in Dukovany and the Hungarian Paksi Atomeromu plant
which supplies 40 percent of Hungary’s power needs.
The Arms Control Association reported in November 2000 that
Russia and India signed a secret memorandum of understanding on
October 4, 2000 to pursue future “cooperation in the peaceful uses of
nuclear energy.” The memorandum was one of several agreements,
including a declaration of strategic partnership, signed during
Putin’s October 2000 visit to New Delhi.
In an apparent move to counteract this agreement, the U.S.
signed an agreement in Delhi in March of this year to supply India
with fuel and nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The very day when U.S. President George W. Bush signed the
pact with India, Putin told a press conference in Prague that Russia
would fight any restrictions placed on its atomic energy operations
in Europe.
“Unfortunately, we are facing certain restrictions, attempts
to limit our operations in nuclear energy and in power engineering on
the European market,” Interfax quoted Putin as saying on March 1. “We
are not dramatizing this, but we will strive for equality.”
Unlike its gas, Russia does not possess a near monopoly on
nuclear fuel in the region and will face stiff competition on the
European market from France. How this might affect Russia-France
relations is uncertain. In the case of the former Soviet republics
and Central Europe, the Russians certainly do enjoy a nuclear
advantage and could use it as they presently use gas, as a lever to
achieve their political goals. (Roman Kupchinsky)

CHECHNYA

A YEAR AFTER MASKHADOV’S DEATH, CONFLICT’S END STILL DISTANT.
On March 8, 2005, Russian media reported the death, in circumstances
that remain unclear, of Aslan Maskhadov, the former Soviet army
colonel who headed the Chechen resistance forces during the 1994-96
war and was subsequently elected Chechen president in January 1997.
Maskhadov’s death has not only made a peaceful negotiated
settlement of the ongoing conflict within Chechnya even more remote;
it has accelerated the expansion of the Chechens’ conflict
against Moscow into other regions of the North Caucasus.
On January 14, just weeks before he was killed, Maskhadov
unilaterally proclaimed a one-month cease-fire, ordering the
resistance forces subordinate to him to suspend all offensive
military operations.
That order, according to Maskhadov spokesman Umar Khanbiev,
was intended as a “gesture of goodwill,” and to demonstrate that the
Chechen resistance was subordinate to Maskhadov as supreme commander.
At the same time, Maskhadov again invited Moscow to begin
negotiations on ending the conflict, focusing on the two key issues
of security guarantees for the Chechen people and a Chechen
commitment to respect Russia’s interests in the North Caucasus.
In his last interview with RFE/RL’s North Caucasus
Service, just weeks before his death, Maskhadov said he believed
Russian President Vladimir Putin was totally unaware of the real
state of affairs in Chechnya.
“I’m deeply convinced that Putin is far from reality
about what is really going on in Chechnya today,” Maskhadov said. “It
is common practice for the army to report what their chief wants to
hear from them. Such practices probably exist in Russia’s
security services too.”
Maskhadov went on to suggest that that all could change if he
and the Russian president could meet face-to-face. Such a meeting, he
posited, could serve as a true foundation for change.
“We have been suggesting that a 30-minute, fair, face-to-face
dialogue should be enough to stop this war, to explain to the
president of the Russian Federation what the Chechen people really
want — I’m sure he doesn’t even know that — and also to
hear from Putin personally what he wants, what Russia wants in
Chechnya,” said Maskhadov.
He added: “If we are able to open the eyes of our opponents,
the Russian leaders, peace can be established.”
But Russian officials publicly dismissed that offer of peace
talks as pointless. Presidential envoy to the Southern Federal
District Dmitry Kozak said it was “irrelevant,” as Maskhadov “lost
control over the situation in Chechnya long ago,” according to
Interfax on February 3, 2005.
State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin
Kosachyov told journalists in Moscow on February 10, 2005 that
negotiations with Maskhadov are “yesterday’s option,” adding that
Maskhadov had been given the chance after the signing in August 1996
of the Khasavyurt peace accord to restore order, but lost control of
the situation. “It is senseless to try to reach another agreement
with a man who has already failed,” Kosachyov said.
Unconfirmed reports suggest, however, that the Russian
authorities may have seized upon Maskhadov’s peace overture as a
means to get rid of him. Maskhadov’s successor Abdul-Khalim
Sadulayev claimed in an address to the Chechen people in autumn 2005
that Maskhadov was “lured” into talks and deliberately killed.
In its first issue for 2006, “Novoe vremya” quoted a lawyer
for one of the four close associates of Maskhadov who were
apprehended at the time of his death and who went on trial last fall
as likewise saying that the Russian leadership agreed to
Maskhadov’s proposal and even gave guarantees of his safety to
Tim Guldimann, the Swiss diplomat who in 1995-1996 headed the
Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe (OSCE) Mission
in Grozny.
Maskhadov then declared the unilateral cease-fire and moved
from Avtury to Tolstoi-Yurt — the village north of Grozny where he
was killed — in readiness for those talks. “Novoe vremya” cited
Maskhadov’s unnamed arrested associate as reportedly testifying
that Russian security services succeeded in hunting down Maskhadov
and killing him by means of intercepted mobile-phone calls and text
messages to Guldimann.
But those reports have never been confirmed, and Guldimann
has declined to comment to RFE/RL’s North Caucasus Service on his
involvement. Whatever the chain of circumstances that culminated in
Maskhadov’s death, it removed the last potential negotiating
partner on the Chechen side with both a claim to legitimacy (Russia
recognized his election in 1997 as fair and legitimate, as did OSCE
monitors) and authority with the resistance.
Sadulayev, whom senior resistance figures acknowledged as
president within days of Maskhadov’s death, had been named deputy
president and Maskhadov’s designated successor at an extended
session of the State Defense Committee in July-August 2002, but that
decision was not made public at the time.
Over the past year, Sadulayev, operating in tandem with
veteran field commander Shamil Basayev, has taken steps to extend the
field of hostilities from Chechnya across the North Caucasus. True,
Chechen militants had struck outside Chechnya even earlier, in the
Moscow theater hostage-taking in October 2002, the raids on multiple
Interior Ministry targets in Ingushetia in June 2004, and the Beslan
school hostage-taking in September 2004. But Maskhadov had disclaimed
any responsibility for, and voiced his condemnation of, those acts of
terrorism, and at least through 2003 he repeatedly impressed on his
troops the need to abide strictly by the Geneva Conventions and to
refrain from attacking any Russian targets outside Chechnya.
But in his last interview with RFE/RL’s North Caucasus
Service, Maskhadov signaled his retreat from that self-imposed
limitation, saying that he had given orders to establish additional
military sectors in Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Daghestan.
Sadulayev took that process even further. On May 2, he issued
a series of decrees formally dividing the western “front” into no
fewer than seven sectors (Ingushetia, North Ossetia,
Kabardino-Balkaria, Stavropol Krai, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Adygeya
and Krasnodar) and naming commanders of those sectors. He likewise
named new commanders of the eastern front as a whole and of four of
its sectors (Gudermes, Argun, Kurchaloi and Grozny), according to
chechenpress.org on May 16, 2005.
While the Chechen resistance has continued to wage
hit-and-run attacks on Russian troops, it has carried out only one
major operation since Maskhadov’s death, in Nalchik, capital of
the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic, in October 2005. Basayev
subsequently claimed to have played a key role in the “operational
planning” of that attack, but it was apparently launched prematurely
after local police and security personnel tracked down one of the
militant detachments that was to take part. The militants, many of
them reportedly young and with only rudimentary military training,
sustained proportionally heavier losses than those in the Ingushetia
raids the previous year.
The apparent waning in military activity on the part of the
resistance within Chechnya is likely to bolster the arguments of
those senior officials in Moscow who believe that it is expedient to
continue to rely on a dwindling number of Interior Ministry troops,
many of them ethnic Chechens, to marginalize and then quash the
resistance. (There are now only some 36,000-38,000 federal troops in
Chechnya, pro-Moscow Chechen administration head Alu Alkhanov said on
February 28. That compares with approximately 80,000 one year ago.)
By the same token, Sadulayev’s recent affirmations of his
commitment to building an Islamic state in Chechnya and to waging a
national-liberation struggle to “decolonize” the North Caucasus
effectively preclude any attempt by Moscow to seek compromise and
common ground. Sadulayev declared in November 2005 that the Chechen
side will not propose further peace talks, but continue fighting
“until the Caucasus is freed from the boot of the Russian occupiers.”
There thus seems little chance of ending a conflict that, as
Maskhadov repeatedly pointed out, “cannot be resolved by force.” (Liz
Fuller)

The “RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly” is prepared
on the basis of a variety of sources. It is distributed every
Wednesday.

Direct comments to [email protected].
For information on reprints, see:
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Kenya: Raila names hitmen

March 15, 2006March 15, 2006 Toganian Liana

Kenya Times, Kenya
March 10 2006

Raila names hitmen

By BENSON AMOLO

LANGATA MP Raila Odinga yesterday identified alleged mercenaries on
government hire holed up in an upmarket estate of Nairobi. The MP
said the alleged hitmen had now been moved from Runda Estate to a
house in Lavington.

Raila has accused the foreigners of leading the March 2, raids on the
Standard and KTN newsrooms.

Yesterday he said two of the foreigners were Armenian nationals who
were sneaked into the country as investors by a son of a prominent
real estate valuer in Nairobi early this year.

Initially Raila had identified the alleged mercenaries as Russians.
Yesterday he said that nationals from other countries had also been
hired to do unspecified work for the state..

He told pressmen attending an MPs’ workshop in Nairobi that the
alleged mercenaries were moved to a safe house frequented by
Tanzanians in Lavington estate on Thursday night.

According to Raila the Armenians were allegedly recruited by two
Kenyans in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last October and later
introduced to a businessman named in the Goldenberg report when they
visited Kenya in January this year.

The businessman later introduced them to a Narc activist, with whom
they agreed to do business and other unspecified political work. They
later travelled with the activist to the UAE capital, Dubai, where
they were introduced to her seniors for future business deals. She
has also allegedly introduced them to senior officials in government
to discuss unknown business, according to a diplomatic source..

Copies of passports supplied to the Kenya Times indicate the two men
born on May 14, 1970 and January 15, 1973 respectively entered Kenya
for the first time on January 23, this year, and were issued
residence visas for two years. Their passports bear stamps indicating
they travelled to Dubai between 2005 and this year.

Their presence, however, has introduced a new scandal within the
police force following unconfirmed reports that the Armenians and
their Kenyan handlers attacked and wounded a CID officer attached to
them on Wednesday accusing him of leaking information on their
activities to journalists and diplomats.

Earlier Odinga had claimed the alleged mercenaries were moved from
Runda Estate to a protected house in the Lavington suburb of Nairobi
to camouflage their stay and mission.

He said neighbours were scared of divulging information on the said
mercenaries and added that media publicity had now occasioned their
frequent movement. Odinga claims the Runda house has been leased to a
company involved in export/import business from January 31, this
year. He says that a Swede employed by a packaging company lived
there until June last year.

Odinga first made the allegations early this month and claimed hired
killers initially thought to be from the Russian Federation led the
March 2 assault on The Standard and KTN that widened the split
between Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, who was abroad during the
raids, unaware of the plots on the media and CID Director Joseph
Kamau, believed to have sanctioned them.

The mystery escalated yesterday when Odinga linked a senior CID
officer with the mercenaries and accused the officer of visiting the
hitmen at their Runda abode. He accused the press of allowing Kamau
and the government to misinform the public on this matter and for
failing to follow up his first reports. A morning to evening vigil by
pressmen at the Runda property yielded nothing on Thursday but Odinga
was not finished yet.

`Had you cared to keep vigil at the Runda premises yesterday you
would have seen the mercenaries leave last night,’ he said and
claimed that the unspecified number of men were snatched away in the
dead of the night on Thursday. `A truck came at 9.30 pm yesterday and
took away the mercenaries and equipment. We know where they are now,’
he said and claimed the men are now hidden at Woodmere Apartments on
Nairobi’s Lenana Road. He claimed that the a KPLC electrician who
went to the Runda abode to read the electricity meter at the time of
the foreigners’ movement was denied entry to the property.

`We know where they slept last night and we know they will be moved
as soon as the government hears these reports.’

Odinga claimed the truck registered as KAU 967 W off-loaded a
container with unknown material at the Runda abode, owned by a real
estate investor who acquired it in 1999, before driving away with the
foreigners.

On Wednesday, Ali ordered investigations into Odinga’s allegations as
Kamau denounced them and accused the Lang’ata lawmaker of inflaming
the country with lies and propaganda. Odinga stuck to the story and
provided names of the said gunmen and the people he believes brought
them into the country and provided a map of the property in Runda
where they lived after being spirited from a hotel in the centre of
Nairobi.

And the Russian embassy in Nairobi on Thursday denied knowledge of
its nationals on a killing mission and demanded investigations as the
Shadow minister for Defence Joseph Nkaissery demanded an inquest.

Odinga asked reporters neither to trust the government’s explanations
on this matter nor accept Russia’s denial at face value saying: `The
government itself is a suspect in the matter. Its word cannot be
taken seriously.’

He argued that the Russian embassy should not be dragged into the
matter because no one has suggested Moscow brought the killers.

`The Russian embassy should not be involved in this. Mercenaries are
private people, on hire. They are not coming on the authority of
their governments.’

Nkaissery accused the Kibaki regime of trivialising the mercenary
allegations by issuing conflicting statements and deploying a
layman-government spokesman Alfred Mutua- to discuss complex security
issues. The retired general said the conflicting statements from Ali
and Kamau on the mercenaries’ issue is cause for concern.

`Raila’s statement should not be taken for granted. It is the duty of
the government to neutralise any threats to national security. It is
incumbent upon the government to investigate this matter. Everybody
wants to know who those hooded people were (those who raided the
Standard and KTN).’

He said the country expects the Internal Security minister or senior
officials of police, military and intelligence to reassure the
republic on this matter and not Mutua’s denials.

`Alfred Mutua is a layman in this matter.’ If the government proves
there are no mercenaries, Odinga should be brought to account for his
allegations.

Meanwhile the Langata MP and Leader of the Official Opposition Uhuru
Kenyatta denounced President Mwai Kibaki for standing with his
ministers accused of orchestrating the March 2 raids. On Thursday
Kibaki said Internal Security minister John Michuki and Information
counterpart Mutahi Kagwe will not be sacked which Kenyatta and Odinga
disagreed with yesterday. They talked on the sidelines of an MPs’
workshop in Nairobi. Kenyatta said Kanu demands accountability over
what he called an attack on democracy but Odinga was more pointed
declaring the president’s Thursday statement in Eldoret as
provocative and contemptuous.
`The president is trying to show contempt for the people. We expect
the president to realise the public is not happy with what took place
on the March 2 raids.’

Odinga said Kibaki was mistaken to stand by disgraced ministers and
insisting they will not be sacked.LANGATA MP Raila Odinga yesterday
identified alleged mercenaries on government hire holed up in an
upmarket estate of Nairobi. The MP said the alleged hitmen had now
been moved from Runda Estate to elsewhere in Lavington.