Power grab avoids issue, analysts say

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin's move to enhance his own power in response to a wave of terrorism does not take on the real problem: the corrupt and unreformed security services that produced Putin in the first place, according to many politicians and analysts.

Putin, a former KGB officer who later headed its domestic successor, the Federal Security Service (FSB), had been planning to centralize more political authority for months and took advantage of the school seizure in Beslan to unveil the decision, according to his allies. But he left in place security officials who have failed to foil repeated terrorist strikes in the last few years.

The performance of the security services in Beslan, where at least 338 children and adults died this month, has drawn intense criticism from other veterans of the military and law-enforcement agencies. A police officer reportedly aided the terrorists who took over the school demanding an end to the war in Chechnya. By official accounts, the security services responding to the standoff were hobbled by disorganization, miscommunication and poor preparation.

"Looking back on the Beslan experience, we learned our lessons," retired Gen. Arkady Baskayev said. "There was no unified professional management of this operation."

Baskayev, who commanded the military garrison in Grozny during the first war in Chechnya, noted that the government promised to reform the security agencies after the 2002 Moscow theater siege, with no results. "Unfortunately, nothing has been done yet," he said in an interview.

Instead of focusing on the security agencies, Putin decided to rein in other democratically elected leaders. He proposed eliminating the popular election of governors and independent members of parliament, giving himself the power to appoint leaders of Russia's 89 regions and political parties such as his United Russia the right to determine parliamentary slates.

The moves alarmed many in Russia and abroad who saw them as further unraveling democratic institutions adopted in the post-Soviet era. Putin already has taken over or closed all independent national television channels, established dominance of both houses of parliament, reasserted control over the country's huge energy industry and jailed or driven into exile business tycoons who have defied him.

Many U.S. officials, as well as the original author of Russia's glasnost reforms, Mikhail Gorbachev, called Putin's plan a major step back.

One figure who remained quiet was former President Boris Yeltsin, who ushered in reforms such as elected governors. Many analysts and politicians believe Yeltsin cut a deal when he retired in which Putin agreed to shield him from prosecution for graft in exchange for acquiescence.

Most of the Russian political world acceded to Putin's decision, praising it. "Regional leaders hail Putin's latest moves as panacea for all Russia's ills," read the headline on a dispatch from Itar-Tass news agency.

The focus on Putin's political power obscured the failure of the security apparatus. The services remain notoriously corrupt and individual officers susceptible to bribes, while failing to stem a tide of terrorism that has killed more than 1,000 over two years. Most Russians in polls fault security agencies for Beslan and want them overhauled. Putin instead announced yesterday that he planned to invest another $5.4 billion in law enforcement agencies and the military.

Putin's personnel shuffles have involved local police and security officials in the Beslan region and replacing his presidential envoy for the southern region, Vladimir Yakovlev, with a trusted aide, Dmitri Kozak.

Many critics believe he should fire top security officials, particularly Nikolai Patrushev, director of the FSB. "Nobody took responsibility for the catastrophe," Sergei Glazyev, a former Communist and former presidential candidate, said in an interview. "They didn't lose their jobs. They weren't punished."

But the security services historically have been resistant to change and command a powerful constituency in Moscow. "I don't think we need reforms," said Viktor Voitenko, deputy head of a legislative security committee. The problem with the security services, he said, is that they are not powerful enough. "They should have more power to fight terrorists. ... We should act in a tougher way."