FBIS3-15586 "drsov045_b_94001"
FBIS-SOV-94-045 Document Type:Daily Report 8 Mar 1994
RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS Political Issues

Security Council Aide on Anticrime Program

PM0803093394 Moscow ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA in Russian 5 Mar 94 First Edition pp 1,2 PM0803093394 Moscow ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA Language: Russian Article Type:BFN [V. Klimov report on interview with Vladimir Rubanov, deputy secretary of the Security Council; place and date not given: "How Much Does Law and Order Cost? The Security Council Has Examined the Federal Program for Intensifying the Fight Against Crime"] [Text] Something which has been discussed many times in the mass media, and has always -- especially recently -- provoked heightened interest, has come to pass. Yesterday the Russian Federation Federal Program for Intensifying the Fight Against Crime for 1994-1995 was examined in the country's Security Council and, after criticisms had been taken into account, was recommended to be sent for ratification by the Russian Federation president. The draft program is a Morocco-bound book comprising 84 pages. Not many, one might think, but it is the quintessence of the colossal labor of many people. The book is divided into two parts. The first part examines today's requirements, the second examines long-term prospects. Everything is terse and absolutely clear: Urgent measures for intensifying the fight against crime are denoted, and the specific officials charged with implementing them are defined. What is the essence of the federal program? What does it promise for Russians in the future? How did work on it proceed? Our observer Vladimir Klimov turned to Vladimir Arsentyevich Rubanov, deputy secretary of the Security Council, for answers to these questions. [Rubanov] The program enables efforts to be concentrated in terms of time, place, and purpose. The legislator works in harness with law-enforcement organs, and they in turn work with social security organs, and so forth. The concentration of efforts presupposes a programmatic conception of the problem and the coordination of the actions of all elements of state power in the name of common goals. The cornerstone of the federal program is the formulation of priority normative acts and guidelines for law-giving activity aimed at lowering the level of crime and increasing the protection of the individual in general. But it is not enough to prepare the necessary legislative acts; it is also necessary to define clear mechanisms for their implementation and interaction. The first section of both parts of the program deals with this. The second part deals with crime prevention. It is important not only to detect crime and punish the culprits, but also to prevent it in good time. The priority measures projected in the federal program will enable us to increase society's protection against criminal infringements and to protect the individual from crime. Later in the program are two sections formulated for the sphere of specific actions. These include the fight against crimes against the individual, economic crime, and organized and gangland crime. It is necessary to dwell on the latter forms of crime in particular. For a considerable number of citizens crime has now become their major profession, and the level of organization among criminal formations is increasing. Whole criminal structures are being formed which are capable of 1nfluencing political and economic life in individual regions of Russia and in the country as a whole. Crime has become international. It is already spreading from Russia to remote foreign parts. But the nearby foreign parts are a separate question. We have too many links with the CIS countries. Apart from anything else, we still, unfortunately, have in effect a single criminal area. But now state mechanisms have been delineated. In this connection questions of interstate organizational collaboration between the CIS countries in this sphere are a priority. Common organizational and legal principles and specific interstate treaties are essential. In point of fact, this is why the program has appeared, because new problems cannot be resolved in the framework of the old relations and the mechanisms through which they were conducted. Many people worked on the compilation of the program. But above all I would like to note the work of the Security Council's Interdepartmental Commission for Combating Crime and Corruption, which is headed by Minister of Justice Yuriy Khamzatovich Kalmykov. This commission will in fact most likely become the coordinating organ for the implementation of the program. Representatives of about 20 departments sit on this commission. The federal program was directly prepared and written by a group of 36 people. They are well-known academics, lawyers, executives, and economists. The program went through three stages of coordination with ministries and departments. It was subjected to expert study by eminent specialists. One of these was lawyer and academician Vladimir Nikolayevich Kurdryavtsev. Following the expert studies many criticisms were, as a rule, submitted to us. In all somewhere in the order of 1,500 were examined. The criticisms were taken into account in the final version of the draft program. As a result the document was not only professionally prepared, as was noted at the last session chaired by the secretary of the Security Council, but was also highly politically coordinated. The program was six months in preparation. Activity on the work was stepped up in late 1993. The contribution made by specialists of the sector for supporting the activity of the Security Council's Interdepartmental Commission was especially great. This sector is headed by Anatoliy Pavlovich Korotkov. All three versions of the program were precisely costed; after all, a program without resource backing is simply a slogan. The initial version was a wish list. It cost 16 trillion rubles [R], which was clearly unrealistic. It was necessary to lower our sights. The second version cost somewhere in the order of R10 trillion. This sum also proved to be out of the reach of the budget. In connection with this a dispute arose in the Interdepartmental Commission between the leaders of the law-enforcement departments and the financiers. Law-enforcement officials stated that they did not want to deceive society by projecting goals which were unattainable without resource backing. If we want to change the situation, the corresponding impact can be achieved only with additional investments. However, even in these disputes everyone understood that, given the rigid economy drive, it was necessary to decrease expenditure. The final version of the program was also thoroughly costed. It was reduced by almost half. However, it was decided at the Security Council session to carry out a further estimate in order finally to determine the level of funding. These funds have been distributed to the structures which are directly engaged in fighting crime. More than one-third is going to increase the cadres of the law-enforcement organs. We are a long way behind in information support, and a considerable proportion of the funds allocated will be spent on this. The rest will be spent on supplying weapons and special equipment, building premises for law and order organs, and other basic necessities. An unreasonable desire to economize in the fight against crime would mean us losing more than we gain. After all, in the law-enforcement spheres we count only the cost, disregarding the economic and social benefit. I will not go into all the finer details; I will say only that, according to the methods which are accepted in world practice and recommended by the United Nations, the benefit of law-enforcement measures is bound to exceed the cost by roughly twofold. That is talking money. But what figures do you use to assess the following fact: According to the forecasts of a Ministry of Internal Affairs scientific research institute, intensifying the fight against crimes against the individual will enable the lives of 20,000 Russian citizens to be saved. The Federal Program for Intensifying the Fight Against Crime has been examined on a working basis several times already. Almost all questions have been removed. The Security Council has expressed an on the whole positive attitude to the program and ordered it to be finalized within one week, taking account of the criticisms made in the Security Council, and then to be submitted for the president's approval. The government has been instructed to provide the funding for the program.