by Anatoly O. 03.23.2001
In the end of the 20th century Russia and the USA had the most corrupt administrations. Former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin with Al Gore and Boris Yeltsin with Bill Clinton had close relationships. Yevgeny Primakov for many years held the post of foreign minister and was a friend of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Mr. Chernomyrdin embezzled part of the $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund in 1998. The money was to rebuild the ailing Russian economy. A former Bank of New York executive Lucy Edwards and her husband Peter Berlin admitted accepting $1.8M to set up a scheme to funnel Russian money through the bank. The couple admitted that between late 1995 and September 1999 they were part of a conspiracy that allowed money to be wired out of Russia avoiding customs duties and taxes. Their guilty pleas were the first admissions in the case, which is thought to involve as much as $10B.
The new administrations in Moscow and Washington found the best way to clean up their Embassies. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov had closed meetings with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday, March 14, 2001. Then Bush administration expelled 50 Russian diplomats from the United States. Russia is to expel four diplomats at the American embassy in Moscow. Another 46 are to be ordered out by July. "I do not think that it will have big consequences," Putin was quoted saying at a European Union summit in Stockholm, Sweden. "I'm confident we can have a good relationship with the Russians," said Bush.
We hope that Putin's and Bush's administrations will serve the people, not themselves like the previous administrations did.