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Russia could not afford to lose her brain

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Russia could not afford to lose her brain.Galina Vasilievna Starovoitova, politician: born Chelyabinsk, Soviet Union 17 May 1946; Soviet parliamentary deputy 1989-91; Russian parliamentary deputy 1990-93, 1995-98; twice married (one son); died St Petersburg 20 November 1998.. She was a colourful character with the strength of her convictions She was also highly intelligent. Galina Starovoitova was never a token woman and, while the other women listened quietly to his speech on pensions and child allowances, she pressed him hard on the make-up of the Russian team currently negotiating with the IMF.The word used most often in media tributes to Galina Starovoitova was "yarkaya" (bright) She was bright in all senses. She took a firm stand earlier this month when most of her parliamentary colleagues were too mealy-mouthed to condemn the anti-Semitic remarks of one of their number. Indeed, some think that that stand cost her her life.Recently remarried, this mother and grandmother made one of her last public appearances at a meeting which the new Prime Minister, Yevgeny Primakov, held with "women from the Duma". She was bidding for the vacant post of governor of the Leningrad region and considering standing for the Russian presidency in the year 2000.Herself frustrated that "the way to freedom turned out to be far harder than we thought", she was increasingly isolated in a Duma where nationalist voices were becoming louder and louder. However, with her characteristic humour, she joked that Russia had not matured to the point where it was ready to see a "defence minister in a skirt" Instead, she worked tirelessly in parliament.

The democrats also began fighting amongst themselves, which caused Starovoitova great pain Later, Yeltsin realised his mistake. He was said at the weekend to be bitterly upset at the death of a woman he called "a passionate tribune of democracy".After the agony of Chechnya, it was mooted that Starovoitova might become Russia's first woman defence minister. Starovoitova and the democrats broke with the Kremlin leader over that. He appointed Galina Starovoitova as his adviser on national and ethnic questions. Under her influence, he reached a rational agreement with Muslim Tatarstan, which gave the region considerable autonomy while preserving links with the Russian Federation.Unfortunately, Yeltsin took advice from very different quarters when he sent troops and tanks into Chechnya in 1994. Starovoitova was co-chairman of the Democratic Russia Party, whose other members included leading market reformers.

When he became President, Yeltsin invited one of these, Yegor Gaidar, to handle the transition to capitalism. Then she flew home to join a triumphant Boris Yeltsin at the White House.Russia by this time had a multi-party system. Already the darling of the Western media because she was one of the few Russian public figures who spoke fluent English, she became, as Lord Bethell said, "the voice of Russia" in the dark, early moments of the coup. At a time when long-suppressed ethnic tension was bursting into the open, she advocated a loosening of the Soviet empire and the creation of a voluntary commonwealth along British lines.Mikhail Gorbachev listened to her. His plans for just such a freer union enraged hardliners and led to the coup attempt against him in August 1991 Starovoitova was on a visit to Britain at the time. They formed the Inter- Regional Group of People's Deputies, the nearest thing to an opposition that the Soviet Union had ever had. Only Boris Yeltsin himself, younger then and more energetic, and the saintly atomic physicist turned human- rights campaigner Andrei Sakharov, were more famous in that group than Starovoitova.

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