This is the editorial in this week's issue of the Sakhalin Times

The Russian Government’s coercive tactics to take control of the Sakhalin II project hasn’t gone very well with the international business community. While it’s the government’s right to protect its interests (and the environment), the manner in which it went about the Gazprom “takeover” of the Sakhalin II project was unbecoming. Starting with the dismantling of Yukos, the government has been on a collision course with international companies operating in the oil and gas industry. In just 3 years, Russia’s image has taken the kind of pounding that would have been unthinkable in the post-Cold War era.

Despite membership (and presidency) of the Group of 8 industrialised and democratic nations, Russia has maintained several relics of the dark past such as an unreformed judiciary and police. The country has also curtailed individual freedoms guaranteed by the new constitution such as freedom of speech and movement. Sakhalin and many other regions in the Russian Far East have been re-declared border zones, with an eye on restricting travel. Most countries restrict access to sensitive defence establishments but the authorities in Russia have gone overboard.

Short-sighted visa and immigration policies have made it difficult for companies to get work permits for skilled specialists, while at the same time, the country is flooded with illegal immigrants from the former Soviet Union (taking advantage of no visa restrictions) and China (using improperly manned borders and lax border-visa regimes).

In Sakhalin, the oil and gas industry has created an economic boom and the quality of life and standard of living has drastically improved but a large proportion of the populace remain economically vulnerable. The administration, at one time, promised large allowances to each Sakhaliner on the lines of what residents of Alaska get but not a single kopeck has been paid.

Sakhalin’s environment is also at the receiving end of a beating from several elements although media coverage is restricted to the Sakhalin II project. It’s not a matter of too much concern for the media and the greens that the forests and wild areas of the island are slowly turning into landfills. Poachers are driving several species of marine life to extinction and criminal elements are making a killing on caviar, salmon and crabs.

It’s obvious that Sakhalin and Russia need major changes. Being such a large country with a unique set of problems, no western model really suits Russia but there has to be a point where reforms and changes are initiated. Russians aspire to have their country as a member of the civilised family of nations and this is no mean task. Unless the establishment makes tough choices in 2007, Russia will keep going backwards and fall deeper in to the dark pit. It would be tomfoolery for the establishment to think that record-high energy prices will last forever and that belligerence towards other countries and its own citizens won’t have any serious after-effects.