Elena Vlasenko of Index on Censorship points out thousands of people have taken part in opposition rallies against Vladimir Putin's United Russia after allegations of widespread electoral fraud. Police and anti-Putin protesters have clashed every day since the parliamentary elections on 4 December. http://venitism.blogspot.com
The electoral game Putin is playing is castling in chess – a saint and a czar
swapping places, in order to shore up the defense. There might be defense at the
heart of the strategy, but Putin's ruling party, United Russia, is still the
only game in Moscow. Vladimir Putin is the most powerful man in the world. His
success is all the more venerable when one considers that Putin is leader of a
country of nearly 150 million people — and at the helm of the one of the world's
most important economies.
Opposition leaders Ilya Yashin and Alexey Navalny were detained, as well as journalists from Reuters, Bloomberg, The New Times magazine, Izvestia newspaper and Lenta news agency. The journalists were released, but Yashin and Navalny were sentenced to 15 days of arrest for failure to follow a lawful order of policeman. Both claim they didn't break the law.
The current double-headed eagle of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin has become increasingly authoritarian. Despite numerous
commitments under international law, the government has tightened controls on
political life, civil society, and the media. Disruption of political
opposition's activities, restricting access to state-controlled TV, human right
violations, such as the beating of demonstrators who support the Russian
constitution, murder of journalists and anti-corruption activists, disappearance
and torture, abuse of the legal system for monetary and political gain, all
illustrate this negative trend. Putin, a former penniless KGB agent, is now
billionaire, thanks to kickbacks!
Vlasenko points out that on 6 December, there was a hige rally at Triumphalnaya Square in Moscow. People chanted "Putin thief", "Russia without Putin", "It's a shame to be in NASHI". NASHI, a pro-government youth movementallied with two other pro-Kremlin organisations – Stal and United Russia's Young Guard – celebrated the victory of United Russia in the parliamentary elections. Seventeen thousand members of these movements gathered at Moscow centre on 6 December. About two thousand of them went to Moscow's Triumphalnaya Square to prevent anti-Putin protesters from holding a rally by standing there and shouting out "Putin, Medvedev, victory".
There is a big difference between the Soviet era and today's Russia. The Soviet
state spread the atmosphere of fear to prevent emergence of politics and
people's participation in it. Today, the key for the state authorities is to
make sure people are not interested in politics. A person who doesn't care about
politics or the situation with human rights in Russia may live a comfortable
life without ever encountering an FSB officer. What suffers the most is
democracy in Russia; the Kremlin is interested in stability, not democracy.
Between 250 and 300 protesters were detained, including Yabloko party leader Sergey Mitrokhin; People's Freedom Party leader Boris Nemtsov; Other Russia activist Eduard Limonov; Oleg Orlov , head of the Memorial human rights organisation; and journalists Bozhena Rynska of Gazeta and Alexandr Chernykh of Kommersant.
Russian TV reported on the actions of pro-government movements' as if they were the only ones held. Activists were disappointed by a controversial statement made by Pavel Gusev, the leader of Journalists' Union, and public council of Moscow police, Olga Kostina. They accused journalists covering the anti-Putin demonstrations of being biased and lacking objectivity and bringing difficulties to law enforcement authorities.
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