The first meeting of Russia’s newly elected State Duma will be held on 21 December. Tens of thousands of Russians protested the parliamentary elections, based on claims that they were unfair. This week protesters will take to the streets again with a rally against election fraud on 24 December.
The European Parliament echoed the protesters’ concerns, and passed a resolution calling for new parliamentary elections in Russia, as well as a thorough investigation into all reports of alleged fraud on elections held on 4 December. The Russian authorities rejected the EU parliament’s intervention.
Prime-minister Vladimir Putin said the protesters had been paid to attend the 10 December rally, which was the biggest in post-Soviet Russia. Putin added that opposition leaders had referred to them as “sheep” from the stage. Both allegations are untrue. President Dmitry Medvedev said that the EU parliament resolution supporting protestants’ demands “meant nothing”, and former deputy head of State Duma international committee Leonid Slutsky told ITAR-TASS news agency that the resolution was “gross interference in the affairs of a sovereign state”.
The controversial resolution mostly covered the context of the recent elections, but it also highlighted “concerns, regarding the human rights situation in Russia, the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and the repressive measures taken against journalists and the opposition”.
The resolution merely captured the bitter truth of the situation, as proved by events last week. In the Republic of Dagestan — a federal subject of Russia — journalist Khadzhimurad Kamalov, founder of Chernovik, an opposition newspaper, was shot outside his office on 15 December. Kamalov was remembered as a brave man, respected for the risks he took by investing in the independent media. He inspired people to write about corruption and human rights abuse in North Caucasus. His colleagues along with Memorial, an international human rights society said his murder was “political” and motivated by his work. His articles and investigations he made public in Chernovik were widely quoted in Dagestan. Makhachkala city administration filed an open letter to Kamalov in September, accusing him of “libel, deception and mutual distrust fomentation”, which Chernovik journalists regarded as an attempt to silence them.
The detention of one of Russia’s opposition leaders, Sergey Udaltsov further confirms the statements of the EU parliament resolution. Udaltsov was arrested on 4 December while attempting to protest in the rally against violations of election laws, and sentenced to administrative arrest until 25 December. Since his arrest, Udaltsov has been on a dry hunger strike, and his health is under serious threat according to his wife and attorney. He is now in the resuscitation department of one of Moscow’s hospitals. Human rights activists and opposition leaders have expressed concern for his life.
Musician Vassily Shumov, also famous for having held a concert to support music critic Art Troitsky, planned to hold a concert in support of Sergey Udaltsov and other prisoners rights activists considered to be “political”, but was suddenly rejected by the club which had previously agreed to carry it out. Shumov suggested that the club might have declined to participate based on pressure from the authorities.
Opposition leaders, rights activists and public figures are now preparing for the rally on 24 December. It is meant to be the public’s response to authorities, who have ignored their demands to set political prisoners free, hold new and fair parliamentary elections, and to protect freedom of expression. Their primary objective is to encourage citizens to overcome fears of repression for expressing their views, and to build confidence in their ability to influence Russian government policy through publicly expressing their discontent. Christmas Eve will determine whether or not they succeed.
Alisher Usmanov, a metal tycoon and owner of Russia’s leading Kommersant publishing house, fired Kommersant Vlast magazine editor-in-chief Maxim Kovalsky and Kommersant-Holdingexecutive director Andrey Galiev.
The reason for the dismissals, according to Usmanov, was the magazine’s latest issue which talked about alleged mass fraud in parliamentary elections in Russia, particularly expatriates voting in London and witnessing election law violations. The publication included photos of graffiti and a bullet with foul against Russian prime-minister and United Russia leader Vladimir Putin.
The photos bordered on petty hooliganism, Usmanov told journalists, claiming he had never interfered in editorial policy before. But according to Kommersant Vlast deputy editor Veronika Kutsillo, he had expressed displeasure over previous publications of Kommersant Vlast. Kutsillo is resigning in protest over the firing of her colleagues.
Kommersant publishing house chief executive Demyan Kudryavtsev also tried to resign, but not in protest. He favoured Usmanov’s decision, claiming it had nothing to do with censorship, and saying he was sorry he hadn’t stopped the publication of the photos as they violated journalistic standards, Russian law and Kommersant internal rules. He kept his post, and his statements didn’t surprise fellow journalists.
Demyan Kudryavtsev supported the removal of Russia’s leading independent monitor GOLOS special project The Map of Election Violations from Gazeta.ru website. Kovalsky denied accusations, explaining it was essential to publish the bulletin photo as it was evidence of election law violation — the bulletin was marked with a vote for Yabloko opposition party, but was considered spoiled because of the obscene words against Putin.
Kommersant journalists appealed to the public with an open letter protesting against Kovalsky’s dismissal and considering it “an attempt to intimidate them in order to prevent any critics of Vladimir Putin”. They highlighted that the justification for the dismissal from Kommersant (“violation of journalistic standards”) is “a forgery, just like the one that insulted people on elections”.
Russian Journalists’ Union head Vsevolod Bogdanov accused Kommersant superiors of censorship, predicting dramatic changes in Kommersant human resources policy.
Meanwhile another oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, who has announced he will run in the presidential election campaign, said he wants to buy the Kommersant publishing house. Usmanov regarded Prokhorov’s offer as a joke, but Kommersant journalists say official negotiations may still be held.
Usmanov’s actions are seen as examples of two processes in Russia. The first shows how media are controlled by oligarchs who stay loyal to Putin, in exchange for his permission to operate superprofits and stay in Forbes’ list of Russia’s richest men. The price oligarchs pay in this deal is abusing the core principle of media independence by intruding the editorial policy or using antiextremism legislation to silence free speech.
The second process includes the government’s and pro-Kremlin oligarchs concerns on staying at or close to power, which is threatened by more people getting to know that the parliamentary elections were allegedly marked with mass fraud.
Tens of thousands of people participated in opposition rallies against alleged unfair parliamentary elections in Russia. The biggest was in Moscow: up to 120,000 people demanded the resignation of Russia’s prime-minister Vladimir Putin.
“Putin Thief”, “We need fair elections”, “Register opposition parties” — these were slogans of Russia’s biggest protest rally since the day of parliamentary elections and since the beginning of post-Soviet Russia.
Famous Russian writer Boris Akunin, known for his public support to former oligarch and Putin’s opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said he “hasn’t seen such Moscow for the last 20 years”. Opposition leaders, rights activists, well-known journalists and public figures appealed to the people to take further action to control authorities and use democratic tools to change government policy. The rally’s resolution included five points:
– Political prisoners to be released immediately;
– Elections results to be cancelled;
– The head of the Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov to resign,and his activities and election fraud to be investigated;
– Opposition parties to be registered, democratic election law to be passed;
– New fair elections to be held.
Rally participants agreed the authorities now have two weeks to react and fulfil their requirements. If not, a new rally, a bigger one, will be held on 24 December in Moscow and other cities. Opposition parties Yabloko and Communist Party, who took part in protest on 10 December, also resolved to remind the authorities about people’s demands on two rallies of their own — on 17 and 18 December respectively.
This day is not just remarkable because Moscow hasn’t faced a rally like this in 20 years, but also because other cities protested. Similar rallies were held in Saint Petersburg, Khabarovsk, Perm, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Samara amd other cities. Protests of solidarity were held outside Russia, too, in London, New-York, Oslo, Helsinki, Lisbon, Barcelona, Paris, Jerusalem, Tokio, Dublin, Berlin, Prague, Rome.
In most Russian cities policemen arrested tens of activists, but in Moscow they earned applause from the rally participants for their unexpected accommodation. Previous Moscow protests against election results have been marked with hundreds of detentions and cruel police actions.
Russian TV, just like the Moscow police, surprised people by broadcasting news about the rally. Previous protests were not covered. The current rally was even covered live, although neither Putin nor Medvedev were criticised on air and the rally’s topic — mass election fraud — was not explained or discussed during the broadcasts. Most items looked like reports on how well the police performed and how bad the traffic jams were because of the rally.
Inspite of rights activists’ words about “civil society rebirth” and “dramatic changes in Russia”, the Central Election Commission deputy Stanislav Vavilov said the Commission will not review election results. Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalist the government “has not yet formed an opinion on the rally”.
But post-Soviet Russia has changed already: Never before has it faced tens of thousands of people chanting that they, not Putin and his “United Russia”, are the real power.
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.
Hundreds of people protested against election fraud directly on elections day; most were detained by police. There were 8-10 thousand people (two thousand according to the police) in the centre of Moscow the day after elections.
Opposition leaders Ilya Yashin and Alexey Navalny were detained, as well as journalists from Reuters, Bloomberg, The New Times magazine, “Izvestia” newspaper and Lenta.ru 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.
On 6 December, there was a rally at Triumphalnaya Square in Moscow with more than 1,000 protesters. 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”.
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.ru and Alexandr Chernykh of Kommersant.
Over 50,000 Ministry of Interior troops are located in Moscow together with policemen. Protesters and journalists have complained of their brutality and aggression from soldiers.
Similar protests were held in Saint-Petersburg by about 800 protesters, 200 of whom were detained whilst Rostov-na-Donu, saw 300 protesters on the streets, 15 of whom were detained.
Russian TV reported on the actions of pro-government movements’ as if they were the only ones held. Pro-Putin demonstrators were described as “citizens tired of marginal groups they don’t support”, in coverage reminiscent of Breznev-era propaganda.
Activists were disappointed by a controversial statement made by Pavel Gusev, the leader of Journalists’ Union in Moscow, 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”.
In the meantime US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton expressed “serious concerns about the conduct of the election”. Catherine Ashton, the EU’s High representative for foreign affairs and security policy expressed the same concerns commenting on a “lack of media impartiality, lack of separation between party and state, and the harassment of independent monitoring attempts” during parliamentary elections.
A big opposition rally against election fraud is expected on 10 December at Moscow Revolution Square just near the Kremlin. Moscow officials have authorised the rally, but troops remain in the city.
