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2014 ANTI-WAR PROTESTS IN RUSSIAOn March 1, five people who were picketing next to the Federation Council building against the invasion of Ukraine were arrested. The next day about 200 people protested at the building of the Russian Ministry of Defense in Moscow against Russian military involvement. About 500 people also gathered to protest on the Manezhnaya Square in Moscow and the same number of people on the Saint Isaac's Square in Saint Petersburg. On March 2, about eleven protesters demonstrated in Yekaterinburg against Russian involvement, with some wrapped in the Ukrainian flag. Protests were also held in Chelyabinsk on the same day. The opposition to the military intervention was also expressed by rock musician Andrey Makarevich, who wrote in particular: "You want war with Ukraine? It will not be the way it was with Abkhazia: the folks on the Maidan have been hardened and know what they are fighting for – for their country, their independence. [...] We have to live with them. Still neighborly. And preferably in friendship. But it's up to them how they want to live". The Professor of the Department of Philosophy at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations Andrey Zubov was fired for his article in Vedomosti, criticizing Russian military intervention.On 2 March, one Moscow resident protested against Russian intervention by holding "Stop the war" banner, but he was immediately harassed by passers-by and when the police was arresting him, a woman offered them fabricating a serious charge (beating up a child) against him; however, the proposal was rejected by the police. Andrei Zubov, a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, who compared Russian actions in Crimea to the Anschluss of Austria, was threatened. Akexander Chuyev, the leader of the pro-Kremlin Spravedlivaya Rossiya party, also objected to Russian intervention in Ukraine. Boris Akunin, popular Russian writer, predicted that Russia's moves would lead to political and economic isolation. Protests against the Russian intervention also occurred outside Russian embassies in London, Berlin, Vilnius and Ankara on 2 March. March of Peace (15 March) protests Protests against the Russian intervention in Crimea also took place in Cologne and outside the Russian Consulate in Bonn, Germany, on 15 March. In August, about a dozen activists were arrested outside the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow for protesting against Russian president Vladimir Putin. 21 September Another anti-war rally with about 5,000 to 20,000 demonstrators took place on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow on 21 September 2014. The Washington Post reported that "tens of thousands" protested the war in Ukraine with a peace march in downtown Moscow "under heavy police supervision". There were minor scuffles with pro-Russian supporters, but no serious violence or arrests were reported. About a thousand people also gathered outside the Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg to protest against Russia's involvement in Ukraine. Thousands of people around the world supported this event by holding anti-war demonstrations on the same day. In the US, San Francisco, New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston and Boston took part in the protest activities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_anti-war_protests_in_Russia 2011–13 RUSSIAN PROTESTS Protests 2011 The 2011–13 Russian protests (which some English language media referred to as the Snow Revolution)[14] began in 2011 (as protests against the 2011 Russian legislative election results) and continued into 2012 and 2013. The protests were motivated by claims by Russian and foreign journalists, political activists and members of the public that the election process was flawed. The Central Election Commission of Russia stated that only 11.5% of official reports of fraud could be confirmed as true. On 10 December 2011, after a week of small-scale demonstrations, Russia saw some of the biggest protests in Moscow since the 1990s. The focus of the protests have been the ruling party, United Russia, and its leader Vladimir Putin, the current president, previous prime minister, and previous two-term president, who announced his intention to run again for President in 2012. Another round of large protests took place on 24 December 2011. These protests were named "For Fair Elections" (Russian: За честные выборы) and their organizers set up the movement of the same name. By this time, the "For Fair Elections" protesters had coalesced into five main points: freedom for political prisoners; annulment of the election results; the resignation of Vladimir Churov (head of the election commission) and the opening of an official investigation into vote fraud; registration of opposition parties and new democratic legislation on parties and elections, as well as new democratic and open elections. Initial protest actions, organized by the leaders of the Russian opposition parties and non-systemic opposition sparked fear in some quarters of a colour revolution in Russia, and a number of counter-protests and rallies in support of the government were held. On the first days following the election, Putin and United Russia were supported by rallies of the youth organisations Nashi and Young Guard. On 24 December Sergey Kurginyan organised the first protest against what was viewed as "orange" protesters in Moscow, though the protest also supported the slogan "For Fair Elections". On 4 February 2012, more protests and pro-government rallies were held throughout the country. The largest two events were in Moscow: the "anti-Orange protest" (alluding to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the most widely known color revolution to Russians), aimed against "orangism", "collapse of the country", "perestroika" and "revolution", the largest protest action of all the protests so far according to the police; and another "For Fair Elections" protest, larger than the previous ones according to the police. On 6 May 2012, protests took place in Moscow the day before Putin's inauguration as President for his third term. Some called for the inauguration to be scrapped. The protests were marred by violence between the protesters and the police. About 400 protesters were arrested, including Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov and 80 were injured. On the day of the inauguration, 7 May, at least 120 protesters were arrested in Moscow. In June 2012, laws were enacted which set strict boundaries on protests and imposed heavy penalties for unauthorized actions. As of January 2013, interviews by Ellen Barry of The New York Times of working class elements which had supported the protests revealed an atmosphere of intimidation, discouragement, and alienation. Background In the 2000s, due to increased restrictions in the election legislation and the takeover of large media under state control, a non-system opposition emerged, which was barred from participation in elections. This time, it included both left and right organisations, as well as nationalists. The largest protests and main opposition events include rallies to support the old NTV staff (2001), mass protests against Mikhail Zurabov's reforms (2005), Dissenters' March (2005–2008), Russian Marches, "I am free! I forgot what it means to fear" rallies for freedom of the press (2005–2006 and 2008), Vladivostok mass protests (2008—2010), Kaliningrad mass protests (2009—2010), Day of Wrath (Left Front actions) (2009–2011), Putin.Results and Putin.Corruption campaign, Putin must go campaign, Strategy-31 (for freedom of assembly) (2009–), etc. Committee 2008, wide coalition The Other Russia, Yabloko, Union of Right Forces, Vanguard of Red Youth, Left Front, Russian People's Democratic Union, United Civil Front, movement for Khimki forest, Solidarnost, TIGER, Society of Blue Buckets, Coalition "For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption", etc. were among the main opposition groups within disorganized 2000s protest movement. 2011 election According to RIA Novosti, there were more than 1,100 official reports of election irregularities across the country, including allegations of vote fraud, obstruction of observers and illegal campaigning. Members of the A Just Russia, Yabloko and Communist parties reported that voters were shuttled between multiple polling stations to cast several ballots. The Yabloko and LDPR parties reported that some of their observers had been banned from witnessing the sealing of the ballot boxes and from gathering video footage, and some were groundlessly expelled from polling stations. The ruling United Russia party alleged that the opposition parties had engaged in illegal campaigning by distributing leaflets and newspapers at polling stations and that at some polling stations the voters had been ordered to vote for the Communist party with threats of violence. There were several reports of almost undetectable vote fraud— swapping of final polling station protocols just before final accounting by station chairmen—that happened late at night when most observers were gone. The Central Electoral Commission issued a report on 3 February 2012, in which it said that it received the total of 1686 reports on irregularities, of which only 195 (11.5%) were upheld after investigation. A third (584) actually contained questions about the unclear points of electoral law, and only 60 complaints were claiming falsifications of the elections results. On 4 February 2012 the Investigation Committee of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation announced that the majority of videos allegedly showing falsifications at polling stations were in fact falsified and originally distributed from a single server in California, and the investigation on that started. Despite the official findings, protests carried on up to and beyond 4 March presidential election. Demographic and economic basis According to the New York Times, the leading element has consisted of young urban professionals, the well-educated and successful working or middle class people such as workers in social media.These groups had benefited from substantial growth in the Russian economy until the 2008 economic crisis but have been alienated by increasing political corruption as well as recent stagnation in their income. The number of such individuals is large and growing in urban centers and is thought to represent a challenge to continuation of authoritarian rule.According to Putin the legitimate grievances of this young and active element of Russian society are being exploited by opportunistic elements which seek to destabilize Russia. Nationalist elements play a significant role in the coalition which is organizing and participating in the protests. Protests against the government On 4 November 2011, during the annual Russian March event, representatives of "The Russians" movement declared a protest action planned for election day after polling districts closed. As there was no official rally permit, the action by "The Russians" was unapproved and took place on 4 December at 21:00 in Moscow. The statement of non-recognition of electoral results spread widely. Сitizens were called upon to create self-governing institutions reflecting national interests and were told of falsifications and frauds said to have occurred during the elections. Alexander Belov declared the beginning of the "Putin, go away!" campaign. The protest action, in which several hundreds persons participated, led to running battles with riot police. Leaders of "The Russians" Alexander Belov, Dmitry Dyomushkin, George Borovikov were arrested along with dozens of other nationalists. The head of the banned Movement Against Illegal Immigration organization Vladimir Yermolaev was detained at a voting station where he was an observer. Mass detentions of other public organizations occurred in Moscow. According to police some 258 persons have been detained. On 5 December 2011 around 5,000 opponents of the government began protesting in Moscow, denouncing Vladimir Putin and his government and what they believed were flawed elections. Campaigners argued that the elections had been a sham and demanded that Putin step down, whilst some demanded revolution.Alexey Navalny, a top blogger and anti-corruption activist who branded Putin's United Russia party as the "party of crooks and thieves", is credited with initial mobilization of mass protests through postings on his LiveJournal blog and Twitter account. Navalny's agitation was denounced by United Russia as "typical dirty self-promotion" and a profane tweet describing Navalny as a sheep engaged in oral sex originated from Medvedev's Twitter account. Many pro-government supporters, including the pro-Putin youth group Nashi, were mobilized on 6 December at the site of the planned demonstration where they made noise in support of the government and United Russia. There was a 15,000-strong rally of Nashi on Manezhnaya Square and an 8,000-strong rally of the Young Guard on Revolution Square. About 500 pro-United Russia activists marched near Red Square. Truckloads of soldiers and police, as well as a water cannon, were deployed ahead of expected anti-government protests. It emerged that 300 protesters had been arrested in Moscow the night before, along with 120 in St. Petersburg. During the night of 6 December, at least 600 protesters were reported to be in Triumphalnaya square chanting slogans against Putin, whilst anti-government protesters at Revolution Square clashed with riot police and interior ministry troops. The police chased around 100 away, arresting some. Protest numbers later reportedly reached over 1,000 at Triumphalnaya Square and dozens of arrests were reported, including Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader and former deputy prime minister, and Alexey Navalny. Over 250 arrests were made, with police using buses to transport the suspects to police stations to be charged. At least one Russian journalist claimed he was beaten by police officers who stamped on him and hit his legs with batons.Another 200 arrests were reported in St. Petersburg and 25 in Rostov the same night as anti-government demonstrations took place. After three and a half hours, the Moscow protest came to an end. Attempts to stage a large protest in Moscow on 7 December fizzled out due to a large police presence in the city. 10 December 2011 Via a Facebook group " a call was made for a mass protest against the government on Saturday 10 December.Prior to the demonstration newspapers commented that tens of thousands of Facebook users had positively responded to invitations to demonstrate in Moscow, and, similarly, over 5,000 in St. Petersburg. A permit had originally been issued to the group Solidarnost for a legal demonstration of 300 people in Revolution Square. By 8 December, more than 30,000 had accepted the Facebook invitation to attend. After negotiations with the demonstrators an alternative location for a 30,000-person demonstration was authorized by the Moscow government for the demonstration which took place on 10 December on Bolotnaya Square. Prior to the demonstration, threats were made by Putin that police and security forces would be deployed to deal with anyone participating in illegal protests in Moscow or other cities; however, the event, when it took place, was peaceful and without attempts by the state to prevent or disrupt it. Rapper Noize MC and author Boris Akunin both agreed to address the crowds, the latter flying in specially from Paris for the occasion. Guerrilla theater by FEMEN and the circulation of a photoshopped image of Putin dressed as Muammar Gaddafi accompanied the protests. Attempts to disrupt the protests and the organizations supporting them included repeated prank calls to Yabloko and Novaya Gazeta. Russia's chief public health official, Gennady Onishchenko, warned on Friday that protesters risked respiratory infections such as the flu or SARS.Warnings were issued that the police would be looking for draft dodgers at the protests. Students in Moscow were ordered to report Saturday during the time scheduled for the demonstration to an exam followed by a special class conducted by headmasters regarding "rules of safe behavior in the city." Opposition Twitter posts were spammed by a botnet and a YouTube video, Москва! Болотная площадь! 10 Декабря! (Moscow! Bolotnaya square! 10 December!), was posted of orcs storming a castle shouting, "Russia without Putin." The Telegraph reported at 10:40 GMT that "Half an hour into what is likely to be Moscow's biggest demonstration since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's biggest state-controlled television station, Channel One, has no mention of the popular unrest on its website." Journalist Andrew Osborn noted a bad 3G telephone signal in Bolotnaya Square, asking "Wonder if they have deliberately shut off in protest area [sic]". The Guardian also reported that mobile internet had been "cut off" in the square. The Moscow demonstration was generally peaceful ending in the afternoon with the singing of Viktor Tsoi's song "Peremen" meaning "Changes", a perestroika anthem from the 1980s. Reports of the demonstration including its large size and demands for new elections were carried on the evening news in Russia by state controlled media. Police in Moscow estimated the protest numbers to be around 25,000, whilst the opposition claimed over 50,000 people were present during the demonstration. Other activists claimed as many as 60,000 protesters in Bolotnaya Square, Moscow. Other cities Nizhny Novgorod. Rally against the official results of the Russian legislative election 2011. Like in Moscow, protests were planned to take place in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Kaliningrad, as well as 88 other towns and cities in Russia. Smaller protests were reported in Tomsk, Omsk, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kurgan, Perm, Karelia, Khabarovsk, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod. At least 10,000 protesters turned out in St. Petersburg, 3,000 in Novosibirsk, whilst 4,000 others rallied in Yekaterinburg. At least 1,000 people rallied in the port city of Vladivostok on Russia's Pacific coast. "Sympathy protests" are also being held abroad. In London, the former parliamentary aide accused of being a Russian spy Katia Zatuliveter turned up holding a banner saying: "Russian vote 146 per cent fair". Some sources report only 100 arrests nationwide on 10 December due to the protests, mostly outside Moscow, which is a significantly smaller number than previous protests. In Kazan, however, at least 100 protesters, mainly in their early 20s, were detained for failure to disperse. 17–18 December 2011 On 17 December another meeting was held at Bolotnaya Square in Moscow against the election fraud. The rally was organized by Yabloko but members of other political parties participated as well. Among the speakers were Grigory Yavlinsky and Sergey Mitrokhin from Yabloko and Vladimir Ryzhkov from the People's Freedom Party. The Moscow Police claimed there were 1500 demonstrators but eyewitnesses claimed there were up to 5000 people at the peak of the demonstration. In any case, the turnout was far below that of the multi-party rally of 10 December. A rally was held on 18 December in Moscow, organized by Communist Party of the Russian Federation in Moscow and took place at Manezhnaya Square. Several thousand supporters turned out, but many were elderly. Another smaller rally took place in Saint Petersburg at Pionerskaya Square. Gennady Zyuganov, head of the party and its candidate for President of Russia, has denounced election regularities but has also expressed his opposition to the organizers of the mass demonstrations who he views as ultra liberals who are exploiting unrest. 24 December 2011 There were large follow-up demonstrations 24 December including a rally "For Fair Elections" at Academician Sakharov Avenue in Moscow. There were rallies in Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod and two in Saint Petersburg. A podium was built at the end of the 700-metre (0.43-mile) avenue. On the podium were slogans, "Russia will be free" and "This election Is a farce." The atmosphere was peaceful but at least 40 bus loads of riot police were standing by as thousands of protesters demonstrated, with a total of up to 50,000 expected to arrive during the day. Alexei Kudrin, a former Putin insider, spoke advocating dialogue. He was booed by some, but cheered by others. At least 21,000 protesters were in Moscow by 11:10 am GMT, according to Itar Tass, and there were at least 100 arrests in Vladivostok. According to on scene reporters, the atmosphere was fun, with white ribbons and balloons and condom-themed banners – a mocking reference to Vladimir Putin saying he believed the white ribbons, the protest movements symbol, were to promote safe sex. The Interior Ministry estimated that at least 28,000 people had turned up, whilst some in the opposition claimed 120,000 protesters were in Moscow. Reporters of the Moscow Times said the figure was well above the 30,000 to 60,000 at the previous event and that there were about 80,000 protesters who came to this rally. The infographics from RIA Novosti shows that the Sakharov Avenue can provide room for a maximum of 96,000 people at a density of 35 people per 10 sq m, or for 55,000 people at a smaller and more realistic density distribution. Alexei Navalny, greeted with a ovation when he finally spoke, said there were enough people present at the protest to march to and overrun the Kremlin, but that they were committed to remaining peaceful, at least for the moment. I can see that there are enough people here to seize the Kremlin and the White House right now. We are a peaceful force and will not do it now. But if these crooks and thieves try to go on cheating us, if they continue telling lies and stealing from us, we will take what belongs to us with our own hands. ... These days, with the help of the zombie-box, they are trying to prove to us that they are big and scary beasts. But we know who they are. Little sneaky jackals! Is that right? Is that true or not? The crowd reportedly included liberals, anarchists, communists, nationalists and monarchists. Mikhail Gorbachev did not attend or speak but sent a message of support. On the day of the rally, the former Soviet President called on Putin to resign. Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire independent presidential candidate, was in the crowd but did not speak.  Protests 2012 4 February 2012 Despite temperatures of −20 degrees Celsius a third demonstration was carried out in Moscow by the For Fair Elections movement on 4 February, with 160,000 participants according to organizers or 38,000 participants according to the police. According to the state-run Ria Novosti's calculations, the Bolotnaya Square site provides room for a maximum of 101,000 people at a maximum density of 35 people per 10 sq m on the quay and 15 people per 10 sq m in the park, or for 53,000 people at a smaller and less compact density distribution. This time the demonstration started with a march from Kaluzhskaya Square to Bolotnaya Square where a meeting was held. The anti-Putin protesters carried white balloons and were wearing white ribbons. They chanted "Putin, Go Away!" and "Russia without Putin!". One of the banners read "Putin is a person without shame or conscience". Among the speakers were Yevgeniya Chirikova, Gennady Gudkov, Leonid Parfyonov, Olga Romanova, Vladimir Ryzhkov, Sergei Udaltsov, Ilya Yashin and Grigory Yavlinsky. The meeting was ended by Yuri Shevchuk who sang his famous song "Rodina" (Motherland). The same day demonstrations were being held in other cities throughout Russia such as St Petersburg, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Nizhni Novgorod, Penza and Yaroslavl. Also the Russian-speaking population of other countries organized rallies worldwide with scimilar demands: Germany, Israel, USA. The organisers of the third Moscow "For Fair Elections" protest had difficulties originally financing the protest because contributions from the public had waned by January 2012, so they financed the organisation of the protest with money collected earlier for other events. 26 February 2012 At least 3,500 people demonstrated against Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, under heavy police presence, but no arrests were made. In Moscow on Sunday 26 February up to 30,000 people lined the Garden Ring in a protest called the Big White Circle. White clothes and white ribbons were worn as protestors formed a nine-mile human chain holding a white banner. The event was described as an apolitical "act of unity" to avoid the official permission which protests require. 5 March 2012 In response to Vladimir Putin's reelection during the Presidential Elections, protesters took to the streets of Moscow. After being denied to demonstrate on Lubyanka Square up to 25,000 people protested in Pushkin Square. A couple of thousand protestors stayed behind and clashed with riot police who moved in to disperse them, leading to several hundred arrests, including Alexey Navalny, Sergey Udaltsov and Ilya Yashin. Anti-government protests also took place in St Petersburg too, albeit smaller, at 3,000 people where 300 were arrested. 10 March 2012 Another "For Fair Elections" protest was staged on the Novy Arbat street in Moscow. A permit was issued for 50,000, but just 25,000 came according to the organisers and 10,000 according to the police. The mood was downbeat after Putin won an absolute majority everywhere but Moscow where he garnered 46.95% of the vote. Sergei Udaltsov of Left Front, called for a massive demonstration 1 May, but no further protests are scheduled. 18 March 2012 Up to 1000 protesters gathered at an unsactioned demonstration at the Ostankino television tower and 94 were arrested. They were protesting against a documentary called The Anatomy of Protest, which had been shown on 15 March on NTV, a channel owned by Gazprom, a state-run firm.The documentary claimed that protesters against the election of Putin as president had been given "money and cookies" as payment. It also claimed that Alexei Navalny, a well-known opposition blogger, had been "spreading misinformation" and had "too many bodyguards" who were "beating up journalists". Protesters wore white ribbons and chanted "Shame on NTV!" 8 April 2012 For the first time since the beginning of the protests, opposition activists were allowed onto Red Square to demonstrate, though they were not allowed to pitch a tent. Just the previous weekend protesters were barred from the square and arrests made. This time, "hundreds" gathered, including Yevgenia Chirikova and Sergei Udaltsov. Astrakhan mayoral election of 2012 After fraud was alleged in the mayoral election of 2012 in Astrakhan and the United Russia candidate was declared the winner, organizers of the 2011–2012 Russian protests supported the defeated candidate, Oleg V. Shein of Just Russia, in a hunger strike. Substantial evidence of fraud was cited by the protesters but an official investigation failed to find significant violations.The activists from Moscow found it difficult to gain traction over the issue with local residents who, like most Russians, accept political corruption as a given that is useless to protest.The emissaries from Moscow persisted, buoyed by celebrities who support the reform movement, drawing 1,500 to a rally on 14 April. 6 and 7 May 2012 Protests involving about 20,000 people took place in Moscow the day before Putin's inauguration as President for his third term. Some called for the inauguration to be scrapped. The protests were marred by violence between the protesters and the police. About 400 protesters were arrested, including Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov and 80 were injured.On the day of the inauguration, at least 120 protesters were arrested in Moscow. Police also detained over 100 young men of conscription age (18–27), including 70 who had avoided the military draft. From the very beginning, the so-called "March of Millions" was a nervous event. Even before the march, many large liberal media sites: Echo Moscow radio station, Kommersant daily, and Dozhd TV channel, were subjected to DDoS-attacks. Ilya Ponomarev, an opposition leader and member of parliament, said the police had started the clashes. "The police started it. Bolotnaya square filled up and the police sealed it off. when they started to push demonstrators, and people reacted," he said. Analytical article of Lenta.ru reported, that "Moscow had not seen such large-scale street battles for twenty years". Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitri Peskov said he believed the police were being too soft on the protesters. Gazeta.ru reported "The efforts that the law enforcement are going to in order to provoke the protesters are so evident, it's impossible to remain blind to the plan of radicalization of peaceful protests behind their actions. This mutual willingness for violence has allowed both sides, with help of several provocations, to turn a peaceful march into a massive clash, the scale of which Moscow hasn't seen since the 90's. That was the mobilization. War follows. Both sides expect only victory, of course." Several hundreds meetings continued on 6/7 night, 7, 7/8 night and 8 May in different places in Moscow. Opposition leaders were arrested again. The arrests continued in the following months. Among the arrested was a prominent human rights activist Nikolay Kavkazsky who was arrested on 25 July th and who has been held in custody ever since. The authorities' crackdown on the pro-democratic movement resulted in what has come to be known as the "Bolotnaya square case". 12 June 2012 A peaceful protest rally by tens of thousands, protest organizers estimated their numbers at 50,000, while police put it at 15,000, originating at Pushkin Square was held in Moscow on 12 June 2012, Russia Day. The rally was preceded by soaking rain; there was a thunderstorm after a few hours. Protest activities fell within the conditions of the permit which had been issued by the authorities. A call by Sergei Udaltsov to march on the Investigative Committee of Russia which had raided organizers' homes on 11 June was rejected by other protest organizers. The protest rally defied an atmosphere of intimidation and repression fostered by the Putin administration: The previous day, police had raided the homes of various opposition leaders and called them in for interrogation an hour before the protest was due to start on 12 June: Alexei Navalny, Ilya Yashin and Ksenia Sobchak all attended the interrogations. The rally was also the first to follow a new law passed in June 2012 to punish protesters with larger fines. Participation in the protest was diverse, united only by opposition to Putin; in addition to the revolutionary anti-capitalist Left Front led by Sergei Udaltsov, black-clad Russian nationalists and liberals sporting white ribbons participated despite expressing mutual disdain. 15 December 2012 On Saturday afternoon about 2,000 protestors gathered in Lubyanka Square in Moscow, the location of the headquarters of the Federal Security Services, a successor to the KGB. A requested permit to lay flowers at the memorial stone in the square was denied. There were mass arrests including Aleksei Navalny, Sergei Udaltsov of the Left Front, Kseniya Sobchak, and Ilya Yashin. Those arrested, if prosecuted and convicted, face heavy fines under recently enacted legislation which outlaws organizing or participating in unauthorized demonstrations.  Protests 2013 13 January 2013: March Against Scoundrels On 13 January 2013 a protest called the "March Against Scoundrels" was held in Moscow protesting passage of the Anti-Magnitsky law, a bill banning adoption of Russian children by people in the United States. A permit was sought and issued. According to the police there were about 10,000 participants. According to oppositioners counting there were from 30 to 50 thousand people. According to bloggers' counting – 24,474 participants.[citation needed] 6 May 2013 On 6 May 2013 a mass rally took place in Moscow. Among featured speakers were Boris Nemtsov and Aleksei Navalny. Opposition leaders put the number of attendants at up to 50,000, though police stated 7,000 took part. 18 July 2013 On 18 July 2013 Aleksei Navalny was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement. After the verdict was read, thousands gathered in Moscow's Manezhnaya Square to protest it. Rallies in support of the government Simultaneously with the anti-government protests, the government and United Russia were supported by rallies of the government funded youth organizations. 4 December 2011 On 4 December, Nashi took to the Moscow streets with 15,000 young people that had been brought to Moscow from more than 20 regions and held meetings and concerts on the Revolution Square and Manezhnaya Square to express their support of president Medvedev and prime minister Putin. 6 December 2011 On 6 December, about 5,000 activists from Nashi and other pro-Kremlin youth groups held pro-government rallies on Manezhnaya Square and Triumfalnaya Square.To a New York Times reporter, it seemed that many of the participants in the rally were forced to attend. 12 December 2011 On 12 December, the 18th anniversary of the Constitution of Russia, thousands of United Russia sympathizers demonstrated in Moscow in support of Putin. 23 February 2012 On 23 February, Russia's Defender of the Fatherland Day, a massive pro-Putin march took place in Moscow. The march ended in Luzhniki Stadium, where a crowd of 130,000 (according to police estimates) was addressed by Vladimir Putin. The BBC reported, however, that some attendees claimed they had been made to take part or paid. Some said they had been told they were attending a "folk festival". After Putin spoke, popular folk band Lubeh took to the stage. Putin's speech in Luzhniki was his single speech before such a large audience during 2012 presidential campaign. In the speech he called not to betray the Motherland, but to love her, to unite around Russia and to work together for the good, to overcome the existing problems. He said that the foreign interference into Russian affairs should not be allowed, that Russia has its own free will. He compared the political situation at the moment with the First Fatherland War of 1812, reminding that its 200th anniversary and the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino would be celebrated in 2012.Putin cited Lermontov's poem Borodino and ended the speech with Vyacheslav Molotov's famous Great Patriotic War slogan "The Victory Shall Be Ours!" ("Победа будет за нами!"). 4 March 2012 On the post-election rally of his supporters at Manezhnaya Square, while making an acceptance speech, Putin was for the first time ever seen with tears in his eyes (later he explained that "it was windy"). He said to a 110,000-strong audience: "I told you we would win and we won!" "Anti-Orange" protests 24 December 2011 On 2 December on Sparrow Hills, Sergey Kurginyan and his movement "Sut' Vremeni" (Essence of Time) organized the first protest against what was viewed as "orange" protesters in Moscow. The protest also supported the slogan "For Fair Elections". 4 February 2012 Alongside smaller rallies that gathered 50,000 people throughout the rest of the country, the large "Антиоранжевый митинг" ("Anti-Orange protest") was held on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, near the World War II memorial complex, the largest protest action of all the protests so far according to the police. It was organized by a number of public organisations: Patriots of Russia party, Kurginyan's "Sut' Vremeni", "Congress of Russian communities", "Regional public fund in support of the Heroes of the Soviet Union and Heroes of Russia", "Trade Union of Russian citizens", "Pensioner Union of Russia", "Russian Union of Afghanistan veterans", "Assistance to realisation of constitutional rights of citizens 'Human rights'" group and others. According to the Moscow police, 138,000–150,000 people participated at the protest at the peak of attendance, while more people could have passed through the site. Opposition groups, however, disputed these figures "as grossly inflated", and some journalists, including one of the state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, said the real number was "much lower". The infographics from Ria Novosti shows that the Poklonnaya Hill site can provide room for a maximum of 193,000 people at a density of 35 people per 10 sq m, or for 117,000 people at a smaller and more realistic density distribution. Some demonstrators, many of whom were state employees, said they attended under threat of dismissal. Some such claims made in the course of the protest organization were later refuted as falsifications by the opposition activists and many other demonstrators said they came on their own free will according to a pro-government news site politonline.ru. Vladimir Putin acknowledged that some attendees could have been coerced, but said that it was impossible to gather so many people by administrative pressure alone. The participants were mostly middle age, but there were many young and old persons. Some of the participants were bused from other regions and cities with the transport provided by organizations participating in the action. At a temperature of −21 °C, a number of heat guns were set up, as well as tents with free hot tea and confectionery. The resulting large attendance at the protest was not expected, and resulted in a traffic jam in a nearby Kutozovsky Avenue. The organizers of the protests applied to the Moscow authorities to gather 15,000 people, but since the number was exceeded, they were faced with paying a fine. Vladimir Putin, who earlier in the evening claimed to share the ideals of those who would go to Poklonnaya Hill, offered to pay part of the fine with his own money. The "anti-Orange protest" name alludes to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the most ill-known to Russians color revolution. The term "orange" in Russian political discourse has highly negative connotations. The speakers declared to be against "orangeism", "collapse of the country", "perestroika" and "revolution", reminding the public of such historical events as Gorbachev's Perestroika and the 1917 Russian Revolution and urging never to repeat them. The call for fair elections was supported, but the leaders of protesters on Bolotnaya Square and Sakharov Avenue were condemned as "successors to those who destroyed the country in 1991 and 1917" and who allegedly want "to remove not Putin, but the Russian state". The visit of anti-government protest leaders to the U.S. embassy was condemned, as well as the alleged American interference. Pop-rock singer and composer Denis Maydanov performed on the scene, and pop-rock group Diskoteka Avariya sang their popular song "The Evil Approaches". The symbol of the "anti-Orange protest" was an orange snake strangled in a fist. The motto of the protest was "Нам есть, что терять!" (We have things to lose). The top slogan chosen by online vote was "Не дадим развалить страну!" (Won't allow collapse of the country!) and among those frequently used were "Мы за стабильность" (We are for stability) and "Когда мы едины и мы непобедимы!" (When we are united we are invincible!). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80%9313_Russian_protests |
 The EJ Atlas is a teaching, networking and advocacy resource. Strategists, activist organizers, scholars, and teachers will find many uses for the database, as well as citizens wanting to learn more about the often invisible conflicts taking place. 
1 Construction of the highway Moscow-Petersburg through the Khimki forest, Russia This conflict arose from the construction project of the highway from Moscow-Petersburg. According to the project plan, part of the highway (15—58 km) was to run through the Khimki forest and divide its territory in half. The Khimki forest is protected by the State in accordance to the Russian Forest Code; and its territory was not conducive to any construction activities since it belonged to the first category of protected forests. Due to the project, approved deforestation covers an area of 140 hectares. The glade for the road and the road infrastructure was planned to be 3 km.http://ejatlas.org/conflict/construction-of-the-highway-moscow-petersburg-through-the-khimki-forest-russia 2 Oil Spills in Khanty-Mansi Region, Russia In the number one oil-producing region in Russia – the Khanty-Mansi region in Northwestern Siberia – the annual oil spills from pipelines amounted to 5,781.4 tons on an area of 229.6 hectares in 2009. In 2010, Russian company Rosneft alone spilled 3,738 tons, and in 2011 a total of 5,289 tons of oil was spilled in the region. (2, 3) The annual spill of crude oil in Russia is as much as 5 million tons, which is nearly six times the amount spilled in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. (4) Gennady Bukhtin, Deputy Governor of the region, stated that there are over 4,000 ha of oil spills in the Khanty-Mansi region alone and the cost for restoration is estimated at $45,000-60,500 (1.5-2 million rubles) per ha (1). The company Rosneft represented 75% of the oil spills in 2011 but are joined by companies such as Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz and TNK-BP (3). http://ejatlas.org/conflict/oil-spills-in-khanty-mansi-region-russia 3 Hydro Power Plant Boguchanskaya, Russia he construction of the hydro power plant Boguchanskaya began in 1980 and resumed in 2006. The plant is located on the river Angara near the town Kodinsk. It is carried out by the companies “RusHydro” and “Rusal”. In May 2006 they signed an agreement on the joint development of the Boguchanskoye Energy and Metals Complex (BEMO). The BEMO project provided: completion of the hydroelectric plant and building a nearby aluminum smelter, which would off-take considerable amount of electricity produced by the power plant. The planned design capacity is 3,000 MW. The Russian government points to the importance of completion of the hydroelectric power station for the development of the Siberian economic region according to the "Complex development of the Lower Angara Territories” http://ejatlas.org/conflict/hydro-power-plant-boguchanskaya 4 Trans-Sibirskaya HPP, Russia According to the industry, Russian territory is rich in hydropower potential amounting to 10% of the world total, which is mainly in Siberia and the Far East, where the electricity demands and hydropower development are low. With the long-distance transmission technology maturing, dam developers think it is more feasible to transmit power from Russian Far East and Siberia to China. In 2001 the two countries signed the Treaty on Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation and energy generation was one of the cooperation chapters. In the long run, it is an inevitable trend to meet the electricity demand in Northeastern and Northern China, and to jointly develop hydropower resources in Russia, and transmission power to China. The Amur River basin is the largest still free-flowing transboundary river system of Asia and is internationally recognised for the importance of its migratory fish and floodplain wetlands, of which 17 are designated Ramsar sites. By 2013, there are 100 hydropower plants in Amur River Basin, only two of those in Russia. Shilka river is a primary source of Amur, flowing from Mongolia into Russia. On both these rivers, large hydropower plants are under study by Russian authorities. In 2012, EuroSibEnergo, the largest independent power producer in Russia, and China Yangtze Power Co. («CYPC»), the largest Chinese listed hydroelectricity producer, signed a Framework Agreement that provides for joint investment of a list of power plant construction projects in Eastern Siberia. The top priority ones are: 1. Lenskaya CHP. Installed capacity — up to 1,200 MW; location — Ust-Kut, Irkutsk region; 2. Nizhne-Angarskaya HPP (Angara river). Installed capacity — 600 — 1,500 MW; location — Krasnoyarsk Region 3. Trans-Sibirskaya HPP (Shilka River). Installed capacity — 400 — 900 MW; location — ca. 250 km from Mogocha, Trans-Baikal Territory. According to the developer, Trans-Sibirskaya HPP will provide an opportunity to synchronize the power systems of Siberia and the Russian Far East; it could also meet power demand of the Chinea polymetal deposit development project (implemented by En+ Group) and other mineral resources recovery projects in the Trans-Baikal Territory. Rivers without Boundaries, a coalition of environmental organizations from different countries which was formed in 2009, advocates for a different management of the free flowing rivers of this region, based on a diversification of sustainable activities. Once EuroSibEnergo-En+, learned about the upcoming campaign it came up with public announcement on Trans-Sibirskaya Hydro claiming it has nothing to do with damming practices of the past, that it adheres to principles of sustainable development and electricity will go primarily to domestic Russian consumers, not to Chinese market. However, the coalition questions the project's location in the lower reaches of Shilka, which would block\isolate 200000 square kilometres or 10% of Amur River basin; they fear that the reservoir will be contaminated with rotting wood and toxic substances from mining complexes upstream. http://ejatlas.org/conflict/trans-sibirskaya-hpp-russia 5 Sakhalin-1 and -2 oil and gas development projects, Russia The Sakhalin-1 project develops three oil and gas fields offshore in the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island in Russia and is operated by Exxon Neftegas Limited. Discovered in 1977, the production sharing agreement for the project became effective in the late 1990s and the exploration period has formally ended in 2001. Its sister project, the Sakhalin-2 project, also includes three offshore oil and gas platforms, 15 kilometres off the Russian island of Sakhalin, in the North Pacific Ocean, located just north of Japan, off the east coast of Russia. After a long period of funding issues and after the budget had doubled from 10 billion USD to 20 billion USD in 2005, the LNG plant is operational and has now reached full capacity. It is one of the largest integrated oil and gas projects in the world. http://ejatlas.org/conflict/sakhalin-1-and-2-oil-and-gas-development-projects 6 Prirazlomnoye oil field, Russia The Sakhalin-1 project develops three oil and gas fields offshore in the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island in Russia and is operated by Exxon Neftegas Limited. Discovered in 1977, the production sharing agreement for the project became effective in the late 1990s and the exploration period has formally ended in 2001. Its sister project, the Sakhalin-2 project, also includes three offshore oil and gas platforms, 15 kilometres off the Russian island of Sakhalin, in the North Pacific Ocean, located just north of Japan, off the east coast of Russia. After a long period of funding issues and after the budget had doubled from 10 billion USD to 20 billion USD in 2005, the LNG plant is operational and has now reached full capacity. It is one of the largest integrated oil and gas projects in the world. http://ejatlas.org/conflict/prirazlomnoye-field |
STRIKES AND OTHER PROTESTSThe Partisans of Suna Residents of the small village of Suna in Karelia’s Kondopoga District, mainly pensioners, have rebelled against the authorities, loggers, and a mining company that plans to develop a sand and gravel quarry in the scenic pine wood alongside their village. The area resembles the front lines during a war. The loggers have brought in their equipment, but have been stopped in their tracks by the pensioners, who have set up camp there. The pensioners have been keeping a 24-hour vigil in the woods for four months. Local journalists have dubbed them the “partisans of Suna.” Russian Artist Cuts Off Part of Ear in Act of Protest Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky, known for his shocking protest stunts, cut off part of his earlobe in a protest titled "Segregation" at a Moscow psychiatric institution Sunday. Pavlensky, who last year made headlines around the world for another protest in which he nailed his scrotum to the cobblestones of Red Square, was this time protesting against the use of forensic psychiatry for politically motivated purposes. Angry Farmers Stage Tractor March on Moscow Several hundred farmers from southern Russia complained of intense police harassment Monday as they entered the second day of a drive towards Moscow they are staging to raise awareness about the problem of local corruption. Hundreds protest against newly adopted cyber surveillance laws in Moscow Hundreds of people have joined a rally against a newly passed anti-terrorist package of bills introducing deeper state control over electronic communications resulting in potential financial obligations on Russian internet providers. The demonstration, held in Sokolniki Park in the northeast of the Russian capital, was organized by some opposition groups and particularly by a regional lawmaker and IT specialist Leonid Volkov. A prominent Russian opposition figure, Aleksey Navalny, also delivered a speech at the event.
Prosecutors Ask Court to Fine, Not Jail Pavlensky for Burned FSB Doors Prosecutors have asked for extreme performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky to be fined 1.5 million rubles ($23,000) for setting fire to the doors of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday. The proposed fine originally stood at two million rubles ($30,000), but was reduced due to Pavlensky’s good character references and because he has a family with young children, the Mediazona website reported. Pavlensky is currently standing trial for his latest action “Threat: The Burning Doors of Lubyanka ” on Nov. 9, 2015. During the stunt, which was described by Pavlensky as a protest against repressive government policies, he set on fire the wooden doors of FSB headquarters on Lubyanskaya Ploshchad. The building has been used by the FSB since the Soviet era and the doors are considered to have “cultural value,” the court was told. Massive Strike at Russian Factory of Abramovich's Evraz Six thousand workers have gone on strike at a plant of the Evraz steel and mining company, partly owned by Roman Abramovich. Staff at the ore mining and processing plant in the Sverdlovsk region town of Kachkanar are protesting a new bonus system, the RBC news outlet reported Thursday. Strike leaders claim the changes reduce their wages by 7,000 to 15,000 rubles ($100 to $220) a month. The average salary at the plant is 47,000 rubles ($700) a month. Workers are holding a work-to-rule strike, where those taking part are encouraged to strictly follow all industry rules and guidelines to the point where it hampers production. Trade union leader Anatoly Pyankov said that production could be reduced by 50 percent as a result of the action, RBC reported. Krasnodar Farmers Organizing Protest Tractor Run to Moscow About 100 farmers from nine districts in Russia's southern Krasnodar region have announced that they intend to take part in a tractor run to Moscow, the Caucasian Knot online newspaper reported Thursday. Starting on March 28 from Ust-Labinsk, one of the region's towns, the purpose of the trip is to “make President Vladimir Putin aware of the years of illegal seizure of land and violation of the rights of farmers” by private businessmen in the region. Russian Village Cordoned After Roma Protests Mar 18, 2016 ... Police have cordoned an area in Plekhanovo, a village in Russia's Tula region, after members of the local Roma community protested against ... Russian Truck Drivers Strike for 10 Days Against Platon Tax System Truck drivers from 43 Russian regions have begun a 10-day strike to protest the controversial Platon truck tax system, the Interfax news agency reported, citing the protesters' spokeswoman. The strike will last until March 1, with drivers halting orders and stopping deliveries, the truck drivers’ spokeswoman Taisiya Nikitenko told Interfax Saturday. Protests By Unhappy Mortgage Holders Rock Moscow Banks Foreign-currency mortgage holders launched a series of protests against Moscow banks this week, demanding a discount on their mortgage payments that have increased dramatically in tandem with the weakening ruble. On Tuesday a group of people rushed into a Raiffeisenbank office and demanded that they be allowed to pay back their mortgages at the rate of 40 rubles per dollar instead of the current 78 rubles per dollar rate, the Dozhd TV channel reported on Tuesday. Pensioners block Sochi streets to protest loss of free access to public transport Earlier today, several dozen pensioners in Sochi protested the cancellation of public transport privileges by blocking one of the city's main thoroughfares, according to the news agency TASS. Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov met with the protesters to explain the reason for the cancellation and to outline what steps the authorities are taking to support the poor. https://meduza.io/en/news/2016/01/15/pensioners-block-sochi-streets-to-protest-loss-of-free-access-to-public-transport Russian Truckers Protest Near Building of Presidential Administration Truck drivers gathered next to the building of Russia's presidential administration to protest the Platon tax system, Dozhd television channel reported Monday. Approximately 70 drivers participated in the demonstration, along with two Communist Party parliament members, Dozhd reported. Truckers are protesting a new tax system that levies additional fees on heavy trucks for the use of federal highways. Truck drivers say the system would erode their earnings. Russian Truck Tax Protests End in Tragedy A Russian truck driver was killed and three others injured when a truck careered onto the curb and into a group of protesters in the Tver region west of Moscow on Thursday, traffic police said. Around 60 people were rallying against a new per-kilometer charge for trucks to use Russian highways, when at 10:30 a.m. a truck carrying flour along the St. Petersburg-Moscow highway switched lanes, lumbered onto the pavement, collided with a parked vehicle and rolled toward the crowd. Russian Truckers Protest Federal Levy With Roadblock Russian truck drivers have set up roadblocks across the country, demanding the cancellation of a new levy on 12-ton vehicles for using federal highways, the news portal BFM.ru reported Wednesday. More than 300 long-distance trucks have halted traffic on the R-245 federal highway in the Siberian District's Novosibirsk. Similar protests are taking place near other major Russian cities, including Irkutsk, Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, and Arkhangelsk. About 150 drivers are also blocking the Moscow-Crimea highway in Belgorod, a Russian region bordering Ukraine. Moscow protest against Russia role in Syria Moscow (AFP) - Around 200 people demonstrated in Moscow on Saturday against Russia's campaign of air strikes in Syria, with one protester arrested by police. The rally by people mainly in their 50s and 60s in a small central park passed off amid tight security as the authorities threw up a strong security cordon. The demonstrators oppose Moscow's decision to carry out air strikes which began targeting assorted Syrian rebel groups on September 10 LGBT Protesters Detained at Sochi Olympic's Moscow Headquarters Ten LGBT-rights protesters were detained Wednesday while attempting to picket the Olympic headquarters in Moscow. Prominent gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev, who has been detained more than a dozen times at protests over his career as a campaigner, was reportedly among them, an eyewitness told Gazeta.ru. Police were waiting as the protesters approached the entrance to the building, with signs decrying homophobia in hand, and detained them on the spot while several journalists stood by, the eyewitness said. Photographs of the protest show two activists holding a sign that reads “Homophobia is a disgrace for Russia,” while Alexeyev carries one that reads “Sochi Olympics boycott — no! Sochi gay pride house — yes!” Protesters Against Church Construction Gain Rare Victory Long-lasting protests by residents against building a Russian Orthodox church in a park in northeastern Moscow appear to have resulted in a rare victory for public protests after religious officials said late last week they were ready to consider a different location for it. Protesters Against HIV Drug Prices Arrested in Moscow Eight activists were arrested Thursday outside the presidential administration building in Moscow for staging a protest against the shortage and rising cost of medicine for HIV/AIDS patients, the OVD-Info news site reported. 65 Protesters Detained in Bolotnaya Anniversary Rally in Moscow Russian police detained at least 65 people who gathered on central Moscow's Bolotnaya Square to honor participants of the massive anti-Kremlin protests that took place three years ago. https://themoscowtimes.com/news/65-protesters-detained-in-bolotnaya-anniversary-rally-in-moscow-46378 Health Care Workers to Hunger-Strike in Protest of Labor Conditions Health care workers in central Russia threatened to stage a hunger strike starting Monday to protest what they described as "repercussions" against co-workers who demanded better working conditions and higher salaries at previous protests, media reports said. The hunger strike, planned in Ufa, the capital of Russia's republic of Bashkortostan, would be the third by medical workers in the city since the start of a labor dispute with local health care officials last April, Ekho Moskvy reported. About 20 health care workers are expected to go on a hunger strike on Monday, joining the protest started last week by a local ambulance service manager, Svetlana Yusupova, the report said. https://themoscowtimes.com/news/health-care-workers-to-hunger-strike-in-protest-of-labor-conditions-45019 Angry Siberian farmer avenges ‘debt slavery’ by dumping manure outside bank A farmer in Siberia dumped a cart of manure in front of a bank, saying that was his way of paying out his debt. The man also described what he did as a “soft, if somewhat smelly” protest against bank policies. The farmer, Aleksandr Bakshaev from the Novosibirsk Region, placed banners reading, “Banks are people’s enemies” and “Down with debt slavery” atop the heap of manure he piled by the entrance of the local office of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, on Friday. http://investmentwatchblog.com/angry-siberian-farmer-avenges-debt-slavery-by-dumping-manure-outside-bank/ Activists Detained for Bizarre Reindeer Protest in Moscow Center Animal rights activists have been detained after staging a creative protest in central Moscow that involved locking themselves in a cage with a reindeer at a holiday display on Tverskoi Bulvar. https://themoscowtimes.com/news/activists-detained-for-bizarre-reindeer-protest-in-moscow-center-4252 Anti-Putin Rally in Moscow Met With Protest and Sympathy Opposition activists rallying in Moscow on Saturday drew an onslaught from Kremlin supporters but also, according to protesters, sympathy from passersby in what they say is a sign that public sentiment might be changing in their favor. Members of the Solidarity democratic opposition movement this weekend gathered in central Moscow holding up signs denouncing Vladimir Putin's policies in Ukraine and supporting the suspects in the so-called Bolotnoye case, according to a video posted on YouTube by opposition news portal Grani.ru. Thousands rally in Moscow against health care cuts At least 5,000 Russians marched through Moscow on Sunday to protest against plans to lay off thousands of doctors and close hospitals in the capital amid a flagging economy. Doctors, patients and other protesters braved the freezing cold to voice their opposition to an ongoing Moscow health care reform that could remove up to 10,000 doctors from their jobs and close 28 hospital and clinics by early next year.The demonstration followed a previous doctors' rally early this month, which was the first social protest in Russia in a decade. The pressure on the country's budget has intensified as the economy is taking a hit from low oil prices, a drop in the value of the national currency and from Western sanctions over its role in the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.Many of the protesters were dressed in white coats over their winter jackets. https://www.yahoo.com/news/thousands-rally-moscow-against-health-care-cuts-121040510.html?ref=gs St. Petersburg Police Dismantle Evicted Homeowners' Protest camp Police in St. Petersburg have dismantled a tent camp that demonstrators tried to set up outside the municipal administration in protest against their eviction from cityissued apartments. The camp was erected by construction workers and their families who were offered housing after moving to St. Petersburg on government contracts decades ago but who now face eviction after their building was bought by a private company. The protesters on Monday took tents and sleeping bags to St. Petersburg's central Smolny Garden, which flanks the city administration, saying they had no place else to live, the TASS news agency reported. Moscow Motor Rally to Protest New Parking Rules Broken Up by Traffic Police A motor rally held by opposition activists in Moscow on Sunday was broken up by police and several people were reportedly detained. The rally, which began at about 2:30 p.m. on the Garden Ring road, was meant to protest the Moscow government's new policies on parking for city residents, many of whom are now obligated to pay fees. Moscow sees thousands march for peace in eastern Ukraine Participants in the March for Peace staged by the opposition in Moscow (RIA Novosti Anissa Naouai, Politics, Protest, Russia, Ukraine Huge crowds of protesters took to the streets of the Russian capital to demand peace in Ukraine, in the biggest opposition rally in half a year. The opposition organizers failed to attract the promised 50,000 for the event, but “there was a very high turnout,” RT’s Anissa Naouai reported from the center of Moscow. City authorities estimated the turnout at 5,000, but the number voiced by independent monitors – 26,000 – seems more believable, according to Naouai. Russian Workers Go on Hunger Strike to Protest Low Wages in Health Sector Health workers in the city of Ufa have declared a hunger strike to protest their low wages, state-run news agency TASS reported Tuesday. Andrei Konoval, a spokesman for the Interregional Union of Health Workers, said in comments to TASS that six health workers were participating in the protest. Another individual had wanted to participate, but was excluded due to health concerns. Russia to Prosecute Crimean Tatar Protesters Over Unrest Thousands of Crimean Tatars on Saturday responded to news that their spiritual leader had been banned from the peninsula by blocking several highways in a tense standoff with riot police — the first sign that the Muslim ethnic group's discontent with Russian authorities may lead to turmoil. https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-to-prosecute-crimean-tatar-protesters-over-unrest-34961 Dozens Detained at Rallies Against Olympics Dozens of people were detained over the weekend at numerous rallies protesting the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Many people both in Russia and abroad, have criticized the Olympics over a range of issues, including alleged rampant corruption during the construction of Olympic facilities and the culling of thousands of stray dogs in Sochi. Other issues included the government's seizure of many residents' land for Olympic construction and what is seen by some observers as Russian authorities' crackdown on homosexuals' rights and human rights in general. UN's Ban Wants Russia to Show Leniency Over Greenpeace Protest United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Russia on Thursday to show leniency toward 30 people arrested during a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling, saying environmentalists played an important role in society. https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/uns-ban-wants-russia-to-show-leniency-over-greenpeace-protest-29832 St. Petersburg Skyscraper Approval Prompts Protests ST. PETERSBURG — A group of local politicians and city heritage activists have appealed to City Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, asking him to reduce the height of the planned 463-meter Lakhta Center skyscraper, which is slated to host the headquarters of Gazprom Neft. In an open letter, preservationists claim that the skyscraper will "interfere with the panoramas protected by UNESCO and alter some of the city's signature views, including gems such as the Rostral Columns and the Peter and Paul Cathedral." Crowds Gather to Protest Russia's WTO Entry Discontented Muscovites gathered on Ploshchad Revolyutsii onSunday to demonstrate against Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization and decry a new wave of liberal reforms. Event organizers, which included the left-leaning Essence of Time movement, Trade Union of Russian Citizens and Union of Orthodox Citizens, decried policies they said would destroy Russia. Organizers told the Rosbalt.ru news portal that 4,000 protesters attended the event, adding that the protest's main goal was tohighlight the damage that WTO entry, new laws on juvenile punishment and increasing utilities tariffs would cause. Police did not immediately give an estimate of how many attended the protest event. In particular, WTO membership would lead to the closure ofthousands of factories and make millions unemployed, organizers said. ANALYSIS Labor Protests Pose New Kremlin Headache No sooner had protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg quieted down than strikes broke out in the provinces. For the most part, these protesters were not the same people who had turned out in December and February to demand fair elections. These demonstrators demanded higher salaries, better work conditions and the recognition of independent trade unions by their employers. Workers at a battery factory in Saratov went on strike in mid-March. Later, oil drillers in the republic of Bashkortostan staged walkouts in the cities of Neftekamsk, Dyurtyuli and Yanaul to protest a reduction in wages. Finally, employees halted production at the Benteler Automotive plant in Kaluga. That strike was the most important and symbolic, quickly morphing from a local conflict into a confrontation between the authorities and the Interregional Trade Union of Automobile Workers, or MPRA. For Russian trade unions, the MPRA is an example of a strong and effective organization capable of achieving real concessions from employers. The authorities responded to the work stoppage with undisguised pressure tactics. Kaluga MPRA leader Dmitry Kozhnev was summoned before a prosecutor, and riot police units were stationed at the factory. Governor Anatoly Artamonov, rather than the factory director, soon became the main antagonist for protesters. Once again, state-controlled trade unions shamelessly showed their true colors. They were extremely active in the run-up to the March presidential election, mobilizing members and providing transportation and meals so they could join pro-government rallies in the capital. But the moment that the protection of labor rights became an issue, the unions made it clear on whose side they really stood. No sooner had the Benteler plant gone idle than Alexander Grechaninov, the head of the Kaluga branch of the pro-Kremlin Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, rushed to the scene. In all the years of its existence, this organization has never once tried to establish a formal union at the plant. But whenever labor disputes have arisen, it invariably sided with management, using scare tactics and persuasion to get workers to return to the assembly line. But this time, its efforts were to no avail. The workers stood firm. The plant's management and owners were forced into negotiations conducted by the governor himself. The trade unions also brought in their "heavy artillery" — Russian Confederation of Labor president Boris Kravchenko traveled to Kaluga. Once information about the strike began circulating on the Internet, sympathizers began raising money for a strike fund. On the morning of April 2, management agreed to the strikers' demands, announcing acceptance of the trade union and the start of collective bargaining. This sends a sign to the workers of many other businesses across Russia that, with proper organization, they can successfully fight for their rights as well. It should also serve as a warning to the authorities that the social climate is changing just as dramatically as the political mood. Strikes are essentially prohibited in Russia, and until now they have been rare, and even more rarely successful. After initial victories achieved by the MPRA in 2007-08, a pause ensued in the development of the workers' movement because of the economic crisis and organizational problems within the new trade unions themselves. That is why the success of the Benteler strike has been so significant. Kremlin leaders might entertain the hope that a lull in political protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg means that they can rest easy. But events now taking place in the provinces show that their real problems are only beginning. Boris Kagarlitsky is the director of the Institute of Globalization Studies. https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/labor-protests-pose-new-kremlin-headache-13827 Russians' Enthusiasm For Political Protests Hits Record Low, Poll Shows A man holds a sign during a protest against the conflict in eastern Ukraine in the center of Moscow Aug. 28, 2014. The sign reads: "No war." Maxim Zmeyev Russians' willingness to take part in political protests has shrunk to a record low, with only 7 percent prepared to take their political demands to the streets, according to a recent poll. The independent Levada Center pollster said Monday most Russians did not imagine their fellow citizens would take part in protests either— only 12 percent of those questioned said they expected some kind of politically-motivated public protest would be staged in their region. The number is at its lowest since mid-2000 and marks a dramatic decline from late 1998, when half of respondents said political protests could occur, according to the report. In the latest poll, 83 percent of respondents thought it unlikely a political protest would be staged in their region, and an even higher number — 87 percent — said they would probably refrain from participating in one themselves, the poll indicated. The poll was conducted on Aug. 22-25 among 1,600 people in 134 cities and towns around Russia, and gave a margin of error of no more than 3.4 percentage points. The lack of enthusiasm for public action to further political demands is likely the result of a belief such protests have little effect and a fear of persecution. The anti-Kremlin protests on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square in 2012 led to a widely publicized ongoing case which, to date, has seen six protesters convicted on charges of having participated in "mass riots" and dozens more indicted. The Russian Protest Movement: Not Dead, Not Alive, Just Different There are two widespread misconceptions about protest activity in Russia. The first is that, for some mysterious reason, Russia is exempt from the general rule where the popularity of the ruling regime declines in tandem with the economy. The second is that the authorities have managed to muzzle political protest, and that the only disgruntled voices heard are not really protests at all, but local appeals or personal grievances. Both views are based on mistaken assumptions. First, they consider that because millions of people are not currently taking to the streets, they obviously will not do so in the near future. They also assume that a “political” protest is only when protesters complain about purely political issues. Such views are incapable of explaining the current protest movement in Russia, or of predicting how it will develop. They simultaneously anticipate what is not and ostensibly cannot happen — mass protests — while they denigrate what actually is happening as unworthy of attention. The public mood viewed through Russia’s flawed sociology is a vague reflection in a murky mirror. The fact that Russians have no legal way to run for public office makes citizens uninterested in even going to the trouble of voting against those who are in power. Elections are infrequent, the choice of candidates is unattractive, and there is no discernible connection between election results and changes in real life. In line with Russian law, parliamentary elections have no bearing on the composition of the ruling regime. For the most part, Russians have no desire to take part in violent “pitchfork and axes” unauthorized rallies, riots, mob gatherings and the like. There are two reasons for this. First, the state’s repressive machinery puts too high a price on such activity. The second reason is largely social and demographic in nature. The majority of Russia’s active citizens are not youth, as in some countries, but those over 40, who are less likely to take to the streets or engage in violent behavior, and who are yet perfectly willing to protest through legal means. How does this look in practice? Citizens are unhappy when decisions that directly affect their lives are made without their direct or even indirect participation. Aside from such “global” issues as the Kremlin’s decision to annex Crimea, this dissatisfaction primarily concerns decisions by local authorities to, say, tear down a building, demolish a park, shutter a local business, raise utilities fees or introduce a new tax. Such causes prompted all of the most recent significant protests by truckers, farmers, mortgage holders and opponents of unwanted government construction, paid parking, illegal renovation and so on. Each case demonstrates the same political phenomenon — citizens reacting angrily to decisions made without concern for their interests. Whereas so-called “horizontal protests” by truckers or farmers and targeted protests focused on a particular yard, park or business are relatively straightforward, the situation becomes more complicated at the regional level. Because the federal authorities try to avoid unpleasant protest themes and prefer that regional authorities deal with those problems, the resolution of this or that protest depends largely on the attitude of the regional officials. Despite all the talk of uniformity, rules in the regions differ widely. The people of the North Caucasus adhere to their own severe laws and the situation is little better for the citizens of the southern regions of Rostov and Krasnodar. In the major cities of Central Russia and Siberia, the authorities bear some accountability to the public and are not as free to use repressive measures, and Russia’s northwestern cities are traditionally the most opposition-minded. Civil awareness might blossom in Russia with the collapse of the paternalistic economic model in which every citizen feels entitled to some form of government handout. People are already starting to realize that, not only is no one going to give them anything for free, they are doing all of the paying. What’s more, citizens are constantly paying on all fronts — for high taxes, numerous fees and expensive housing, utilities, parking and toll roads. The government is taking money from citizens at every turn. When that realization finally settles in and replaces the Soviet notion of the citizen as a child who receives sweets from his kind father, the state, it will provide a firm foundation for true civic awareness. After all, civic awareness goes hand in hand with being a taxpayer. Yekaterina Schulmann is a political scientist at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Crisis Bites Deep in Russia's Struggling Astrakhan Region ASTRAKHAN — With oil and gas, fish in the nearby Caspian Sea and a warm climate, Astrakhan should be one of Russia's richest provinces. It isn't, and for years many people in this southern region of more than 1 million have accepted their position near the bottom of Russia's leader board. But patience is wearing thin. The strictures of Russia's economic crisis are making it increasingly difficult for many people to turn a blind eye to the corruption and waste that have hindered the region's growth since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. While President Vladimir Putin may not be taking the blame, the spending promises which helped him weather protests and win election in 2012 are depriving Astrakhan and other regions of badly needed funds, forcing cuts in once secure jobs that strike at the core of his support base. Complaints range from street vendors being moved from their trading spots by overzealous police and building companies being denied access to government tenders, to disappearing benefits for dangerous work and lives spent in dilapidated housing. "In Astrakhan, people live badly," said Olga Yaskina, a pensioner who with 34 others sells clothes and bric-a-brac at a local market stall in the region's administrative capital, which is also called Astrakhan. "We sit there every morning and have done for years, but they still want us gone, probably to get a more profitable trader. They sell off everything to the highest bidder now. Times have changed." In recent years, some modern offices and red brick elite apartments have sprung up in the city, which sits on the banks of the Volga River and has just over half a million inhabitants. But elsewhere crumbling wooden huts open into courtyards with rusting cars and abandoned toys. Cracked paving and pot-holed roads lead up from the newly paved embankment overlooking the wide expanse of river where people take shade in cafes. The city feels unloved, down on its luck. A recent survey by Russia's Civil Society Development Foundation, headed by a former aide to Putin, put Astrakhan's governor, Alexander Zhilkin, among the least effective governors in Russia out of the 81 ranked. Opposition Focus At a meeting with Putin in February, Zhilkin was upbeat, saying his region would this year become home to a special economic zone, offering lower taxes and less bureaucracy. He said the Astrakhan economy grew 2.5 percent last year, compared with 0.6 across Russia, but the figure has yet to be finalized. Astrakhan was briefly a focus for national protests against Putin in 2012 when local politician Oleg Shein staged a hunger strike, saying he had been cheated out of victory in a mayoral election. The result was not overturned. There are no signs of renewed demonstrations for now, and no obvious dissent against the all-powerful Russian president, but there is discontent and plenty of calls for change. Alexander Gerlakh, a 52-year-old food producer, is one of the few in Astrakhan who are gaining from the crisis, enjoying rapidly increasing demand for his dairy products after Russia banned Western food imports in response to financial sanctions. But he also does not want the crisis to last. "I see how people are living and how needy they are now. They're losing their jobs, and many families are cutting back on spending to finance loans. People cannot pay," said Gerlakh, a Volga German whose family was expelled to Kazakhstan during World War II and who returned to Astrakhan in his teens. "Jobs are being lost in all industries except food. Just next to our factory is a factory that produces parts for railway engines. The buyers have no money to pay and they cannot afford to buy the raw materials to fulfill their orders. It's a chain. … Whole sectors are moving into a period of stagnation." Latest official statistics say 6,955 people were officially registered as unemployed in the Astrakhan region in April 2015, up 15 percent from the same month a year ago. However, the majority of locals operate in the shadow economy, and anecdotal evidence suggests the actual jobless total is much higher. Unlike in the early 1990s, when money was even tighter, people now cannot rely on supplementing their incomes by fishing for caviar-producing sturgeon in the nearby Caspian Sea — it is forbidden after overfishing decimated the sturgeon population. And while the economy stagnates, prices rise. For Tatyana Gassakhanova, part of the group which trades at the market, her monthly pension of 8,900 rubles ($163) now needs to cover a gas price hike which means her winter payments reach 3,000 rubles — a particular source of bitterness given that the gas is produced locally. The cost of electricity, medicine and communal charges have also risen, she said, with inflation in Russia running at 15.8 percent in May after peaking at 16.9 percent in March. Gerlakh said he had heard about government programs to help small businesses grow during the crisis, but dismisses this as just words. "I always say; just let them not bother us, don't get in our way," he said. Debt Woes But with the Russian government leading the way with budget cuts and state companies following suit, even people in the more protected sectors are feeling the pinch, fueling anger over officials who, at local and federal levels, seem out of touch. Vladimir Milkin, a worker at Gazprom's gas processing plant in Astrakhan, said his benefits paid for working in an environment classified as "dangerous" had seen repeated cuts. Gazprom Production Astrakhan did not respond to a request for comment. The region too is suffering. Local revenues are falling as the two areas it can tax — wages and land — are squeezed, and its debt burden is rising as it carries out spending pledges made by Putin in 2012 as part of what as known as his "May promises" to dampen mass protests. Ratings agency Standard amp; Poor's ranked Astrakhan the ninth most indebted of 90 cities, regions and districts last year, with more than 70 percent of the debts held with banks, at shorter maturities, exposing the region to refinancing risks. S amp;P credit analyst Karen Vartapetov said regional defaults were not only likely, but, at least in one instance, have taken place according to the agency's definition of default. The local politician Shein, who now works in the regional legislature, said that with growing demands on the national budget, the federal "center" may not be able to pay out forever. "There are sharp cuts in pay, especially those who work in the finance departments of local administration … and the reduction of salaries in Gazprom," he said, adding that some firms were withholding wages as they ran low on cash. "In the 1990s when there were huge strikes, they normally started after the wage arrears reached six or seven months. We are not there yet." |
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