‘Silent Protests’ Amid Russia-Belarus Investment Talks
Belarusian protesters and journalists continue to be detained after the latest weekly protest against authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Minsk and across the country. The police force continues to heavy-handedly deal with the opposition through the violent dispersal and detaining of protesters. Court hearings for detained protesters vary in penalty, issuing jail sentences from 5 to 15 days to as long as 3 ½ years in a high security prison (20-year-old Nikita Likhovid). Some observers fear the protests are dwindling due to the violent crackdowns of the Belarusian security forces, but as one protester in Minsk stated, “Every demonstration on our part is a big success. The country is rising up!” Belarusian civil society need not worry, however, about smaller showings at the weekly demonstrations, as the size and severity of the crackdowns at protests in late June and early July have garnered global attention to Belarus’ economic crisis and Lukashenka’s repression of the ‘silent’ protesters. Claire Bigg of RFE/RL’s Belarus Service reports that while facing “growing international isolation” Lukashenka described the protests as “part of a foreign-inspired plot to topple him.” Recent arrests come as Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich met with Russian investors in Moscow about the possibility of selling state-owned shares in key enterprises such as gas pipelines, oil refineries, mobile phone carriers, and a carmaker, attracting interest from Gazprom, LUKoil, Rosneft, and others. In addition to the $800 million Belarus has received as “stabilization funding” from the Eurasian Economic Community, Moscow has promised additional support as a result of Minsk’s willingness to privatize nearly $8 billion in state-owned shares in national enterprises.
Crackdown on Opposition Protests in Moscow
On July 19 two civil activist groups, Ecological Defense of the Moscow Oblast (Ekooborona: Ekologicheskaya oborona Moskovskoi oblasti) and opposition party The Other Russia (Drugaya Rossiya) held protests in the center of Moscow and were met with numerous arrests. Evgeniia Chirikova, leader of Ekooborona explained that their actions were a response to the corruption surrounding the construction of the Khimki Forest highway. The group attempted to hold a ‘flash mob’ entitled “Who is guilty?” (Kto vinovat?) on Slavanskaya Square in which they carried puppets representing Transport Minister Igor Levitin, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and businessman Arkady Rotenberg on their shoulders. Five activists were arrested in connection with the short-lived flash mob but were all released by that evening. While Chirikova is a frequent critic of the Kremlin her status among similar organizations worldwide seems to protect her from likely harsher punishment. While protection based on the repute of civil actors cannot be considered a trend, due to the imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorovsky and the killing of numerous reputable journalists throughout the post-Soviet period, the status of activists such as Chirikova leads to continual give-and-take with the authorities. On the other hand, the Medvedev-led Kremlin has moved away from the heavy-handed repression of oppositional voices that typified Putin’s administration. While it is obvious that even under Medvedev’s mandate civil activists are publicly limited in their challenges to the Kremlin, civil society’s freedoms have largely increased.
Actions taken by members of The Other Russia were equally short-lived, as activists were quickly detained after climbing the fence into Lubyanka Square, which had been cordoned off by police before an organized protest could occur. The sit-in protests were to be carried out at the Solovetsky Stone—the monument to victims of political repressions in the USSR—as part of the larger actions taken in support and demanding the release of opposition activist and political prisoner Taisiya Osipova. Some observers and fellow activists believe Osipova has been detained on false charges of drug possession and intent to sell as a “clumsy frame-up aimed at punishing her husband (Sergei Fomchenkov), an associate of outspoken Kremlin critic Eduard Limonov.” Both Fomchenkov and Limonov are members of the Other Russia party, which Voina activist Leonid Nikolaev describes as “obsessively haunted by the authorities.” When Kremlin pressure failed to break Fomchenkov, Nikolaev contends, they turned their sights to Osipova “so that the husband and the party would be more compliant.” Osipova’s case has received considerable attention from the global community, especially the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT: Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture) which sent an open letter to President Medvedev on June 21 demanding her immediate release from the Smolensk pretrial detention center and adequate treatment.
The Other Russia party faces greater Kremlin scrutiny in the wake of the completed investigation into the riots at Manezhnaya Square in December 2010, which concluded that Other Russia party members were involved if not responsible for the 32 injuries and the murder of Yegor Sviridov. These conclusions have opened a new case against the Other Russia party that is attempting to prove the party is an extremist organization, ergo giving the Kremlin a reason to ban it. Though the group draws members from the National Bolshevik and communist-leaning groups, it includes members from Russian-based human rights movements and notable left and right-wing opposition leaders such as Garry Kasparov of the United Civil Front, Liudmila Alexeyeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and aforementioned Eduard Limonov (the most radical of the three). While elements of the Other Russia party have a history of extremist views and actions it is currently a symbol of opposition to Putin and the damages they feel his administration caused to electoral democracy in Russia.
Brief Observations on 2012 Presidential Elections
With the 2012 presidential election campaign on the horizon actions taken against oppositional parties in Russia generate greater concern about the future of democracy in Russia. Though democratic institutions in Russia are considerably different from those found in the west, actions taken to limit rights to assembly and speech are cause for concern. Putin’s presidency was marked by a semi-authoritarian approach to managing society that appears to have continued during his tenure as prime minister, which according to Lauren Goodrich, allowed Medvedev to represent the face of Russian modernization and democracy while Putin maintained the stability of the nation via firm control over the population and the economy:
“It is managed pluralism underneath not a president or a premier, but under a person more like the leader of the nation, not just the leader of the state. In theory, the new system is meant to allow the Kremlin to maintain control of both its grand strategies of needing to reach out abroad to keep Russia modern and strong and trying to ensure that the country is also under firm control and secure for years to come.”
Despite the changes that Medvedev’s presidency has brought to Russia’s political and economic institutions Putin continues to hold considerable sway in the operations of the nation vis-à-vis his close relationship with the military and security forces (what Brian Whitmore calls the “Deep State”). The tandem or team-approach to governing Russia pioneered by Medvedev and Putin, i.e. “managed pluralism” in Goodrich’s words, allows the elite to remain firmly in control and influential while maintaining the visage of a more democratic system. Such observations make Putin’s exit in 2012 highly unlikely and the continuation of the Medvedev-Putin regime all the more probable given recent allusions to plans for post-2012 Russia that involve “the team.”
Articles Referred to in this Post:
«Белорусской « революции» требуется перезагрузка? (“Belarusian ‘revolution’ needs to be rebooted?”) http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/international/2011/07/110713_belorus_protest.shtml
«В Минске задержаны несколько десятков участников очередной молчаливой акции протеста» (“In Minsk, dozens of participants of the silent protests detained”) http://www.itar-tass.com/c13/189455.html
«Женева требует немедленного освобождения Таисии Осиповой» (“Geneva demands the immediate release of Taisiya Osipova”) http://free-voina.org/post/6755345085
«Завершено расследование беспорядков на Манежной площади» (“Investigation of riots on Manezhnaya Square Completed”) http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/russia/2011/07/110711_manezhnaya_investigation.shtml
«Защитников Химкинского леса задержали с куклой Путина» (“Defenders of the Khimki Forest detained with doll of Putin”) http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/russia/2011/07/110719_khimki_flashmob_detentions.shtml
«Леня Николаев в Смоленске на суде Таисии Осиповой» (“Leonid Nikolaev in Smolensk in court hearing of Taisiya Osipova”) http://free-voina.org/post/4080488290
«Минск готовится не доспустить проведения очередной молчаливой акции протеста» (“Minsk Prepares to Prevent Another Silent Protest”) http://www.itar-tass.com/c13/189428.html
«На Лубянке задержаны 20 активистов «Другой России» (“On Lubyanka Square 20 activists of ‘The Other Russia’ detained”) http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/russia/2011/07/110720_lubianka_osipova.shtml
«Путин» задержан, Чирикова свободна» (“Putin” detained, Chirikova free”) http://www.svobodanews.ru/content/article/24270349.html
«Путин перенес президентские выборы» (“Putin postponed presidential elections”) http://www.utro.ru/articles/2011/07/21/987863.shtml
«Сидячая забастовка с требованием освободить Таисию Осипову» (“Sit-in demands the release of Taisiya Osipova”) http://free-voina.org/post/7648174359
“Belarus Protests Continue as Minsk, Moscow Sit Down for Share-Sale Talks” http://www.rferl.org/content/belarus_protests_continue_crackdown_economic_crisis_lukashenka/24265346.html
“Belarusian Protesters Detained After Latest Weekly Protest” http://www.rferl.org/content/belarus_protesters_detained/24271799.html
“The Power Vertical: Putin’s Plan” http://www.rferl.org/content/putins_plan/24270567.html
“Russia’s Evolving Leadership” http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110704-russias-evolving-leadership
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