Moskovsky Komsomolets
Protest Leaders Face Two Years Behind Bars
Investigators have arrested two of Russia's most prominent opposition leaders, Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov, for failure to obey police orders. Both are facing a criminal investigation.
Navalny and Udaltsov, now serving 15-day jail terms, are being questioned in connection with two criminal cases that are punishable by two to ten years behind bars, depending on whether they are recognized legally as the organizers or instigators of riots.
It is likely that the investigators in the case are being pressured. State Duma members are screaming to have the two rebels jailed for as long as possible. “The court’s ruling is too lenient,” said Irina Yarovaya, head of the lower house security and anticorruption committee. “Violators of the law should not feel secure and immune. Provocations and organized attacks against the police resulting in physical harm are not administrative offences but crimes. This is a matter of public safety and security, and the court should punish such offenders and criminals.”
She ardently slammed human rights activists who believe the government needs to negotiate with the opposition: “Talks should not be held with criminals. They must face trial and punishment.”
The opposition has kept up the protests with more rallies in Moscow over the holidays. On Thursday, the dissenters planned to go “for a walk” at Chistiye Prudy. They are being led by Ksenia Sobchak and Ilya Yashin while Navalny and Udaltsov are “absent.”
With passions running high, the public seems to have forgotten what the opposition is fighting for. What is it the unyielding Udaltsov is suffering for? His goals are clearly spelled out in the Left Front movement’s Program Minimum: First, to change the election system. Voting should be required, with failure to vote recognized as a punishable offence. Voting should also be made open and public with each voter’s choice published online.
This alone is enough to make anyone’s blood run cold. But even more extreme, all Russians should be required to give up their means of production as well as any excessive property to the government. Private business would not be prohibited but businessmen would not be allowed to hire staff – they would have to operate alone. Public control committees should be organized to oversee the surrender of all excessive property. Members of these committees would be authorized to enter any company, institution or private dwelling.
Bank accounts would no longer be confidential. Working will be a duty, with a three-fold gap between the lowest and the highest income available.
People will have to make “room for one more:” Udaltsov calls for confiscating “excessive housing” for the sake of those “in greater need.” Land ownership would be preserved but only with respect to vegetable gardens that owners could toil in alone. Any produce cultivated with hired help would have to be surrendered to the government and redistributed. Failure to complete a regular (twice a year) medical checkup would also be a punishable offence.
Do the Bolotnaya mobs know where Udaltsov is leading them?
Moskovskiye Novosti
Ukraine Could Reset Relations With Russia
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych will meet with Vladimir Putin during an unofficial CIS summit in Moscow May 15. Bilateral relations have been strained over the Tymoshenko case and the lack of progress on gas price talks. Ukrainian experts think Yanukovych will have to take a step toward Russia, especially since his relations with the West have worsened dramatically.
Europe started a political boycott of the Euro 2012 cup in Ukraine after the alleged beating of imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, and 12 presidents of the former Warsaw Pact countries refused to attend the Yalta summit on May 11-12. Member of the European Parliament, Marek Siwiec said, “It is not a boycott yet, but it is already an affront.”
The Moscow meeting will only be productive if Yanukovych accepts Putin’s doctrine of making Moscow the center of gravity for the Eurasian countries. Further integration with Russia would resolve many of Ukraine’s problems.
“They will not immediately agree on cutting gas prices or admitting Ukraine to the Customs Union but they could launch a Russian-Ukrainian reset,” said Mikhail Pogrebinsky, director of the Kiev Center for Political and Conflict Studies. “Yanukovych could propose a gas transport consortium.”
Other experts expect major decisions at the meeting. Political analyst Vladimir Kornilov believes Putin might invite Ukraine to join the proposed Eurasian Union. “Ukraine must choose between self-imposed isolation and a practical cooperation as proposed by Putin,” Kornilov said. A union with Russia would benefit Yanukovych in upcoming parliamentary elections because the majority of his supporters in southeastern Ukraine also support integration with Russia.
Pogrebinsky said Yanukovych will not risk ignoring Europe’s opinion. “He needs a Customs Union agreement that will not damage Ukraine’s relations with the EU. He will move toward Russia only if it will not provoke protests in Ukraine. Even pro-Western Ukrainians are not against economic cooperation with Russia.”
Even as the Yanukovych-Putin meeting is taking place, Ukraine’s Supreme Court will hear Tymoshenko’s appeal. Political analyst Viktor Medvedchuk said Tymoshenko could be released as early as May. Ukrainian MP Taras Chornovil believes she will be allowed to go to Germany for medical treatment after August 14, the candidate registration deadline for the parliamentary elections.
Political analysts Vadim Karasyov and Mikhail Pogrebinsky do not think Tymoshenko will be released anytime soon. “The Yevheniy Shcherban murder investigation, in which she is implicated, is not over yet,” Karasyov said. Pogrebinsky said Tymoshenko’s release would not improve relations with the West. “Europe will not sign an Association Agreement with him anyway,” he said. “It seems to be waiting for a change of government in Ukraine.”
MP Mikhail Chechetov from the Party of Regions said Tymoshenko was sentenced for crimes that did huge economic damage to the country. Her supporters do not believe she will be released anytime soon either.
Tymoshenko has agreed to receive medical assistance from Ukrainian doctors under the guidance of German professor Lutz Harms and has ended her hunger strike which started on April 20.
Kommersant
Presidential Press Secretary Vows to Disperse Opposition Campers
Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, described the White Ribbon camp at Chistye Prudy as illegal and promised to disperse it by force. Earlier he went on record as saying that the riot police had not been tough enough in dealing with opposition unrest last Sunday.
In an interview with Afisha magazine, Peskov said the opposition camp near the Chistye Prudy metro station was illegal and that it should be dispersed by the police.
He also reiterated his own statement to Dozhd TV on May 6, implying that the police action in dispersing the so-called March of the Millions had not been tough enough.
Later he told legislator Ilya Ponomaryov, who asked him to comment, that “[in retaliation] for one single injured riot police officer, the protesters’ liver should be spread on the asphalt.”
The camp appeared in a park near Chistye Prudy metro station on Wednesday morning. It had already been dispersed by the riot police before but according to information for Friday morning the police left the park.
RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.
