GPS News  
Russia Treats Dissent Harshly

Russian riot policemen guard an order during a rally of The Other Russia movement in St. Petersburg, 15 April 2007. Police arrested Eduard Limonov, one of the leaders of the opposition group The Other Russia, as he left a protest rally in Saint Petersburg, his spokesman told AFP Sunday. Riot police clubbed and detained protestors in Saint Petersburg as they left a peaceful demonstration against President Vladimir Putin, the day after mass arrests at a march in Moscow. Photo courtesy AFP.
by Stefan Nicola
UPI Correspondent
Moscow (UPI) April 16, 2007
The Kremlin's violent crackdown on opposition protestors has sparked outrage, but no real diplomatic action in Western Europe. Over the weekend several hundred Kremlin critics were beaten and arrested by Russian special police in separate demonstrations across the country.

On Sunday some 3,000 people in St. Petersburg protesting the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to march toward government buildings but were violently stopped by police in riot gear.

An estimated 350 protestors were arrested, some of them for "chanting anti-constitutional and anti-government slogans and using foul language," a police spokesman told Russian news agency Interfax. "Leaflets and pamphlets urging readers to organize an unauthorized march were seized from several other demonstrators. They were detained and taken to a police station."

Dozens of demonstrators were injured, among them women and senior citizens. Among the injured was also a German TV journalist who was knocked down by a punch in the face.

"The crackdown on the opposition demonstrates a new level of state-sanctioned violence in Russia," Rainer Lindner, Russia expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, a Berlin-based think, told United Press International in a telephone interview Monday.

The Sunday incidents followed the arrest of some 200 people in Moscow on Saturday, when the members of "Other Russia," an anti-government umbrella organization, were violently stopped from demonstrating in the city center.

The group's members on both days wanted to protest Russia's poor democratic record, its increasing government control of the media and a lack of debate with the political opposition, which has been violently pushed to the sidelines in the country.

Gary Kasparov, a former world chess champion and today the head of the United Civil Front, a political opposition group, was arrested and fined for participating in an unsanctioned rally. Several Western journalists reporting on the marches were also abused and detained, according to numerous media reports.

It's not that Kasparov's movement has any realistic chance of unsettling the power structure in Russia.

"President Vladimir Putin has an obedient administration, high approval ratings among the population and -- thanks to oil and gas revenue -- a pile of cash as well," the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung wrote in an editorial Monday.

So how is it possible that a few thousand peaceful anti-Putin demonstrators provoke such an overreaction by the Kremlin?

Lindner said the violence was intended to ring the bell on how the opposition will be dealt with ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia.

"In Moscow's view, competition is perceived as weakness, and weakness will not be tolerated," he told UPI. In the process, anti-Kremlin activists are portrayed as "troublemakers" who "threaten domestic security," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who currently chairs the Group of Eight and holds the rotating six-month European Union presidency, on Monday sent some clear words to the Kremlin. Merkel was concerned about Moscow's "excessive use of violence," her deputy spokesman Thomas Steg said Monday in Berlin. Violence against journalists was unacceptable, he said, adding that the German government expected the cases of abuse to be cleared up.

Merkel's next meeting with Putin will be on May 18 at the EU-Russia summit in Samara, and Steg said the police violence will be discussed.

Critical words from foreign leaders will likely be among the harshest penalties for the Kremlin. Despite an increasing concern in Western Europe about Russia's poor democratic record, governments have so far shied away from real diplomatic consequences, mainly because of Russia's growing importance as an energy supplier, observers say.

Linder said it was important that Merkel, in her role as EU president, sends a clear message that the European body has an understanding of democracy that currently does not align with that of the Kremlin.

"That way, the strategic partnership between the EU and Russia can't be upheld," he told UPI. "Economic ties are important, but not at any cost."

Source: United Press International

Related Links
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Ukraine In Turmoil
Berlin (UPI) April 03, 2007
Ukraine has been plunged into a political crisis that has its roots in a power struggle between the country's pro-European president and its pro-Russian prime minister.







  • Nondestructive Testing Keeps Bagram Aircraft Flying
  • New FAA Oceanic Air Traffic System Designed By Lockheed Martin Fully Operational
  • NASA Seeks New Research Proposals
  • Germans Urged To Give Foreign Travel A Rest To Curb Global Warming

  • Driverless Car Goes On Show In London
  • Made In USA Losing Cachet
  • Technique Creates Metal Memory And Could Lead To Vanishing Dents
  • Toyota Anticipates Sharp Increase In Its Hybrid Sales

  • Raytheon To Supply Canada With Enhanced Position Location Reporting System Terminals
  • Intelsat To Test Internet Routing In Space For The US Military
  • Northrop Grumman And LockMart Team Up For Integrated Air And Missile Defense Battle Command
  • Harris Donates OS/COMET For Use In FalconSAT Program

  • Czech MPs Visit US Radar Base Earmarked For Missile Shield
  • Oslo Clash On ABM
  • Raytheon Receives Contracts For Patriot Missile Facility Support
  • Russia Targets Counteroffensive Against ABM

  • Winter Flounder On The Fast Track To Recovery
  • Satellite Images Aid Implementation Of Agricultural Reforms
  • Farmland Across China At Risk From Pollution
  • Anthropologist Finds Earliest Evidence Of Maize Farming In Mexico

  • Wireless Sensors Limit Earthquake Damage
  • Tsunami Emergency In Solomons Declared Over
  • DigitalGlobe And GeoEye Partner With The USGS In Support Of International Charter
  • Philippine Survivors Left Feeling Forgotten

  • Sri Lanka Tigers Deny Using Satellite Illegally
  • Northrop Grumman Selected For Alternative Satellite Research And Development Effort
  • Raytheon Receives Approval For Precision Placement Of NPOESS Antennae In Antarctica
  • A Feather-Light Touch Needed For Darwin Frictionless Optics

  • Top Robotics Teams To Rack And Roll Atlanta Georgia Dome
  • Assistive Robot Adapts To People And New Places
  • Flexible Electronics Could Find Applications As Sensors And Artificial Muscles
  • Machine Shop Keeps Robots Rolling

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement