euro|topics - Opposition in Russia silenced

Main focus of Monday, November 26, 2007

Opposition in Russia silenced

Eight days before Russia's parliamentary elections are due to take place, Garry Kasparov, leader of the Russian opposition coalition the "Other Russia", has been arrested in Moscow during a protest march Saturday November 24th. Kasparov has been sentenced to five days in prison. Some of his fellow demonstrators were also beaten or arrested saturay or the next day, during another march in Saint Petersburg. Has the government's hard line taken on new dimensions?

Postimees - Estonia

The Estonian daily harshly criticises Russia: "The breaking up of the demonstrations in Russia on Saturday and Sunday is a further scandal as far as human rights in our neighbour are concerned. The attacks in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod hold up to the Western world a picture of a regime that is fighting to maintain its power rather than a Russia striving towards democracy. It may be that President Putin's opponents are increasingly operating only just within the law with their forms of expression but in today's Russia they have no other options for making their views public." (26/11/2007)

Le Soir - Belgium

The editorialist Pol Mathil considers that the results of elections in the Duma, to be held on December 2nd, are a foregone conclusion, which renders the wave of repression in Russia 'absurd'. For him, only one election is of importance: the presidential election on March 2nd. "While the deadline for closing the list of candidates is on December 21st, in less than a month, Russians don't know the name of a single person prepared to take over from Putin. ... There are some signs indicating the degeneration of strife between rival factions within the Kremlin and without. These factions oppose numerous former officers of the KGB, where Mr. Putin was trained, whom he placed in the upper echelons of the State. .. They are all seeking a way to protect their immense interests, whilst ensuring their place in and the continuity of the current system, which in fact depends on a single man." (26/11/2007)

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

"The justice system in Russia has been reduced to an instrument of those in power. Laws are their weapons. It is in the nature of things that these weapons were used on the weekend against the former world chess champion Garry Kasparov," Daniel Brössler writes. "Kasparov has actually managed to capture the West's attention for a moment, but in Russia itself his voice if far too weak to be heard. This is why the state power's tough line may seem all the more surprising. It tells us that Russia's leadership no longer fears criticism from abroad but does fear anything that isn't under strict control in its own country. In reality Putin and his gang are those who have the least faith in the much-praised stability of the system. They're not willing to leave anything to chance - least of all free elections." (26/11/2007)

Der Standard - Austria

The Russian parliament, the Duma, has been "condemned to silence", writes Eduard Steiner: "In the post-Soviet Russian parliament, and even during Vladimir Putin's first term in office, there was genuine talk in parliament, but once the Kremlin took control via its 'United Russia' party, it became quieter. After the upcoming elections there will be no need to bother with loudspeakers. ... But it's not only in parliament that there's a lack of discussion. Economists argue that only the free competition of ideas, fought out in free media, can correct the economic course and prevent potential negative trends, and that the increasing dominance of big companies as well as the monopolist tendencies on the Russian market are thwarting competition, which is the basis for innovation. So in the long term the economy, too, will suffer from the lack of discussion and freedom of opinion." (26/11/2007)

» To the complete press review of Monday, November 26, 2007

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