FOUR OF Russia’s opposition leaders were detained by police last night for acting contrary to public order regulations at demonstrations in Moscow.
Eduard Limonov, the leader of the ultra-right-wing National Bolshevik Party, was first to fall foul of the authorities for attempting to hold an unauthorised demonstration near the headquarters of the Central Election Commission on Lubyanka Square beside the headquarters of the former KGB.
Later the right-wing blogger and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, the left-wing leader of the Left Front organisation Sergei Udaltsov and Ilya Yashin of the Solidarnost movement were taken into custody for refusing to leave the authorised demonstration on Pushkin Square after the time allotted by the authorities had expired.
It was a bitterly cold evening, with the temperature falling to minus 11 degrees and a stiff breeze making it feel colder still. But the crowd at Pushkin Square, estimated at 14,000 by the police and 20,000 by the organisers, were in good spirits despite the weather and the victory of their nemesis, prime minister Vladimir Putin, in Sunday’s presidential election.
The organisers had agreed to and received permission to hold a demonstration of 10,000 people so they were happy with the attendance and the demonstration was marked by the appearance on the stage of the billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who stood as an independent and finished third overall and second in Moscow in the presidential poll.
The diffuse nature of the attendance was illustrated by the flags displayed and leaflets distributed.
Supporters of the liberal Yabloko party sported their white flags with green lettering. The communists bore flags of the old Soviet Union. Leaflets ranged from those of the Committee for the Workers International, calling for revolutionary change, to those asking the demonstrators to support a home for Moscow’s stray dogs.
Irina, a 60-year-old pensioner, said she was afraid to give her full name but was demonstrating so that her children and grandchildren would “live in a free country”.
The demonstrations, she insisted, would have to be peaceful but people should continue to protest against the use of the administrative resources of the state to favour an individual candidate.
That candidate was Putin and his performance at his election night rally scared her. “He regards those who oppose him as his enemies but we are citizens. We are citizens of Russia like anyone else,” she said.
Like one of the strays in the leaflet, Irina Chernova (46) had got caught up in the crowd on her way to the Metro. She didn’t vote because she felt it was useless because Putin was going to win anyway.
“I lived in the Soviet times when we had food and kindergartens but now we have to pay for everything. Things are going down and down. It was better in the past.”
Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Left Front, who supported the Communist candidate, Gennady Zyuganov, began to speak and said he was going to stay on Pushkin Square until Putin was gone. Not everyone agreed. It was, after all, a very cold night.
Sergei Mitrokhin and Grigory Yavlinsky of the liberal Yabloko were reported later by the Russian media to have left because they disagreed with Udaltsov’s plan.
Dmitriy Morgachev was one of the few pessimists present. “I got a call at 5.30 this morning. I thought they were coming for me,” he said.
He didn’t expect Putin either to “turn the screws” or to adopt a more liberal policy. “It will be like going back to Brezhnev’s time,” he said.