Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, June 15, 2007

Did Putin feel some heat at the G8 meeting?

Criticism of the managed democracy may have had some effect on government policy in Russia. This report comes from The Guardian (UK).

Putin changes tack and allows Moscow protest to go ahead

"Several thousand opposition demonstrators were allowed to hold a rally in the centre of Moscow yesterday, in an apparent change of tactics by the Kremlin, which has previously broken up anti-Putin rallies. The chess champion Gary Kasparov and his allies in Russia's vocal opposition movement held the latest in a series of demonstrations yesterday against Vladimir Putin's regime...

"'There is no democracy in Russia. It's a capitalist oligarchy," said Stas Yurivich, 19, a student.

"'I'm here to protest about the fact that we have no free press in Russia. The opposition is relatively weak at the moment because most people prefer to sit at home and drink beer,' said Olga Andreyeva, a pensioner.

"The protest came after a peaceful march and rally in St Petersburg on Saturday, coinciding with a major economic forum attended by hundreds of global business leaders and heads of state.

"It was the first time that a demonstration led by Mr Kasparov and his allies in a major Russian city has ended without police violence or interference..."


Labels: ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home