Democracy Now!
by Anna Derinova. “I came here not as a Russian citizen, but primarily as a parent” said Elena Parshina, a 50-year-old teacher on her way to last week’s March Against Scoundrels in Moscow. “I am fed up with the State Duma’s cynicism!” She was not alone. In fact, more than 30,000 people flooded the boulevards
by Anna Derinova. As the late afternoon approached at Moscow’s Lubyanskaya Square on Saturday, several thousand Russian opposition supporters, young and old, began laying flowers at the Solovetsky Stone, a memorial to the victims of Soviet-era political oppression. The symbolism could not have been more stark. At the same time, police forces wearing flak jackets
by Anna Derinova. Three months have passed since more than 100,000 people peacefully took to the streets in Moscow on June 12 to demand a “Russia without Putin.” Since then, however, the government has tightened the screws and undertaken obviously undemocratic steps such as imposing huge fines for unauthorized demonstrations; classifying international NGOs as foreign
by Anna Derinova. The anti-Putin dissent that has been brewing inside Russia for the past year finally reached the global mainstream last week when three women from the Russian punk band Pussy Riot were convicted of “premeditated hooliganism … motivated by religious hatred” and sentenced to two years in prison. Suddenly, international media outlets were
by Anna Derinova. Moscow’s second March of Millions took place on Tuesday despite two severe storms that struck the capital — one was of meteorological origin, while the other came directly from the Kremlin, in the form of a new and unconstitutional law promising huge fines and penalties for participation in street protests. Tensions were
by Anna Derinova. “We are not giving up just when we started the engine,” declared a protestor during the March of Millions in Moscow on May 6, the day before Vladimir Putin’s inauguration. That day, 700 protestors were arrested and more than 150 others, resisting nonviolently, were injured in a clash with riot police. It
