Tightening control in Moscow

Jessica Golloher reports from Moscow that riots and demonstrations have broken out on the streets of the capital in the past week. While the Kremlin is threatening tighter controls, some observers say the Kremlin may be behind some of the violence.

Recently some five thousand hooligans, Neo-Nazis and soccer fans gathered on Moscow’s Manezhnaya Square. It started out as an attempt to mourn a murdered soccer fan but escalated out of control into a racist brawl.

Eventually Moscow’s riot police showed up and arrested about 60 people. More than 45 others were injured, some seriously.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin used the demonstration to proclaim that the Kremlin needs to exert more control and people need to do what the police say.

Putin said we must not treat them like dirt, otherwise the liberals will be forced to don their police helmets and go out into the squares and fight radicals themselves. He said we all have our roles to play in society, some hold television cameras, others microphones, others fight radicals. The state must fulfill its role.

Anna Sevortian, head of The Moscow office of Human Rights Watch, rolled her eyes at Putin’s declaration.

�Basically, you don’t need anymore control,� Sevortian said �I would say that in many senses exerting more control leads to more public instability.�

Like many places in the world, Russian protesters need to get permission to lawfully demonstrate. But unlike most places, Sevorkian said, that doesn’t mean the government will actually protect demonstrators. She sadi the permit just lets police know where and when it’s time to swing their clubs.

Case in point? Each month at least 100 non-violent civil rights activists are arrested for demonstrating for their right to protest, which is guaranteed by Russia’s constitution.

�It was very clear the kind of orders police were receiving prior to the gatherings and to the rallies,� Sevortian said �They were about being brutal and using force and not just observing. Again, by the numbers of people arrested compared to the actual numbers of the crowds. So we may regard it as sanctioned violence.

Why would the Kremlin sanction violence at a non-violent event it has itself approved? Political analyst Dmitri Trenin said that’s a no brainer. The government power brokers don’t like the message.

�A rally that targets the Kremlin is a totally different thing and it’s seen in a totally different light,� Trenin said. �And it’s depressing that the state should commit so many resources to protect against a non-existent threat.�

Unfortunately, the Kremlin often sees any view outside of its own as a threat. Recently, political journalist Oleg Kashin was beaten so severely that he had to be put into an induced coma for weeks.

Many analysts believe he was targeted for his work covering various controversial topics including the radical opposition, youth groups and protest movements. Kashin himself accused Nashi, a Kremlin-backed youth movement, for taking part in what he calls a �sanctioned beating.�

Political analyst Dmitri Trenin said he’s not sure who ordered Kashin’s attack, but he says these days in Russia having someone beaten or killed is just as easy as ordering a pizza.

�Oleg Kashin was free to publish the things that he published,� Trenin said. �He was free to say the things he wanted to say. He was free to have his blog on the Internet, but at some point someone must have thought enough was enough. As they say in Russian, he was ordered to be beaten up, given a lesson.

Kashin’s beating sparked both national and international outrage. And, in a rare show of personal opinion, long-time Russian state television host, Leonid Parfyonov, lashed out at his colleagues for accepting the Kremlin’s status quo.

Parfyonov used an award’s ceremony, partly in his honor, to address the issue.

�A correspondent today in Russia is not a journalist at all, but a civil servant, following the logic of service and submission,� Parfyonov said. �Looking back, it’s almost as if the coverage of Kashin’s beating on television was reminiscent of the Soviet Union, prepared under the orders of the Kremlin.�

Despite Parfyonov’s critical comments, political analyst Dmitry Trenin, says he doesn’t think the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent will lessen anytime in the near future.

In fact, he says, it will likely get worse before it gets better.