Putin's Russia
I was also struck by the comments of the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, on the terrible events in Ukraine which contained not a word of criticism of the police and security forces for deliberately targeting and shooting unarmed protestors in Kiev - just as in Syria, a case of the government using lethal force and violence against its own people.
Navalny held as end of Sochi Games heralds start of Putin crackdown
Alexei Navalny hustled away to a police van after protesting today in Moscow Getty Images
By Roger Boyes - The Times
The leading Russian dissident Alexei Navalny and two members of the Pussy Riot group were among 200 people picked up by police in Moscow today as they protested against the jailing of seven Russians.
The crackdown signalled that the Olympic honeymoon was over for critics of President Vladimir Putin - and that the Kremlin is nervous that the Ukrainian spark of resistance could ignite his domestic opposition.
“Guess where I am,” Mr Navalny wrote on his Twitter account after being frogmarched away by police. “It begins with ‘avto’ and ends with ‘zak’.” Together the two words spell police van.
Before being driven away he called for reinforcements for an unauthorised evening rally to protest against the latest court verdict. “You may be arrested of course - it’s a lottery, a one in 20 chance. But if you are arrested, it’s not terrible. It’s warm and the company is good.”
Mr Navalny last year ran for the office of Mayor of Moscow on an anti-corruption ticket. Today he was protesting against the imprisonment of Putin critics who had clashed with police at a rally in 2012.
The most severe sentence, of four years, was imposed on Sergei Krivov, whom the judge said had snatched a policeman’s truncheon and used it against the officer. His defence team claimed that video evidence showed that this was clearly not the case - but the judge ruled the film footage inadmissable.
Other jail terms were between 30 months and 42 months. An eighth defendant, Alexandra Naumova, was given a three year suspended sentence.
Other participants in the 2012 riot received an amnesty at the end of last year in what was widely seen as a concession in advance of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
The Games are still apparently part of the calculus. The judge found the eight Russians guilty on Friday but delayed sentencing until safely after the closing ceremony.
Now the Putin Administration seems to want to nip in the bud any attempt to mimic the Ukrainian demonstrators. Today’s Moscow protestors mocked the Kremlin, sensing its discomfort about events in Kiev. Some dressed in convicts’ uniforms, others wore Putin masks and held placards saying “Life Sentences for All!”.
Among the crowd - and promptly detained by the riot police - were two members of the Pussy Riot protest pop group, Nadezhda Tolonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who had been freed in the pre-Olympic amnesty.
Human rights activists believe that the real threat to the Putin administration is that dissidents will now focus more intensively on the corrupt lifestyle of the powerful, since this was also a potent factor in the downfall of the Ukrainian leader, Viktor Yanukovych.
This kind of investigation has always been a speciality of Mr Navalny, who last week published compromising material supposedly showing that the son of a nationalist politician, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, owns an undeclared luxury villa in Dubai, complete with seven lavatories and a balcony Jacuzzi.
The man, questioned by reporters at the Sochi Games, denied the claims.
People who were protesting, of course, not engaging in acts of terrorism.
Navalny held as end of Sochi Games heralds start of Putin crackdown
Alexei Navalny hustled away to a police van after protesting today in Moscow Getty Images
By Roger Boyes - The Times
The leading Russian dissident Alexei Navalny and two members of the Pussy Riot group were among 200 people picked up by police in Moscow today as they protested against the jailing of seven Russians.
The crackdown signalled that the Olympic honeymoon was over for critics of President Vladimir Putin - and that the Kremlin is nervous that the Ukrainian spark of resistance could ignite his domestic opposition.
“Guess where I am,” Mr Navalny wrote on his Twitter account after being frogmarched away by police. “It begins with ‘avto’ and ends with ‘zak’.” Together the two words spell police van.
Before being driven away he called for reinforcements for an unauthorised evening rally to protest against the latest court verdict. “You may be arrested of course - it’s a lottery, a one in 20 chance. But if you are arrested, it’s not terrible. It’s warm and the company is good.”
Mr Navalny last year ran for the office of Mayor of Moscow on an anti-corruption ticket. Today he was protesting against the imprisonment of Putin critics who had clashed with police at a rally in 2012.
The most severe sentence, of four years, was imposed on Sergei Krivov, whom the judge said had snatched a policeman’s truncheon and used it against the officer. His defence team claimed that video evidence showed that this was clearly not the case - but the judge ruled the film footage inadmissable.
Other jail terms were between 30 months and 42 months. An eighth defendant, Alexandra Naumova, was given a three year suspended sentence.
Other participants in the 2012 riot received an amnesty at the end of last year in what was widely seen as a concession in advance of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
The Games are still apparently part of the calculus. The judge found the eight Russians guilty on Friday but delayed sentencing until safely after the closing ceremony.
Now the Putin Administration seems to want to nip in the bud any attempt to mimic the Ukrainian demonstrators. Today’s Moscow protestors mocked the Kremlin, sensing its discomfort about events in Kiev. Some dressed in convicts’ uniforms, others wore Putin masks and held placards saying “Life Sentences for All!”.
Among the crowd - and promptly detained by the riot police - were two members of the Pussy Riot protest pop group, Nadezhda Tolonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who had been freed in the pre-Olympic amnesty.
Human rights activists believe that the real threat to the Putin administration is that dissidents will now focus more intensively on the corrupt lifestyle of the powerful, since this was also a potent factor in the downfall of the Ukrainian leader, Viktor Yanukovych.
This kind of investigation has always been a speciality of Mr Navalny, who last week published compromising material supposedly showing that the son of a nationalist politician, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, owns an undeclared luxury villa in Dubai, complete with seven lavatories and a balcony Jacuzzi.
The man, questioned by reporters at the Sochi Games, denied the claims.
