RUSSIA: Russian opposition leader, Garry Kasparov, is prevented from getting on plane to lead anti-government rally
Record ID:
755499
RUSSIA: Russian opposition leader, Garry Kasparov, is prevented from getting on plane to lead anti-government rally
- Title: RUSSIA: Russian opposition leader, Garry Kasparov, is prevented from getting on plane to lead anti-government rally
- Date: 19th May 2007
- Summary: HEAD OF CIVIL FRONT IN SAMARA, VALERY PAVLUKEVICH, TALKING ON MOBILE PHONE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MEMBER OF CIVIL FRONT IN SAMARA, VALERY PAVLUKEVICH, SAYING: "It is obvious that the government wants to stop the demonstration at every chance it gets. the government has a maniacal desire to stamp out democratic freedoms. They are trying to ban people from gathering together who want to express a point of view that differs from the authorities.''
- Embargoed: 3rd June 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA6P1O5NRP1VJ0L2C1EOOAQ3LGB
- Story Text: Russian opposition activist and chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, says Russia's security services prevented him leading a protest march in the south Russian city of Samara, where Russia's President Vladimir Putin hosts leaders of the European Union today.
Russian police on Friday (May 18) prevented opposition leaders including chess champion Garry Kasparov from flying to the venue of a Russia-EU summit where the opposition had planned a protest march.
Anti-Kremlin protesters led by Kasparov were planning to hold a rally in Samara, a Volga River city 1,000 km (620 miles) southeast of Moscow and 70 km (40 miles) from the summit venue of Volzhsky Utyos.
``Looking at the record of the last weeks, you can expect surprises at any point,'' said Garry Kasparov, Russian opposition leader, just before he left for the airport. ``It seems that they [the secret police] are trying to break down the demonstration.''
Captain Alexander Adamov, in charge of the airport's police, told Reuters "our computer does not recognise ... (Kasparov and his group's) tickets".
Kasparov described the captain as a "puppet", adding: "It's obvious there was an order from above."
Deputy Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on the sidelines of the EU summit there was no foul play by authorities and denied that the issue would cloud the summit.
Kasparov said the situation in Putin's Russia was no better than in Zimbabwe or Moscow's post-Soviet ally Belarus, both seen by the West as among the world's most undemocratic regimes.
``We're not sending a special message,'' said Kasparov. ``We just want to show that our ability to protest in accordance with the Russian Constitution and in accordance with obligations of the Russian Federation under international treaties, that these abilities are highly limited and that the European Union leaders should recognise that Russia is a police state and that Putin is no democrat leader.''
Among Kasparov's group of around 20 Kremlin critics were Eduard Limonov, head of the radical National Bolshevik party, and prominent human rights advocate Lev Ponomarev.
Two journalists from the Wall Street Journal and the London Daily Telegraph intending to fly to Samara were also stranded, their tickets and passports held by airport officials after "not being recognised" by airport computers, they told Reuters.
``It is obvious that the government wants to stop the demonstration at every chance it gets,'' said Valery Pavlukevich, a member of the opposition group, Civil Front, in Samara. ``The government has a maniacal desire to stamp out democratic freedoms. They are trying to ban people from gathering together who want to express a point of view that differs from the authorities.''
Putin's one-day meeting with top European Union officials on Friday is widely expected to end without the launch of talks on a cornerstone EU-Russia partnership treaty, because Poland is blocking it as part of its trade row with Moscow.
The opposition planned its rally during the summit to attract wider public attention to what it sees as Russia's backtracking on its democratic pledges under Putin.
Wearing white hospital gowns, a group of the Kremlin-backed Nashi youth group appeared at the airport and jeered at Kasparov's stranded delegation.
A statement posted earlier on Kasparov's Web site, www.kasparov.ru, said the FSB is investigating whether a radio interview he gave before the protest and a newspaper published by his opposition movement contained calls for ``extremist action''. ENDS - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None