Paul
Goble
Staunton, April 9 – Russian internal
troops are currently conducting exercises in six of the countries federal
districts – the North-West, Central, Volga, North Caucasus, South, and Crimean
-- to prepare them to counter any appearance of Maidan-like protests, according
to an interior ministry press officer.
The exercises which began on April 2
and will conclude tomorrow involve the use by internal troops of “the entire
arsenal of special means,” including tear gas, water cannons and “various types
of military technology and special non-lethal arms,” the official said (top.rbc.ru/politics/09/04/2015/5525a5139a79476b3bd22456).
Three things about this announcement
make it noteworthy: First, the organizers say they are trying to make the
exercises as useful as possible by copying all the aspects of the Maidan events
in Ukraine, including the actions of demonstrators and the actions and
inactions of officials in response.
Second, Moscow is organizing them
throughout the country, an indication that the Kremlin is worried about the
possibility of Maidans in one or more of Russia’s regions or republics,
something many in Moscow and the West discount but a possibility that clearly
has Vladimir Putin’s attention.
Perhaps especially indicative of
Moscow’s concerns are the exercises being staged in Crimea, where the situation
may not be as completely under the control of the occupation forces as many
Russian officials would like to believe.
And third, the announcement comes as
opposition leader Gari Kasparov has challenged orthodoxy among opposition
groups and argued that the best way of combatting Putin and Putinism is to
organize a Maidan in Moscow, a step he suggests could prove successful because
support for Putin there is lower than elsewhere (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5525790DEE188).
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