Russia’s Striking Long Haul Truckers Take Active Part in NavalnyAnti-Corruption Protest

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 12 – Thirty of the 825 Navalny protesters arrested in Moscow yesterday were long-haul truckers who viewed taking part in these protests as an extension of their strike against the Plato fee system (vrain.ru/news/moskve-437070/),. But that was just the tip of the iceberg as far as the truckers’ involvement is concerned.

            Among the cities across Russia where the participation of truckers in the protests was noted are the following:

Kirov (kirov-portal.ru/news/podrobnosti/mne-nadoelo-otsutstvie-dvizhuhi-kak-proshyol-antikorrupcionnyj-miting-v-den-rossii-23163/)

Oryol (orel.glavny.tv/news/67449)

Ryazan (7x7-journal.ru/item/95789)

Chelyabinsk (ob-zor.ru/politika/v-stolice-yuzhnogo-urala-otmetili-den-rossii)

Nalchik (e-kbr.ru/news/3/22469/)

Murmansk (tv21.ru/news/2017/06/12/den-borby-s-korrupciey-segodnya-v-murmanske-storonniki-oppozicii-vyshli-na-miting)

Ulan-Ude (infpol.ru/news/society/128085-v-ulan-ude-na-miting-protiv-korruptsii-vyshlo-bolee-400-chelovek/)

Volgograd (v102.ru/society/65290.html).

                This list is undoubtedly incomplete: Not all of the more than 160 cities where protests are reported to have taken place have yet had reports about these meeting published or posted online, and many which have did not mention the truck drivers in particular but that does not mean that they were not represented.