Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 1 – The Russian
Ministry of Justice has declared the Carriers Union of Russia a foreign agent
because the group has received some 250,000 rubles (4,000 US dollars) from
Germany. The action comes just two weeks before the union plans to restart its
strike against the Plato payment system that drivers have staged labor actions
before.
Andrey Bazhutin, the head of the union,
said the action was not entirely unexpected given that justice ministry
officers checked the union’s books the week of November 15-20 but that neither
he nor his colleagues viewed the acceptance of such contributions as making
them “a foreign agent” (novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/12/01/137526-vystupivshuyu-protiv-platona-organizatsiyu-dalnoboyschikov-priznali-inoagentom).
This
designation will give Moscow yet another propaganda tool to be deployed against
the strikers and may lead some who had planned to take part in the job action
to stay on the job. It may also make it
more difficult for Bazhutin to run for Russian president as he has said he hopes
to do.
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